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    824 THE 1EADEB. [No. 388, August 29, 185...

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    THE SURREY GARDENS BANKRUPTCY. Tub bankr...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Continental Dotes. Itba3sce. A Most Extr...

    the Minister of War that the preparations at the camp of Chalons -were not so forward as he expected . " The IJmperor arrived in Paris from Biarritz on Monday morning . It is announced in the Morning Post that Louis Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia will meet in Germany towards the end of September . The Empress , together-with the King of Wurteraberg attended a bull-fight at Bayonne , last Sunday afternoon . The performance was interrupted by a heavy storm of rain and lightning , and afterwards by an

    accident . The people crowded for shelter into a gallery covered by an awning ,- in which the musicians were ¦ stationed . This , being overcrowded , gave way , and a great many persons were thrown to . the ground . One man , it is supposed-, was crushed to death ; and seven others were considerably hurt . The confusion having passed , the people clamoured for a renewal of the fight , though the rain was still pouring down . The manager , however , did not comply , and the malcontents tore up the benches and behaved in so riotous a manner that the military were called in . The Empress then departed .

    AUSTRIA . The Emperor returned to Vienna on the 15 th inst ., having for the present broken off his tour in Hungary . The Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and the Archduchess arrived at Venice ori the 16 th .

    PORTUGAL . The Prince of Orange has arrived at Lisbon from Galicia . The King has demanded in marriage the hand of the Princess Stephanie de Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen . The necessary formalities will be fulfilled in the course of the autumn , but the marriage will probably be deferred until next year . The father of the future Queen of Portugal , who is a general in the Prussian service , resides' at Dusseldorf .

    ITALY . The Pope is at present on a visit to Tuscany . A rumour was current at Genoa , on the 19 th inst ., to the effect that two steamers , under Neapolitan colours , coming from Marseilles , have been seized at Naples , several chests of muskets . having been found on board , which chests had been declared to contain sugar . The captains and several officials of the custo . n-house are stated to have been arrested in consequence .

    TURKEY . The populace at Constantinople are much exasperated against the French . A few days ago , at Therapia , a quarrel broke out between some French sailors and Turkish boatmen , and as they could not understand each other ' s language , they soon resorted to the use of their fists , and presently of their knives ; on each side several were badly wounded before they were parted by the guard . A second affray occurred on the bridge at Galata , where an officer of the French steamer Ajaccio , having been accidentally jostled by a Turkish officer , attempted to strike him . -with his whip , but the latter anticipated him with a blow in the face , and , the eyeglass Or spectacles he wore being broken , he was dangerously injured by the fragments of the glass . Several Turkish soldiers came up , and would have killed the Frenchman , had not the same Turkish officer protected him . —Daily News Constantinople Correspondent .

    The Turkish Government has resolved on annulling the Moldavian elections , in compliance with the wishes of the great Powers . Ruchdi Pacha has been appointed Minister at War , in place of Kiamil Pacha .

    SPAIN . The Queen is said to bo plotting against the Narvaez Ministry . However , on his offering to resign , the offer was not accepted , though the Queen said that , if he insisted , she would yield . Narvaozj bad been moved to this courBe by a scurrilous libel on him which he traced to some persons connected with the Palace . Ho has arrested and exiled one Don Jos 6 Montserrat , notwithstanding that he is employed in the Royal Patrimony .

    824 The 1eadeb. [No. 388, August 29, 185...

    824 THE 1 EADEB . [ No . 388 , August 29 , 1857 .

    The Surrey Gardens Bankruptcy. Tub Bankr...

    THE SURREY GARDENS BANKRUPTCY . Tub bankruptcy of tho Surrey Gardens Company seems to promise ft companion to those other recent commercial failures which have startled and shocked tho English public . The petition for tho winding up of the Company was heard in tho Court of Bankruptcy , bqfore Mr . Commissioner Fane , last Saturday , Tho petitioner for winding up the compiyrvy , under the provisions of the Joint Stock Companies Act , I 860 , Is Mr . Horace Jones , the architect of tho Musjo Hall and other buildings erected in the Gordons . Mr , Roxburgh , barrister , Instructed by Mr . Alfred JonoB , of Size-lane , brother of the petitioner , appeared in support of tho petition . Mr . Cimppoll , aolicitor , appoarcd for M . Jullien , who was present , and other shareholders and creditors ; Mr . Fleming , of Trinity-square , and Mr . W . A . Coombe , represented a large body of thq shareholders who had hold a meeting on tho subject .

