The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-06 00:00:00

EPA.RTMENT.

Government Seen-
rities (including •
Dead Weight A-
nnuity) 511,021:397
Other Securities 21,711,507
Notes
Gold and Silver (i:4 a 3
Coin

143,K1.15,5
MILLER, Chief Cashier.

THE CONFEDERATE COTTON LOAN.—We RTC
authorised to state that the amount of tho interest and
sinking fund duo in March next on the portion of the
Confederate Cotton. Loan not otherwise redeemed up to
date, was deposited, on the 2d inst., in the hands of Messrs
J. Henry Shroeder and Co., agents of the contractors of :the
loan.—The Index. •

A •WAR PRISONER'S LETTER.—The rules of Libby
Prison, Richmond, allow but six lines to the letters of our
soldiers confined there to their friends at home. Hero is a
specimen written within the limit :—" My dear Wife—
Yours received ; no hopes of exchange ; send corn starch ;
want socks ; no money ; rheumatism in left shoulder ;
pickles very good ; send sausages. God bless you! Kiss
the baby. Hail Columbia ! Your devoted husband, --."
—American Paper.
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—There appears - to
have suddenly sprung up in high estimation among
the judges the- name of a certain prima donna, lima de
Mursk-a,who would seem to have produceda profound sensa-
tion in Hambourg by her recent singing. That alone which
is precisely definite in regard of her at the present moment
are the facts :—lmprimis, that she has appeared with Titiens
at the great opera in Hambourg ; secondly, that competent
people reckon her the finest colorature, or in the verna-
cular, colouring or dramatic singer in Germany ; thirdly,
that there is a very stringent competition going for-
ward amidst musical managers as to who shall produce her.
Who is right and who is wrong in these matters is gene-
rally known only in the cabinets of impresarie, as in the
private rooms of editors and in the conclave—that is, ade-
quately translated, the meeting "under key ;" con or
corn dares—where the incomings and outgoings of ad-
ministrations and of governments are settled. But it
may be accepted as a real truth that every great
singer is welcome from whatever quarter the ar-
tiste, male or female, may come. The musical
empyrean is not so full of stars of undoubted illumination as
not to be the better occasionally for a new luminary re-
garding whose powers of shining there shall be no second
opinion. And in this view the operatic telescope will be
benefited by direction to a new orb ; whether, as we may
surmise from his enterprise, the star rise over the Hay-
market' where Mr. Mapleson presides, regulating the in-
tensity or moderation of the successive operatic seasons, or
in a field of view controlled by another musically dramatic
spectator.
TROTTING MATCH AGAINST TIME FOR FIFTY
POUNDS.—Yesterday the match in which Mr.
Donaldson undertook to trot his bay mare Clarissa eight
miles in harness, for 251. a side, within half an hour, came
off over a, level two miles of the old Brighton-road, near
Henley. The Mare came in a winner, with 1 min. 21 secs.
to spare, and pulled up quite fresh, having accomplished
the eight miles in 28 mins. 30s secs.
LIABILITY OF BANK DLRECTORS.—A case of great
interest to joint-stock banks in Scotland has occu-
pied the attention of the Lord President of the Court of
Session and a jury, at Edinburgh, for several days past. A
Mr. Addie, who had taken shares in the now defunct
" Great Western Bank" of Glasgow, and. had raid up seve-
ral calls, brought an action against the 'liquidators for re-
covery of all the monies he had paid, on the ground that
he had been induced to take the shares and pay the calls
by the false and fraudulent reports as to the state of the
bank put forth from time to time by the directors rind their
manager, which was resisted on the ground that he was
not entitled in point of law to recover on such grounds ; or
that, if he were, he had barred his claim by his subsequent
conduct. The Lord Advocate was engaged for the pursuer,
and the Solicitor-General for Scotland for the liquidators.
A great many witnesses were examined, and the inner
history of the bank was traced out almost from its com-
mencement to the hour of its stopping payment. Yester-
day the Lord President summed up, and his finding was
objected to, of course, on opposite grounds, by both parties.
The jury, after-deliberating three quarters of- an hour,
returned a verdict for the pursuer, thus entitling him to
recover, including interest, the sum of £35,561 10s. 11d.
FATAL ACCIDENT AT COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.
—Lest evening an inquiry was held by Mr. Bedford,
Westminster Coroner, at the Strand Union Board-room,
Bow-street, touching the death of James Chamont, aged 48,
who was killed during an afternoon performance of the
pantomime at Covent-garden Theatre. John Chamont said
that deceased was employed at Covent-garden Theatre as
a painter. Matthew Morgan, employed at the theatre, said
that during performance of the pantomime of "Cinderella"
on Monday afternoon he saw deceased fall through from the
middle floor into the cellar beneath. The witness ran to
the cellar and found him apparently dead. Mr. M. Cawood,
secretary to the Covent-garden Company, said that de-
ceased was in the act of putting across the trap-door for
an actress to stand upon it, when ho accidentally slipped
through. John Garnsey, manager of the machinery in the
cellar, said that the deceased's left leg slipped in. He came
down with great force upon his back. He never spoke after.
He fell about 20 feet. Dr. Beale proved that the deceased
raptured the spinal cord, and that death was of course in-
stantaneous. After the coroner and jury had visited the
scene of the occurrence a verdict of " Accidentp death"
was returned.

