The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-07-18 00:00:00

LETTING OF THE WATERCOMBE FLOCK.

This is always a great event in agricultural circles; and
=ably Mr. Chapman Saunders never presented to a
and discriminating company of bidders more
magnificent animals than those which fell under the
hammer of Mr. T. Ensor on Thursday last. Take the
ordinary Hampshire Downs and they are not particularly
prepossessing, but in Mr. Chapman Saunders flock one
has the sweet heads of the Swims, with the weight of the
Hampshire. There were breeders from all quarters —the
names of the chief will be found in the list of prices
which we have appended, and the sale was altogether a
success—one upon which both auctioneer and vendor may
well be congratulated.
Previous to the business proceedings, Mr. Saunders
entertained his friends at a champagne luncheon, admir-
ably served by Mr. Frost, of the King's Arms Hotel,
Dorchester, in a specious barn, prettily and tastefully
decorated by the ladies of the house. Mr. Homer occupied
the chair, and over 2011 sat down.
The CHAIIIMAN at the conclusion of the luncheon pro-
mised to be as brief as passible, and gave the health of the
Queen. This was duly drunk, the company in compliance
with Mr. Homer's request drinking it, as loyal subjects,
with musical honours. The health of the Prince of Wales
the CnkiamAr said, was a toast they would accept as
agriculturista, and they might congratulate him upon his
safe return. . . . .

m.....
The toast of the day was the next on the list, and for that
the President called upon the guests to fill • bumper.
They might anticipate it, but, it was one which he knew
they would drink with • great deal of pleasure. It was the
health of their worthy friend Mr. Chapman Saunders.
(Much cheering.) booking at the cause which
had brought them there that day he felt
certain when they went among the sheep whisk
would be offered them they would say the sheep
which had been brought together was the best lot they
had ever seen exhibited at a hiring or sale there. Thou
sheep were a great credit to his friend: and if they only
looked at the number of prises be had carried off since be
had begun breeding them—he would not say a word as to
what Mr. Saunders father had done: that they all
knew—but he said that, looking at the prises Mr.
Chapman Saunders had won since he had taken the
Rock from his father, the many times he had
exhibited his sheep and been successful, they would
my of him that he was one of the most success-
ful breeders in England. (Hear, hear.) He would
not attempt to enumerate those prises to them.
Were he to do so the sale would have to be postponed
until the evening—but he would refer them only to the
Mr. Saunders had won that year at the Bath and
Weise: of England, and the Berkshire, and Wilts shows.
Mr. Saunders had lately acquired the champion prize,
and they had further to congratulate ham upon
a domestic event. (Cheers.) Mr. Saunders WAS going on
remarkably well, and was now the father of a very nice
little daughter. (Much applause.) Everybody, he was
sure, would join in congratulations upon that event, and
would trust that he might live for many years to be the
father of a large family.
Mr. CHAPMAX SSUNDWAS WAS received with • great deal
of cheering, He thanked his excellent friend Mr.
Homer, who had kindly undertaken to preside, for the
very kind manner in which he had proposed his health,
and also the company for the way in which they bad
received it. He would not believe he deserved sll the good
things that had been said of him, but, taking the latter
part of Mr. Homer's speech first he expressed his hearty
thanks on behalf of his wife. He wu very pleased to tell
them Mrs. Saunders was going on well, and
the day before yesterday had been to him, an they
must suppose, a great relief and gratification
(Hear, hear). Ile would no; detain then, upon that
point, but he must repast to them what he had before
said, that he felt very proud to meet them there that
morning. He could not but feel a pride in the success he
had attained in exhibiting against all England—he might
say against all the world. More especially WAS he
gratified at having taken the first prize for the
hest ram at the Berkshire show, where there were 71
entries. (Hear hear.) With regard to the sheep which
would be offered to them that morning he only asked
them to reward him as he felt he deserved.
Ile had spared no trouble since he had taken
to business to produce as good animals as it were possible
to find. Ile would continue those efforts. Mr. Ensor
would tell them the Pedigree of the sheep; for himself
he believed in pedigree as the best thing to go by, and he
would continue to do so. (Applause.)
