The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-06 00:00:00

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1 tors to recommend the usual di
for the past half-year, and 3 p
derwriting account, making
free of income-tax, payable on the 28th inst. The
total number of ships employed by the company was
63, the Customs' measurement of them being in the-
aggregate 92,353 tons, and the horse power 18,270.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, alluded to the extraordinary mortality that had
taken place among some of their chief employes dur-
ing the past year, and stated that it was far greater
than in any previous similar period. They had lost
four commanders, one superintendent, two pursers,
and four other officers, two clerks, seven junior
engineers, three assistants, and five stewards. This
loss showed the advantage of the system of life
assurance adopted by them, the company contribut-
ing a certain portion of the fund. The assurance-
office had paid in claims the sum of £9,559 on that
occasion, and the total claims paid by the assurance
office since its establishment amounted to £43,148.
Those claims had not been paid out of the funds of
the company, but had been provided for out of the
provident and good service fund establishment for
the founders of the undertaking, and to which he
need not further allude. The revenue of the com-
pany had been considerably diminished in conse-
quence of the great cessation in specie shipments,
owing to the stagnation in the cotton and silk trade
in India and China, which also had operated injuri-
ously on the return freights. There had been some
deficiency in the receipts for passage traffic on ac-
count of the company's fares being reduced in 1864.
They had increased the number of passengers by
2,200, but without any benefit to the revenue, as
there was a deficiency of £lO,OOO in the item of
fares, and, on the other hand, they incurred extra
expenses in the victualling department of £lO,OOO,
from the enhanced cost of stores. When they con-
sidered that the company had to fill 10,000 sto-
machs every day, any increase of price in provisions
must tell upon the cost of stores. There had been
an improvement in their receipts during the past
two months, the specie freights had been consider-
ably more, and he thought they might look forward
to a revival of trade. Notwithstanding the defi-
ciency in revenue, the result of the working showed
how vigilantly the navigation of their ships had
been superintended. With the loss of two ships,
under circumstances beyond their control, they had
been able to supplement the usual dividend by 3 per
cent. from the insurance fund.: They had added
considerably to the performances of their ships and
had diminished the expenses. The navigation of
their ships had been in the aggregate about 1,500,000
miles. The ordinary insurance against loss by sea
risks would have been £5 ss. per cent. at Lloyd's ;
but the actual loss incurred during the 20 years the
proprietors had their own underwriters was only
255. per cent. (Hear.) With regard to their ex-
penses of navigation the cost of ,coal and fuel had
been £72,900 less than for the preceding year; this
was partly effected :in the quantity of coals con-
sumed, and by the super-heating process adopted in
their ships. Something had been said and written
about the Australian postal service performed by
the company, and there had latterly been loud com-
plaints respecting delays both.in Australia and here.
In adverting to the history of that service he stated
that the company had in the first instance lost
£40,000 by it, and gave it up. The Government
then gave the contract by public tender :to another
company, at a rate of £45,000 higher than they paid
their company, but they all knew, even with that
addition to the subsidy, how ruinous that contract
proved to the company who took it. The Penin-
sular and Oriental Company was again applied to
on the subject, and they proposed that the Austra-
lian service should be worked as a branch from the
India and China route from Port de Galle to
Australia, and this was done at a cost of
£60,000 less than before. He then explained how
some irregularities would unavoidably arise in per-
forming the branch service, notwithstanding the
utmost efforts of the company ; and he might
add that the delays complained of would have been
much greater had it not been for the large resources
of the company. That service extended over 15,000
miles. There was at times rough weather in pass-
ing the Bay of Biscay, as well as other places in the
route, and the coast of Australia was bad for navi-
gation, and therefore delays would sometimes arise.
A system of penalties had been adopted by the
Postmaster-General for delays, and of premiums
when the mails arrived before their specified time.
The result of this arrangement was that in the course
of the past five years their ships arrived 73 times
within the time specified, and 26 times later than the
time specified, so that on the whole he thought there
was nothing very material `to complain of in that
respect.

