East India-House.
The Times, 1824-05-27T00:00:00

A Special General Coart of 'Propritors of East India Stock aii hield yesterday. LAERAA OFAFof LA 7.TE nATA OF- TANJOELi. The CHAIRMAIr (W.AstelliEsg.) stated,thatthe Coait wasmade special forthepurpose fl yingbefore theProprietori thedraughtof- a biUl now pending in -Parlament, entitled " BiU for. enablihg the Commassioners actng inexecation of an greement made between theBastondia Company and the private creditors of hislateHighn's Ameer Sing, formerly Rajah of Tanjore, deceased, the betterto ry the same into effect." e, t csr- The bill was then read short. The CuAntIrMA said, the next Riatter wh ch be had to introdu to the notice of the Court was a question of money, which would be explained by the resolution of the Court of Directors of the 20th of Ja'nuary last. The resolution was then read. It set forth, that in the event of the proposed arrangement between the creditors of the Idte R:aih ~f Tanjore and the Company being carried into effect, Sir Bdn'ar, Hobhouscandthe other Carnatic Commissioners*.thould be apDooJte Commissioners to investigatetheclaimsofthecreditofs-andita5I to the said Carnatic Commissioners, so long as they sbould.be;,jlS ployed-in the double duty of investigating claims uion the earnatic and claims upon Tanjore, a special aUowance of 3001 ner anD each, from the Company in addition to the allowance of I1,. pr anlmumat present joyed bythem under the Carnatic deed- rind fiP their allowance from the perioddwhen either commissionshoildc' at l,oOL1 per annum, to conti'meso long as theymight be-emno ed under the remaining commission, and to be paid, should thie re ."atnm commssionbe theCarnaic Corsion as at ptesenit; ana should t be the Tanjore Commission, from the Comlpanv's cash The CHAIRMN then moved, " That the Court approve-of the sqaid resolution, subject to the confirmatio "faoteGnra Court." fl~~aton'A other General Mlr. CRrAWFORD said, that the Carnatic deed isd been signed by a great number of creditors; but the Tanjore decd of agreem on which this bill was founded, was signed by no more than five cre- ditors. He had no interest whatever in the matter ; but as the ad. ministrator of a deceased general officer, and actuated by a sense of public dluty, he could not avoid expressing his disapprobationi of the present deed. He had heard that the Tanjore diedf was to profh pari passu, with the Carnatic deed. But he had sesterda exa. mined the latter, and he found that those parts of *ie Tanjore deed which were most objectionable were those in which alterations had beenmadefromtheCarnaticdeed. Thelionourable p soprietor tlen, procceded to point out the different alterations, whicb were, he con.. tended, of such a nature as interposed very 0onsiderable difficulties in the way of parties who might endeavour to prove their debts. It was, in fact, a mockery of justice; and, as such, he took that op-. portunity to state his opinion of it. The CHAiRMANr said, the object of the honourable proprietc. seemed to be, to state his reasons for not si gn gthis deed as admi. nistrator to one of the creditors. Now the honourable proprietor must be awarethat those who did not sign thedeed would not be in a worse situation after the bill was passed, than they were at Seet It would be still open to him andotheraswhoobjected toth eed'to adopt any other mode of arrangement they mi ht think fit. Te s nourable proprietor complained that the deev was signed bT on- tfive creditors; but that wasa fairproportion, as the EuropeanYr di tors were no more than 38.di Mr. LoWNDES expressed his surprise at the Carnatic Commis. sion being still kept up, Sir Benjamnin Hobhouse havng demandecl of the Directors, some years ago, through the medium of a fticAf in that Court, when they meant to put aln end to it. One wae.