The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-24 00:00:00

LLYNVI VALLEY RAILWAY.

The half-yearly ordinary general meeting of the
proprietors of this company was held yesterday, at the
Company's offices, 449, West-Strand.
W. Matthews, Esq., the chairman of the company,
took the chair at one o'clock, and the usual formal
proceedings having been gone through,
The SECRETARY read the following report :
" Since the last half-yearly meeting of the share-
holders, in February, 1849, the directors have the
satisfaction to report that a small increase in the
tonnage and revenue of the railway has taken place,
and though that is but slight they are willing to
receive it as an indication of a gradual
revival from the depressed condition under
which the district through which the line
passes has been for so long suffering, and on the
prosperity of which the railway so much depends.
The prospect too of an early opening of a contiguous
portion of the South Wales Railway, it may be
reasonably expected, will be the means of opening
extended markets for the produce of the district, and
materially increase the traffic on the line.
" The directors will embrace every practicable
opportunity of availing themselves of any advantages
that may offer.

" The accompanying statement of the last half-
year's receipts and expenditure having been examined
and approved by ti.e auditors are submitted herewith
fur your consideration and approval.
" It will be observed by an inspection of these ac-
counts that the small increase of revenue has been
more than counterbalanced by the unavoidable pay-
ments of the past half-year, of which those for rates
and taxes form the chief item. Appeals have been
made against some of those assessments, and a par-
tial reduction obtained.

"It is hoped that a still further diminution may be
effected in these branches of expenditure.
" The net profits available for a dividend for the
half-year are 1,1191.145. 3d., and the directors recom-
mend that a dividend at the rate of 2k per cent. per
annum upon the paid-up capital of the company be de-
clared (without prejudice to the claims made on behalf
of the holders of the new paid-up stock created under
the Amalgamation Act), amounting to 941/. 17s.
7d., which will leave a balance of 1771. 16s. id.,
which it is proposed to carry to the credit of the
reserve account.
" In compliance with the wish of the proprietors
at the last general meeting, the Bill then before
Parliament for an extension of time for the exercise
of the powers granted under the Act of Incorporation
was immediately withdrawn and no further expense
incurred.
" As regards the engineering department of the line
and port, the directors have now to report, in refer-
ence to the first, that every care and means have been
taken to sustain and improve the road for the conve-
nience of the existing traffic, it being considered pru-
dent to defer any extensive alterations until the
opening of the South Wales Railway shall have
indicated their extent and character. As regards the
port, some further outlay this summer has been made
in the breakwater, which has been added to the capital
account, and what has been expended in filling up the
interstices of the stones of which it is formed with
concrete, an operation found most effectual in pre-
venting their displacement by the effect of the bois-
terous falls experienced on the South Welsh coast.
This point is referred to more at length in the report
of the directors in August, 1848."
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption, printing,
and circulating of the' report, said, that with reference
to the prospects of the company, although he
could not congratulate the shareholders on a
very large dividend. He thought, considering
what had taken place in the railway world, that they
might consider themselves in a position of safety.
The iron and coal trade had been in a fearful state,
especially in the neighbourhood of this railway, yet
he thought they might safely calculate they could get
a dividend of 21 per cent., and that that could be
increased. There had been a considerable increase in
the traffic and tonnage of the company during the
last half-year, and he thought that such being the
case, they might look to better things still.—(Hear.)
He trusted they had seen the worst. The dividend
proposed was 2} per cent. for the year, or 11 per cent.
for the half-year. The adoption of this course might
and had led to discussion between the old and new
proprietors, and the anxiety of the directors was to
have the matter put upon a proper basis. The laair-
man, after alluding to the Parliamentary position of
the company, concluded by moving the adoption of
the report.
The Rev. Mr. KNIGHT entered his protest against
the dividend proposed, on behalf of the proprietors,
and the Rev. Gentleman, after asking several ques-
tion of the Chairman relative to the expenditure and
expenses of the company, wished to know in what
position they were with respect to the South Wales
Company. He wanted to know whether they owed
the South Wales Company 6,0001., or whether that
company owed it to them ?
The CHAIRMAN, having in detail answered the
question of the Rev. Proprietor with respect to the
expenditure and expenses, said that he did not think
it wise or prudent at present to enter into the ques-
tion of the connexion of this company with the South
\Vales Company, but this he would say, that the
attention of the directors was alive to the subject, and
when the question was ripe for discussion at a general
meeting the directors would offer no opposition to that
discussion.