Mr. HADOW, deputy chairman, seconded the mo-
tion for the adoption of the report.
After some observations by Mr. Gliddon on items
in the accounts, and Mr. J. Jones in respect of faci-
litating the operations of shippers by the company
adopting a system of insurance on goods,

The CHAIRMAN explained that the revenue of the
company would be affected by the state of trade.
The French steamers had a subsidy of 225. a mile
for a monthly service, while their company had only
4s. 6d. a mile for a weekly service, and there could
be no doubt they had their full share of the traffic
to all the places served by the company.
The report was unanimously adopted, the dividend
of 3i per cent. and the 3 per cent. from the insur-
ranee fund, making 6 per cent., free of income tax,
was declared payable by warrant on the 28th inst.
The retiring dir9ctors, Mr. P. D. Hadow and the
Count de Torre Diaz, were unanimously re-elected,
and also the retiring auditors, the Earl of Leven
and Mr. Mackenzie.

Thanks were voted to the chairman and directors
for their able and successful management of the
company's affairs, and the proceedings terminated.

The Finances of the American Government.

The income of the Government (says the New YOrk,
Times) from internal revenue for the week ending
November 11 averaged one million one hundred and
forty thousand dollars a day, or equal to a weekly
aggregate of nearly seven million dollars a week. The
total receipts of the national treasury from this source,
thus far in the current fiscal year, commencing with July
1, have amounted to the enormous sum of one hundred and
thirty-eight million dollars, or equal to a weekly average
of about seven million two hundred and sixty-three thou-
sand dollars, which average, carried through the whole of
the current fiscal year, would yield an income of nearly
three hundred and seventy-eight million
ehlelarceu.stoms During the week ending Novemberh
thmg
over eighty million
dollars in coin derived fromz
re-
venue of the Government throughaut
desiiixotrty-fiovf
eNewYork
reached two million two hundred thousand
t -one million dollars in dollars, making a total of sotse
January last, or about twenty-one source since the Ist of
on the entire funded
ex-
cess of the annual coin interest
charge
An efficient and economical
like these—such as we are now
0 went, possessing
revenues
debt of the nation, as the
mateecaoluandtmstuto]osdtrtaetnieduauyfs
aaggoe.vern.
assured of—cannot fail to redound to the benefit of the
public credit in the money market,
and to foster popular
partiality for investments in the public stocks, based upon,
and protected by the national
credit. These
stocks, both gold and currency-bearing, have been recently
depressed,esh
by realisations on t e part of bankers,
i brokers,
so
a
representing,
nedhioefithy h
er business men short of current funds
And anxious to shield themselves from loss through sacri-
t less stable investments. The reduction in prices
h
the effect of developing a strong popular inquiry
nacfd
for the gold-bearing bonds and treasury notes. Friday,
unusually heavy purchases of both classes of Government
securities were made for permanent hoarding, chiefly
through the commission houses, at the ruling figures, ma-
terially relucing the available supplies on the market,
which closed with much firmness, some of the principal
holders, especially of the six per cent. coin-bearing bonds,
declining to fill orders for round lots at prevailing rates.
An early improvement in prices is looked for by all
apar-
ties. The emphatic popular indorsement ef n
President Johnson through the ballot-box on
belief.
as well as general policy of the national adrilleh,isetsrada3' lasttionof
tends to confirm the commercial public in this

THE CUFF/a:DS OF CLTFFE. By the author of
" Lost Sir Massingberd." 3 vols.— " The Clyffards of
Clyffe' is a charming book. From incident to incident the
reader is led in pleasant suspense and ever-growing inte-
rest. The author has rich powers of imagination, and that
most enviable faculty of a romance writer, the art of im-
mediately captivating the attention of his readers. Wo
accord to his work a high testimony of exeelleuco. The
ingenuity which he displays is extraordinary, as ho weaves
the well of consecutiveness and probability, in which he
sets the strange, rich, fanciful pattern of incident, intrigue,
crime, danger, retribution, and fatality."—The Star.