The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

LAW INTEL.

1.-(THIS DAY.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
NORTH BRITISH INSURANCE COMPANY V. LLOYD AND

OTHERS.

Mr. Knowles applied to the Court for a rule to slow-
cause why the verdict in this case for the plaintiffs should
not be entered for the defendant, or a new trial had. It
appeared that the plaintiffs bad advanced Sir Thomas
Branker, of Liverpool, 10,0001., upon the security of
certain shares and a bill of exchange for 2,0001. accepted
by the knight's brother, Mr. James Branker;
it being understood that if the market value
of the shares should ever so fall in value
as to be not more than twenty per cent.
in excess of the loan some additional security
should be given to the lenders. Subsequently, at the
instance of Mr. James Branker, the company consented
to give up the 2,0001. bill if the four defendants in this
case would become guarantees for 500/. each, and
thereupon Sir Thomas Branker went to those gentlemen
and said, " The North British have threatened to sell
my shares unless I find them some better security for
their loan—will you become my sureties for 2,000 1"
They consented to do so ; but ultimately the insurance
company had to come upon them for the 2,0001., and as
they soon discovered that the bill transaction had
been concealed from them, they resisted the claim on.
the ground that they had•been induced to give the gua-
rantee by fraud and
,concealment ; but at the trial that
allegation was held to be immaterial ;to the case, and
the plaintiffs obtained a verdict. Counsel for the de-
fendants, on the other hand, contended that the plaintiffs'
ought to have mentioned the bill to the defendant, but
the Court seemed to think that as there was nothing
fraudulent in the concealment, it could hardly
be said that it vitiated the guarantee. How-
ever, the Court would take time to consider
the question of whether this particular disclosure ought
to have been made, but at the same time they pro-
nounced an opinion that if a creditor was bound to dis-
close all circumstances, irrespective of fraud, upon
changing his securities, there would be an end to the
safety or validity of all guarantees. They could, there-
fore, assent to no such general rule.

THE SEARCH AFTER FRANKLIN.

The report of Dr. Rae upon the traces of Franklin's
Expedition furnishes another instance of the sad results:
of the neglect of the advice of members of our profession.
by men it, power. Ever since 1847, Dr. King has urged
upon successive Governments, with a pertinacity only to
be excused by the humane desire to save the devoted
band of Arctic heroes, that the expeditions sent by the
Admiralty were sent in a wrong direction, and that they
should take the very course which would have led them ,
upon the exact spot where Dr. Rae's intelligence would
lead us to believe the bones of our missing countrymen
remain. In 1847 he wrote to Lord Grey that the Great
Fish River might be the road to the spot where Frank-
lin was to be found. Two years after, several months
before the spring of 1850—the spring when the Es-
quimaux are said to have seen the forty English—
he besieged the Admiralty with applications which proved
fruitless. Here is a sentence from one of his appeals :--
" It would be the happiest moment of my life if their
Lordships would allow me to go by my old route, the
Great Fish River, to attempt to save human life a second
time on the shores of the Polar Sea."

Though rather out of the scope of a medical journal,
the editor of the Medical Times devoted a leading
article in 1849. to an advocacy of Dr. King's plan of
going down the Fish River in search of Franklin. The
time will come when such facts as these will convince
even the most obstinate of Government officials that the
advice of medical men cannot be disregarded without
public loss.—Medical Times.

MARKET NE WAS--{THINS DAY.)

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, 21 lOs to 41 108 ; clover
ditto, 41 Os to 6/ Os ; and straw, 1/ 6s to 'lll2s per load.
A full average/supply and a fair demand.
CIIMBERLANI3.—Meadow hay, 21 12s to 41 15s ; clover
ditto, 41 Os to 51 18s; and straw, 118 s to 1114 s per load.
Trade steady, at full prices.
WILITECHAPEL.—Meadow hay, 2110 s to 41 10s; clover
ditto, 41 Os to 61 Os ; and straw, 1/ 6s to 1112 a por load.
Supply good and trade rather dull.