The CAISIKAISN elicited much cheering by the remark
that they could not have • good son without a good
father, and therefore he had the greatest of pleasure in
giving "The health of Mr. T. C. Saunders.' As an agri-
culturist and a sheep-brceder he had never been excelled
in the county of Dorset. Ile had Invariably shown his '
skill in making the most of every acre of land, end he
believed he had &Motu contrived to turn every halfpenny
into a penny. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. SSUNDF:ILA, WhO Was cordially greeted, replied.
He said he had done the best he could to make the
flock one worth attention. He had started with
the intention when he took the farm—:(cheers). More
than forty years ago if he went to a fair he took the
hest sheep he could get, and did not mind at what price.
Once, according to his friend, Mr. Damon, he hada narrow
escape cf being taken up for giving TA apiece for ewes.
They' 1,1k,i,..W ballad either bought them and wasn't going
to pay for ikl4,' 0. ~: that he was out of his mind—
(laughter). Going on to 0 hfs Experience, Mr. Saunders
said he had always found edik*eçt !aced sheep to give
the best quality mutton and wool. 'at ta4 kept the
pedigree of the sheep for the last forty years,- arab h 3
could trace that of the prise-winner back to one that used lir
be called "Nelson," Ile was sorry his landlord (Captain
Foster) was not present. He le lit written to say he was
tafveeraTt.rt.b'flitaunders concluded t4bympnroposisinegrY'Vhe
hoe
if the Citicatroan,o4
as - expressing the wish he would
Ms. li ' ''ziPsle It a. f•nv well-chosen remarks. lie
said how plowed ho w 4( tq me E. :h an influential com-
pany present; and then sear the 4 to Vs4inl• 'The health
of the Auctioneer" (Mr. T. knurl he • IV thc toast
with great pleasure, for he believed a eV? rot
bushier in his hands would find they met wiustiei,
Mr. Kvsoa having responded the company shortly after
adjourned to the site of the auction.
A great object of attraction was Mr. Saunders'
" champion." He was truly a magnificent sheep with •
lova.; !are, and as • good many remarked altogether
equal to se, l.:•:sses that could be produced.
The bodiese ~e 1:,,g de), began with the letting of the
two-tooth rams, and the nud,'• throughout WAS spirited.
Prices ranged from Sip, to 340. kit; . j; c ,rnt, Rogers.hill.
Bore Regis, securing lot 11, a noble mamas, at 143 'atter
price. The Bix-tooths were let at from 54its. to liar t.
magnificent animal, father of the champion prize winner
at Abingdon, being bought in at that price for use in the
farm after klgs, had been offered. The sale was a great
14,GCS7A, the average of the whole being 1:11 13s. 2d.
Thi following were the chief prices made: -Two-
tooth; Mr. I ki-eira•crsit.l. r. Parker, :10p. : Mr. Weld
fLulworth), Itrii._: . 'WO. 1 Igs. : Mr. Symes (Came),
seas.: Mr. Joseph (,g.; Mr, %sant (Rogers-
bill), 34gs. ; Mr. K. Bement, 4715. :iir. Weld. 101 w. ; Mr.
Shrubb, lOga. : Mr. Tuck, lip.; Trocne, !‘gx • Mr.
Walter, 27ga. : Mr. C. Mare, lip.; Kr. Syrotif LL4Jaej,
MP. ; Mr. Dounden, 110. : Mr. Weld. lip.; Mr. Bodo!,
13p. : Mr. Genge, 13e.; Mr. C. Mayo. 13p. ;lllr. Fowler,
lip. ; Mr. Berant (Roestre-hill), 30sta • Mr. Yowler, Begs. ;
Mr. 'T. Homer, 10p. ; Mr. DukiN 13p.i. ; ea. 11 Ifjpi. ;
''. ullkords
Mr. Cave, 17p, and legs._ ; Mr. Duke, Pip.; Mr. Rogers,
leg,„• gr. Genre, 10p, : Mr. Porter, Pigs., jigs., and ;
Mr. 13. stet, !Op- ;Mr. Srues(Came), 23p. Four-too :
Mr. Fowler, Iks. • Mr. Symee (Nether (jerne), lip.;
Professor Rackmili. Awe. Ur. Kent (Dewlish), 3fige ;
Mr. Fs Banat. 13g..; Mr: MfUris, ;... 7ga. and lip.; Mr.