    Mr . Roxburgh , in opening tho case for the petitioner , said the Company was formed in March , 1856 . Thq capital was 40 , 000 ? ., In 4000 shares of 10 / . each , deposit 2 ? . per ( share . Of this number , 8740 shares were aub-Hp rUw * for , b \ tf only 8250 paid , upon which a sum of

    33 , 546 Z . was raised . Not only had that sain not been expended , but there was a mortgage of 14 , 500 ? . upon the buildings and gardens . The company had failed and was unable to pay its Working expenses ; the capital of the coiripanv was entirely exhausted , lost , or become unavailable , ' and the debts incurred were about 26 , 000 ? . —namely , the 14 , 500 ? . mortgage , and 11 , 000 ? . of other debts , which the company were unable io pay . That being the case , his client , who was the owner of twenty shares , as well as a creditor of the company , felt it his duty to come before that court and present a petition for winding up the affairs of the company . Some technical objections were raised by Mr . Chappell , on behalf of M . Jullien , who , in conjunction with Messrs . Beale and Co ., is' at present bearing all the current expenses of the concern ; but these objections were overruled by the Commissioner .

    ' Mr . Fleming said he appeared before the court on behalf of Mr . Samuel Cooke arid other shareholders , and he had to present a memorial to the court , if it was the practice of the court to receive it , showing the grounds upon which they objected to the reception of this petition and the order of the court issuing thereupon ; or , at all events , that the order of the court for the winding up should not issue until . the shareholders had time to investigate the truth of the allegations in the petition , mam' of which they believed to be untrue . In the first

    place , he took an objection to the petition , which , in one point , was notoriously untrue ; that was in the statement it contained ' that the paid-up capital of the Royal Surrey Gardens Company had been entirely exr liausted , lost , or become unavailable . ' He asked the Commissioner how the whole of 33 , 000 ? . could be said to be lost or unavailable , ' when there was the Music Hall , which had cost 18 , 313 ? ., and the other buildings in the Gardens . Could it be said that these buildings , with all their fittings , were worth nothing at all ?

    The Commissioner : " If a company 13 unable to meet its engagements , then it matters not what buildings it ha 3 '; it is a case for winding up . Here in the petition it is stated that the company is in debt 26 , 000 ? ., and has no means of paying . " . Mr . Fleming further stated that up to a late period the shareholders had been deceived by nourishing statements as to the prosperotfs condition of the eompahy ; that , in a recent balance-sheet , a balance was put down of 1160 / . in favour of the company ; and that the shareholders never heard a word about a . mortgage

    until the petition was presented . An adjournment was therefore requested , in order that there might be time for investigating tho accounts . —This was resisted by Mr . Roxburgh , who said that in that case creditors who had obtained execution might go into the Gardens , seize whatever they 1 could lay hands on , and do immense mischief ! Mr . Coombe , a solicitor and shareholder in the company , said the shareholders had strong grounds for suspecting that the petition for winding up was actually the petition of the directors themselves , and , although an official liquidator might be

    appointed by tho court , they believed that the petitioner , the secretary , the attorney , and the other officials , were in collusion with the directors to get this petition received , so that they might have the matter wound up in a way favourable to themselves . The shareholders , having been refused the accounts , had had no time to investigate . —Mr . Jones repudiated tho assertion that lie was in any way in collusion with the directors . —The Commissioner consented to adjourn the hearing of the petition till the following Thursday . At this announcement there was loud applause .

    Mr . George , of the firm of King and George , solicitors , of Cheapside , said he had attended there to watch the proceedings on the part of Mrs . Seacole , in whoso behalf a series of military fetes had recently been given at the Surrey Gardens . Although they were led to believe that thase jZtes produced a very considerable sum of money , which it was agreed should be kept as a separate account , no return whatever had been made , and Mrs . Seacolo had never received one single farthing of tho proceeds . His application to the court wns that his honour would issue an order for his inspection of the books and documents of tho company , on behalf of Mrs . Seacole , to ascertain how the funds collected specially for her use had been appropriated . The Commissioner said he should certainly not entertain any of these isolated applications . At the meeting of the shareholders on Friday week , statements similar to those mentioned above were made ;

    and ono shareholder said the ufftur was worse than that of the British Bank . Another mooting of tho shareholders was hold on Tuesday in tho Refreshment Hall of tho Gardens . The directors abstained from being present . ' Mr . Coombo was called to the chair , and M . Jullien was ono of tho chief speakers . Mr . Fleming having stated tho main faqts conneoted with tho position of the company , Mr . Nicoll followed in tho same course , and alluded to tho benefit for Mrs . Soncolp , when M . Jullien , with eomo animation , exclaimed : — " That is a robbery . Sho ought to have had her money ovory night—that was agveod on . Tl » e man who took that money ought to bo bfought before you . It wua paid away for bills which wore written by the parties themselves . Tho Duko of Cambridge would not allow it , nor would tho othor

