§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether the Liquidation proceedings in connection with the West of England Bank, which failed in 1868, are still unfinished; whether they have been kept open for many years longer than those of the Glasgow Bank, though the liabilities were only about a fourth of those of the latter; whether, in 1881, the liquidators had in hand some £66,000, a large portion of which was dissipated in a single year by legal proceedings in which there was no reasonable prospect of success; whether the Barker property, which cost the Bank about £570,000, was sold by the liquidators for £67,000, payment of which was to extend over several years; whether he will cause the liquidators to furnish a full statement of the position of the estate, with details of outgoings and commission; and, whether one of the liquidators has been given a Receivership under the new Bankruptcy Act?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINI would remind the hon. Member that the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, are not applicable to Joint Stock Companies, and that consequently the Board of Trade have no knowledge of, or power to interfere with, the liquidation proceedings in connection with the West of England Bank. As, however, the hon. Member has referred to the fact that the Official Receiver at Bristol is one of the liquidators, I have thought it right to communicate with that gentleman and learn from him that (1) the West of England Bank failed in 1878, not 1868, as stated by the hon. Member The liabilities exceeded £3,000,000, of which amount half was paid in three months, and the balance within 13 months after that. The proceedings are now limited to the realization of assets for the benefit of those who found the money to pay the creditors. (2.) It is not true that in 1881 the liquidators, out of £66,000, dissipated a large portion by unsuccessful legal proceedings. Out of £66,000 stated to have been in hand, over £50,000 has been returned to shareholders, and the legal proceedings, which 102 have been almost uniformly successful, were undertaken with the sanction of the Court. (3.) The Booker property realized nearly twice as much as is suggested by the hon. Member; and only about one-third of the amount was to be paid by instalments with interest at 6 per cent. (4.) The accounts in detail are passed and filed in Court, and a summary has been sent to every shareholder up to December, 1883.