MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE ON JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES, ETC.
On the 5th of December Alderman Waithman moved for the appointment of a select committee upon the joint-stock speculation of the last three years. In his speech he showed that during the time mentioned there had been no less than six hundred companies formed, requiring for the execution of their intended operations, a capital of many millions. He complained of the dishonest views with which many of these were set on foot; the knavery by which a fictitious value was given to shares which had cost nothing; and of the misery produced by this systematic swindling. He remarked, that if a man purchased in the lottery, he knew something of what he was doing, that he was giving a certain sum for a very unlikely chance, and that in doing so he was conferring some benefit on government. But the joint-stock gambling was of a much more atrocious kind: it was gambling with false dice. The loss itself on the whole speculation was an evil, but the great and signal grievance was, that the holders of the shares, now worth nothing, were not the losers. The original swindlers worked up the market to the point which they had expected it to attain: then down went the shares, and when they were down the original swindlers again bought them up, and were now the holders. He instanced the Arigna Mining Company as a proof of this nefarious practice. In that company, he said, there were three thousand shares, and the first deposit was £5. In one day the premium rose upon those shares from 8-1/2 to 24, then it got to 26. and then it dropped to 24. Whether this was or was not a trick he would leave it to the house to determine. How such proceedings were brought about, he said, he would leave to any one to form an opinion. Afterwards, however, he boldly told the house how the proceedings originated. This Arigna Mining Company, he said, were seeking to obtain an act of parliament, and it was first intended that the sum of £15,000 should be divided between four or five individuals. This, however, was not considered safe, and it was agreed to divide the spoil more extensively. One gentleman put into his pocket £2,500 of this money, and afterwards £1,500 as profit upon shares, although he had not paid for those shares, but still owed £375 for them. That individual, he continued, was Sir William Congreve, a member of parliament: and was not, he asked, parliament called upon to do something towards an inquiry into conduct so dishonourable? Never had there been a fouler stain upon the house. After some remarks on the Equitable Loan Company, the alderman moved, “that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the origin, the management, and the present state of the joint-stock companies formed during the years 1824,1825, and 1826, and to report on the same, together with any special matter touching any member of that house.” Mr. Canning, in reply, objected to the inquiry on account of its extent, asserting that for inquiry to be useful it must be limited and precise. Enough had been said to show that there was strong ground for suspicion, that in the affairs of some few companies there was matter deserving inquiry; but the motion as it stood involved many companies against the utility and management of which no charge had been brought. He moved an amendment, therefore, that the inquiry of the committee should be limited to the management and history of the Arigna Company. He was supported by Mr. Huskisson, who, in his speech, denounced the idea that joint-stock companies of every description were public evils. He was astonished, he said, to hear men of business talk of mining carried on by joint-stock companies as a thing of recent date. No mine worked in this country had ever been so, except by means of joint-stock companies. Without the formation of such companies, those mines, indeed, would not have been explored. It ought to be, he added, the policy of the law to encourage joint-stock companies; for when embarked in properly and fairly, they are beneficial to the public interests, and fraught with great public advantages. At the same time, he was ready to admit, that those who had been concerned in the speculations and bubbles of the last two years had disgraced themselves; especially if they knew at the time they engaged in them that they were not likely to lead to the public benefit. Mr. Canning’s amendment was agreed to without a division, and the committee appointed.