The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-06 00:00:00

The applicant—Am I bound to keep my wife
Mr. Paget—Has she applied to the parish for relief?
Applicant—No, she has not.
Mr. Paget—Your conscience ought not to let her go to
the parish.
The applicant—How can I reconcile it to my conscience
and my duty to God to live with her again'
Mr. Paget—l am not here to give advice in matters of
that kind, nor can I give you any advice at all until the
matter is before me in a legal form. If your wife goes to
the parish officers and asks for relief, I will then give
an opinion.
The applicant—l have taken my three children by my
first wife to their grandmother. My conscience will not
allow me to maintain my adulterous wife.
Mr. Paget—And I hope your conscience will not allow
her to be maintained by the pariah. I willgive no opinion
on the case till it is legally before me.
The applicant then left the court.

PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM NAVI-
GATION COMPANY.-(THIS DAY.)

The twenty-seventh annual meeting of the share-
holders was held at 1 o'clock, at the offices of the com-
pany, Leadenhall-street, Mr. ARTHUR ANDKILSON, chair-
man of the board, presiding. On entering the room Mr.
Anderson, who had been absent at one or two previous
meetings in consequence of indisposition, was greeted with
cheers.

The report, issued and published some days ago, having
been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN moved Ito adoption. He commenced by
congratulating the shareholders on the present position and
prospects of the company compared with what they were
when they last met—a change which bad not been brought
about without great anxiety, energy, and tact. (Hear,
hear.) The result could not but be satisfactory. They
had now a partnership of 12 years with the
government, and a tolerably sure guarantee that the divi-
dends would never be under 6 ;er cent. (Cheers.)
He had indeed a sanguine hope that they would ex-
ceed that amount, while no one would grudge the govern.
ment one quarter of the surplus over 8 per cent. Their
enterprise stood now on a more solid basis than it had
ever done before. (Cheers.) The directors had done all
in their power to increase the receipts and keep down the
expenditure. In order to secure the latter the managing
director sent out a circular to all the agents in different
places urging the neomity of economy ; and, following
upon that, a gentleman was sent out on a visit of inspec-
tion, and a committee of directors was formed to act in

concurrence with the managing directors. The reduction
made in home establ,ahments in London and Southampton
amounted to about 4,0001. a year. At Suez there was a
reduction of 4,0007., and at Bombay of .39,0 C 31., but these
arose from the completion of works. Added to this there
was a cessation of the payment of 12,0001. on account of
the good service fund, which no longer required
such assistance. There were also large reduc-
tions for charges in Egypt. The total of all
the reductions effectedwas74,Wo/. In the first half of the
last half•year the loss was latoot. ; in the second half it
was only 24,000/., and the process of diminution
was still going on. Having regard to all these
facts, they might, be thought, look forward to the
future with confidence and satisfaction. (Cheers.)
He then adverted to an opposition movement which had
been commenced among the shareholders—a movement
which he said seemed very ungracious after all that the
directors had done, and which ho could only characterise
as a sort of Fenian conspiracy. (Laughter.) The gentle-
man who represented that opposition had great talent in
di :4:mining mare's nests, and among those which he had
found was the fact that the capital of the company was
over 4,000,000/. (Laughter.) The chairman concluded by
alluding to the voluntary relinquishment by himself of
150,0001., of which the company bad had the benefit, and
remarking that the interests of his colleagues and himself
were identical with those of the shareholders generally.
(Cheers.)

_,
Mr. P. D. !Lwow, deputy-chairman, seconded the
motion.

Mr. Guraius said there could be no difference of opinion
as to the abiliiy with which the directors had conducted
the recent negotiations. lie regretted to find that during
the last year the company had lost a third of a
million of money. (" No no," and " Nonsense.") The
company had earned 150,0001 less than in the previous
year, and spent 170,00111. more in earning it. He
did not mean to say that directors were re-
sponsible for this, or whether it was owing
to the competition of the French company.
While the contract was on the who!+ satisfactory it
should be borne in mind that they had 300,000 more miles
to run.