-j think, from the manner in which the business was protracted, that the commissioners were runnin a race with the Court of Chane in slowness. (A laugh.) He obijectedtogiving commissioners such very large salaries. lt was the sure way of causing business to be- dela red. I ?r. RiGBY said the difference between the situation of the Car- natic and Tanjore creditors probably rendered necessary the altera- tions in the deed of which the hon. proprietor complained. With respect to the addition which was about to be made to the salary of' the commissioners, he wished to know whether their labours were as great irn settling the debts of the Nabob of the Carnatic as they formerly were If such were the fact, it certainly was proper, when an additional burden was imposed on them, that they should receive additional remuneration. Mr. TRANT defended the manner in which the agreement deed was drawn up. With respect to the salary ofthe CarnaticCommis- sioners, it had been fixed byactof ParEament, andthev couidnot be called on to perform an additional duty for nothing. In answer to a question from MIr. LOWNDES, The CHAIzrMAN said the EBuropean creditors were 38; the native creditors, 54. The principal demand on the revenue of Taniore amounted to 370,000L The gross sumnwhlichmight be awaraed, nicluding all demands, was about 1,000,0001. The. Camnatic Com- missioners had been employed most beneficially for the public. Tbe- claims made by the creditors of the iNabob amounted to 29,000,0001... of which the commissioners had rejected27,000,0001. (Hear.) The commission had, frompeculiarcnctumstances, lasted forl8or i9yean ; but by a summary process which had been adopted by Parliament, that commission would terminate in a short time. The resolution was then agreed to. THE mARQUIS OF SIASTINGS. The CHAIERMAN stated, that in conformity with the resolution of that Court of the 3d of March last, calling for the production of certain papers illustrative of the administration of the Marquis of Hastings, the Court of Directoes had selected and arranged nllithe documents which appeared to them to be necessary to elucidate the subject. Those documents had been sent to the printer's. A list of them was now placed in the reading-room for the use of the pro- prietors; and if, on looking over that list, the rinoyer or seconder of' the origiaal proposition, or any of the friends of thenobile marquis, perceived any omission, or that any paper was proluced which was unnecessary,and wouldstate the fact,the Court oftDirectors would give due weightto the suggestion, andannounce at the next General Court the decision they had conie to. The list was-rather voluminous, as the parties referred to a period of nine or ten years. They were classed under the following heads :-l. The Nepaal and Pindarree war. 2. The taliratta war. 3. The transactions between the house of Palmer and Co. and the Nzaul of Hbydrabad ; and 4. Re- tio rao be m or thrsa.u to these were added the proceed- ings of the DCirectors of the 3d of July and 4th ofOctober last relative to a proposition for granting a penioed to the Marquis oi. Hastings. Some papers relative to the Nepaul and Mahratta ware had been laid before the Proprietors, when thanks were voted to the Mdarquis of Hastings in 1819, but these were considerably enlargedi be othebaddition ofpapers hjichbad sincereachted the Dire&orn With respect to the proceedings between the Nizam of Hydrabad and the house of Palmerr tad Co., all the documeintshwould be forthcoming. That matter t,hleirectors cotnsidered asnow closed,the GoverAnient of li:diahavingteransmited the papers respecting it tothis country. No delay hiad taken place in arr.anging the paLpers, which, as lie befcre observed, were very volumtinous, amounting to no less _hi2n 2,001) pages. It would therefore requifre a good deal of attention on the part of the Proprietors to makea themselves masters of thie subject. At present,he could not say when they would be lad before the Court. ,OaTArINZING A COSIrnISSrON COIRtUPTLY. The CHIsARsAN said, a trial had lately taken placein the Court of Kirng'sLzench, in which two persons of the names of Taggart and Bascombe were prosecuted for taking the sunm of 1001. from an indi-. vidual named Blennett, on condition that they would procure bims a commission in the Company's forces. The conimission was pro, catred, and Bennett was now an ensignl" on the Bengal establishment. Onlthe facts being examined, Taggart was acquitted, and Basrombe found guilty. The appointment, it appeared, was conferred through the nomination of an hon. Director, on whose conduct, however. no iimputation could be cast. He was, notwithstanding, most anxious that the matter should be investigated by the Proprietors In con- sequence of his wish, the tria would be laid before them, and a mo- tion wvould be made on the subject at the next General Court. The resolution of the Court of Directors of the 25th of May, relative to the transaction, was then read. The chief point it con - taied asa dclraton tht,as r.Bennett, to whom thecoem. EAST? IDIA4j6TS,.p..