PERSONAL EXPLANATION. (Hansard, 10 March 1864)

§ MR. H. B. SHERIDAN

Sir, I hope the House will pardon me while I refer again to a statement made during the debate upon the Government Annuities Bill by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. That statement was sudden and unannounced; no notice was given to me, although it involved facts and figures referring back to nearly ten years ago, so that I was unable to make a full reply to it at the time, and it has taken me a day and a half to get at the facts and figures which would enable me to reply completely to the statement of the right hon. Gentleman. I do not believe that the right hon. Gentleman would have made that statement unless he had had faith in the information that had been conveyed to him. The first statement was, that the British Provident Association was established in 1851, and carried on business for eleven years, and that, during the whole of that time, it had three times only—that is from 1853 to 1856— registered its accounts as required by law. Now, Sir, the British Provident Society was established for eight years only, instead of eleven as stated by the right hon. Gentleman. It transferred its business in 1859—it did not commence business until 1852. It registered its balance sheets of 1852, 1853, and 1854; but at the end of that time the Act of Parliament which 1760 compelled that registration was repealed unintentionally, and the registrar refused to receive the balance sheet after that date. It so happens, therefore, that a most complete answer can be given to that statement of the right hon. Gentleman. I find that I audited the accounts of that Company but once, and that was in the year 1854–5, when it was a very young institution, its business being under £3,000 a year, and that business being of a sound character. The next statement of the right hon. Gentleman was that the Manager of the Company was John Sheridan. If the House will allow me I will read the words, "An action was brought against the Manager of the Society for interpolating words in a deed which altered its character after execution." Now there is no foundation whatever for that statement. No action was ever brought against Mr. John Sheridan, the Manager, on any such grounds or any other grounds whatever. A feigned issue, as between the official manager and one of the shareholders, was tried in the Court of Chancery, but no charge was made by any shareholder against the Manager, and no action was brought; that statement, therefore, is unquestionably incorrect. The next statement of the right hon. Gentleman was that of course it was necessary that the Society should be brought to book and called on to make provision from the resources of the shareholders for the demands of the policy holders. Not only is that statement incorrect, but directly the reverse of what is the fact. So far from the Company having been compelled to go into the Court of Chancery to make provision for the policy holders from the sources of the shareholders, their business was transferred to another office in 1859; and, so far from the business being bad, a bonus of £6,000 was paid to the shareholders for the business thus transferred. That is such a remarkable fact that I cannot understand where the right hon. Gentleman can have got his information from. I am quite sure the right hon. Gentleman never would have made that statement unless he had received information of that character. I do not for a single moment suppose the right hon. Gentleman did not believe what he stated; but, supposing that to be so, I should like to ask the House, even if the action referred to had been brought against a Sheridan, what on earth that has to do with me. There are a great many persons of the name of Sheridan whose names have been 1761 before the public. There is one in Birmingham, an excellent actor; there is one who is the secretary of a society; and lately there was one of that name who passed through the Insolvent Court, and who, it was said, was my son, my son at the time being just ten years old, but I did not take the trouble to contradict the report. There was another of the name of Sheridan, a labouring man, who was accused of murdering his mother and sister. I beg to be allowed to assure the House that I am not the gentleman concerned in any of these cases. I hope, when the Government Annuities Bill is next discussed, I shall not be asked to make further explanations.