Mr. MACKAY regretted remarks made as if there were
cause for despair. (Hear,hcar.) Although Mr. ficudamore
had made a good bargain for his masters, the contingent
arrangement seemed to him a very fair one. There were
still causes which might prevent a speedy return to •10
per cent dividend, and among them was the coo..
petition of the Menageries Imperiales. He was not
sanguine of • large immediate freight from the
transmission of specie, which must depend, in • great
degree, on the cotton trade. As regarded economy, he
saw no prospect of any large reduction of wages in the
east. As to the home establishment the higher
offioes required great talent and corresponding
remuneration. The main cause of their leases during the
last year was the falling off in the India and China trade.
He concluded by claiming full confidence for the directors.
Mr. LEWIN doubted the wisdom of discharging or re.
ducing the salaries of old servants of a company like that
in order to effect a saving of -1,000/. a year.
Dr. Bernie dwelt on the importance of the fact that
the Abyssinian expedition could not have been carried on
without the assistance of that company.
After some remarks from Mr. John Jones and other
profrietore, and a few observations from the chairman is
re'le report was adopted and the proceedings terminated
with votes of thanks to the directors and the managing
directors, the secretary, and other officers of the company.

We (Times) are requested to state that there are
no persons actually in prison for offences committed against
the Party Processions Act in the North of Ireland, they
having been all admitted to bail.

With reference to the late reports of the destruc-
tion of the city of St. Domingo ►nd the shipping in the
port, Messrs. Kimber, Johns, and Co. state that they have
letters from their friends there, dated Nov. 7, in which no
mention is trade of any such disasters.

A ukase of the St. Petersburg government last
summer directed the exclnsi►e use of the Russian language
in the Polish Uni►ersity of Warsaw. The change has to
be postponed until next year, in consequence of a want of
professors who know Russian sufficiently well.

A Swiss journal states that a young woman
named Anna Arnold, sister of an innkeeper at Williams
tLucern), has just carried off the drat prise at a ride•
shooting competition of that town, having made a white
with every shot.

The Bombay papers states that Mr. Dwarkadas
Vasanjee, a respectable Bhattl• merchant, has contributed
30,000 rupees towards the establishment of • Hindoo
girls' school, which has already been opened under the
name of "the Jisraj Balu Hindoo Girls' School."

The Rajah of Jumkhundee and the Baee Saheb
(his wife) intend to visit England.

The obituary of the Bombay Times of Nov. 14
has the following:—Captain James Delaney, Bombay
Staff Corps ; Lieutenant-Colonel C. P. Trower ; Lieute-
nant F. J. Innes, Bombay Staff Corps; and Colonel
R. Troup, Bengal Army.

A QUESTION FOR DR. MANNINO.—It was stated
by Dr. Manning at the recent meeting of Roman eatholies,
in St. James's Hall, that the signatures for the meeting
amounted to 11,000. In the Roman catholic city of
Vienna the signatures against the Concordat with Rome,
&e., amount already to upwards of 41,000. A cone.
'pendent asks, "Are the 11,000 Roman catholics of Lon-
don, or the 41,000 of Vienna to be taken as the representa-
tives of ' Catholic Christendom r "

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS CONCERNING COUNTRY
WORK HOUSES. —We are able to state that the Poor-law
Board has consented to furnish, for publication as parlia-
mentary papers' a series of documents which will be of at
least equal interest with the special reports on selected
workhouses by Dr. &heard Smith, which have been pre-
sented, and are nos being printed. These are the reports
by the majority of the working district inspectors on the
workhouses and infirmaries within their districts, in com-
pliance with a requisition addressed to them in the begin-
ning of the present year by the President of the Poor-law
Board.—Briedi Medics/ Journal.

PROPOSED TEMPERANCE Hosrrist,.—A series of
conferences has just closed at the East Central Coffee-
house, Jewin-street, on the subject of erecting a Tempe-
mice College, Hospital, Ica., where the sick may be cured
without the use of stimulants. A statement presented to
the meeting last held by Mr. Richardson averred that the
project was intended to obviate the hindrance to the
temperance cause by medical prescription cf alco-
holic stimulants, and Oat at the present time hen-
dreds of the sick poor are rejected from the hos-
pitals simply from want of room. The proposal was to
levy a shilling from every teetotaller in the United King-
dom, which would enable the provisional committee to
take at once a suitable house in the centre of London and
to St it up ike a temporary hmpital until a permanent one
could be erected. Dr. McLaurine, from Canada, ap-
proved the project ; and the conference adopted the re-
commendations of the provisional committee, based en the
resolutions unanimously passed, viz. :—" That this con-
ference is of opinion that the time has come for the
friends of temperance to erect a hospital for themselves,
where all diseases common to mankind may be cured
without the aid of alcoholic poisons." An address. aside!
Mr. Samuel Morley to become the president of the hospital,
was also carried ; and Mr. J. W. ittoo4rdson has under-
taken the ditties of honorary seeretary.