The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-16 00:00:00

For his (Mr. Beecroft's) part, h 3 had much greater
faith in moveable fortifications in the shape of float-
ing batteries than in fixed fortifications. (Hear.)
The hon. gentleman concluded by a reference to
the prosperity of the country, as evidenced by the
revenue returns lately published.
Mr. BAINES, M.P., devoted his remarks to the ad-
vantages which would attend a commercial treaty

or convention between this country and Austria.
His attention had been drawn to the subject by Mr.
S. Beaumont, M.P., who had recently brought it
before the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce, and
had given to the public the information which he
had obtained during a recent visit to Austria. Aus-
tria had now come into the enjoyment of a large
measure of civil and religious liberty, and the young
Emperor and his advisers seemed to be sincere in
trying what representative institutions could do to
revive the prosperity of the empire. Austria occu-
pies a position of first-rate importance in the heart
of Europe, and, with all its past faults, it has ever
been the political ally of England. It touches, or
nearly so, all the principal nations of the west and
east, of the north and of the south. It has a tempe-
rate climate, a fertile and varied soil, great mineral
riches, and fine rivers which empty their waters and
their traffic into the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the
Adriatic. Its inhabitants, generally speaking, are
intelligent, industrious, loyal, brace, and friendly.
Its maritime commerce was restricted by the fact
that it has only two good seaports—viz., Trieste and
Venice, both of whicn, however, were now free ports.
But the want of maritime facilities was made up by
its excellent system of railways, which it began
exactly contemporaneously with those of England,
and which are of the aggregate length of 3,000 miles,
reaching to every extremity of the empire. The
weakness of Austria,it is well known, consisted in its
comprising too many nationalities, but it appeared
likelythat freedom would propitiate those whom des-

potiam aggrieved ; and at all events there would re.

tnain,after an ypossible dismemberment,the heart and
limbs of a great empire. Mr. Baines then, at some
length, entered into the commercial statistics of

Austria, and showed by a series of tabular returns
the inequality of the present tar►ff with England, as
compared with that between Austria and the Lull-

verein.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

DANUBE AND BLACK SEA.

The adjourned half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the offices, Abingdon-street, Westminster,
Sir S. Cunard in the chair.
Mr. C. W. Eddy, the secretary, read the report.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report
and statement of accounts, said he would be glad to answer
any questions that might be put to him. The traffic had
much improved, although in the spring of last year they
had suffered from unusual floods, which were greater than
had been known for half a century. This had delayed the
works, and if those obstructions had not occurred they would
now have been in a better position than they were at present.
This was an unavoidable circumstance, and could not have
been prevented.

Mr. APGA.REL wished to know how it was that they had
expended so much as £60,000 during the past year on so
small a concern as theirs; there was £16,000 for engineer-
ing, which was aboui 5 per cent. on the whole capital, and
there was £lO,OOO for well-sinking, lime-kilns, and other
matters, which he thought wore large sums.
Mr. LEWIS, a director, explained that the items referred
to included other masters than were stated in the account.
One reason why the accounts were not so clear as they
should be was the sickness that prevailed among their offi-
cers, and the accounts were not made up until the last mo-
ment. The sickness in the autumn had been fearful ; they
had lost the services of three of their most important men,
and the whole of the business hid to be done by the traffic
manager. Although he believed the amounts stated were
right, they had not received the full details.

The CHAIRMAN remarked that they could cl.) nothing
without the harbour at Kustendjie, the hotel was indispen-
sable for the passenger traffic, and would repay for the out-
lay. They had taken £2,000 in the last half-year for pas-
sengers.

