The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-27 00:00:00

BELGIAN EASTERN JUNCTION.

The annual meeting of this company was held yesterday
at the London Tavern, Mr. C. Waring in the chair.
The report stated that the total receipts amounted to
£18,461, and the expenditure to £ll,BOl, leaving a balance
of £6,660. The directors recommended the adoption of a
dividend of is. per share. The directors had confidence
in the future of tho line. It was free from debt, re-
lieved from a portion of its liabilities, a dividend earned,
and the traffic of the line continued to show a steady in-
crease.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
congratulated the meeting upon the fact that the traffic for
the past year showed an increase of 10 per cent. upon those
of the previous year. That increase chiefly arose from
15,000 tons of coal and 3,000 tons of general merchandise.
That increase was going on. In the three months of the
present year the carriage of coals had increased 6,000 tons,
which would make 21,000 tons against 15,000 for the year.
There had also been an increase in the carriage of stone
during the three months of 1,600 tons. The expenses had
been at the rate of 64 per cent., against 75 per cent. in the
preceding year.

The report was adopted and the dividend agreed to, and
a vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings.

The Shakspere Club Dinner at Stratford.

STRATFORD, Tuesday.
The members of the Royal Shaksperean Club, Stratford-
on-Avon, held their anniversary dinner in the Town Hall
on Monday evening—Mr. James Cox, jun., mayor of the
borough presided ; and there were present about 60 gentle-
men, including Sir Charles Mordaunt, M.P., for South
Warwickshire ; Mr. Flower, the ex-mayor ; the Vicar, the
Rev. G. Granville ; Mr. H. 0. Hunt ; the Rev. E. J. Evered ;
Mr. James Matthews, tragedian ; Alderman Randall, &c.—
The usual toasts having been given, Sir C. Mordaunt pro-
posed "The army, navy, yeomanry, militia, and volun-
teers." He eulogised the services rendered by the army and
navy, and expressed the hope that they would be main-
tained in the future in the same state of efficiency as at pre-
sent; and that, while they continued to be the ministry of the
country, they would ever, as now, be the safest guarantee of
peace. (Applause.) The toast of " The Vicar and clergy "
having been duly honoured, the Mayor proposed " The im-
mortal memory of Shakspere." Sometimes, he said, they
were told that because they happened to live at Stratford it
did not follow that they should take a greater interest in
Shaksperean matters than others ; that it was rather an fin-
pertinence on their part to do so ; that they should leave it
to wiser and better heads than theirs; and he was quite sure
that they would be content to do so if the country at large
did its duty in this respect. (Loud cheers.) Until the dis-
grace under which they suffered was wiped out, until the
admirers of Shakspere combined together to erect a me-
morial in that town, until it was no longer to be said that
what had been done for Burns, and for Scott, and for others
among their poets—not to speak of heroes, princes, and
even successful tradesmen—in the place of their birth, could
be done for Shakspere in Stratford, he trusted they would
ever find a voice to tell the country of its duty. (Cheers.)
This matter ought not to be allowed to sleep, and must not
be abandoned. Theirs was the town where honour should
be rendered to Shakspere, because it was the place of his
birth. He never loved to be anywhere better than at Strat-
ford, and he coveted no richer tomb than could be afforded
him by the side of the bank of that river where he had so
often walked. (Much cheering.) Therefore they might
conclude that he would prefer to be honoured, if honour
be must have—as he should have—in his quiet country
home. (Applause.) In responding to the toast of " The
Tercentenary Committee," Mr. Flower (the ex-Mayor)
alluded to the unfortunate deficiency which, in round num-
bers, was £3,000, and which the local committee had to pay
out of their pockets. They had not been assisted even by
persons residing in the country, and beyond the sum of
£lOO given them voluntarily by a townsman, and some
£2OO he got from his friends, the committee had made up
the whole of their loss themselves. He complained that
the London newspapers should have turned round upon
them. after the tercentenary and upbraided them with their
mismanagement. The work they undertook was one of a
character in which they could not profit by any experience,
because no one had had any experience to profit by. Tho
celebration had been most improperly compared to a musi-
cal festival ; but, in the latter case, the gentleman who
superintended them had had many years of experience,
while theatrical managers themselves declared that it was
impossible to calculate the probable returns of theatrical
entertainments. One manager of a theatre broke his pro-
mise and his word, and did them a great injury ; but from
many actors they had received the most honourable,
kind, and enthusiastic help. (Cheers.) He very much
complained of the great railway companies refusing- to
allow visitors to travel the double journey at a reduced
_price, which had contributed to the loss they had suf-
fered. After all, setting aside the loss, of which the mem-
bers of the committee would say nothing, the tercen-
tenary had been a great success, and would be the source
of a life-long enjoyment to all of them. (Loud cheering.)
Several other toasts were given, and the company broke up
at midnight.

BRAINWORK.—Within a recent period death has
been busy with persons engaged in literature and
art. Men of mark have been called away, when, by years
of experience of human life, by long observation of nature
in its various phases, and by the acquisition of the mecha-
nical, skill which is needed in the production of books or of
pictures, they have fitted themselves for greater things, so
that we might, if it had been allowed for them to have
lived to the allotted time of man's age, have looked for
much that would have been honourable to the labourers
and advantageous to the community. The pursuit of
literature or of art, especially when employed in periodical
publications, involves an incessant wear of the brain.
There is a never-ending care for the provision for each
week's materials, and the mind is seldom at rest. The mill
is incessantly at work ; the bow is always bent ; and, before
the due time comes, the mill stops ; the bow is broken.
We are often forced into such reflections when wo glance
around and miss so many contemporaries and associates as
we do. Let our readers look around their own particular
circles, and it will be found how large is the number of
those who, having hardly worked their brains, have for
.ever left their pla,ces,—Pui/der,