The report was then agreed to, as was also a
dividend at the rate of 2f per cent. per annum for the
last half-year, some of the old proprietors present
entering their protest against it.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and the
meeting separated.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT,

NE W COURT.

(Before the RECORDER and Mr. Alderman MUSGROVE.

Joshua Simmons, 31, a dealer in all sorts of things in
Field-lane, Holborn, was indicted with stealing, on the
26th of July last 40 yards of doeskin, value 51. los. the
property of Joseph liartrum and Co., who are large
woollen-drapers on Holborn-hill.
Mr. Ryland and Mr. Laurie prosecuted for the City,
and Mr. Clarkson defended the prisoner.
From the statements of counsel, and the evidence ad-
duced, it appeared that on Thursday, the 26th of
July last, the day of the memorable rain and
hail storm in London, two of the City police in plain
clothes saw the prisoner on Holborn•hill, about half past
three o'clock, with a bag on his back, they asked what
he had got there, and he said some stuff for making
trousers, which he had bought of a person in the street,
whom he said he did not know. lie was asked what he
gave for it. He refused to say, stating he would answer
no more questions. He was then taken into
custody by one of the officers, while the other
went to search his house. The prisoner afterwards
effected his escape, and upon being retaken by the
officer he struck him severely in the head, and nearly
knocked his eye out.
Some of the partners in Mr. Bartrum's stated that
they had missed property like that produced from their
house in Holborn, and that they believed it was theirs.
Mr. CLARKSON addressed the jury for the prisoner,
and called several witnesses, one of whom swore' that
the property alleged to have been stolen by the prisoner
was offered to him for sale by a person he did not know,
and the others gave the prisoner a good character.
Mr. RYLAND having replied,

The RECORDER summed up, and
The jury, after a few minutes' consultation, ex-
pressed their wish to retire, and were accordingly
locked up.
The jury retired at one o'clock, and did not return
into court until half-past five, when they found the pri-
soner Guilty on the second count, of the receiving know-
ing it to have been stolen.

Sentence was then postponed until this morning, when
the police will put the Court in possession of the facts
connected with the career of this man.
A SCENE IN COURT.--A gentleman entered the box
to complain of the conduct of a person then in court.
He stated that he was a surgeon named Howlett, en-
gaged on a case then waiting to go before the grand
jury, and the person whom he complained of had at-
tempted to withdraw the prosecutrix in the ease, and
repeatedly asserted it was a case got up by the surgeon
and police to get expenses.
The RECORDER observed that it was a most dis-
graceful affair, and proceeded to examine the witnesses
on oath.

Policeman D 212 stated he was near the defendant
when he said to the prosecutrix, " This be d—d,
it is a trumped up case by the surgeon and police. I shall
go out of this door, you follow me." Upon witness
telling him of the impropriety of his conduct, he told
him to mind hi.; own business, and took his number.
Policeman 89 D corroborated this statement.

The RECORDER (to defendant)—You stand committed.
Defendant (most violently)—lt is all false and unjust.
The RECORDER —Your are committed ; what is your
name ? Defendant—Charles Fricken.
The RECORDER—Where do you live ? Defendant—
" Newgate," at present.
The defendant was forcibly removed, protesting
violently against the injustice of the case.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
LAMBETH.

