The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-24 00:00:00

CANADA COMPANY.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday, at the offices, St. Helen's-place (Charles
Franks, Esq., in the chair), for the purpose of de-
claring a dividend, and ,to elect a director in the
room of John Easthope, Esq., who had been dis-
qualified from ill-health.
The CHAIRMAN said Mr. J. W. Freshfield was the
only gentleman who had offered himself to fill the
vacant office, and if there was no opposition
he would submit his name to the approval of the
meeting,
There being no opposition, Mr. Freshfield was
accordingly elected.
The CHAIRMAN then read the report, which con-
gratulated the proprietors on the increasing pros-
perity of the company. The emigration to Canada
this year, especially from Ireland, had been unusually
large, the number who had landed at Quebec from
January to the 27th of October last being 92,819 ;
many of them, however, were persons quite unfit to
undergo the hardships of a settler's lite, and were
very deficient in that general intelligence so impor-.
tant to settlers in a new colony. Many came extremely
ill-provided with means for their immediate support,
and suffered from diseases with which they hadin'some
cases embarked; they therefore had experienced
great difficulty in obtaining employment, and upon
the whole great loss of life had attended the emigra-
tion of the year. The expenditure in some of the
provinces of Canada had been less advantageous than
usual ; but the increase of settlers on the Huron
tract had been great, as up to the 25th September,
14,032 had settled there, making in the aggregate
16,643 settlers in the district, many of whom were
valuable emigrants, who had removed with their
families from some other part of the British do-
minions. The lands disposed of by sale up to the
24th of November amounted to 23,801 acres, at an
average of 15s. sd. per acre, and by lease 78,194 at
15s. 9d., making altogether 101,995 acres, exceeding
the leases and sales of last year by 58,065 acres, and
at an average increase of ls. 3d. A considerable
sum of money had been sent home by emigrants
through the hands of the company.
The report was received, and a dividend of 6 per
cent. on the capital stock, free of income-tax, was de-
clared payable on the 10th of January.
The CHAIRMAN, in reply to a question, stated that
the settlers were allowed to hold the land on lease for
10 years on paying 6 per cent. on its value, when the
land would revert again to the company. The im-
provement of the land was secured, and of course its
value enhanced, and if the settler did not comply with
the conditions he was liable to be ejected.
Mr. FRESLIFIELD having thanked the meeting for
his election, and a vote of thanks having been passed
to the Chairman, the meeting separated.

7,956

7,63

9,62

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Dee. 23.
Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Lord
Chief Justice DENMAN, and , Common Juries.)
EGAT-RACE.—CREESMAN AND CONNYGNRAM U. HART.
This was an action of trover, to recover a sum of
231., the value of a prize boat, for which their had
been a contested boat-race between two competitors
at Greenwich. The declaration set forth conversion
Gf the property by the defendant, to which the de-
fendant, who is proprietor of the Trafalgar Tavern,
on the banks of the river, Greenwich, pleaded Not
Guilty.
Mr. Sergeant Shee and Mr. James appeared as
counsel for the plaintiffs ; Mr. Montague Chambers,
the Hon. Mr. Denman, and Mr. Boville, were for the
defendant.
Mr. Sergeant SHEE stated the case, from which
it appeared that a regatta or boat-race, took place
in June last, opposite Greenwich Hospital, in
which two well-known watermen—Watkins and
Peter Browne, were the competitors. The prize
was a handsome boat, built by Messrs. Chilling-
worth and Burton ; and as the rowers were men of
acknowledged skill on the river in plying the oar and
managing the skiff, the excitement pending the race
was great, the bets considerable, and the spectators
numerous. There were, altogether, five heats, in
some three or four of which the success was various
and the issue doubtful. The Learned Sergeant said
that it would be attempted to show that Browne was
the best oarsman ; but he would prove, by testimony
which he meant to adduce, that Watkins, in the
fourth heat, was fifty or a hundred yards ahead of
Browne. It would be also endeavoured, as he was
informed, to show that Watkins had been guilty of
attempts at foul play in the race, but he would most
satisfactorily demonstrate that the charge of " fouling"
applied more to Peter Browne than to Watkins.
That foul play took place there was abundant testi-
mony to prove. Everything that was necessary for
the regulation and conduct of the race, was
provided for. The plaintiffs were appointed
managers and judges of the affair, and the
rules of the race, a fair start, &c., were regularly
drawn up. In the fifth heat a charge of " fouling"
appeared to be made, in which Peter Browne would
seem to be the aggressor, and Watkins, seeing the
disadvantage at which he was placed, very prudently
fell back and pulled ashore. Browne went ahead
and pushed on to the appointed goal. Multitudes
of persons who were looking on raised their voices,
some in loud huzzas for Browne, and others in mur-
murs of foul play. Browne, surrounded by his
friends, was placed in the prize boat, and chaired
in triumph through the public ways. The proces-
sion halted opposite the Trafalgar Inn, and the boat,
by permission of Mrs. Hart, wife of the defend-
ant, was deposited in the yard of that establish-
ment. A civil request was made next morning for
the boat, by the plaintiffs, who, as managers in the
race, had not given their decision • but the defendant
refused to give it up, •remarking that they wanted to
give it to their " fancy man," and that " they were
rogues altogether."—(Laughter.) The application
was repeated by Mr. Collins, a schoolmaster, with no
better success, and plaintiffs then placed the matter in
the hands of their attorneys, who served a formal
notice of demand on defendant, with an intimation of
a civil action against him, should he not surrender the
boat to the plaintiffs. The defendant remained un-
moved, and ultimately handed the boat over to Browne,
with an accompanying recommendation to name it the
"Trafalgar," and Browne accordingly so named her.
Now this was a clear act of conversion, for which the
defendant had rendered' himself liable.
The Learned SERGEANT then called witnesses in
support of his statement, of which the above is an
outline, and among them Captain Rowland, who de-
posed that he had witnessed the race from his draw-
ing-room window, and that Browne was, to his view,
more the aggressor in the charge of " fouling " than
Watkins. He also put in evidence to show that the
prize-boat had been purchased by the plaintiffs for a
sum of 231., money collected for the purpose among
the inhabitants of Greenwich,.and produced a receipt
for the payment.
Mr. MONTAGUE CHAMBERS, for the defence, con-
tended that the race had been fairly and gallantly
won by Browne ; that Watkins, in the fifth heat was
exhausted, and obliged to give up; that there was a
difference between the men, Browne, in a long
match, proving to have the best bottom, and that
Watkins, when he saw himself losing the race,
was guilty of fouling, having gone so far as to row
his boat in upon Browne's quarter, and even seize his
boat. He would show, further, that the plaintiffs
were not owners of the boat; that there was no "con-
version" of her by the defendant, such as charged in
the declaration, and that the defendant, in handing
over the boat to Browne, had but given it up to the
party who had fairly and beyond all doubt won it.
The Learned Gentleman then commented on the part
taken by the plaintiffs in the affair, insinuated that
they had, themselves, bets pending on the race in
Watkins's favour, stated that when that competitor
fell out of the race, they were beard to say,
" Never mind, Tom, we'll make it all right for
you," and urged that they could not, under the
circumstances, be regarded by the jury as in a
condition to have conducted themselves as impar-
tial judges. He, therefore, hoped that the jury,
looking at the whole case, would find their verdict
for the defendant, who, in handing the prize-boat
over to Browne but discharged an honest and hide-.
pendent exercise of duty. The Learned Gentleman:
called Phillip Brooks, William Foster, William Tho-
mas, Peter Browne, Purkis, Todman, Skinner, and '

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