Mr. TIPPING had the utmost confidence in the undertak-
ing, but he thought they had Leen tarrying in the wilder-
ness. Ho hoped the directors would state freely what their
feelings were on the subject. The £61,090 expended on
rolling stock and plant was a little beyond the requirements
f any business they were likely to meet with for some time.
He wished to know whether they received rent for the use
of the granaries.
The
ehepeernfeAcltitly3lBA.aNti,fist:ta with the
tcd thatthe directors and himself
they felt no dissatisfaction, but, on
the contrary,
la o
kaeffdai r s
for-
ward with hope for better times. The floods of last spring
were unusual, and had delayed the completion of some of
their works nine mouths. As to the plant, they had hardly
enough at present-, because some of their locomotives had
been injured by using bad water, and had caused a very ex-
pensive item in their charges. They received rent for the
use of the storehouses, and looked forward to a fair share
of traffic. It should be remembered that they had to send
everything about 3,000 miles to the works. They had been
greatly disappointed in respect of obtaining labour on the
spot,
and they had been obliged to send out men from Eng-
land, which was a matter they did not expect when they I
commenced operations.

Mr. S. BEALE, M.P., a director, said he had no doubt
heir position would now have !Yen better if they h d not
lost a few months with the works last year. While they
were carrying on the harbour works they would require
engine-power, but when those was were completed he
believed they would have ample stock for the traffic. He
was sorry they Won not enabled to avoid naoro money on

The Members for Leeds on Commercial
Topics.
On Wednesday the annual meeting of the Leeds
Chamber of Commerce was held in a room of the
Leeds Town II ill, D Anton Lupton, Esq., president
of the association, in the chair.
After the report—which detailed the operations
of the society during the past year—had been read,
and some other routine business transacted,
Mr. BEECROFP, M.P., congratulated the associa•
tion on the continued prosperity of Leeds, a circum-
stance mainly attributable, in his idea, to the great
variety of industries carried on therein. It was
gratifying to find that the Belgian tariff had done
some good, and that several good orders had
already been received in the town. On the sub-
ject of harbours of refuge, he held that the esta-
blishment of them was a work of mercy, and that
a national harbour of refuge ought to be imme-
diately constructed at Filey, for the loss of life
on the north-east coast was dreadful to contem-
plate. With respect to the new law of bankruptcy,
he expressed his opinion that some amendment of
the act must soon take place, and hoped that the
Government would shortly introduce a measure em-
bracing the whole subject. Such a measure would
reseive the support of the commercial classes both
inside and outside Parliament. A strong feeling
prevailed throughout the country that a consider-
able reduction should be made in the national ex-
penditure. In 1851, the expenditure on the army
and navy was only about I:15,000,000, whereas in
1861 it had crept up, including the charge for forti-
cations, to £40,000,000. No doubt much of this in-
crease was due to the fact that we were now engaged
in the work of reconstructing our navy. It was
much to be regretted that we had allowed France
to distance us in this respect, for when they were
building iron ships we were foolishly throwing
away money on wooden ships. A great deal had
yet to be done before our iron-clad ships could be
considered invulnerable, and we must, consequently,
prepare ourselves for a considerable further outlay
on our navy. Our very existence as a nation de-
pended upon our Government having the command
of the sea. Whilst they were disposed to support a
wise and rigid economy, they mast still make them-
selves safe as a nation, and this could best be accom-
plished in a time of peace by way of preparing
themselves for any change of affairs. Daring the
recess he had spent some time in France, and in one
arsenal he foun-1 5,000 men at work, and at another
6,000 men were employed. His own impression was
that the French people generally had not the slighest
wish to go to war with this country; but there was
nothing which would contribute so much to the
permanent peace and security of this country as
its being known by foreign nations that we were
fully prepared to defend ourselves if attacked.
If they asked him in what particular respects
the estimates could be reduced, he answered that
in many of the departments great savings might
possibly be effected. There was one item of ex-
penditure about which ho entertained considerable
doubts, and that was the item for fortifications—an
item of .C 30,000,000 according to estimation, but
which might be swelled up to double that amount ;
and if, after all, these land fortifications should
prove inefficient, it will be so much money thrown
away. According to Sir F. Smith it would require
30,000 men to man the forts at Portsmouth alone.