The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-28 00:00:00

GREA7 SHIP COMPANY.

SPECIAL MEETING,—(TIIIS DAY.)
A special general meeting of the directors and pro-
prietors was held this day at the London Tavern, for the
purpose of considering the present position of the company.
W. BARBER, Esq., chairman of the Board of Directors,
presided.
The report submitted to the meeting went at length into
the earning capabilities of the ship, which were considered
to be of tho most favourable description. The document
then went on to refer to the accident which befel the ship
on her last voyage, and then proceeded as follows :
"The financial results to the company, consequent on this
disaster, are most serious, and it becomes the duty of your
directors urgently to press the subject upon the attention
of the proprietors. Your directors stated in their last re-
port that th© working capital of the company, assuming
the amount then asked for to be raised, would not be placed
on such a satisfactory footing as prudence would dictate,
but they hoped, from the favourable prospects before them,
to be enabled to extricate the company from the difficulties
which at one time appeared insurmountable; these antici-
pations they confidently believe would have been more than
realised had the ship completed the voyages then designed
for her, and that, at the end of the year, the working ac •
count would have shown a very large balance to the credit.
The accounts of disbursements in New York, pertaining
to the present voyage. has not yet been received, but it
must of necessity be heavy ; the wages and victualling of
the crow will also form a very large item. The liabilities
may be estimated at this date as under :

On bills payable, and open accounts about £9,000
Interest on £35,000 mortgage debt, due 30th inst 1,750
Ditto on £25,000, duo Ist January

212,000
Add four months' wages to crow, less advances.... 7,000

£19,000
exclusive of the mortgage debt, the claim of Mr. Towle, Mr.
Parry, &e: The assets may be taken at about £6,000, almost
the whole of which consists of freight and passage money
received in New York and there held against disbursements
and contingent liabilities alluded to above. The mortgage
debts amount to £60,000, of which £25,000 is repayable on
Jan. 1 next, and the balance on May 31 next. In consider-
ing the question of finance, your directors think it neces-
sary, that in any arrangements made, the above mortgages
should be absorbed ; they are also of opinion, having
in view the present state of the money market, and
the security offered, that the amount required for this
purpose, and to provide for the other liabilities of the com-
pany, including the repair and outfit of the ship, should be
obtained at 8 per cent. per annum, and your directors there-
fore recommend, that they should be authorised to issue on
such terms and terms and conditions as they may think fit,
a mortgage stock for £lOO,OOO, repayable in three years,
and to bear 8 per cent. interest, payable by coupon attached
to the bonds, and to be secured by a mortgage of the ship,
given to three trustees with power of sale in case of de-
fault, either in payment of the interest or principal; the
company to insure the amount, or, at the option of the
bondholder, to pay the premium of insurance to him he
thereby becoming his own underwriter, and having no
claim on the company in case of loss."

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
said it was absolutely necessary that something should be
done by the present meeting to secure the vessels remain-
ing in possession of the company.

Mr. SCOTT RUSSELL said he should like to know what
instructions the dirctors had sent out to America with
respect to repairing the injury to the ship, and also whether
Captain Paton took the ship through the channel in which
she struck on his own responsibility.

The CHAIRMAN said the directors had not interfered with
the steps taken to remedy the accident, until after the first
attempts had failed, and then the directions they had sent
to America were that the ship should be brought home
with as little delay as possible. With respect to the course
the ship had taken he had to inform the hon. proprietor the
directors, as in all previous voyages, had instructed Capt
Paton the course he was to take.

Mr. TAYLOR thought the meeting had better proceed to
consider the main points, and that was how to surmount
their difficulties. He did not think the situation of the
company was as desponding as tha report made out, as the
ship had shown that she was capaple of giving the proprie•
tors a good return for the capital they had invested.
After a long discussion the report was adopted, with the
following addition—" That the directors be empowered to
raise any sum of money, not exceeding £lOO,OOO, at 10 per
cent., on such terms as they may think fit, but that no
bonds may be issued below par."

IHE BANK BULLION.

According to the return published yesterday, the
Bank bullion is now at a point below any previ-
ously touched during the current year. On the
11th of Jane last, when the rate of discount was 3
per cent., as at present, there was a decline to
£15,033,100, and the total shown yesterday is
only £15,018,993. But the peculiarity is observable
that, owing to the restriction of trade, the total of
unemployed notes held by the Bank, instead of di-
minishing, as is usually the case when a continuous
drain of gold is in progress, shows an increase, and
is now £654,495 in excess of the amount at that
period. Some further considerable changes, there-
fore, must take place before the question of another
advance in the rate of discount is likely to be enter-
tained. Last November, when the bullion held was
only £14,210,774, and, therefore, £808,219 below
its present sum, the rate was reduced from 3 to 3
per cent., and although the difference then existed
that there were signs of an approaching influx of
bullion, while now there is but a doubtful antici-
pation even of a temporary check to a long con-
tinued efflux, there will apparently be no special
reason for further action until a reduction to that
point shall have taken place. The drain has now
been of almost unprecedented duration, but there
has rarely been a time when so much uncertainty
prevailed as to the probabilities either of a conti-
nuance or a turn of the tide. There are no large
amounts immediately expected from Australia,
and consequently for the present it is upon the
West Indian and American supplies we must
depend entirely for our Indian requirements.
The quotations of exchange received this morning
from Bombay do not hold out any prospect of a
heavy or speedy lessening of the process of absorp-
tion going on there; but, on the other hand, there
are reports to-day from Paris of an improvement in
the condition of the Bank of France, and of a cessa-
tion of the recent efforts of that establishment to
attract gold from all available quarters. Our grain
importations are still on a scale equal to more than
a million sterling per week, but these will gradually
diminish, and as there will be heavy payments to
come from America at the commencement of the
new year, and the Australian arrivals both of wool
and gold will at that date be numerous, it is possible
that if no upward movement of the rate of discount
should previously be found necessary the position of
the market will then admit of the operation being
further postponed. Meanwhile, it is satisfactory to
notice that the Government balance at the Bank is
75 per cent. in excess of its amount at the corres-
ponding period of last year, and to understand that,
notwithstanding the trials consequent on the cotton
crisis, the revenue receipts throughout the United
Kingdom are very favourably maintained.