John Homer, Aga : Mr. Dowslin • 4,e10. ; Hr Resent
(Rogers'-bill), 'olo.' Kr. Baby. 17es. ; Mr. 7 ku4...uts,
Rip, Six-tooth: Mr. Cox Bartlett, IllOge ; Mr. J.bUi
(porwell), 13p. ; Sire of the Abidgnon eltarePion
4. L.,- 11(r. T. Homer, lititr, serve the Watercombe flock
aadViiir ,„ampon ; Mr. Illta. The following were
sold :—Mr. byr.....: (Cum nix ; Mr. Porter, I.sgx ; Mr.
G. Homer. 1141L__: kr• Lccia s.loii.; Mr. Saunders, llg ;
Mr. Baunton. LW.

Al larostoa.—A curious wt.;
ise.ttioned it the Middlesex Sessions when s men mums
Trevesixa was sentenced to 18 months hard labour for
stealing swa& and chain. The prisoner had been tan
times prestmar convict.-^d, and was said to be the most
Lgoribus impost& the 'isutior.;:xes of the metropolitan.
SOD . had ever known. "On one cv he pretended
deitt sad dumb and 'Peenlisod on one ado, end so
isa..tditigsent to work on the treadmill. Iberdla
*if str.,:irrriarunitnt• he ditl aat out.

THE WESSEX LABOURER.
(From the Examiner)
• T. Thomas lianly'snoveln have been, on the whole,
favouraisly received, and many of their merits recog-
niseel Yet their most characterintic feature,' have
either been passed ~ver in silence, or mon ~,,,, not
exaggerated, ..imply because very row of the readers
are able to judge in these matters of hi,. workmanship.
Just an a gaping crowd, catalogue armed, may stand
before a great picture with vague. unintelligent
admiration, while only those with omelet mastic
training will be able to explain wherein its merit«
consintn, no in Mr. Hanly's ' Rural Painting of the
Dutch School,' end other etudien, thane can bent
appreciate his work who know the watch. Anil woods,
the lanes and villages .4 his own Dorset, the speech
aed the thought of thee who traverse and inhabit
them.
We here *peak of thene Wessex novels in regard to
thew is.ints alone. It has not, !write's., struck many
critic,, that in our more recent literature we have
next to no pictures of peasant life. Even George Eliot
-in mentioning this name we must not lw under-
ntood is implying any likeness whatever between the
two authors even George Eliot has not touched the
labourer proper. Adaill and Seth Retie are village
artisans ; Silas Alarnerin the towebred toiler acciden-
tally transplanted into the country, and never acsli.
matised ; the rest of her humbler character, are all in
the upper stratum of village life, in which distinetnens
are far mole marked than in the middle and middle
clanses. The reason i. not far to seek. Very few.
indeed. outside his own rank attain to intimacy with
the English. labourer ; and in Dorset, where the
peasant retains& stronglymarked individuality, social
differencen are not only greater than in most counties
but the culture which would enable the upper chase;
to understand and describe what goes on aninnd them
is surprisingly low. I). met was the very last county
in England whose sacred null was broken by &railroad,
awl those which now traverse it leave the very heart
~f the shire untouched. The narrow provincialism of
the squires, which is in some measure the bane .1 all
the more distant counties, in accentuated there; and
though charity and kindliness are not wanting, the
labourer and squire feel toward.. each other as though
they were of different room Neither does the porton'
.lo much to draw them together. A country clergy.
man sees, as a ride, very little of the men of lie flock,
for they are at work in the fields; what he sees of the
women arises moiety from his researches after children
who are ab..ent from ,wles.l. Chi Sunday and in sick-
nese, when he doe, get at them, they put on company
manners ; and dogmatic religion being no part of their
daily life, there is a forced and strained unreality
about all the professional inteecounie. But Mr. Hardy
shall describe for Us the attitude of Dorset villagers
towanls the parson who is given to parish visiting.
Mrs. Penny, wife of the village cobbler states her
opinion of the new vicar.
"There wan this to be said for poor Mr. tirinhano.
the late vicar, that you were quite sure Lea never
come numbudgetting to see ye just an you were in the
middle of your work, and put you out with his anxious
trouble about you, NO say 1."
"Never. But as for this new Mr. Blaylohl, he's a
very singular. welbintentiontol i arty in that re.peet,
but unbearable; for as to sifting your cinders, scrub-
bing your floors, or emptying your noapnido, why you
cant do it. I immure you Inc not been able to erupt
them for several days, unless I throw •ni up the
chimley or out of winder ; for as mire an the lOW you
meet him at the door coming to Ink how you be, and
'tis such a confusing thong to meet a gentleman at the
door when ye are in the mean o' Mashing."
