Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-05 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN STEAM-SHIP.

During the past week some very exaggerated rumours
have been in circulation respecting the great ship, which
have produced sArething like a panic among the 'holders
of the shares ine company. In order to afford com-
plete information respecting the actual condition of
the ship, and the financial position of the company, an
extraordinary meeting of the shareholders will be called
by the directors on the 15th inst. In the meantime those
who are interested• in the undertaking will be-gratified
to hear that, in the opinion of the board, no sufficient
cause exists 'for the late extraordinary depreciation
which has taken place in the value of the property.
The readers of the Observer will remember that
some weeks since we stated that three gentlemen of
high standing in their profession, viz., Messrs. Hawk-
.shaw, Fowler, and Maclean were employed in taking
evidence and making an award upon all questions in
dispute between the company and the contractors. The
total amount at issue between these parties is compara-
tively small, and whatever deficiencies may be proved to
exist on the part of the work performed by the contrac-
tors will have to be made good by those who had under-
taken the contract, and will not, so far as these deficien-
cies are concerned, involve any great outlay or expense
on the part of the company. The three gentlemen above-
named made their report after the examination of the
ship while lying at Holyhead, and when the directors
had decided upon sailing the vessel immediately for
America. They stated that in the then condition of the
ship it would not be safe to undertake a transatlantic
voyage, and that the directors would be guilty of man-
slaughter if any accident should occur on the voyage.
In deference to this opinion, the board rescinded the
resolution previously taken, and the ship was sent round
to Southampton, encountering, before she arrived there,
the terrible gale at Holyhead, and- the rough passage
on the way to the port where she now lies. This
voyage was performed at greater speed and with more
success than upon any of the previous trips, and her
performance is relied upon as showing that the ship in
reality is not in so completely an unseaworthy state as
has been supposed. In a more recent number of the
Observer (Nov. 13) a statement was given of the
alterations which would be required in order to adapt the
ship more completely for the work for which she was
constructed. No alterations of importance beyond those
then specified have been required either by the Board of
Trade, or by the_surveyors appointed by the company,
but to carry out these, some additional funds will'be
needed beyond the present capital, a mi which will be raised
either by preference shares, or upon mortgage, to be ex-
plained at the meeting of the 15th. It is stated that an
offer has been made by Mr. Lever for the purchase of the
ship, of the most liberal character. The terms are said
to be £60,000 down to form a working capital to com-
plete the ship, to charter her for twelve months, pay the
shareholders 5 per cent. in advance, and ,to have the
option of purchasing the ship for £330,000, being the
amount of the capital of the present company. If this
offer is a bond fide one, it is difficult to understand how
the ship can be in so wretched a condition as to warrant
the present depreciation in the shares. The chairman
of the board has stated that he will, at the meeting of
the 15th, demand the appointment of a committee of
shareholders for the purpose of instituting a thorough
investigation into the affairs of the company since its
formation, and to throw some light on the circumstances
which have tended so greatly to depress the property.—
Observer.

Fifty-seven ships of the Royal Navy, mounting •
2,279 guns, are at present in commission on home
stations ; and on foreign stations there arel49 ships and
2,915 guns.
VACANCIES, APPOINTMENTS, AND PROMOTIONS IN THE
CIVIL SERVICE.—War Office.—Mr. H. M. Dunstan has
been appointed to a temporary clerkship, and passed his
examination. The Admiralty.—Mr. Henry J. Halifax,
Mr. Alexander Montgomery de Vismes, and Mr. Thomas
Sheffield Robinson, have been appointed to temporary
-clerkships, and passed their examinations. Customs.—
Mr. William Dickson, first-class tide surveyor, has been
promoted to be third inspector of the river, Liverpool;
Mr. Robert Luce has been promoted from second to first
class tide surveyor at Liverpool; and Mr. Frederick
Bloom from third to second class tide surveyor. In-
land Revenue Department.—Stamps and Taxes Branch :
Mr. Edmund Watson, assistant surveyor of taxes,
Lichfield, has been promoted to be surveyor of taxes at
Lewes. Excise Branch : Mr. George Cole Close, officer
of Alness Second Division, Inverness Collection, has
been appointed officer of Dewsbury Second Division,
Halifax Collection. Ireland.—Major Esmonde has
been appointed Assistant Inspector-General of Con-
stabulary, in the room of .the Hon. Colonel Maude,
resigned; Mr. P. Morgan, Sub-Inspector of Constabu-
lary of Roscrea, has been promoted to the rank of
county inspector of the second class, and is ordered
to the county Tyrone. , East Indies.—The following ap-
pointments have been made : Mr. J. Sconce, assistant
in the Revenue 'Survey Department; the Rev. T. Y.
