The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-06 00:00:00

LONDON AND COUNTY BANK

HALF-YEARLY MEETING-THIS DAY,

The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the proprietors Was
held to-day at the London Tavern. •

The report stated that the net profits, after deducting all
charges, amounted to £63,838 19s. 9d., which, added to
£1,483 2s. 3d. brought forward, made a total of £65,322 2s.
A dividend of 6 per cent, for the half-year, free of income-
tax, was proposed and agreed to unanimously.

CITY OF LONDON BREWING COMPANY.

HALF-YEARLY MEETING—THIS DAY.
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of
this company was held to-day at the London Tavern; A.
Young, Esq., presiding.

The CHAIRMAN said the business f r transaction was '
very short and satisfactory. Hitherto the directors had
paid both classes of shareholders a dividend at the rate of
6 per cent, but on this occasion that amount would be in-
creased. Al,hough no formal report would be presented
on that occasion, he bad to inform the meeting
that the half-yearly accounts had been audited, and
the directors felt perfectly justified in increasing their
dividend on the present occasi( n to 3i per cent. for the half
year to both classes of shareholders, which was at the rate
of 7 per cent. per annum.

The proposition was agreed to unanimously, and a vete
of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.

A CASE OF CONSCIENCE.

The following letter h.;s been addressed to the
editor of the Times:—

" Sir,—Her Highness the Maharanee, Jindkore,
of Lahore, mother of his Highness the Maharajah
Daleep Singh, died on the Ist current at Abingdon-
house, Kensington, in the Hindoo faith, and we
understand it is proposed to bury her.

" The practice is contrary to the religion of the
Sikhs, and, as his Highness the Maharajah denies
our right to dispose of the body according to our
customs, we are constrained, as a matter of con-
science, to appeal to the country for protection, and
beg you will kindly allow us a place in your spirited
journal to enter a public protest against the intended
desecration.

"Agreeably to our rules, the body ought to be
burnt and the ashes given to the Ganges. The
thing is simple enough in itself, and, as it in-
fringes no moral or physical law, we certainly can-
❑ot believe the wisdom and intelligence of the land
would oppose our acting as our religion directs.
" Besides, the belief of all religionists is that no
funeral is hallowed unless a priest, or, in his ab-
sence, a layman of the religion of the deceased
officiates at. his obsequies. Now, it is not competent
to a Christian minister to afford the rights of burial
to her Highness, and we, on our part, cannot render
any assistance if the remains are to be buried. It
is hard, then, her Highness should be deprived of
the offices the meanest claim and receive through-
out the civilised globe, and that we should be re-
fused the consolation of discharging the 'ast sad
duty for our mistress that is the right of all, and
that is not in the power of his Highness the Maha-
rajah, or any other Christian, to pay.
" Her Highness was particularly careful about
everything relating to caste; indeed, so much so,
that up to he: demise she refused to eat when his
Highness the Maharajah happened to be on the
same carpet with herself, and, so that she might
not be compromised, bad a separate establishment
of Indians, who attended to her table and every-
thing connected with it.
'• In asking to dispose of her Highness's remains
according to our religion, then, we feel we are ful-
filling her Highness's wishes, and are satisfied, had
she known her dissolution was at hand, she would
have left definite instructions for the disposal of
her body after the forms of the Sikh religion.
"Reiterating our protest in the name of the
friends and relations of her Highness the Maha-
ranee, of the Sikhs in general, both here and abroad,
and in the interests of civil and religions liberty,
" We have the honour to be, sir,
"Your very obedient servants,
" UTCHEEL SINGH, Jageerdar,
" KISHEN SINGH, Khutry.
" 16, Craven-terrace, Lancaster-gate,
Bayswater, Aug. 4."