"'Ti'. only for want of knowing better," ',aid the
treater (carrier). "His manings good enough.. Ay,
your parson comes by fate; lb head,. Ilr tails, like
pitch.halfpenny, and no choosing; so we niunt take en
as he is, my sonnies, and thank God he's no worse, I
suppose.'
" 'A MILS a right nennible parson," sail Michael.
" He never entered our door but once in his life, and
that was to tell my poor wife -ay, poor soul, dead
and gone now, as we all shall! -that she was such a
old, aged person, and lived so far from the church, he
didn't at all expect her to come any more to the
service. . . . There's virtue in a man** not putting a
parish to spiritual trouble."
"And there's thin man never letting us have a bit
of pea..-e; but wantin„o us to be good and upright till
'tin carried to such a shameful pitch as I never see the
like afore nor since !"
It in to this population that Mr. Hardy intneliices
us, with rare insight, and with a humour, in zio.lern
days, quite unequalled Allowing for the difference
between the vale of Avon and the sale,, of the Stour
and the From..., we can only find countryfolk to COM-
pare with theme Wessex pemiants and their
wives in Simple and Launee, Touchstone and
Audrey. Yet Shakespeare showed only the
comic side of these lives as a relief to the nobler
scenes he depicted, nor could his limits (allow
of their presentation in detail. Mr. Hardy'. pictures
give us all nides of country life, th..ugh the humour is
never absent, and lie is photographic in manner. but
the skill of the true artist comes MO, play in selection
of the scenes lie would depict.
"Under the Greenwood tree" is wholly concerned
with village and woodland life; every figure is a care-
ful study, every lane and sylvan walk is in sketch from
nature. Ile that has eyes to see, and ears to hear, lion
only to visit Yellowhani Wood, near Dorchester' to
see the outside of the life here depicted : only those
who have lived among the people for years can known
how ...vein' and h..w acclimate in the drawing.
In " A Pair of Blue eyes we are taken int., Corn-
wall, but the 1..1.1 cliffs and sweejo .4 .lown. the fair
woods sea-blown but luxuriant enough where nhelternt,
athree
sitTolliudoe.,..e lwitho in primitive. oubcpoken, ~n.l epigrammatic,
t measure • that is, true as the
colouring is to Cornwallit in siniost equally like the
back of the Isle of Purbeck, still more (sniffier, a,, we
goes., to the author than the western di.trict. The
two chief male character. are a young man who han
been rained by education from the alumni pea...a rank
in which he wan born, and his patron, an Oxford man,
fellow of his college, who hen helped the struggling
youth is. rise, and 'mole him a gentleman. Apart (non
the interest derived from the fact that this is evidently
a careful 'study from the life, the higher society to
which we are intnoluced is lese well-drawn than the
% illagern.4 " Under the Greenw.od Tree," though the
story is always above the level of ordinary no% elm.
But wherever the talk of the labouring chaos comes
in, the work is masterly. Here are a mown and his
labourers enlarging a vault for the reception of Lady
Luxellian, just dead. Theue waa a pause mu the pro.
cowlings, and "the whole company, sitting round on
coffin., were eating bread and cheese, and .binking ale
from a cup with two haollen, leased round from each
ta each. . . . .. The same to you Martin, and you
William," said Stephen, nodding mound to the rest,
who, having their months full of ',rem' and cheese,
were of necessity compelled to reply merely by looks,
which they made friendly by compresaing their eyes to
lines and wrinkles. '
"And who is dead ? "Stephen repeated.
"Lady Luxellian, poor gentlewoman, an we all
shall," said the undermaeon. "Ay. and we be going
to enlarge the vault to make room for her."
" When did she die?"
"Early this morning. Martin hey Leen tolling
ever wince, ahnont There, t'was expected. Shin wax
very limber."
" Ay, poor gentlewoman," said a marvellously old
man, whose skin teemed no much too large for his body
that it would not stay in position. "She must know
by this time whether Nile". to go up or down, poor
gentlewoman."
" What was her age ?"
"Not more than seven or e4dit-and•twenty by
candle-light, poor gentlewoman. But, laml, by lay'a
was forty if 'a were an hour. •
"Ay, night-time or day time makcos a difference of
twenty years to rich (carman," obaerved Martin.