John Parry Hening and and Henry Roberts, who
have been previously examined on a charge of obtain-
ing money under false pretences, the former repre-
senting himself as the secretary, and the latter as col-
lector, of the Animals' ,Friend Society—which had
no existence except is name—were placed at the bar
before Mr. Norton for further examination.
A third prisoner, named Thomas Croton, who was
also represented as a collector to the society, was also
charged with a similar offence.
Mr. Thomas Stevenson, of 37, Upper Grosvenor-
street, surgeon, deposed, that about eight or ten
weeks ago a collector belonging to the "Animal's
Friend Society," or who said he was so, called at his
house and he paid him a subscription of five shillings,
and also requested the man to send the secretary to
him to explain the particulars and objects of the
society, as he felt anxious for the welfare of such an
object. Some days after the prisoner Hening
called, and, representing himself as the secretary
of the " Animal's Friend Society," said, the society
was older than the Royal Society, and produced a
printed book, in which appeared the names of several
respectable gentlemen as committee- men, &c. He
told Hening on that occasion that if some of the com-
mittee-men called upon him, he should be glad to co-
operate with them in carrying out the objects of the
society, and should exert himself, through his friends,
to get subscriptions for its use. No member of the
committee, however, called on him, nor had he seen
the prisoner from that time to the present. He had not
given the prisoner Hening the slightest authority to
place his name, as he had done, in the printed list of
the committee-men of the society, nor had he the
slightest knowledge of the fact of his having done so
until Horsford, the Mendicity officer, called on him
and produced the printed list. He (Mr. Stevenson)
parted with the ss. subscription upon the belief that
the gentlemen whose names appeared as committee-
men really were committee-men for the management
of the society.
Mr. Richard Thomas Hicks, who described himself
as a commission agent, and whose name appeared in
the list of committee-men for the management of the
would-be society, also declared he had not given
Hening any
authority so to use his name.
Horsford, the active Mendicity constable, said that,

in consequence of the receipts fur the different sums
of money received by the prisoner Croton on account
of the society, he tounk that person innrning in his
garden. On telling him what the charge against him
was, Croton said that he had been employed by
Hening, who had for some time lodged at his mother's
house, to collect the money, and what he got, with
the exception of his commission, he paid to that
person; and added, he wished he had never seen
Hening.
The prisoner Croton said it was true enough he had
received the money, and paid it over to Hening, who
paid him 103. out of the first pound, and 20 per cent.
on the remainder.

Horaford said he had received a letter from Mr.
Gompertz, who had been for some years connected
with the Animals' Friend Society, to which he wished
to direct his Worship's attention. He here handed to
the magistrate the following letter, which Mr. Norton
read aloud :

"Oval, Kennington, July 30, 1849.
" Sir,—l beg to inform you that you are in com-
plete error about our society, the Animals' Friend
Society,' which is not defunct; you have confounded
it with a pretended society set up by our own men
against us. I have sent you our report No. 15, and
refer you to the caution in it, page 8. I have also
sent you a printed previous caution, and particularly
request the favour of its being returned to me, as it
is the only copy I have left. Our office is 457, West
Strand.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,

" LOUIS GOMPERTZ."
Horsford, in continuation, said that in consequence
of this letter, and from the fact of its having been
stated by Hening, Croton, and others that his society
was defunct, he had felt it necessary to summon Mr.
Gompertz to this court, in order that he might con-
tradict the fact, as his Worship might deem such
contradiction evidence, or, at all events, to give some
explanation of the matter.

Mr. Louis Gompertz, an aged Jew, here got into
the witness•box, but was not sworn. He said he
knew the prisoners Hening and Croton, from their
having been at one time employed by a man named
Gibling, who had been connected with his (Mr.
Gompertz's) society, but he had since denounced the
whole of the parties, and published a caution to the
public against them as impostors receiving money
on account of the society for which they never
accounted.

Hening (to Gompertz)—You know you are the
biggest swindler of the lot ; and if justice was done
to you, you should be where I am, in the dock.
Mr. Gompertz went on to say that it was through
his exertions that the Animals' Friend Society had
been established, and that he seceded from the Royal
Society on account of some difference of opinion
about its management. He said the former as well
as the latter society was still in existence, and its
office was at 457, West Strand.

