The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-14 00:00:00

ARCTIC EXPEDITICN.

The following instruetions have been addressed to
Captain Maguire, of the Plover, now engaged in the
Arctic Regions in the search for Sir John Franklin's
expedition :

"Admiralty, Jan. 11, 1854.
" Sir,—My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,
by their instructions to you, dated the 15th of February,
1853, and transmitted to Behring's Strait by her Ma-
jesty's ship Amphitrite, directed the return of her Ma-
jesty's ship Plover, under your command, from the
winter quarters at Point Barrow to Grantley Harbour
so soon as the season of 1854 would permit. lam now
commanded by their lordships to acquaint you that
Captain Maclure, in her Majesty's ship Investigator,
arrived at a harbour on the north-east shore of Banks'
Land, on the 24th of September, 1851, and subsequently
communicated with Melville Island, thereby insuring
the safety of the crew of that ship.
"By your letter of the 21st of August last it appears
that her Majesty's ship Enterprise had been seen by the
natives of the northern shore of America, near the Col-
ville River, in August, 1851. If Captain Collinson
should have found the same extent of open water along
that shore as was experienced by Captain Maclure, and
if he pursued the same tract, their lordships have rea-
son to expect that he may have been enabled to reach a
position to the eastward of Cape Bathurst, and thence,
by means of travelling parties, to have obtained, from
the records left by the officers of the Investigator, in-
formation of the proceedings of that ship as a guide to
his future plans.

" In whatever position the Enterpriseee may at this
time be placed, it is obvious that in
(1854) Captain Collinson, from the reduced state spring
frihnigs
supplies, p
will be compelled to abandon his ship. It may
be presumed that, if to the eastward of Mackenziethe
River, and having found the records of Captain M'Clure,
he will push on with his crew to the north-eastward,
withivdi the view of reaching Melville Island, or he may
e his ship's company, and send one portion by dthe
Mackenzie River, with the intention of reaching the
Hudson's-bay posts.
" If, however, by any unfortunate accident the En-
terprise has been lost, it is by no means improbable
that Captain Collinson may have returned to the Plover.
If such should have bean the case, there will exist no
further necessity for the detention of the Plover and
Rattlesnake at Behring's Strait, and my Lords desire
you will accordingly proceed to San Francisco and Val-
paraiso to wait their further orders.
" But should no further information have reached you
respecting the Enterpr:s! since she was reported off the
Colville, it will be necessary for you to consider the
expediency of remaining for another season at Point
Barrow, with the view of affording assistance to Cap-
tain Collinson and his crew, should he still be com-
pelled to fall heck on the Plover. On this point we
are unable, from want of information relative to your
proceedings since August last, and the further sidings
you may have gained respecting the Enterprise, to give
you any • definite instructions ; their Lordships en-
tirely rely on your judgment as to the necessity of
your remaining another year. They desire me to ac•
quaint you that the Plover and Rattlesnake are now
detained solely on account of and to afford assistance to
Captain Collinson and the crew of the Enterprise. if
you feel certain that the crew of that ship is safe, you
are hereby directed to discontinua your present service
and to return to Valparaiso. If you should, however,
after full deliberation, deem it to be essentially necessary
to extend the services of the Plover to another winter,
it is their lordships', directions that you should c:zchange
any of your officers or men, revictual the ship, and again
proceed to Point Barrow, provided the ship and your
le crew are efficient ; but so soon as the season .of 1855
will admit, that you proceed to Graitley Harhur, and.

thence to San Francisco and Valparaiso, for further
orders. You are distinctly to understand that it is not
their lordships' intentica to send up a ship from the
Pacific station to communicate with Grantley Harbour
in. 1855, and you are therefore positively to leave Beh-
ring's Strait in that year, as directed.
" In case of your not being able to place the Plover
in the harbour at Point Barrow, or in any other safe
position north of Grantley Harbour, you may return to
that port (Grantley Harbour), and, having deposited
all spare provisions and stores with her Majesty's ship
Rattlesnake, you may at once proceed to Valparaiso as
before directed, as there does not exist any necessity
for retaining two ships at that port, Commander Trol-
lope having been directed to continue there until the
summer of 1855, as, per copy of the enclosed orders.
" In the event of any accident having occurred to the
Plover, rendering her unseaworthy, or of her having
been, on survey, found unfit for further service, my lords
desire that the ship be placed in some safe position as a
depot, to afford shelter to any travelling or other party,
and that you proceed, with the officers and crew, on
board
.Rattlesnake, or whatever ship which may
have been sent from Valparaiso, and consider yourself as
a passenger in that ship.
" In - the event of England brain t!' at any time involved
in hostilities with any other‘ Power during your employ-
ment on the above service, you :Ire clearly to understand
that you are not to commit any hostile act whatever, the
ship under your command being fitted out for the sole
purpose of aiding in scientific discoveries, and it being
the established practice of all civilised nations to consider
vessels so employed as exempt from the operations of

war.

