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    /SCIENCE A1SD WAH.

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    pass-book ; and sometimes takes it to or fetches it from the bankers ' himself , after it has been made up . Thus it would be extremely difficult to ^ deceive him -by ' substituting- another book , as appears to ha ve been ^ done in the Puiii . iNG . ER case . " Either a - director or the manager of the Union Bank ought from , d : iy to day to . have examined the cash to be paid into the Bank of England , and ought from day to day to have seen the pass-book also , and ascertained that the ¦ entries corresponded with the transactions of the concern . With such precautions PtrLLU «> ER might have bolted with the whole sum he was intrusted with on a single occasion , but he could not once have divided it , leaving some for his masters and keeping some for himself . Thus there can be no doubt that the " Board" egregiously failed in a simple matter of duty , and allowed one of the most important departments to escape scrutiny altogether .

    In another particular they neglected the warning'given m Mr . Morgan ' s pamphlet—they issued a balance-sheet upon defective principles , wanting that precision and clearness which is the only security against fraud . They lumped assets together , so that the amount they believed to be at the Bank of England was confounded with items of a different kind . In this , there was simply an exhibition ' of the magpie nature of Boards without a shadow of excuse . In many joint stock companies , all sorts of tricks and dodges are resorted to which it is desirable to conce : tl . Some directors do not pay up their portion of share capital ; others enter upon transactions to " rig the market , " bribes are paid to persons helping the concern , and there is in . fact a great With the Union Bank this could not have

    geks , as degraded , and far more mischievous than the bank clerk variety . When wealthy manufacturers forge trade marks , or represent their goods to measure far more than they do , a wave of rascality is set in motion that legitimately ewds in robberies of another form . It is not the Pcxlingers alone who are guilty , or even chiefly guilty" : a deeper * blame rests upon those who encourage a false morality , and 'worship success however achieved . It was accident that determined Robson , Redpath , and Pullingek to their particular modes of fraud . There are lawyers , engineers , and contractors moving in the best

    society , who have robbed unfortunate shareholders of an amount as large ; and if they had had their choice these rogues we have named would no doubt have preferred the safer gains of their luckier rivals in the arts of depredation . Almost every great bankruptcy reveals transactions quite as bad in point of morality as the embezzlement of cash ; but the reckless abuse of credit seldom meets with either reprobation or punishment . By the employment of more caution we may diminish such cases as those of LIobsox , Hedpath , and Pcxlinge-k ; but we shall do little more than alter the shape of villany until the public conscience is sufficiently enlightened to condemn the worship of unprincipled success .

    It is curious that our conspicuous rogues are either pharisees or " sporting gents ; " and yet by their disgusting idolatry of Ton Sayeb ' s , the members of the Stock Exchange and the Mincing Lane brokers encourage their clerks to frequent regions inhabited by betters and blacklegs , to cultivate tastes of debauchery and demoralization , and to consider mere " pluck , " as it exists in the bulldog or a tiger , the highest of known qualities . We know some of the associates of Mr . Pcllinger , and we trust the Stock Exchange and Union Bank Directors will permit us to know the rest . He may have improved- his . morals ¦' on the race-course or b y the ring ; but such enormous transactions as he was engaged in leave no doubt that he must have had the countenance of persons of wealth and station , who , as in the case of . Red-path , did not choose to know that a clerkUpon a few- hundreds a year could not . honestly be engaged in the operations of a millionaire .- We fear , however , " we shall not get at this sort of iufoi-mation ; but the shnreliolders . sliould . force it out ,-as it may lead to a recovery of a portion of their loss .

    deal to be ashamed of . been the case . It was established when really wanted . It has enjoyed uniform success ,, and we do not believe it could at any period have been a gainer by the policy of concealment or mystification . We do not think that the directors had any motive for avoiding-an explicit statement . They merely acted according to the traditions of their craft , and the result was that they assisted the black- sheep , who appears , to have been the pet of their fold . When the frauds were detected , their conduct was characteristic . There was of-course ground for satisfaction and pride , that so enormous a loss could not " in the slightest degree affect the stability of their concern . Everybody knew it could afford Jo lose a quarter of a million , and had the loss been doubled , no depositor would have felt

    afraiiTof- the security of his deposits , nor would the ' . permanent position of the institution have-been injured . The question of confidence is independent of capital , and will turn entitely-upon the management . If the directors think that they have only to compliment themselves and express sympathy with then ? manager , the public will regarff"them as quite unfit for their posts , and we cannot conceive that the shareholders will be so blind to their own interests , as to accept their misfortune , as a matter of course . The men who have allowed'it to take place may be very estimable and honourable , but they have failed in a most important duty , and their negligence gave opportunities which ought never to have been afforded . No one for a moment imputes any more blame to them than that of following the habitual carelessness of boards , which may be said never to adopt the precautions of private firms , but surely

    this is blame enough . HndahisJjcmiJJie-fkst-groat fraud since that on the Bank of England" in 1803 , which more than half a century fiaTToBirterntetnhe memory of , some excuse might be made for the directors not , at all events , securing themselves by taking full and efficient guarantees from their servants who had the handling of such vast amounts . The system of suretyship has been gradually growing up as a corollary to the larger trusts and greater temptations imposed on confidential clerics ; and most large establishments adopt the principle . Indeed , to such an extent lias this prudential arrangement extended , that powerful and responsible joint-stock companies have been instituted to relieve the pressure on private individuals ; and the-Government ,

