The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-22 00:00:00

rities of the colonies on that very subject; as to the last
question, it was not intended to propoee any resolutions,
because subscriptions were still coming in, and such a
resolution would be incomplete at present.
STATUTE LAW COMMISSION.
Mr. CRAUFURD asked the law officers of the
Crown whether th© Statute Law Commission had ad-
journed its sittings sine die, or what are the days ap-
pointed for the sittings of the said board ; and, when
the board is not sitting, by whom are its functions exer-
cised.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the sittings had
not been adjourned sine die. The commission met every
fortnight.

LAW OF DIVORCE.

Mr. J. G. PHILLIMORE inquired if it was the in-
tention of the Government to bring in any measure this
session on the law of divorce.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL could not !answer th•
question at present.
SCUTARI AND BALAKLAVA.

Mr. STAFFORD asked whether there be any objec-
tion to lay on the table of the house the instructions
given to the commissioners appointed last November to
inquire into the state of the hospitals at Scutari and
Balaklava, with the report of and evidence taken before
the said cornmissi )ners.

Lord PALMERSTON said the report of the Com-
mission had not yet been received ; but when it was re-
ceived there would be no objection to lay it upon the
table, together with the instructions given to the com-
missioners.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

SO (7TH-EASTERN.

Yesterday a meeting of proprietors "interested in im-
proving the property and in increasing the number of
the board of directors," assembled at the London Tavern.
Mr. T. PARKER was voted to the chair, and he alluded
to the sections into which he believed the shareholders
in the company were divided. The Liverpool section
objected to a disposition on the part of a portion of the
board to bring forward further extensions, and they also
thought there ought to be 12 instead of 9 directors.
Now, in proportion to the increase in the direction would
be the increase of expenditure, and he thought 2,0001.
a-year was an ample sum for distribution among the
board. There were seven seats to be filled in the direc-
tion, and the candidates were well known and nume-
rous.

Mr. BROWN deprecated the system of extensions that
had been carried out by the administrators of the com-
pany's affairs, and calculated that the loss to the share-
holders on this head could not be less than 90,0001. per
annum.

Mr. HIGGINS was of opinion that the day would come
when a shorter line to the continent must be constructed,
as at the present moment a full hour was lost by the
existing South-Eastern line. He moved that in the
opinion of the meeting nine d rectors were sufficient to
carry on the affairs of the South-Eastern Railway.
Mr. ORR seconded this, and suggested the desirable-
ness of allying the South-Eastern with the Brighton
Railway. He hoped their new body of directors would
be good working men.
The CHAIRMAN said the law charges of the South-
Eastern Railway had been enormous—at the rate of
54,0001. a-year, or 1,600/. per week. He was an advo-
cate for taxing every railway bill by a properly-appointed
officer.

On the motion of Mr. TRULON, seconded by Captain
HALL, a resolution was carried expressive of the " indig-
nation" of the meeting at the parties who had anony-
mously called the meeting, and the proceedings closed.

OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVER-
HAMPTON.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the London Tavern—Lieutenant-Colonel
Rushout, 111. P., in the cbdr.

The report, an abstract of which has already appeared,
wa.§ taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said it was so full and ample that it required but
few observations from him. He had never held out
any extravagant hopes of success, although he thought
they would gradually improve. The dividend on the
preference shares war on the last occasion at the rate
of 4 per cent per annum ; but they were now enabled to
declare the full dividend for the half-year at the rate of
6 per cent, per annum. That was at least a progress in
the right direction. The deficiency of working stock was
the cause of considerable loss to them, as they had no
means of carrying the comparatively large amount of
traffic that presented itself at various places on their
line. Exertions had been made by the board to meet
the complaints arising from that cause, and he hoped,
therefore, they would not experience a recurrence of that
state of things. He thought there was room fur all the
railways in the districts through which their lines passed,
and that there was much more traffic than could be accom-
modated in the present state of the railways. He com-
plained that the Board of Trade would not allow them
to use 10 miles of the second line of narrow gauge, which
a oald have reduced the length of single line from 27 t
17 miles, which had been completed for several months.
The reason they were not alloiled to use it was because
the broad gauge had not also been laid down. He quite
agreed with the enginetr in his report, in calling this a
useless expense, and one of great hardship on them.
It was doubtful whether the two gauges could be used
on the same line with safety to the public. He then
adverted to the sums due on the lawyers' bills, amount-
ing in the whole to 16,5701., a considerable amount
of which consisted of fees paid to counsel and money
out of pocket. He was not an advocate for branches
or extensions, but he thought when they were constructe
at the expense of other persons, and worked on the
terms laid down by Mr. Parson, they might be useful to
the mainline. The sum of 337,7801. of preference stock
had been raise.] out of the 500,0001. authorised. He was
glad to say that Sir. S. M. Pete and Mr. Threadwell
had agreed to take up the remainder of the preference
■hares, with a view to assist the company. With regard
to the honour that had been recently conferred on the
former gentleman, that honour had been conferred for
an act of great philauthropy,—he had volunteered the
services of the firm to send out men to the Crimea to
assist the troops before Sebastopol with a rapid means
'of conveyance between Balaklava and the camp. In
consequence of this he was compelled to vacate his seat
for Norwich. He (the chairman) would venture to say
that if half the energy and philanthropy had been shown
in other places, England would not have had to mourn
the loss of so many of her noble-hearted and brave men.
He then adverted to the three bills before Parliament
promoted by the company. Two of the bills had refer-
ence to the infliction of the broad gauge upon them,
which was of no use whatever but to consume 250,000/.
of their capital, for which they were not to receive any
consideration, the line being worked on the narrow
gauge. After adverting to various small items in the
accounts, he concluded by moving the adoption of the
report.

Mr. 3. PARSON seconded the motion, and in doing so
entered at- considerable length into the affairs of the
company. _ _ _

Resecutions were passed adopting the report, declaring
a dividend on the preference shares at the rate of 6 per
cent, per annum, payable March 23, and authorising the
directors to borrow money on debentures.

On the motion for the re-election of two directors an
angry discussion of a personal character ensued, which
resulted in the re-election of Mr. H. Grisewood, and the
election of Mr. R. W. Johnson, in the room of Mr. Z.
A. Jessel, who retired by rotation.
Mr. Tamlyn, the retiring auditor, was re-elected, and
the meeting separated.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING-, FEBRUARY 22 1855.

r editon Railway, and (from the 28th of August) the So-
merset Central Railway, amount to 85,3611., or 50.86
per cent. of the gross receipts, and 7291. per mile on
117 miles of railway. The amount actually expended
during the half-year was 96,8481. The number of pas-
sengers is 679,404, conveyed 19,530,926 miles, and the
quantity of goods and coals is 161,922 tone, conveyed
2,915,808 miles, and 22,838 tons more goods, conveyed
687,718 more miles than in the corresponding half of
the year 1853. The increase in revenue consists of
11,0831. on passengers, 6,8611. on goods, 8431. on par-
cels, and 8011. on the Exeter and Crediton Railway ;
total 19,5901., less 344/. decrease upon mails-19,2451.