The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-23 00:00:00

GUILDHALL.

Yesterday Joseph Markwell, a clerk in the Post-
office money order department, was charged with
stealing a 51. note, the property of a fellow-clerk.
Mr. Bate, the complainant, stated that he received
his salary on Tuesday week, and on the Thursday
following he missed a Si. note. He did not know the
number of the note, but he endorsed his name on the
back of two notes he received, and, having ascer-
tained that the clerks were paid in notes of consecu-
tive numbers, and that the numbers of the two paid
to him were known, the discovery of the lost note
was rendered easy. By ascertaining the number of a
note he had paid away he arrived at the number of
that he had lost. It was paid into the Bank and
traced back to the prisoner, who had erased his en-
dorsement. Upon missing the note he immediately
drew up a notice, which the prisoner, at his request,
posted up in the office.
Mr. Alderman H. HuGuEs asked. where the note
was stolen ; was it from the inside or off his desk ?

The complainant said hehad placed it in his pocket
book, and it was stolen, or, perhaps, it had dropped
on the floor from his book
Mr. Alderman H. Humus said there was some
difference between stealing and finding property, be-
cause there was an erroneous notion abroad that he
who found a thing might keep it. At the same time,
the law regarded it as a felonious act if a person ap-
propriated to his own use the property of another,
which he had lost by accident.
The prosecutor said the property was found, not in
the street, but in the money order-office, and the
prisoner was aware to whom it belonged.
Robert Tyrrell, the money-order officer, stated that
he apprehended the prisoner, who at first persisted
that the note produced was the same he had received
for his salary, but on finding the number of Mr.
Bate's note could be fixed with certainty he confessed
that he picked the note up in the room where the
clerks hang their great-coats, and, as he did not men-
tion the fact on the day, he was ashamed to speak of
it, when on the following day he heard who had
lost it.

The ALDERMAN asked what salary he had ? Mr.
Peacock, the Post-office solicitor, said 801. a-year.
lie should leave the case in the hands of the
magistrate.
Mr. Alderman 11. liuGnEs presumed he would be
dismissed from the Post- office.
Mr. Peacock said he had no doubt-of that.
The ALDERMAN asked Mr. Bate if he would be
satisfied if the prisoner repaid the .5/., and quitted the
Post-office ? Mr. Bate said he should be satisfied, if
the Yost-office authories were.

Mr. Alderman H. limas said, he would be
punished by losing his place, the difficulty he would
have in procuring another, and the pain he would
endure through life from feeling that he was an
object of suspicion. He recommended the prisoner
to immediately tender his resignation and repay the

money.
The prisoner promised to do so, and was discharged.

NORTH-WALES RAILWAY.
A special meeting of the shareholders of this com-
pany was held yesterday, at two o'clock, at the Guild-
hall Coffee-house, on the requisition of a number of
shareholders, who declared their opinion that the pro-,
ject could not be carried out with profit, and, there-
fore, :wishing the company to be dissolved and the
remainder of the funds distributed amongst the share-
holders.

Mr. CHADWICK occupied the chair, and briefly
addressed the meeting. Ile said from the course
adopted by Mr. Mott and Mr. Archer, and from the
depreciation of railway property, he had arrived at
the opinion that the wisest plan] would be to dis-
solve the company. The Chester and Holyhead,
for instance, was at ten pounds discount,
and some of the shareholders of the line had
stated to him that they would rather pay 51. per share
than allow the company to go on, and to render the
shareholders liable for the contract. When the pro-
ject was started, the Great Western was surveying
a line to Porthdynllaen, on which their line ma-
terially depended, but it had been abandoned ;
and without that line their project would be
valueless. The directors, therefore, proposed the dis-
solution of the company, and the return of the re-
mainder of the funds, and to intimateithis by letter to
each of the shareholders ; but if, from the
opposition with which they had had to contend, they
could not do this immediately, they proposed to
seek a Bill next session to enable them
to do so. With relation to the statement made
by Mr. Archer at the Mansion-house, respecting the
securities, he had to reply that they were safe in the
strong box of the company at their banker's, and
would be produced at the proper time. It appeared
to him that Mr. Archer and Mr. Mott had an in-
terest in the Porthdynllaen line, which was adverse
to the interests of this company.—(Hear, hear.) He,
therefore, begged to propose the immediate dissolu-
tion of the company.
Mr. HENDERSON seconded the motion, and strongly
urged its adoption, and the immediate return of the
23,000/. into the hands of the bankers. He con-
sidered that the proposition to make merely the
portion of the line from Carnarvon to Bangor was not
one which the shareholders ought to entertain.
Mr. MOTT admitted that he was interested in the
Porthdynllaen line, but said that Mr. Archer had
ceased to have an interest in it; any connexion with
him, however, he disavowed. He did not wish to oppose
the wish of the shareholders, but he besought them
to adopt an alternative, namely, the probability of
an offer of an eligible nature from some other com-
pany. If no offer was made, he would not oppose
their wish, but he would advise them to allow the
company to dissolve in the natural course—by the
expiration of the Act. He looked upon Forth-
dynllaen as one of the most important ports in that
part of the country.
A SHAREHOLDER, a barrister, said as Holyhead
had been fixed upon as the port for that part of the
country, and as the traffic on their line would
simply consist of slates ; and as the landowners were
against it, he advised them at once to dissolve. They
might, in his opinion, divide the money, taking the
note of hand of each shareholder; or they might
seek a bill to the value. The opposition of Mr.
Archer, or any one else, would be estimated by a
Committee of the House of Commons. This gentle-
man cited several instances in which a similar course
had been adopted. lle was not in favour of waiting
for any offer, except it was made in cash.
Mr. SPACKMAX also urged the dissolution of the
company, and considered that the opposition of such a
person as Mr. Archer would weigh but as a feather
in the scale against the wish of a body of share-
holders.—(Hear, hear.) Ile would be taken at his
value. They might be sure that the Government
would ere long bring forward a proposition to put an
end to 9-10ths of the railways—
(Hear, hear)—they
would thus liberate the money of the country and
prevent the public creditor from being cheated.
The resolution was then unanimously adopted.
After considerable discussion of a personal and
libellous nature, relative to the proceedings of Mr.
Archer and his solicitor, Mr. Shaw,
A vote of thanks and confidence was passed to the
Chairman, the directors, and the secretary, and the
meeting broke up.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE OF
FRIDAY.

FOREIGN-OFFICE, OCT. 20, 1847.

The Queen has been pleased to approve of M. Adrien
Louis Cochelet, as Consul-General in London for his
Majesty the King of the French.

The Queen has also been pleased to approve of M.
Le Feuvre, as Consul at Southampton for his Majesty
the King of the Belgians.
The Queen has also been pleased to approve of Mr.
llugh Keenan, as Consul at Dublin for the United States
of America.