"1 atii, &c.,
" W. A. B. IlimiLTON.*
" To Commander Maguire, her Majesty's
Sloop Plover."

ROYAL WEST INDIA MAIL STEAM
PACKET COMPANY.

At a meeting of the Royal West India Mail
Steam-packet Company held yesterday a dividend
of 2/. per share was declared. Previously to the
adoption of the report a lengthened discussion took
place with regard to the general position of the
undertaking. Several of the shareholders urged
that the management was defective, and that the
accounts showed a large amount of outstanding
liability. The ill success attending the construc-
tion of new vessels, and the enormous expense in-
curred through repairing the Parana, were also
topics of complaint, and it was questioned if the
board were justified in recommending the pay-
mint of a dividend. The chairman (Mr. Colville)
explained that the construction of the vessels had
been intrusted to the most competent parties, and
that, although the Parana had not originally
answered the expectations formed of her, the re-
pairs would, it was thought, place her in a satis-
factory condition. With regard to finances, the
directors considered there was nothing to excite
apprehension. An important addition having been
made to the fleet without any demand, upon the
proprietors, they had, of course, been obliged to
avail themselves largely of their credit. In any other
circumstances they must have made a heavy call.
The repairs of the old and new vessels had ab-
sorbed the whole of the fund appropriated to
that purpose, leaving, besides, an adverse
balance ; but in future this would be gradually
diminishd. The resources of the company had
been interfered with by the great advance
in the price of coal and the rates of freight and
labour. In the course of the debate au amend-
ment for the appointment of a committee of inves-
tigation was brought forward and warmly sup-
ported, the conduct of the engineering department
at Southampton encountering severe animadver-
sion. Upon being put to the vote, however, it
was lost by a large majority. There was subse-
quently a contest for a vacant seat in the direc-
tion, bet the new candidate was defeated. The
following is an abstract of the report:—
"The company's existing contract with her Majesty's
Government for the conveyance of mails for 11 years from
the Ist of January, 1851, was entered into upon an under-
standing that, as complaints had been previously made of
the speed of the class of ships constructed for the company's
packet service in the first instance, a superior description of
vessels, built upon principles which intervening experience
bad proved to be preferable, had been brought into opera-
tion as speedily as possible. Accordingly, since that date
10 new ships have been contracted for, and three others
purchased, making in these 13 ships a total of 23,662 tons,
and 6,580-horse, power added to the company's floating.
stock, the expenditure for which may be estimated at about
800,000/. within the last three years, accomplished without
any call upon the proprietary body, but with assistance
from loans. With only one exception, all these new ships
have been launched and completed for service, and during
the last six months there have been no complaints on the
part of the Government or the public as regards the speed
with which the mails are now conveyed, the company pos-
sessing a fleet of steam-ships adequate to the due perform-
ance of every branch of the contract service. It should be
noticed that, while the new ships were in course of prepa-
ration, the Avon, Dee, Clyde, Teviot, Trent, and Thames
were thoroughly repaired, their manchinery improved, and
the two first named lengthened, to give increased speed for
iutercolonial service. When the decision was takers to
build vessels of greater size for the Transatlantic commu-
' nication, the tonnage and power alone being fixed by the
directors, the shape of the hulls was left to the unfettered
inclement of the contractors, being some of the most. emi-
nent shipbuilders in the kingdom ; and the manufacture
of the steam machinery wes intrusted to equally first-
rate engineers, the only stipulation being for the highest
amount of speed which their united skill uould accomplish;
and the directors regret to add that, in the case of the
Parana, though built upon the same specification as the
other ships, after a careful and minute survey, it has been
deemed expedient to strengthen her, and, with a view of
improving her capacity and speed, to lengthen her 25 feet
in the fore body. As the whole of the rice- ships will
shortly be in operation, the directors had made prenara-
tion for the sale of several of their original vessels. In fact,
proposals had been received from parties desirous of be-
coming purchasers, but these offers were declined as inade-
prate ; and, means of transport being much required by
the Government, the directors deemed it their duty to use'
every exertion in order to place as many ships as possible
at the disposal of the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty. The Orinoco, Trent, and Medway aro accordingly
now on their way to Gallipoli' each with a complete regi-
ment on beau!, the Orinoco having previously conveyed
the Ist battalion of the Coldstream Guards in nine days
from Southampton to Malta, and the 44th Rosemont in
four days from Gibraltar to the same place. Looking to
the impediments created by strikes among the workmen,
the directors congratulate the proprietors on their possess
ing a foundry at Southampton for the repair of steam•
eagines and the construction of new boilers, as others ise the
service must have been completely disorganised for want of
sufficient ai tisans, and a seasonable assistance was also
affierded by the company's Southampton establishment
in completing for service the Atrat and Wye at a moment
when few or no workmen could be 11;r el to finish those
ships at Greenock. As stated in the report at the last
general meeting, the principal increase in the working ac-
count
is for, coal, wages, and stores ; the causes then as-
signed for such additional expenditure continuing in ope-
ration to an equal if not !Water extent at the present mo-
ment. Upon coters alone th4re is an augmentation of charge
as compared with the previous yetir amounting to 54,3386.,
and to prove beyond question that this increase is due
solely to first cost, freight, and labour, and not to any
greater consumption, the quantity used in 1853 is actually
less than that consumed in the year 1852. So also with
wages, for while the number of officers and men employed
does not materially differ in the two years, the payment
for wages is 14,1611. in excess, occasioned by the great
demand for seamen in every part of the world, and the
consequent rise in the rate of wages. The recent ad-
vance in the price of all articles of general consumption
also is sufficient to account, in a great measure, for the
additional charge of 6,5891. for stores. Although the
receipts on the working account exhibit, as anticipated,
an increase compared with the half-year ending the
30th of June last, and also over those of the correspond-
ing six months of 1852, there is a diminution on the whole
year 1853, as compared with 1852, amounting to 19,7911.,
occasioned, as stated at the last meeting, by the ravages of •
fever and cholera in St. Thomas's, Jamaica, and other West
India islands, interrupting, to a serious extent, the inter-
' course with those places. The balance of profit and loss,
after the usual debits, is 71,1181. to provide for repairs, de-
terioration, and dividend. Reserving 29,6801. for dividend
at the usual rate, the amount retbaining would be 41,4381.
—equal to 5 per cent. on the value of the ships on the Ist
of January, 1853; and, although this state of the accounts
would not justify the directors in proposing a continuance
in the usual rate of dividend, yet, looking to the gradual
but certain cessation of many heavy sources of expense. the
increase of passengers arising from the disappearance of
sickness abroad, and that some addition will accrue to the
receipts of the company from the hire or sale of surplus
ships, the directors feel warranted in recommending the
payment of a dividend as before, at the rate of 26. per
share, free of income tax."