Mitchinson, chaplain of Roy Bareilly, in Oude ; Mr.
J. W. Dalrymple, civil and sessions judge of Hooghly;
Mr. J. C. Halkett, civil and sessions judge of Rungpore ;
Mr. A. G. Macdonald, magistrate and collector of Rung-
pore ; Mr. W. J. Allen, lo officiate as president of the
board of examiners, Bengal; Mr. G. Loch, a member of
the board of examiners ; Mr. E. G. R. Fane,; collector
and magistrate, and agent to the governor of Fort St.
George, in Vizagapatam; •Mr. J. W. B. Dykes, to
officiate as collector and magistrate of Nellore ; Mr. 2E.
R. M'Donnell, to officiate as civil and sessions judge
of the Zillah of Combaconum; Mr. G. V. Agnew, to
,officiate as sub-collector and joint magistrate of Rajah-
mundry ; Mr. R. Davidson, to officiate as principal
assistant to the Collector and magistrate and agent to
the governor of Fort St. George in Vizagapatam.
'Cape of Good Hope.—Capt. Gladwin John H. Wynyard
has been appointed private secretary to the lieutenant-
governor, vice Major Travers; Mr. James Somers Kirk-
wood has been appointed a member of the Immigration
Board, rort Elizabeth, in the room of Mr. John Pater-
son ; Mr. Herbert Vigne, special magistrate at the
Punzana, has been appointed commissioner of the Crown
Reserve in British Kaffraria—Civil Service Gazette.
-TntE BARGAINS FRANCE.—A new decision to the
effect that time bargains on the Bourse are illegal, has
been given by the Civil Tribunal. A provincial gen-
tleman, named Aurian, made in 1855 and 1856, through '
a M. Alain, a friend of his, speculations on the Paris
Bourse. Differences at last arose between them, and
when they came to a settlement of accounts, Alain
clairned 18,000 f., but 'Aurian insisted not only that 'he
owed nothing, but that 3,000 f. were due to him. They
went before arbitrators, arid Aurian'attempted to show
that he could owe nothing, inasmuch as their operations
were of a gambling character, and therefore illegal; Alain
admitted that the operations had not been real, inasmuch.
as they had been regulated by the mere payment of dif-
ferences, but he claimed a commission on them. The
arbitrators in their.decision expressed renet that Aurian
had raised the objection about the illegality of the opera-
tions ; -and as to Alain's claim, they rejected it for the
reason that the operations had been what the law calls
"fictitious," that is, destined to result only in the, pay-
ment of differences ; but finding that he had paid agens-
de-change various sums on the operations, they ordered
Aurian to pay him 7,5001. The other day Aurian called
on the Civil Tribunal to set aside the deeisioii of the ar-
bitrators, on the grounds that they had gone beyond their
mandate in passing blame on him; and also that, to corn-
emo
order."nbeairnygd Alain
asoeit
abn
tNplvhn9ur
aeoy: s msfiol
werni
gssohetafta
the
point,t stedhut
ehcsecheci
CI aioahonowinmdd
ecaa
calls
Napoleon,
se.
orahac,pe as‘raocat
eTlouetinoediht
rndbiad,u
Tribunal
between
the Bourse are illicit, they cannot be aeepmgeru;atbi made public
the subject of
and 421
aside the first
point decided on the second, that " according to Arts.
421 and 422 of the
Penal Code, time bargains (jeux de Bourse) are contrary
to
.public order," and that consequently as the arbitral
decislon in question referred to such operations it was
declared null and void. In addition to the preceding
decision, the Tribunal, in another case, held that even
the sale of the goodwill of an office for effecting time
bargains and' other Bourse speculations was, in conse-
quence of the illegality of such operations, imitself
illegal, "Art. 131
.of the Code Napoleon enacting, that
no obligation is binding when the cause of it is illicit."
It moreover decided that certain expenses to which the
seller had been put in transferring a lease to the
buyer should not be restored to him.