20 OCTOBER 1866, Page 2

Ugly facts are coming out about Barned's Bank. It seems

that when the business was sold to the Company it was yielding no profit, though the promoters declared that the business was a "lucrative one," that there was no examination of liabilities, that 700,000/. were owing to the Bank by parties who failed, and that the principal guarantee, the estate of Mr. Lewin Bernal, was mortgaged for 100,0001., all facts unknown to the shareholders. Nobody of course will be punished, except the innocent persons who believed the names signed to the prospectus to be guarantees of good faith. They are fined heavily, and a cynic might say deservedly, for why on earth should a banker sell a prosperous bank? If he wanted more capital, he could always get sleeping partners ; if more ease, any number of managers.