SCHOOL. —Yesterday
Roy..tr, REEMASONS7
the quarterly general court of thseall:,f
Tavern, Great
,overnors of this
charity was held at the Freemasons'
Brother Richard
Queen-street, Lincoln's-innn-fi
the chair. Brother
Herv6 Geraud,
Crew, the secretarBy.,Gr.fad lthe minutes o :Abe last quar-
terly court, which were unanimously confirmed. On the
motion that a sum of 5401. 18s. ticl. be drawn out of the
bank fur the payment of the tradesmen of the institution
the secretary mentioned that Mr. Labouchere, of the
firm of
Williams, Deacon, and Co., had said that he
and his partners were so pleased with the excellence
of the new school-honse lately erected at Wands-
worth, that they would be at all times willing to advance
a few hundred pounds free of interest, for the use of
the charity. Mr. Benjamin Bond Cabell, M.P., was
then re-elected treasurer, after which the general com-
mittee was nominated for the ensuing year. A short
d:scussion then occurred, in which Brothers White,
G. S., Patten, Do Veaux, G. 5.8., Dawson, Rev. Mr.
CJx. S.C., and Warren took part, ith respect to one of
the by,:-law, at the conclusion of which a poll took
place. and three children were electtd to the benefits of
the institution from a list of five candidates. A. vote of
taanks to the wohipful chairman terminated the pro-
ceelings.
El§.l HGusE......_vesterday a Court of Directors
was held at the Ea.st Ind 3;.llcose,when, Major James
Oliphant was chosen
chairman,
and Elliot Ma.cnaghten,
li' q., deputy chairman of the East-India. Company.
THE .b.I.LTIO 'LEFT.—A. young officer on board the
Vulture, writing home to his friends at Plymouth, under
date of Copenhagen, April 5, says !--" We expect to be
ordered over to Revel. Three ships were sent there a
day or two ago to capture three American shipj, which
are supposed to be there waiting for the ice to break
up, in order to discharge their cargo of. powder, shot,
&c for the Russians. So our ships-are gone down to
' nobble' them a 5 just and lawful prizes, and I hope that
this affair will turn up a little prize money. The Con-
flict. hasjust. arrived from the fleet. The-weather,,up
-here veer blows like 4.44.
." This yoj gerit4l2llA al,pure to fricq