Hening—Your Worship, it's no such thing. There
was a place there that Gibling and myself took for
him ; but it's as black as my hat, and there is not
room to whip a cat in it ; and it is merely kept for
the purpose of receiving subscriptions. I can assure
you, sir, that Gompertz (and he knows it) has had no
society for some years ; and the place in the Strand
has been kept up, as I said, for the purpose of receiv-
ing subscriptions only ; and I will repeat that Gom-
pertz is more to blame than any one.
Horsford here also made some observations not
very complimentary to the character of Mr. Gompertz.
Mr. NORTON, addressing Mr. Gompertz, said he
thought it right to mention, that on a former occasion
it had been stated that at a meeting of his (Mr. Gom-
pertz's) society a young man who was paying his
addresses to his cook had been appointed vice-presi-
dent of a meeting and auditor of the accounts ; and
under the circumstances he should like to be made
acquainted with the names, &e., of the present com-
mittee of management.
Mr. Gompertz here took the printed report of the
society, and said the following were the members of
the committee, viz., T. S. M. Forster, M.D., who is
abroad ; Henry James Walton, Esq., a merchant's
clerk, Dalston ; N. T. Grabble, Esq., a lawyer's
clerk; Thomas Barker, Esq., newspaper-office;
Baldwin 'Weatherston, Esq., clerk in the Patent-
office, Chancery-lane ; F. B. Gartz, surgeon, Brix-
ton-road ; and Sandgate, Esq , whose address he
did not recollect. The last meeting of the committee
took place at his (Mr. Gompertz's) house, Kenning-
ton Oval, three or four weeks ago, when only three
members and himself were present. Two out of
these three were the auditors, and he (Mr. Gompertz)
was the treasurer. They had met to audit the ac-
counts, though they had not 6d. in their coffers, but
on the contrary were much in debt. The committee
might not have met for twelve months before, and
the place of meeting was at his house. Minutes of
the last meeting were made, and he could produce the
book containing them.
Hening here said that the Mr. Grabble, dubbed an
" esquire," was merely a lawyer's clerk out of place,
who was paying his addresses to Gompertz's cook,
and the others who were set down as committee-men
were men about equally respectable.
Mr. NORTON, in remanding the case, put it to Mr.
Gompertz whether, after the exposé that had taken
place during the examination, it was prudent or politic
to continue to collect subscriptions for the society ?
-Mr. Gompertz asked if his Worship meant by this
that the society should be done away with ?
Mr. NORTON replied that he did not see the use of
going on with it, as, according to his own showing,
they had not a sixpence, and therefore he thought it
should be discontinued, at least for the present.

Mr. Gompertz said he could not think of this, or
something like it, and left the court in a state of great
nervousness.

INDEPENDENCE OF HUNGARY

MEETING AT SUNDERLAND.

A public meeting of the borough of Sunderland
took place on Monday evening last, to consider the
propriety of publicly expressing their sympathy with
the Hungarians in their present struggles ; and of
memorialising the Queen to recognise their indepen.
dente, and to enter into commercial relations with
them. The meeting was called by the Mayor in
compliance with a requisition most numerously and
respectably signed. It was held in the Athenaeum,
the large hall of which was filled in all parts, between
ten and twelve hundred persons being present.
The Mayor, Joseph Simpson, Esq., having been
called to the chair, and several speakers having ad-
dressed the meeting at great length, the following re-
solutions were adopted with great applause :=
" That as Englishmen—as lovers of all freedom, civil
and religious—as true conservatives, and as friends of
progress—this meeting feel it a sacred duty to express
their earnest, entire, and unreserved sympathy with the
Hungarian struggle for independence, and their humble
and hearty admiration of Hungarian heri•ism."
" That we look with deep abhorrence upon the savage
and horrible manner in which Austria carries on the
war, and as friends of the rights of nations, and of the
freedom of the world, emphatically protest against the
unrighteous intervention of Russia."
" That a petition be signed by the Mayor on behalf
of this meeting, and that it be presented to the Queen,
praying the Government to give an emphatic expression
to these universal feelings of the people by immediately
recognising the de facto government of Hungary."
A subscription was entered into on behalf of the
Hungarian fund.