THE COLLIE FRAUDS.

Colonist, Volume XVII, Issue 1982, 21 October 1875, Page 4

THE COLLIE FRAUDS.

The London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus writes :r- :. ;„ , j-. :r ' i A preliminary meeting of tte; creditors ot Messrs A. Collie and Go., was held on the ; 28th July, at Gannon-street Hotel. Mr ■ Smith of Messrs Smith Traverse and Co., representing the London and Westminster Bank was voted to the chair. The meeting was one mainly for the interchange of information calculated to elucidate the great conspiracy An approximate balance-sheet was presented by Mr Young, the accountant, ■which- discloses about as disgraceful a state of affairs as any bankrupt estate ever showed. L'he magnitude of the liabilities, and the scantiness of. the assets of a firm which had enjoyed for many years thehighesfc mercantile standing and credit in the.city, excite the wonder of everybody that the discount houses and banks could have been sj egregiously deceived. Indeed, not a few individuals insist that the banks must have known the character of the paper which they have so freely discounted, and are not therefore to be pitied for the enormous losses they have sustained. Such persons, of course, see vindictiveness in the action taken by the London and Westminister Bank to expose and punish the delinquent firms joint and separate estates of the firm taken 'together show available assets amounting to only £250,542, and the estimated liabilities reach £1,889,785. Besides the quarter of a million realisable now, there are further assets requiring time for realisation, and which are set down at £554,850, so that the positive deficiency is upwards of a million..! Some of the items which figure in the«e | assets, however, are of a very doubtful value. The private estate of Alex. Collie, for example, ranks for £60,000, but in this , is included his West End mansion, which | is reported to be heavily mortgaged. Equally dubious are the Carolina cotton warrants, stocks and shares, warehouse stocks, &c., which maybe wholly or partly pledged. It was stated at the meeting that the London books had not been balanced for the last twelve years, but the Manchester account had been much better kept. Obe amount of the drawings of Mr Alexander Collie had been about £10,000 per annum, while the Manchester partner had drawn out at about the same rate. As no deed of partnership had ever been executed, an attempt was made, on behalf of the Manchester creditors, to separate the Manchester from the London, house, bat the meeting would not listen to.the proposal. Ab they had stood, &o they must fall together. Almost every day ia bringing to light soms fresh facts showing the ramifications of this scandalous commercial conspiracy. Last week a meeting was held of the creditors of Messrs Alexander, Son and Co, when a state of affairs was revealed that might startle the whole community out of their apathy. This was one of the confederate firms who cooperated with the Collies in their public plundering. The liabilities are found to be £240,535, while the assets are only £34,254. But it transpired at the meeting that Alexander Collie has since 1867 been a senior partner in this firm, and to the extent that lie was so drew bills on himself up to 1874. It does not appear that the Alexanders got a commission for accepting the Collie bills, but about that time Collie acommodated the firJi bj takiug over bills afloat to the amount of £178,000, asking no questions as to their value. Collie's share of the capital, supposed to belong to the nrm was £10,000, butth.ere is no record to show that that sum was ever