The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-09 00:00:00

DANUBE AND BLACK SEA.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the offices, Abingdon-street, Westmin-
ster ; Mr. W. Price, M.P., in the chair.
The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
• 7 he Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said the company had sustained a loss by the
death of their late chairman, Sir S. Cunard, and the
directors had passed a resolution of sympathy, which
had been conveyed to his family. With respect to
the harbour dues he had told them at former meet-
ings that the question, although not settled, was on
the point of being settled, and on one, the last occa-
sion, that it would be settled by the next meeting,
and he had but to repeat that statement now. The
directors had waited on Earl Russell. His lordship
entered most cordially into their views, and expressed
his willingness to assist them. The Board asked him
to instruct the Minister at Constantinople to impress
upon the Porte the necessity of doing justice to the

company, if they wis le to see a further flow of
English capital into Turkey. Accordingiy-Sir
Bulwer and Mr. Barclay, the company's represen7i7
tative, waited upon the Grand Vizier, and the-direc
tors had that morning received a -telegram stating
that the question had been referred to-the Public
Works Commission. He believekthey were nearer
to a settlement now than ever they'were before. The
_traffic was increasing, and it was impoitiblep coil
to any other conclusion than .that they had suc-
ceeded to a great extent in diverting the trade of
the Danube to the railway, and they might con-
sider that the whole of the trade would soon follow.
If the receipts would only continue to increase in
the same rate as they had in the past year their suc-
cess would soon be complete. There had been a
large increase in the local grain traffic, and it was
a matter of Congratulation that there was no pros-
pect of that traffic being taken away from them.
Mr. LEWIS seconded the motion.

In answer to a question, it was stated that the
total receipts for the month' of July amounted to
£6,000, against £2,500 for the same month in 1864.

The report was then adopted.
On the motion of Mr. TIPPING, seconded by Mr.
FORD, a resolution expressing regret and condo-
lence at the death of Mr. Samuel Cunard was
carried.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

UNITED KINGDOM RAILWAY OFFICERS AND

SERVANTS.
The half-yearly meeting of this association was
held
Secretary
yesterday at the George Hotel, Aldermanbury
—Mr. Godfrey in in
(tNlifer,
"air.
The
which stated that there lhlracds to
beenn) raena di n
etrheea s ree
up
po retn,
the half-year. With regard to the Railway Pro-
vident Society, upwards of £3,000 had been paid to
the members, their widows and orphans, since the
first call. The George Stephenson fund was gra-
dually increasing, £3OO having been deposited with
the bankers. The committee believed that by
recent changes in the officers of the society the ex-
penditure would be materially reduced, and con-
cluded by urging the necessity of uniting to support
the association for the benefit of their fellow railway
employe's. The financial statement showed the bal-
ance to be :—General account, £256 ; George
Stephenson fund, UN ; and Railway Provident
Society, £5l; total, £602, of which £257 was placed
on deposit and the remainder at the Imperial Bank,
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, congratulated the meeting upon the improved
position of the association, there having been an in-
crease of fees and a corresponding decrease of ex-
penses. He hoped they would all work together in
promoting the prosperity of the association.

Mr. CLARKE seconded the resolution for the adop-
tion of the report, which, after a long discussion,
was carried unanimously.

The meeting was then made special, when some
alterations were made in the rules, and the pro-
ceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.

Return of the Orissa to Bombay through a

Storm,

(From the Bombay Gazette of July 11.)

No little excitement was created in the Fort yes-
terday afternoon, when the flagstaff announced a
steamer from the south, and that steamer the
Orissa, which left this on the 24th June with the
mails and passengers for Aden, Suez, and England.
Of course all sorts of conjectures were afloat as to
her return, and the wildest guesses indulged iu.
It appears that immediately after leaving Bombay
the Orissa experienced heavy weather, and made
but 150 miles in the first 24 hours. This bad wea-
ther increased to such an extent that her daily aver-
age became from 70 to 80 miles. On the sth of
July, when off Socrota, the wind and sea increased
fearfully, and from the thickness of the weather it
became apparent that the vessel was running into a
cyclone. After consulting with his officers, Capt.
Curling decided on turning the ship's head in the
direction of Bombay. We give the official account
of the disaster below, merely remarking that the
passengers were reduced to two quarts of water per
diem, and that no casualty beyond the loss of a
lifeboat occurred. The Orissa neither saw the out-
going mail on Sunday nor any other steamer, and
great anxiety in consequence will no doubt result
in England, as there will be no means of telegraph-
ing for the next ten or twelve days.
The mails and passengers proceed on Wednesday
evening by the Peninsular and Oriental steamer
Baroda.

