The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-05 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

In the Lords' Committee yesterday the preamble of the
Belfast Central Bill was proved. In Group 8 the case of the
promoters of the West Hartlepool, Cleveland, and North-
Eastern Bill was concluded, and that of the opposition com-
menced. In Group 10 the case for the promoters of the
Burton-upon-Trent and Nottingham Bill was continued.
In Group 11 the Connah's-quay Bill was passed. In Group
12 the promoters of the Shrewsbury and Potteries Junction
Bill finished their case, and the opposition of the London
and North-Western was opened. In Group 14 the North
and South Wiltshire Junction and the Wiltshire Bills were
passed. In Group 21 the Inverness and Perth Junction and
Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Amalgamation Bill was
proceeded with.

TELEGRAPH CONSTRUCTION AND MAIN-
TENANCE (LIMITED).

The report of the directors state that the award of Mr.
Bidder for the purchase by the company of the buildings,
machinery, and plant of Messrs. Glass, Elliot, and Com-
pany, at Greenwich, and their leases of the Malta
and Alexandra, Cairo, and Suez Telegraphs, and also for
the lands, property, and patents of the Gutta Percha Com-
pany, their goodwill and manufactured stock, amounting
altogether to £397,672, being considerably less than the
amount estimated. The work performed by the company
during the year ended the 31st of December last consisted
principally of the manufacture of the Atlantic cable, fitting
out the Great Eastern steamship, and conveying the cable
on board, preparatory to the laying expedition, which was
to start in the month of July next. The profit and loss
account for the year included in the gross profit the sums
paid for the quantity of Atlantic cable manufactured—viz.,
768 miles, at the mileage rate agreed upon, one half in cash
and the remaining half in debentures and shares of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company, In addition to the price per
mile, this company would be entitled to a largo sum in
cash and shares upon the successful laying of the cable.
The board had made an arrangement with the directors of
the Great Eastern Steamship Company for the payment of
the sum agreed upon for the hire of the vessel in shares of
the Atlantic Telegraph Company, but the amount was pay-
able only in the event of the cable being successfully laid.
The outlay incurred in fitting out the Great Eastern up to
the 31st of December last, amounting to £15,714, had been
carried to a suspense account until the cable" was laid. Tho
accounts for the year showed a gross profit of £148,927 ;
and the expenses £46,627, leaving a net profit of £102,300.
The interest on the unpaid purchase-money, £26,777, and
the interim dividend on capital, at 5 per cent. per annum,
to the 30th of June, 1864, £5,734, together £32,511, being
deducted, left a balance of £69,789. From this the direc-
tors proposed to write off the whole of the preliminary
expenses, £3,174, to pay balance of interest on paid-up
capital at 5 per cent. per annum, £5,734 ; and 10 per cent.
to the credit of a reserve fund, £6,088, together £14,996,
leaving a balance of £54,793, subject to the realisation of
the securities received in part payment of the Atlantic
cable, and also subject to the contingent charge. The
directors recommended the payment of a dividend to the
31st of December last of 5 per cent., which, with the inte-
rest at 5 per cent. per annum, would be equal to 10 per
cent. per annum (free of income tax) on the paid-up share
capital, leaving a balance of £43,325.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.—At the evening
meeting on Monday next the following papers will be read :
—l. Physical Geography of the Seas between England and
India; by Captain Toynbee, R.N. 2. Rovuma River, East
Africa; by Dr. Kirk. 3. Recent Travels in unexplored
parts of Madagascar ; by Dr. Gunst.

COBDEN'S LAST ILLNESS.—From February to
April, after several weeks of arctical weather, the
north-east wind had areign of terror; and, amidst thousands
of victims, slew a man whose name was so familiar on the
tongues and types of his generation, that this spring will
be signalled out as the spring in which Richard Cobden
died. Every home in which there was an invalid looked
forward to the cessation of the cruel and poisonous winds
which prevailed, to set up the sufferer. In Sussex, among
the Downs, and along the shore, in the first week of
February, the snowdrops and crocuses glinted up in the
gardens, and the skylarks, with beating wings and ecstatic
carols, mounted straight up into the sky. Polyanthuses,
anemone hypaticas, and blue and purple anemones, bloomed
in the middle of the month, The first of the foreign singers,
the chaffinch, came and warbled beautifully on the top
twigs of leafless trees. Tho greater titmouse made himself
heard about West Sussex homes by his two rasping notes,
which seem borrowed from the whetting of a scythe.
Where there were many trees and shrubs, amidst chirps
and warblings, the tree-larks trilled, the thrushes whistled,
and sanguine sufferers from bronchitis believed their
throats had escaped from the gripe of this deadliest of
the garotters. Relying on the apparent arrival of spring,
Mr. Cobden, one of thousands of invalid prisoners during
the winter, left his sheltered home at Dunford among the
Downs, where "he had waited for finer weather," and
whilst travelling to London was caught by four degrees of
frost. Never strong, overworked all his life, often wounded
in political strife, never having recovered the loss of his
only boy, in his public zeal addressing his constituents late
in the year, and leaving his home too early in the spring
his
to
speak in Parliament, the cold overpowered the heat m
overworn frame, and on the sunny but chilly morning of
ihe 2d of April, while the church belle_were ringing,
' Cobden was expiring in his chambers in Suffolk-
Dickens's " All the Year &mei"

RicharL,

;tree; Loudon, .

The sailing ship Middlesex, 1,200 tons, Com-
mander J. Cammell, R.N.R. (belonging to Mr.
George Marshall, of London), arrived at Spithead
on Wednesday morning from India, with officers
and men invalided from her Majesty's army in
India, private passengers, and a general Indian
cargo on board for London. Mrs. Colonel Taylor
died on the passage home. The Middlesex sailed
from Calcutta on the 20th of January, passed the
Cape on the Bth of March, arrived at St. Helena on
the 22d, and sailed again on the 24th. Beautiful
weather was experienced throughout the voyage.
The sailing ship Agamemnon, 1,450 tons, Com-
mander Marder, R.N.R. (one of Messrs. Green's
ships), arrived at Spithead on Wednesday morning
from India, with the headquarters of the 17th Lancers
on board and a few time-expired men from regi-
ments serving in India. The Agamemnon had,
however, scarcely anchored at Spithead before she
received orders by the cutter belonging to Lloyd's
agent at the port, Mr. James Garratt, to proceed
on her voyage to the Thames, and land her troops
at Gravesend, and consequently she sailed again
immediately. The Agamemnon sailed from Bombay
on the 21st of January, and from St. Helena on the
20th of March.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Commander W. C. Chapman,
to the Winchester ; George Sullivan, first-class
assist.-engineer, to the Cumberland, for the Belle-
rophon ; John E. Cooke, clerk, to the St. Vincent ;
and James Lyon, assist.-clerk, to the Impregnable.