The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-17 00:00:00

as well as those of the steerage. We left on Satur-
day, the 3d. Before this the ship was literally
crammed with people eager to see Muller depart:
I had put him down below. When I got him on
board I told him it was customary to put such pri.
aoners in irons, but that I had no desire to do any■
thing to give him unnecessary pain, and if he would
promise to subject himself to me, and to remain in
that part of the vessel under the officers I had
placed over him I would not put him in irons. He
was very thankful, and said, I will do anything
you please.' On the second day I asked him if he
felt sick. He said, ' No; I feel very well, and I
like my berth.' He said the diet was very different
to what he got on board the Victoria, and told me
what was allowed the passengers. He said they
had to cook their own dinners, and that it was
common for some one to walk off with another's
dinner, which seemed to amuse him and caused him
to laugh heartily. He said if the passengers on
board the Victoria could not swear they would get
nothing, but I do not believe from his demeanour
since he has been in my custody that he was in
the habit of swearing. 1 asked him if I could give
him anything to amuse him. He said, I should
like something to read.' I lent him the 'Pickwick
Papers,' into the spirit of which he entered, and
laughed heartily. I have since lent him David
Copperfield,' which he is now reading. He has
never complained during the whole voyage. He has
been in excellent health and apparently enjoyed
himself as much as anybody on board. On the day
we left New York a German gentleman came on
board and asked me to let him have an interview
with Muller. I asked him if he was a solicitor.
He said he was not. I then told him I could not
grant his request,, and asked him his object in
wishing to see the prisoner. He said be received
a letter from a German society to tell Muller that
when he got to England he would be defended, that
his case had been put into the hands of Mr Beard,
and to caution him not to speak upon the subject of
the murder, and that they believed him innocent of
the crime. He gave me the letter, which I gave to
Muller, He read it and put it in his breast; and
sometimes while he is reading a book he will sud-
denly put it down and read the letter, and then re-
place it in his breast. Throughout the whole voyage
the demeanour of the prisoner has been quiet and
entirely indifferent to his position. He has not
once referred to the subject, and not above three
persons have been allowed to see him." He will
leave Liverpool for London this morning early.

Railway and Other Companies.

GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Wednesday, at Glasgow; Sir A. Orr in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
congratulated the shareholders on the increased dividend
which the position the company warranted the directors in
recommending, also carrying forward a sufficient balance to
pay another quarter per cent., which would have made 3
per cent. for the past six months. The principal item of
capital expenditure was for locomotive and carrying stock,
and this, he thought, was exceedingly satisfactory, being an
outlay generally accompanied by more than a compensating
increase of receipts. The whole cost of the renewal of way
had been charged against revenue. The directors had
arranged for the purchase of the Maybolo and Girvan Rail-
way, in which the company held a large amount of capital.
The arrangement was, no doubt, a favourable one for the
Girvan shareholders. The directors had also arranged to
take up the Bridge of Weir Railway, paying the shareholders
the par value of their shares without interest, after the Act
authorising the sale had been obtained. The directors had
been met by deputations from the Boards of the Castle
Douglas and Dumfries, and their other branch railways, and
he hoped that matters were in a fair way of allowing those
branches to be incorporated with the main line, so as to
obviate the expense cf working small branches separately.
The Parliamentary committee granted permissive powers to
the Caledonian Company to work the Portpatrick line. The
Solway and Cumberland Railway, when completed, would
greatly facilitate the conveyance of iron ore from Cumber-
land to Ayrshire, and could not fail to prove beneficial to
the South- Western Company. The revenue of the com-
pany had steadily increased, and they might certainly ex •
poet a continuance of that increase in the present prosper-
ous state of the country ; thus he trusted the directors would
be enabled to give the shareholders a larger dividend. The
directors would lose no opportunity of making such agree-
ments with their neighbours as would prevent the un-
necessary expenditure of capital.
Mr LUMSDEN seconded the motion for the adoption of
the report.
MrMEIICLNM strongly urged the necessity of the company