"G. F. Henry, Superintendent Peninsular and Orien-
tal Steam Navigation Company, Bombay.

" Dear Sir,—lt is with great regret I have to in-
form you of the unfortunate circumstances that have
compelled me to bring the vessel back to Bombay.
" From the 30th June to the 3d July we encoun-
tered a succession of very heavy weather, with high
head sea, ship pitching and labouring heavily, and
increasing in violence each day, so that during the
above period we had made but 450 miles. On the
3d July the ship made a quantity of water, and from
the heavy lurching burst up the bunker bilge boards,
the coals falling through into the bilges and chokng
the pumps ; these were repaired, but the ship con-
tinued making a large quantity of water. The bun-
kers again gave way and choked the pumps, when
Mr. Henderson, the chief engineer, requested that
the ship might be kept steady, and on several occa-
sions she was put head to wind, that repairs might
be effected to the bilge and the pumps cleared. On
this occasion it took the deck and engine-room
pumps seven hours to reduce the water sufficiently
to allow us to proceed on our course.
" On the morning of the sth inst., lat. 12.52, len.
54.58, the gale had much increased from the S.W.,
blowing in furious gusts, a falling barometer and
indications of an approaching cyclone, into the
centre of which by continuing my course W.N.W.
would have led. I therefore deemed it advisable to
put her head to the eastward before the ship became
unmanageable, as she was making but little way,
and scarcely steering. At the same time it was with
difficulty the pumps could be kept working, and
when in full force were barely able to keep the water
under.

" Having taken these precautions I held a con-
sultation with my officers and the naval agent, Capt.
Lloyd, who unanimously agreed with me that,
taking into consideration I had but four days' coal
on board, being short of water from injury to the
condenser, the ship making so much water and the
pumps frequently becoming choked, there would be
little chance of reaching Aden, and a very great
risk of serious mishap to the ship and those on board
if we stood on.

tf--4

" I may add that there were other nautical melt
among the passengers, who concurred with me that,
in returning to Bombay, I was but consulting the
interests of the company and the safety of the
passengers.
" Permit me to state that the above advice was
not acted upon until every effort had been made to
discover the course of the leak, and every approach•
able spot in the ship had been carefully examined.
" The passengers rendered great assistance in
removing cargo to trim the ship and also at the deck
pumps, and of the officers of the ship I cannot speak
too highly, as they were unremitting in their exer-
tions.—l am, &c.,

" R. CURLING, Commander."

ORANGE TREES AS AN INVESTMENT.—During the
last few years the supply of oranges has been greatly
improved in France, and amongst the new or improved
sources are Cannes and the Gulf of Juan in the Mediterra-
nean, nearly the whole neighbourhood of which is being
converted into orange plantations. It is said that Paris
alone consumes annually about five millions of oranges
grown there ; and there is a large trade besides in orange
flowers, which are the produce not of the sweet, but of the
bitter or Seville orange. At present the price of orange
flowers at Cannes is not more than 4d. a lb., but it is said to
be on the rise. In good situations a tree 15 years of age
will yield about lalb. of flowers each year, and in an
orangery by the Gulf of Juan 1,550 trees of 17 years'
growth give on an average above 10 tons of flowers.
Besides these flowers these trees yield a certain amount of
fruit, the result of the blossoms which appear after the
flower harvest—for the orange tree has a succession of;
flowers, ripe and green fruit as well as blossoms being
frequently seen together on the same tree—and also athircl
item of profit in the form of prunings and clippings, which
fetch Ss. a cwt., and aro used for the production of inforioi
scents.—The Grocer.