    railways , contractors , and all reposing great trusts or requiring large recognizances have reeour . se to them . How , alter the extraordinary dt falcations of Jtonsox , Rkdp . vtii , and Co ., any banking association did not make this a principle , from their cashier down to the poorest collecting clerk , we are at a loss to understand , and more especially when for seven shillings for the hundred pounds they could thus assure themselves . Jfc is indeed said that Pulling er . did give some security for a very small amount ; but the sum assured ought to bear some proportion to the risk of roobcry . If at the rato of a thousand pounds a week could be imperceptibly ™ . ¦ ^ n pv v ¦ ¦ ^^ d w ¦¦ ^ v ^^ ^ ¦ v w m » ^ w ^ K *» rw •*¦« « *^ ¦ r *¦* * ^ ^ ¦• » » ¦ r — — . v ^ ^ should at least

    abstracted by a single clerk , surely his assurance hnvo covered half a year ' s possible loss . Had this been the case , two shillings in the pound might at least have been saved to the shareholder )* , and added to their dividend . Moreover , the companies that guarantee these amounts look very keenly into charaotor and circumstances , and had they guaranteed such an amount as twenty-live thousand pounds , wo may feel assured they would lmvo instituted such nn inquiry , and maintained such a surveillance as would , in all probability , have led to a much earlier discovery of this vast robbery , nnd consequently to a great saving to tho shareholders . '' .. '''¦"'' . '"_ . '

    Tho Puixingeu frauds ought not to bo considered nlone . They form it part of qnv commercial ami social system , and are led up toby transactions which ineut with little rSpspbatioh . Members of Parliament do their part towards dovelomng such results when they maku hustings' promises thoy never intend to keep , and lend their names , for a connideration , to enterprises they do not take tho trouble to cheek . They have , their counterparts in tho Eunest Maltravkks school of morals , and when a legislator wins tho applause of his party by proclaiming corrupt ion to be the natural way for wealth to deiU with democracy , he does his best to create political Pullin-

    Untitled Article

    A N excellent Lecture delivered last Friday evening at the Royal "~ Institution by Mr . ABEL , _ the head of the comical department at-Woolwich , on tile application of .-science' to military affairs , was sufficient to prove that a very great advance has been made in the management of our warlike arrangements , but was also calculate ' ctio lead to the conviction ; that both in Parliament and out of it . still-further . changes ' must take place if we are to maintain our position against all assailants . A large part of Mr . Abel ' s discourse related to the Armstrong and . Whitworth guns , but he mentioned several other subjects , which illustrated the urgent demand for skilled scientific labour , both in the adi ' muistration-of departments , and in all parties concerned , from the Miuister of War and Commander-in-Chief , down to the artisan employed in making various implements of destruction , and tho private soldier , by whom tlieyninnrto-bBbrotrg-htHttto-playT : — - —— ~ - —

    It appears that the disasters of the Crimean War and the clamour of public opinion did manage to rouse the authorities from their slumbers , and among other matters—some still grievously neglected —the construction of artillery engaged their ' thoughts- to an extent which is not generally known . The siege of Sevastopol was remarkable for the consumption of cannon as well as of projectiles , and it became apparent that the enormous work required of modern artillery could not be performed either by cast iron or whut are commonly called brass guns . Accordingly the Ordnance chemists and metallurgists made a variety of experiments , with a view ot forming some alloy of copper , which should be more hard and tenacious than ordinary gun metal , and serve for the construction ot

    comparatively light and portable guns , that would stand prolonged firing , without either bursting or losing- their form . In these efforts they seem to have achieved a considerable success , and among other compounds produced a lm ' xture of copper and phosphorus , of a very serviceable character . At tho same time , Sir William Akmstuoxo was overcoming the difficulty of forging iron cannon ' , and Mr . Wiiitwobtu was arriving at an analogous result by a peculiar process of working steel , so as to get what ho terms «! .. « .. ~ ...-. :.. « . » " nnd urliioli J « imifm'm nilfl tftliaClOUS 111 KS homogeneous iro" and which is uniform and tenacious in its

    " n , texture , and quite free from the crystallization thnt renders cast iron unreliable under a sudden strain . Sir William Aumstkong carries out with modern skill and appliances the notion of the original artillerists , who made their guns of many pieces , which they endeavoured to weld together . Ilia cannon are m fact made much like the best barrels for fowling pieces . Ho twists a long ribbon of iron round a mandril , heats it white hot , nnd hammers it until all tho joints aro firmly welded together . This is sufficient for the barrel of a small cannon ; but when a larger size and

    greater strength is needed , he places-a series of spiral hoops over the original cylinder and wolds them together , not by hammering , but-by tho action of a screw . These hoops aro put on hot , nud as thoy shrink in cooling they squeeze tho mass which they embrace , and enable it all tho Better to stand thocouciiHsion of . tho discharge . In constructing tho'breech of his guns , Sir William Ahmstkong takes care that tho fibre of tho iron v »» s parallel tolhe nxuupt the weapon , a plan which secures tho greatest strength in tho direction of tho greatest explosive force . Mr . Whit worth ; uses for his material not wrought iron , but a material resembling- the cast steel , ¦ ¦ '¦¦ ' .. . . .. . . , + >

    Untitled Article

    1 " . . * ¦ ' r'i May 5 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst * ' " 419

    /Science A1sd Wah.

    • SCIENCE A 3 T > WAK .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1860, page 419, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2346/page/7/