living at peace with its neighbours. He thought the Cale-
donian could not do better than make an arrangement with
the South• Western Company. He objected to Sir J. Fer-
gusson taking part in the promotion of the Ayr and Dou-
glas line.
The CHAIRMAN agreed with the last speaker as to not
interfering with their neighbours. They had considered the
necessity of accommodating the district. With regard to
the Crofthead and Kilmarnock scheme, they had given in-
structions to their engineer to survey the ground between
Glasgow and Kilmarnock and forward to Ayr, before that
scheme was projected.
Mr J. M' GATIN said, in regard to the Mayb and Gir-
van line, that the company were getting a large bargain
by taking the line. He believed it would become part of
the continuation of the Portpatrick railway. He thought
it wrong to lead the Caledonian to suppose that the share-
holders were inclined to pay too high a price for peace—
(hear)—and he did not think it right for Sir J. Ferguson
as a director of the Caledonian to have promoted those lines,
The engineer was Mr Blyth, and he was also the Caledonian
engineer. He suggested the appointment of members from
railway boards to form a committee of railway directors to
settle any differences that might arise between companies,
to see that the country was properly served with railway
accommodation, and that all branches necessary for the
accommodation of the public should be made, each company
being confined within its own district.
Mr LUMSDEN said the board were anxious for peace, but
at the same time they were not to be overridden. They
were desirous of cultivating friendly rela'ions with their
neighbours, but t hey looked with great suspicion on aggres-
sive schemes in their territory.
Resolutions were passed adopting the report, declaring
a dividend at the rate of 51 per cent per annum on the or-
dinary and preference shares of the company, and at the
rate of 5 per cent per annum on the guaranteed shares.
Mr Clouston was elected by the Board, in the room of
Mr Brongh, who resigned.

A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the pro-
ceedings.

SCOTTISH CENTRAL.

The half-yearly meeting took place at Perth on Thurs-
day, Mr A. Macduff in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
referred to the breakdown of the tripartite agreement be-
tween this company and the Caledonian and Edinburgh
and Glasgow, which he said had come to a teimination
through no fault of this company. They could not, he
thought, rise from a perusal of the correspondence which
led to that result without a feeling of regret that companies
which seemed at one time to be so much bound up in each
other had now come to be so widely, and he feared perma-
nently, estranged. Bat the Scottish Central was too strong
in its own independence to suffer much from the dissolution
even of so greatly cherished a project as the tripartite amal-
gamation, and the report now laid before the meeting gave
the best evidence of its prosperity, namely, a gradual and
progressive improvement in every part of their system. On
the:present half-year the directors had to report an increase
of £7,381 on passenger, and £5,044 on goods traffic, the
largest increase they had ever had in any half-year, and
they proposed to offer a dividend at the rate of 7 per cent.
per annum, which was larger than the dividend enjoyed by
any Scotch line, with the exception of the
eixDewlueneeedekdeestahthneardet Ahhaardd-
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sinceil e wan
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half-year's
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were
been an increase in revenue of £4,649, or an average increase
of about £744 per week. With regard to the Parliamentat;
Session, the Scottish Central had gained all that they de-
sired both in regard to their own and other companies'
bills ; and by agreeing to commute to a axed sum of £5,000
the charge against the North British for use of the Mon-
crieff-hill tunnel, that company had withdrawn the bill for
a new access to Perth. The directors had entered into nego-
tiations with the promoters of the Callender and Ohm
railway which would provide a direct and expeditious route
from Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee to the West High-
lends; and, taking the most unfavourable view they could
of the prospects of the:, line, they were nevertheless prepared
to propose that this company should, on certain conditions,
subscribe £300,000 of the £570,000 of capital required.
Sir A, G. MAITLAND seconded the approval of the report,
and the meeting was then made special to pass resolutions to
create £120,000 of new stock for station and other improve-
ments, to empower the directors to raise £40,000 on mort-
e-age, and to approve of agreer.ents with the Edinburgh and
Glasgow for additional facilities, and with the Cried June
tion and the Dueb!ane, Downs, and Callender for amalga.
motion, at Guaranteed dividends of 5 and 41 per cent. re
spectively.