The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-02 00:00:00

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respects, and still further improvements might be made.
(Hear, heat.) The address which had been read alluded to
the patent law. He would not enter into that difficult and
intricate question, but he might observe that those who ex-
hibited their useful inventions would have the advantage
of being known as clever men, would be taken by the hand
and supported in a way that would be valuable to them in
after life. (Hear, hear.) The walls before them exhibited
some admirable specimens of the work and design of very
young men indeed, lie hoped those young men would be
encouraged as they ought to be. (Hear.) They had the op-
portunity here of becoming known and appreciated as
young men at schools and colleges who took prizes wore.
There was no patent for the workman's brains, but what
his brains had done would give him an advantage in the
world ever after. (Hear, hear.) The address made very
just allusion to the benefits conferred on this and other
branches of industry by free trade. They now recognised
the fact that all trades had more to gain than to lose by
entering into competition and interchange, and that the ad-
vantages -of improvement were thus extended to all. On the
subject of free trade ho might remark, that a long time
elapsed before that discovery—that right discovery—of free
trade had been made. But it appeared by an extract from
Sir W. Davenant; which he begged leave to read, that in
the year 1640 or thereabouts people were beginning to have
a feeling of the advantages of free trade. He introduces a
bourgeois of Paris and a citizen of London holding a con-
version in Rutland house, and the Parisian is made to
speak thus—" You, of this noble citie, are yet to become
more noble by your candour to the plea between me, a
bourgeois of Paris, and my opponent of London ; being
concerned in honour to lend your attention as favour-
ably to a stranger as to your native orator : since it is
the greatest sign of a narrow education to permit the
border of rivers,. or the strands of seas, to separate the
great consanguinity of mankind, though the unquiet nature
of man had made them bounds to divide governments." It
would be seen from this that the invention of free trade
had been some time working itself out. (Hear.) All foolish
jealousy was now discarded. Rivalry might exist, and
with great advantage. (Hear.) There was a great difference
between honest rivalry and selfish exclusiveness. (Hear.) A
little opposition was an excellent thing, for it kept people
up to the mark, From her Majesty's Government down-
wards, he believed that everybody was the better of a little
opposition. (Hear, and laughter.) The judges had gone
minutely into the question of merit, and the award of
prizes would soon be declared. Speaking for himself, and
not for the judges, he thought that if the objects exhibited
did not deserve a prize it should not be necessary to
award a prize at all. That rule was laid down by
the Society of Arts, and he thought it a good
one. The prize money might be given to a different object,
or might be kept for another day. He believed independent
and honest workmen would not object to this. The prizes
ought not to be made so common, or they would lose their
value, and the halo which surrounded the really valuable
operative would be impaired. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion
he thanked the audience for the attention they had given
him, and expressed his entire sympathy with the objects
of the exhibition. (Hear, hear.)
The Old Hundredth Psalm was then sung; after which
Dr. Milman having offered up a prayer, the anthem,
" Thine, 0 Lord, is the greatness," was chanted by ama-
teurs, who were coach operatives ; and, after " God save
the Queen," the Chairman declared the exhibition to be
open.

A guard of honour of the 4th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers,
under the command of Capt. Woodall, was in attendance.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

BRISTOL AND EXETER.

The directors, at a meeting held yesterday, re-

solved to recommend at the general meeting that a
dividend be declared for the half-year ended the
31st of December last at the rate of 5i per cent.
per annum, having a balance of £4,900 to be car-
ried forward.

MANCHESTER, BRIXTON, MATLOCK, AND

MIDLAND JUNCTION.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at Derby ; Mr. H. Tootal presided.
The Secretary read the report, which stated that
the directors recommended the usual dividend for

the half-year of ls. 4d. per share, payable on the
11th inst. The traffic on the railway between Am-
bergate and Buxton had continued to be satisfac-
tory, and the Midland Company were actively pro-
secuting the works of their extension line, which,
when completed. would give an additional line of
communication with the city of Manchester.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, alluded to the promotion by the Midland
Company of a line between the Erewash Valley and
Ambergate, which he believed would prove of great
value to their interests. With reference to the gua-
rantees given by the Midland and North-Western
Companies, they had heard on previous occasions
remarks as to those companies having had liberally
to put their hands into their pockets to make up the
Matlock Company's dividends ; but he believed he
might now state that the two companies would no
longer have any loss to sustain, as the Matlock line
was now paying its own way.
Mr. BEALE, M.P., seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report, which was carried, and the
dividend of ls. 4d. per share was declared.

Mr. BANcßorr moved the re-election of Sir J.
Paxton, M.P., as a director. _

Mr. BEALE, M.P., seconded the motion, and it
was carried unanimously.

Mr. Richardson, the retiring auditor, was re-
elected, and the proceedings concluded with a vote
of thanks to the chairman. • ,

BELFAST AND NORTHERN COUNTIES.

The report of the directors states that the receipts
for the past half-year amounted to £59,289, against
£57,864 in the corresponding half of 1863, showing
an increase of £1,425. The directors considered
this a very satisfactory result when it was remem-
bered that the line to Londonderry by Omagh had
been participating in the traffic between that city
and Belfast to a greater extent than in any former
half-year. The ordinary working expenses, not-
withstanding the increase in the traffic, were less
than for the corresponding half of 1863. The ex-
penditure for the renewal of the permanent way was
£3,490, which with the balance of £528 of last ac-
count, making £4,018, it was proposed to pay out
of the revenue of the half-year. The state of the
money market had prevented the issue of the 41 per
cent. preference shares, but now that a change was
likely to take place every exertion would be made
by the directors to accomplish it, and relieve the
company from the extra charge for interest. The
balance of the revenue account, after paying all
claims against it, was £20,883, out of which £4,018
was deducted for the renewed expenditure, £3,200
dividend on the 4 per cent. preference shares, £1,341
for dividend on the 4i per cent. preference shares,
and £11,158 for dividend at the rate of 4 per cent.
per annum, less income tax, on the ordinary shares,
leaving a balance of £1,166. The lease of the Lon-
donderry and Coleraine Railway would terminate in
April next. The directors were not aware of any
arrangements being made for working the line there-
after, but had expressed their willingness to assist
the company in every way in their power. The
capital account showed that £1,111,826 had been
expended. The revenue account showedthat £59,289
had been received, and £24,600 expended in work-
ing; £5,000 was paid for rent of the Coleraine line,
and £8,816 for interest on loans, leaving a balance
of £20,883.

TRINIDAD.
A special meeting of this company was held yes-
terday at the London Tavern—Mr. J. Mitchel in
the chair.
The Secretary read the report, which stated that
the directors had forfeited all the shares upon which
the full deposit of £1 was unpaid on Feb. 28, 1860.
The proprietors of 4,975 shares responded to the
call and paid the £1 per share. Negotiations had
from time to time been carried on with a view to
construct the first section of the line to Arm' a,but
from the supineness manifested by the
company and
from the disinclination of the shareholders to sub-
scribe further capital the directors had been unable
to carry on the scheme with any prospect of success.
The directors had been most
unwilling to abandon
the undertaking, but they
were now so strongly
urged by some of the largest shareholders to wind it
up that they felt bound to call the shareholders to-
gether and submit a resolution for that purpose.
The balance of account was £3,098, subject to out-