The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-16 00:00:00

lawfully absent themselves from suck service before the
term of the said contract was completed."
Mr: Clarkson and Mr.-Rogers appeared Qn behalf of
the complainants, and Mr. Herring for the defendants.
Mr. Clarkson said, a number of men, were employed
by the gas company to clean, light, and extinguish the
street lamps supplied by them with gas. These men
had received weekly the sum of 18s. each for those ser-
vices, when it suddenly occurred to them a short time
ago that they would endeavour to obtain an increase of
2s. per week. They made their application to this ef-
fect, in the first instance, to the secretary, in most re-
spectful and proper terms. Mr. Andrews, the secretary,
laid their request before the directors, who, having come
to the determination that they ought not to be called
upon to do so, declined to accede to it. The men ex-
pressed themselves dissatisfied with the answer conveyed
through the secretary, and at their request some of them
were allowed a personal interview with the directors,
who answered them to the same effect, and it was sub-
sequently intimated to them that, if dissatisfied with
their employment, they were at liberty to leave it, on
giving a week's notice. On the 27th ult. they received
their wages as usual, and took their leathers and neces-
sary instruments for cleaning and lighting the lamps,
not one sentence being uttered of any disposition or in-
tention they had to strike. They performed their duties
up to the extinguishing of their lights on the Monday
morning. In the course of that day, to the great sur-
prise of the officers of the company, they came and re-
presented that, as the company had not increased their
wages, they should not work any longer. By this de-
termination on their part—which they adhered to—all
the places lighted with their gas had every prospect of
being left that night in utter darkness, without regard
to the mischievous and dangerous consequences that
might result ; but the officers of the company, with a
due regard to the public convenience and safety, applied
themselves so diligently in their behalf that men were,
in the course of the evening, found to supply the places
of those who had " struck."
Mr. BroderiP observed that the conduct of the com-
pany in this respect was deserving of the greatest credit,
and there was no respectable man but would look with
abhorrence upon those who advised or lent themselves
of
madprebsr7leco
tnnlhaiaarntkn
astsdho enp
theyaddedrs oe prve
ihr
ctaeyd.
to putting the town in darkness, to the imminent peril
ot
bhf ae
the
hn
ea
iscoedmmasapntayranyoyffbotyrhebaadndeufcemonubdneasrneotls:
hyae
—that as expressions of the deepest regret had been
made, coupled with the fear that ruin would be brought
upon them—the directors had, with a very kind con-
sideration of the matter, instructed him to ask for a
withdrawal of these summonses, if it obtained the ma-
gistrate's sanction.

Mr. Broderip said : If this legal point had been
brought before me I should have given judgment to the
best of my ability, but as it is not pressed, and from a
proper and kind motive, there is no necessity ; but per-
haps I may be allowed to say a few words, especially as
I see a great number of interested persons present. This
may be depended on—if the law be sufficient, it will be
put in force ; if insufficient, there can be little doubt
that it will, as in the late case of the proprietors of
hackney carriages, be made strong enough to prevent
the possibility of a similar outrage with impunity. I
have had some experience in the office which I hold,
and I do not remember an instance in this metropolis
where such conduct has not recoiled upon the perpetra-
tors. Strikes have uniformly been followed by misery,
among the masses and their families, while a few de-
signing men have been raised to temporary importance,
and have enjoyed a transient profit, but only to be
plunged in their turn in the same distress as their
victims.

The whole of the summonses were then withdrawn.

THE LARGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD.

At the fire at Messrs. Scott Russell's premises, Millwall,
among the models and patterns destroyed were those of
the intended steam-ship for the Eastern Steam Naviga-
tion Company. She is to be the largest ship ever
heard of in the world, and is to carry sufficient fuel for
the entire voyage to and from India or Australia. Her
length is to be 680 feet ; breadth, 83 feet ; depth 58 feet,
with screw and paddle engines of aggregate nominal
horse-power of 2,600. In addition to taking from 4,000
to 6,000 tons of coals, she will be able to carry 5,000
tons measurement of merchandise, and was to have 500
cabins for passengers of;the highest class, with ample
space for poops and lower class passengers. The whole
of the bottom, and up to six feet above the waterline,
will be double, and of a cellular construction, so that any
external injury will not affect the tightness or safety
of the ship. The upper deck will also be strengthened
on the same principle, so that the ship will be
a complete beam, similar to the tube of the Brit-
tannia-bridge. It will be divided into ten sepa-
rate water-tight compartments. She will have se-
parate sets of engines, each with several cylinders, and
separate boilers will be applied to work the screw dis-
tinct from those working the paddle-wheels; so that, in
the event of temporary or even permanent derangement
of any one of the engines, or of either the paddle-wheels
or the screw, the other engines and propellers would
still be available. It is computed that her great length
will enable her to pass through the water at the velocity
of 15 knots an hour, and by the great speed, combined
with the absence of stoppages for coaling, the voyage
between England and India, rid the Cape, may be ac-
complished in 30 or 33 days, and between England and
Australia in 33 or 36 days. It is said that the ship will
become, by its constructton, a beam of sufficient strength
to meet any strain to which it can be subjected, and
will consist of so many distinct compartments that no
local injury, however serious, will affect its buoyancy to
any dangerous extent. It would seem that the firm are
in some difficulty as to space for building this immense
vessel. The depth of the works from the banks of the
river is only 460 feet, and a diagonal course would not
obtain room to form a ship 600 feet long, divided as the
yard is by buildings which have escaped the fire.