    distinguished officers connected with that lady ' s benefit . The woman had been robbed . The whole cry is , ' Mr . Coppock ! Where is Mr . Coppock ? Why does he not come here ? ' " Loud and vehement applause followed these remarks . M . Jullien subsequently again asked where Mr . CoppQck was , and asserted that , after the Seacole festival , he never went near the place . Where had the money gone to ? He himself ( M . Jullien ) " had had no money this season , except a part of his salary paid in shares . "—Mr . Tyler said that the money was taken up to his room every night , and in the morning placed against the cheques and sent to the bank , and it was the same in the Seacole Week .: —M . Jullien : " Thatis wrong , for at the end of that week I went with this cheque ( holding it up ) , and found nothing at the banker ' s . " ( Loud cheers and some confusion . * )

    Mr . Fleming then moved a resolution to the effect that , the gentlemen who were appointed to make an investigation into the accounts having made their report , it was considered necessary to institute the strictest inquiry into the affairs of the company ; that therefore a committee of investigation be formed of shareholders for that purpose , and generally to conduct the affairs of the company in its winding-up ; that the committee seek what professional assistance they may require , and that an application be made to the Court of Bankruptcy to get rid of that petition . —Mr . Macdonald having seconded the motion , it was carried unanimously . —Several gentlemen handed in subscriptions towards defraying the expenses of the movement .

    The chairmen then made some very feeling observations on the position in which M . Jullien had been left , and called on the meeting to give him a cordial vote of thanks for the manner in which he had always endeavoured to promote the interests of the company . The motion having been carried with acclamation , ¦ M . Jullien rose , and , greatly affected , said " he had been very miserably treated for the fifteen months that he had been connected with the company . He had found his thirty years' experience had here been thrown away . The directors had not understood his endeavours , excepting in the case of Mr . Beale and Mr . ChappelL For the past four or five months , he had been very badly situated , for he had had to keep his poor fellows in the band for hours for their -money ; but he could not get his cheque for 2000 ? . through the bad management . Many of those poor fellows , only getting 21 . a week , and having had many years to learn their profession , their

    had to wait for hours before they could get money to get food for themselves and families . For himself , he had been called to the bosom of his family to rest , but he could not ; he had commenced with this , and he would sink with it as the last man of a ship should do . ( Cheers . ' ) He had many times gone into the orchestra when told by his doctor that he would die , but he said it would be an honour to die in his orchestra . ( Cheers . ) It had been supposed he was rich , but he was not , for he had very heavy expenses to meet in obtaining new music and extending " his orchestra . ( Hear , hear . ) He was a most economiciil man , for the cost of himself and family at home was not 2 ? . a week . He trusted to God , however , that the concern would next year succeed . Ho had spent a large fortune in one affair in establishing a national opera , and it had driven him to the Bankruptcy Court . Pie hoped he should never figure again in anything connected with bankruptcy . " M . Jullien here abruptly left the room , being overcome with

    . The usual compliment to the chairman terminated the proceedings . At the adjourned meeting in the Court of Bankruptcy on Thursday , Mr . Ooppock , tho la to manager and one of tho directors of the company , was present , and made some statements in defence of himself and colleagues . He said he was a solicitor and the largest shareholder in the company . Ho held one thousand one hundred 10 J . shares , and was a creditor for between 400 ? . and 500 / - and

    money lent . He was opposed to winding up . Wo tho other directors had not the slightest interest hostile to the interests of the other shareholders , and in the course which tho directors had taken their object was to prevent the proporty from being sacrificed . TJjo Commissioner : " There is no blame imputed . " Mr . CoppocK replied that grave aspersions had been thrown upon them . Theso aspersions they repudiated , and challenged tho fullest inquiry . They wanted to protect the property , and also to protect thomsolvos from cliargos muao against them by persons who should have boon ashuinoa

    to bring those charges . , Tho Commissioner : » I do not see that any at tacit has been made . " Mr . Coppock said that attacks had been mado day after day , and allusions had been thrown out as to criminal proceedings against thorn , lncy might not have acted wisely , but they had done tno best they could , and , they had failed , it was not their fault . Ho was not tho man to bo charged with embezzling money . Tho Commissioner : "I repent there is no charge ngatnst you . " Mr . Coppock stated that no had never received any advantage whatever from tno and ho was heavilinvolved in it .

    company , y After somo further dlsousslon , Mr , George bogged t »« i Mrs . Soacolo might have permission to inspect tlio boc > i « - Mr . Coppock stated that with Mrs . Soacolo tho «> rocto ™ had no communication directly or indirectly . A « ° m 0 "

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 29, 1857, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29081857/page/8/