" I seed her, poor soul," said a labourerer from
behind some removed coffins, "only but last Valen-
tine:.. Day .4 all the world. 'A was arni.in-crock wi'
my lord. I nays to myself, 'You be ticketted church-
yard, my noble lady. although yuu don't dream out' "
%oh ii. pp. 263-163.
There is much more in this scene for which we can
find no parallel at all but the gravediggers' in Hamlet,
and that scene, like this, is taken straight from the
mouths of the people. Time in Doncet has stood still;
advaming civilinatiou Ilan given the labourer only
Incifer-matchoe mot the penny poet, and the clown. in
Humid aroma anachronism Ill,laced in a west anuitry
village of our own day.
In 'Far from the Blielding Crowd' we get back id
Hornet again without any .lingnixe ; its scenery and ffii
pea,ple are doweribed with a vividuenn quite unequalled.
It is wont-painting without any .4 the effort which
that expression usually conveys, but every touch
shows how the sights and sounds of the county have
penetrant the soul of the writer in a way which the
dweller in towns, can hardly appreciate. Here is a
V.Act...r.. .1 Noreombe Hill on the night of the shortest
Joy In the !'tar.
"The hill was covered on he northern side by an
ancient and decaying plantation of beechen, whom!.
upper verge formed a line over the crest, fringing its
arched curve against the sky, like a name. To.night
these trees sheltered the southern elope from the
keenest blasts, which emote the want and floundered
through it with a sound as .11 grumbling, or guiffie.l
over its crowning boughs in a weakened MOMIL The
Airy lea, es in the ditch simmered and boiled in the
saioe I,ree; en, atones'e of air occanionally ferreting oat
a few, khlt ..11410? then: spinning acroto the grins. A
group or two of tbs. letsst ic date amongst the dead
multitude had remained on twi.„4. will& lu:re them tit)
this very mid-winter time, and in falling rattled
against the trunks with 'mart taps."
And such iodated aentences as the following nhow
the mode in which country occupations have passed
Into the very fibre of the writer.
"Gabriel.s fingers alighted on the young W'Mlian'a
wrrs. It was besting with a throb .4 tragic intensity.
He 'had 1..ap.e,,. tly felt the name quick, hard beat in
the fenioral artery cf ti. lernla. when over-driven."
The tone of thought entire...sad in the following lines
is so familiar to us that the % ery words seeni to have
been spoken in our own hearing.
" A s a stammering man, men.," paid Henry Fray
in an undertone, "and they turned him away because
the only tiine he ever did speak he said his soul was
his own, and other iniquities, to the squire. "A can
set-, t-em, so well as you or I, but 'a can't speak a
csatuien Axel is-save his life." -vol, i• P. 131.
Yellowhaut Wood frpar • again in "Far from the
Madding Crowd" on Fallaor nd Imheed to those who
know tke district, every village Mid ton, all oat
every field, stand out Min some vivid litmus.'l3;ets
where, as in the escape of Servant Troy from drown-
ing, the text is not aided by Itles. Allingham's clever
sketch cif the Swanage Rocks,
" The Hand of Ethellsarta," again is full of Hornet
. welt scenery, all recogniable, thou„oh dintance
i:ety. cc. dares is now and toes,, for artiatic ptirpmes,
wisiktgtt E..t S'.'onsige, Corte Cantle, Bmi oieniouth,
rd.
Lulwo W o With its c. a. Li r.amtle, are all there, and
1 the rustle of the beeeli tOleto ad ~.lie ..ent of the fresh
. .. sea breaths from the ranee awl gi, fat teciu.trons the
glare and noble Of the loot Loudon area in whica, ue
write. There is lees 0! cllmiet ',Wintry life, but what ,
there is is admirable.
More. known Toni Fool '-what rambling 4441
yaggwye ~. J t •^O,/ miy,hostler ?" inquired the milkman,
lifting his kid..'s have it again -a good ?eying
well spit out is ii:Clarlstauu, at- :03 .. y withered heart.
More known Tom Foal' o ••.
"Then Tom Fool knows," sail the hostler.
"1.1.' that the very feeling I've feeled ,T% er and
ever again, hostler, but not in such gifted language.