TIIEYOUNGEST BARONET.—In a paragraph -Which
appeared in the Times of the 28th ult., it was stated, from
information derived from Who's Who, that the younkest
baronet is Sir G: Sitwell, aged 7. This is an error. Sir
Henry Hayes Lawrence, not yet one year old, became a
baronet on the death of his father, Sir Alex. H. Lawrence,
in India.

DEATHS ON RAILWAYS.--Early yesterday morn-
ing the remains ofgr. J. V. Hibbert, of Wilmslow,
Cheehire, were found on the London and North-Western
Railway, between the Alderley and Winslow Stations, 12
miles south of Manchester. Mr. Ilibbert carried on business
as a cloth agent in Fountain-street, Manchester. He resided
at Wilmslow, and had left home in the morning between
7 and 8 o'clock, in his slippers, and when found on the lino
was dreadfully cut and mutilated. Having been in a low
state of mind it is thought he had put himself designedly
in front of a train. A gentleman named Hines is said to
have died suddenly the same day in a railway carriage
passing over. the Altrincham line from Manchester.
In order to provide accommodation for the new machinery
which on the occasion of the visit of the Board of Admiralty
to Chatham dockyard they directed to be introduced-in the
ropamaking department of that establishment, the whole of
the upper portion of the range of buildings hitherto used
as hemp stores has been converted and fitted for the re-
ception of the spinning-jennies and other machines in-
tended to be henceforth used. The principal building oc-
cupies a space of some 250 ft. in length by 60ft. in breadth,
and in the internal fitments which it is now receiving care
has been taken to adapt it to the purpose for which it is
intended. On this floor will be erected 48 spinning-ienni°s
for preparing the hemp, the whole of which have been sup-
plied, and are now being fitted by Messrs. Fairbairn and
Co., of Leeds. In order to provide the extra „pace required
for these machines, a portion of the building used as stores
for the tarred yarn has been taken in, by which an addi-
tional clear space of 50ft. in length is obtained. The ope-
rations to be performed in this building requiring all the
light it is possible to obtain, the whole of the old windows
have been removed and replaced by windows of large size,
while a skylight constructed With self-regulating ventila-
tors and louvres has been made to traverse the entire
building. The floor throughout has been renewed and bear the additional weight it is in-
strengthened so as to
'tended to carry. The shafting for driving the new ma-
chinery will come through the present spinning-room,
which will be connected with the new factory by means of
a couple of girder-bridges, allowing, at the same time, a.
communication with the upper spinning-floor of the ropery-
The whole of the alterations and buildings have been expe-
ditiously made by Messrs. Foord and Sons, the contractors
to the Admiralty, under the immediate superintendence of
Mr. Rivers, the head of tho works' department at Chatham.
dockyard. Nearly the whole of the machinery intended to
be placed on the new building has been received at the dock
yard, and a staff of engineers' workmen are busily engaged
in fitting up the several machines in their assig,ned- places.
Some weeks will be necessarily employed in this undertak-
ing before the new department is in satisfactory working
order. The question of emplOying female labour for this
description of work is still under consideration, and, from
the advantages likely to result from its adoption, it is be-
lieved that the Lords of the Admiralty will decide on making
the experiment, under proper regulations—the first of the
kind ever-attempted at either of the Royal dockyards.-
Vice-Admiral Sir M. Seymour, G.C.8., Naval Comman-
der-in-Chief at Portsmouth, yesterday morning embarked
from the dockyard on board the .steam-tender Sprightly,
Commander George Allen, and proCeeded out to Spithead,
where he officially inspected the 20-gun screw corvette
Highflyer,. Capt. T. Pasley, which had steamed out of the
harbour the previous day to Spithead anchorage on the
completion of her outfit for foreign service. To-day the
ifightlyer's machinery will be tested by the officials th
port over the trial ground in Stokes Bay, wheutrtlte
passes through the trial successfully, the Ifiglifl.*
reported as ready for sea.