NATIONAL LAND COMPANY. (Hansard, 29 May 1851)

§ MR. O'CONNOR
begged permission to say a few words on a subject so personally interesting to himself. He said that the bank was established subsequently to the land company, and entirely against his will. Subsequently, however, as the accounts of the bank had shown, he placed 3,600l. of his own money in it, which sum he had never drawn out, although much pressed for money to meet legal expenses. A Committee, which sat nine weeks during the previous year, had decided that 3,400l. was due to him, and the accounts were subsequently submitted to Messrs. Finlayson and Grey, the actuaries. In the next year Mr. Grey made his credit 1,200l. more, making in the whole 4,600l., and he had been paying the directors 3l. a week for several months out of his own pocket. Notwithstanding all this, the Committee, whose Report had just been laid upon the table, had decided that he was not to be allowed any of the money. The Committee had sent the matter before a Master in Chancery, but they refused to send up a clause by which he (Mr. O'Connor) might receive compensation under the Winding-up Act. It seemed as if the object of every one was to ruin him with expenses. He had put the allottees on plots of four acres, with good cottages, advanced them 50l., and, after four years, they had not paid him one farthing rent, while their universal complaint was that he had reduced them to a deplorable condition. He had recently got an account bringing the bank 195l. more in his debt, and he believed that if all the sums he had advanced in various ways were put together the total would not be far short of 7,500l.

§ SIR HARRY VERNEY
said the hon. Member could, if he chose, take his claim 129 to the Court of Chancery. [Mr. O'CONNOR: Oh, there is no justice there!] He, however, said that the Committee had shown every fair consideration for the hon. Member; but it was impossible to go into the investigation without deep grief at the delusion which had been practised on those unhappy individuals who had wrecked their hard earnings in so delusive a speculation. As to their paying no rent, he did not know what they were called upon to pay. [Mr. O'Connor: Four per cent on the money advanced.] The Committee had left that matter to he settled by the Master in Chancery. He believed that the gravamen of the hon. Member's charge against the Committee was that they had endeavoured to do their duty by those poor individuals.

§ MR. H. HERBERT
said, that, as a Member of the Committee, he had felt it his duty to inspect two estates belonging to the National Land Company, and it was but just to the poor individuals who had now been attacked by the hon. Member for Nottingham, to state his belief that all the charges against him were well founded. They complained that they had been brought to the land under false pretences, had been induced to leave places in which they might have comfort ably supported themselves by honest industry, but that there they were placed in a new position, for which their previous habits and occupations had wholly unfitted them. He had visited their houses, and been struck with the wretched contrast they presented to the cottages of the labourers in the vicinity. In short, no person could visit the estates without being struck with, the conviction that the whole scheme was a perfect failure; and when the hon. Member complained that he received no rent, he (Mr. Herbert) wondered how he could have expected any, seeing that, even as it was, the tenants were hardly able to hold their heads above water. He had also visited the schoolhouses and found them deserted, the windows broken, and filled with straw and the remains of some banners which had been used in some inaugural procession connected with the scheme, on one of which was inscribed in conspicuous characters, "Payment of Members." He must confess that his inspection had filled him with commiseration for the unfortunate people who had been deluded from their homes, and with thankfulness that such men as the hon. Member for Nottingham had not been permitted to ex- 130 perimentalise on a larger scale with the fortunes and happiness of the noble people of England.

§ MR. O'CONNOR
said, that the schoolroom had cost 1,200 guineas, and the cottages had been seen and approved of by several leading Members of Parliament. It was deserted because they would not employ a schoolmaster, and some ruffians had destroyed the building. [Loud cries of "Order!" amidst which the hon. Member resumed his seat.]