"Pis a thought I've had in me more or ler for years,

awl never could lick* into shape! 0-ho-holo
Splendid! Say it again, hostler, say it again! To
hear my own poor notion that had no name brought
into form like that —T wouldn't ha' hist it for the
world! More known Tom Fool than than —h-ho-ho-
lo-h.,

--"-IMn't let your cheerful soul break out in such a
heathen uproar, for heaven's sake, or folk will surely
think you is been laughing at the lady and gentleman.
Well, here's at it again. Night tee, Michael," and
the hostler went MI with his sweeping.
"Night Cee, hostler, I t move too," said the
milkman, shouldering his yoke, and walking off; and
there reached the inn, in a gradual diminuendo,
as he receded up the street, shaking his head tsinvul-
shely, "More know T Fool than Tom Fool
ho-ho-ho-ho-ho r vol. i.pp. 7, K
As we have said, the Wessex man knows that these
passagot have in them the real ring, all equally true to
life and scenery. Then, say the captious, why is
Dorset the home of low wages and inefficient service,
of dull wits and ignorance, if its clowns talk like a
page of Shakespeare, and in epi,,—rams which tleorge
Meredith himself might envy? The answer in part is
that what is delightful on paper for half-an-hour or
so is dreary as the staple surrounding of a life. Miss
Austen's novels are charming, but to live with Lady
Iktram, or Mr. Wolehouse, or Mrs Bennet, would
be justifiable cause for suicide in the eves of even
rigid moralists. But a still truer partial answer is
that itithonFb the Dorset labourer is in a different
stags of civilisation to our Own, if civilisation consists
wholly,

In this march of mind.
In the steamship, in the railway, in the thoughts that
shake mankind.
he is no fool in his own but rather very ehrewd.
racy, and wise, full of practical knowledge of all natural
things, and of c nisiderable powers of thought. Words
are now and then lacking tc him in which to clothe
thought, for the vocabulary of those who live apart
(nun books is everywhere restricted, but the dialect is
yet vigorous and especially English. A novelist like
Mr. Hardy, and a poet like Mr. Barnes. both parts of
that if which they write, ought to dissipate many
popular fancies about their western county.
tVe do not say Dorset is to be desired i.e a permanent
home for those half of whose life has grown to be in
books or art, science or pMitim. But it is a county in
which a man may steep himself in the sweet refresh-
Ment of nature, and come in contact with fresh,
kindly, honest souls. And the whole spirit and essence
of the county and its ways is distilled with uncommon
skill and appeciation in the books which we recom-
mend to our reader* not only as novels to amuse, but
as Willies of nature and loam

THE 11ERo OF Li.. Elt Si/CA RE.
The , Twycrose against Grant and others has
ended in what substantially amounts to a finding for
the plaintiff. The jury have decided that, within the
meaning of the Cotupanies' Art of 1807, the anus of
Messrs. Grant Brothers and of Messrs. F. twin Clark,
Punchard and t7o. were promoters : that the contracts
entered into between them were within the scope .1 the
Act: and that they were knowingly omitted from the
prospectus. They have also found that they were omitted
with a b.,wl belief that it was not necessary to set
them out, and on this point Mr. Grant intends to take the
opinion of the full (hurt. His contention appparently is
that to constitute fraud of any kind there must be a malo
and that the jury has expressely found that he has
not been truilty of any meta fides, he cannot possibly be
guilty .4 fraud. To those who are at all aseliainteil with
the meaning of the phrase "statalable trawl," or with the
manner in which certain payments on the eve of bank-
ruptcy are hell " fradulent Si against the trustee," no
matter whether the bankrupt may have made them bowl
.iLle or not, Mr. Grant's point will probably not seem a very
important one. On the face of the prospectus, to the
issuing if which both Mr. Albert Grant and Messrs.
Clark, Punchard and Co. were parties, it was stated that
! the contract price for making the line was to be £31e,000.
' It had been agreed that out of this .C3v,001), £.6,000, was
to he pocketed by Mr. Albert Grant as promotion money,
but the prospectus made no mention whatever of this
contract, and the shareholders subscribed for their shares
in ignorance of it. Mr. Grant's contention is, that, in
knowlingly keeping this contract out of the prospectus, he
and the co-defendants committed no offence against the
Provisions of the Act PC. The matter will have, of
course, to be argued before the full l'ourt. Meantime, no
one who will first make himself acquainted with the facts
of the case, and then take the trouble to consult the Coni-
pany's Act of lteff, need have any serious difficulty in
arriving at a conclusion.