The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-19 00:00:00

SOUTHAMPTON DOCK COMPANY

for taking the poll it met with his concurrence, but
when they talked of narrowing the constituency, he
oped that, if such a design were persisted in,
the Bill at its second reading would meet with the
most dogged resistance from the House.—(A laugh
from the opposition.) When they considered the im-
portant questions that sometimes came before the
coroner, particularly in cases of death by the military,
they would see how necessary it was that the franchise
should be widely extended, and that the coroner should
be a supporter of popular privileges. Above all, it was
necessary that such cases as the Manchester massacre
should be investigated by a very popularly elected
officer. _ _

Yesterday a Half-yearly General Meeting of the
Shareholders of the above Company, was held in their
rooms, Bishopsgate-street.
JOSEPH LIGGINS, Esq., took the Chair at one o'clock.
The SECRETARY having read the advertisement call-
ing the Meeting,

Mr. GALLY KNIGHT supported the motion as
the coroner was at present the most anomolous officer
in existence. He had been formerly possessed of great
powers, and the visions of these still haunted him. It
was necessary that some legislative regulations should
be adopted, for at present the coroner was regulated
solely by the unwritten law. He was not mentioned in
the statute book, and had only the visions of his for-
/Tier power. He sometimes interfered with Magis-
trates and Sheriffs, thinking he was of as great
consequence as formerly. This Bill would regu-
late the manner in which he was to perform the
functions of his office. The alteration in the man-
ner of election he also thought a great improvement.
He thought that coroners for counties should be al-
lowed, in case of Nees., to exerei!e their office by
dewy. He krem there we.e inst lines in which the
late Mr. Si.irling, tie coroner for Midd'e ex, had had
his ofii, c performed by deputy ; he had been blamed
for it, but that gentleman had not adopted thaw course
till he he had discose-ed a preccdeat for it. Another
point to which he hoped atterton would be paid, was
the mode in which the coroner summoned a jury. Ho
would not sly that the present mcdc had led to im-
proper praetie,, hut it might do so.
Colonel SILiTHORP agreed with his Hon. Fr'eod
who had kist sat done, that some aa'ratinn should take
place in the summoning of coroners' juries. He
though', also, that ti e courts should he open to the
pubbe.
Mt.r a fey observations from Mr. PAKINGTON
in reply, leave was given to bring in the MI.
Mr. J. STEU ART obtained le lye to bring in a
BAI for rendering a re-lease as effJetual for the convey-
ance of freehold estates as a lease and re lease by the
saase parties.
On the motion of Mr. HODGES, the Coneabulary
33i1l was read a second time.

The CHAIRMAN suggested to the Proprietors that as
the Minutes of the last Meeting were rather lengthy,
possibly they would be content to take them as read,
and be content with the Resolutions, founded upon the
proceedings, being read,

The suggestion was unacialously adopt2d and acted
upon.

The SECRETARY then read the Report, which was as
rollows

REPORT.

The Report which the Directors hare the pleasure to
lay before the Proprietors at their half-yearly general meet-
ing will, on the present occasion, be necessarily a brief,
though they trust not an uninteresting, one.
With the exception of the greatly-advanced state of the
works, ample details of which will be found in the annexed
Report from the engineer, the circumstances of the pre-
sent half-yearly meeting are very nearly an echo of the
last. Not one of the favourable anticipations then indulged
in has proved unfounded.
As was predicted in the Report submitted to the Pro-
prietors in August last, the recent decision of the Treasury
with respect to Dartmouth merely selects that port for the
emba:kation of the mail-bags, instead of Falmouth as at
present ; but it does not in the smallest degree interfere
with the adoption of Southampton by the Mail Packet
Companies as their port of outfit and their home station.
One of these groat Companies, the Peninsular and
Chien'al Steam Navigation Company, has already eats-
bliibel izself at Southampton : its vessels in the
Pei in-
sular contract depart thence and return thi'her weekly ;
and the Company's steam ship, the Great Liverpool, em-
ployed 'weer their Indian contract, as regularly trades le_
tween Southampton and Alexandria.
The Royal Mail S!eani Packet Company, contractirs
for the mail service between Great Britain and the Weit
India Colonic:, the Gulf of Mexico, and Coast of South
America, and between those places and North America,
confideltly expected to do the same. It may be suf-
ficient to sta•e, th,lt your Directors, and the Directors of
that importai.t Company, are at this moment negotiating
terms.

