SECOND READING. THIRD READING. (Hansard, 14 August 1879)

§ VISCOUNT CRANBROOK

, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that it was only part of a larger measure which was introduced into the other House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but which, from the state of Business and the opposition it was likely to meet with, it had not been thought desirable to press it in its entirety; and therefore Her Majesty's Government, abandoning those provisions of the original Bill which had given rise to controversy, and might have imperilled the passing of those sections which were universally accepted, had retained only those clauses which enabled unlimited Companies to register themselves anew as limited Companies, and those which provided for the limitation of liability and the powers of audit.

LORD DENMAN

My Lords, the discussion yesterday was quite irregular, and if the Bill which I heard read a third time at 5 o'clock in "another place" had been sent up in time, the observations I made, and which were objected to, might have been attended to. In my remarks with reference to the Trustees Relief Bill, I wished to allude to the enormous powers which creditors and depositors possessed in being able to make trustees liable; because the change is so great from a power to make several innocent persons contributories, to limiting the liability to 966 any fixed sum. My Lords, as I ventured to say in the presence of the noble and learned Earl (the Lord Chancellor), I consider the case of Buchanan v. Ridsdale to be erroneous, and many Scotch advocates, and every English barrister who knows much of the matter, will agree with me in what I say. In your Lordships' answer to the Speech from the Throne, you say— We humbly assure your Majesty that, after full deliberation upon the matters which have led your Majesty to anticipate our usual time of meeting, we shall he prepared to give our careful consideration to such measures for the public benefit as your Majesty may hereafter direct to he submitted to us. But I ask your Lordships, how can we "carefully consider" that which has only been in our hands a quarter of an hour? The proposal of the noble Earl now on the Woolsack (the Earl of Redesdale) in 1855 to refer the first Limited Liability Bill to a Select Committee is applicable now. A Minister has proposed that a new clause for a Bill should be brought forward next Session. Following the example of the Irish Education Bill, which, instead of plodding through "another place," was begun in this House, a Bill on the whole subject might be introduced, and the opinion of such noble Lords as Lord Overstone and Lord Wolverton might be taken. At present, the House does not contain the usual number of Government supporters. The liquidation of the City of Glasgow Bank is not yet finished, and the trustees are at the mercy of the liquidators. My Lords, to show how hardly shareholders are dealt with, I may mention the case of a shareholder in the Western Bank, in which a Baronet supposed to have £20,000 for his wife's fortune lost it all, and had to pay the same amount by way of calls; but in the City of Glasgow Bank a shareholder of five shares, purchased by an agent, had to pay £5,000, being all, with the assistance of relatives, that could be paid, and if the full amount of calls now made had been within the power of the shareholder, £16,000 would have been the amount beyond the loss of the shares. My Lords, I earnestly beseech your Lordships to postpone the consideration of the Bill to the beginning of next Session. The subject is one which is worthy the consideration of every depositor, every shareholder, and every 967 trustee; but it is impossible at this time of the Session that it can be adequately discussed. Many of your Lordships will remember that in 1855 the question of an independent audit was considered; and, in my opinion, if there had been an independent audit of the City of Glasgow Bank accounts, the disaster which is deplored by so many thousands, and which has ruined so many families, would not have occurred. I earnestly hope, my Lords, that the measure will be postponed at present, and will be reintroduced the first day of next Session. I move that the Bill be read a second time this day three months.