Vice-Chancellor Malins on Saturday read a very severe lecture to
a good many Directors of Companies. Certain persons, among whom were Mr. Albert Grant, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Warner, Colonel James Holland, Mr. S. Stopford, Sir J. M'Kenna, Mr. Henshaw, and Mr. Harvey Lewis, were directors of the Imperial Marseilles Land Company (Limited). They entered into a con- tract to buy land at Marseilles from Mr. John Masterman, and added to the price of that land £650,000, which they divided among different persons. Thus, they gave £360,000 to the Credit Foncier of England, and other large sums, a sum of £5,000 in particular being given to the National Bank, through the Credit Foncier, for permission to open an account there. Of those who received these .£650,000, one had £110,000, and had repaid £56,000; another had £17,000, and had repaid £5,000; a third had £37,000, and had repaid £20,000. There remained the £5,000 given to the National Bank, which the Company sought to recover from the National Bank, or its three directors, Henshaw, M'Kenna, and Lewis, who were also directors of the Imperial Land Company. The Vice-Chancellor gave the liquidators permission to file a bill, holding that the defendants, and particularly Mr. Harvey Lewis, must have known that the money was paid, and that there was no need to pay it, Banks rather liking heavy deposit accounts.
Previous page
