National Land Company - Aftermath

Aftermath

The illegality of the company, and the need to wind it up, exposed the conflicting interests of the four groups involved.

• Settled shareholders, didn't want to pay the rent which was due, and wanted clear title to their plots.
• Unsettled shareholders, wanted the settled shareholders to pay their rents so that the pot of cash to be divided out among all shareholders would be maximised.
• Directors, wanted to avoid any liability for outstanding debts of the company.
• O'Connor, wanted to recover his expenses before any payout to shareholders.

After a number of court cases an act to wind-up the company was passed by parliament in July 1851 and all its affairs were passed to the Court of Chancery. The settled shareholders mostly disappear from the records of the estates in the years following, and the estates themselves were auctioned off.