The con,iderations arising out of these prospects of an
immediate and extensive trade, not originally contem-
plated, have induced your Directors, in the exercise of
those enlarged views which the magnitude and ultimate
success of toe undertaking demand from them, to review
the whole of their plans and prcpsrations, so as to allow,
not only without loss, if taken in time, but with positive
advantage, of the adoption of any improvements which
may be found practicable, either in the design or construc-
tion of the two Docks which are to put the success of the
Company to ihe test.
Tee prospects of coming trade which are opening to
the Company on every side have prompted them seriously
to consider tyl.e her the extent of the accommodation
with which it was proposed to commence could reason.
ably be considered commensurate with the trade to be
expected; if not, it became obvious that to provide an
increased accommodation would be much more econo-
wically as well as prudently done in the original construc-
tion, than by subsequent alteration.
The Directors satisfied themselves that such increased
accommodation was necessary, and would be speedily
found indil.easable f. r the extent and the security of the
Company's trade, and they at once re-.olved on enlarging
the estimate, as regards the Tidal Dock, in order to ac-
complish the extension so required.
The original specification and e.tirnate of 119,0001 , for
the construction tsf this Dock, contemplated fa. its eastern
side a slopi:ig enitankment only, instead of a Quay-wall
available for Dock purposes. It was conceived that in the
first instance the accommodation offered by the re-
maining sides of the Dock would he sufficient for its early
wants, and thus a considerable outlay be deferred. The
Quay-wall, however, which it was Glens) s intended should
form S'ne eastern side of the Dock at some future period,
the Directors have now found it expedient to make part
of its primary construction ; and it is proceedingly accord.
ingly. This improvement, however, of the substitution of
a stone Quay-well for earthern sloping embankment on the
whole of the north-eastern and south-eastern sides of the
Tidal Dark, adds but 16,2001., or less than one-seventh,
to ti e original estimate, whilst it enables the Company to
receive and profit by upwards of one-fourth more trade.
Anether impr ,vernent, which will he found true economy
in tl'e end, is, that instead of Timber Quays for the Dock
entrance, as at first estimated, those quays will, in Cl:gn-
uon wth the rest of the eastern side, be now of stone.
The addi.ion on this item is 6,4601. ; and the almost unin-
terrustel wcrking in and out of first-class steam-ships to
which tbe,e Quays will shortly be exposed, renders such
an improvement in their construction indispensable.
With even these two additions, the Tidal Dock will
still he by far the cheapest Dock in the kingdom, whilst
its attractiveness will be unsurpassed.
The Directors would now advert to a point in con.
nexion with the outlay cf the capital of the Company,
wl ich seems to have been i s some quarters misconceived,
In the Repert for August, 1839, it was stated that " the
Company will be enabled to open their first Dock when a
sum net exceeding 25/. per share has been paid up ;"—and
again, in the Report for February, 1840, that 201. per
share would do it.
The first of these calculations, 25/. per share, gives, on
the Company's capital, 175,000/. The second, 20/. per
share, in addition to the 8/. previously paid, even upon the
number of shares then actually paid on, viz. 5,450, gives
159,600/. ; while the estimate for the Tidal Dock, and the
dredging of the lichen river together, was but 129,000/.
With reference to the dredging of the Itchen, that work
has been contracted for, and is now proceeding in the
hands cf a responsible contractor with due activity.
If a larger proportion than 281. per share in the whole
be waled up, as will be the case, during the present year, it
is not because that amount proves insufficient for the first
Dock, butfbecause the Directors see abundant proof that it
will be for the best interests of the Company to make all
possible progress with the second or Close Dock also, cal-
cul eed as it will be for the reception of that description of
trade which will yield to the Proprietors the largest return.
With the same object, and if possible to relieve the Pro-
prietors from the burthen of furnishing the entire share—
capital as rapidly as the Act allows, the Directors contem-
plate the alternative of raising that portion of capital which
the Act empowers them to take up at interest—namely
1.50,0001.—0 r a considerable portion of ir, by loan, during
the present year ; and the sense of the Proprietors will be
taken thereon at the present Meeting, by a resolution which
will be submitted, empowering the Directors so to take up
money, if they shall deem it advisable.
The Directors desire to touch as lightly as possible on a
subject which they hope now belongs only to the past;
they congratulete the Mcet,ng that litigation with their
fellow-shareholders for payment of calls has ceased.
The following is the Engineer's Report :
" Beaufort-buildings, London, Feb. 15, 1841.
" To the Directors of ths Southampton Docks.
" Gentlemen,—ln my half-yearly Report to you of last
August, I described the progress of the works then in
hand far completing the entrance and southern side of the
Tidal Dock next summer, or the whole of the Tidal Dock
at the end of this year.
" These works since last August have been carried on
very fsvourably. Is arp-ared to me, as they proceeded,
decidedly the preferable plan to complete the whole of this
Dock under one operation. I therefore recommended
this to you, and have carried on my works accordingly;
in the progress of which my first object was (having al-
ready enclosed from the Tidewsy the ground of the
Close Dock) to enclose also the whole of the ground for
the Tidal Dock.
" The mode of effecting the enclosure of the Close
Dock ground was wholly by embankments; viz., by per-
manent embankments on its western and southern sides
(ultimately to become a part of the Dock Quays), and a
temporary embankment on the eastern side.
" The enclosing of the ground of the Tidal Dock was
also by permanent embankments on its northern side,
by embankment and coffer-damming on its southern side,
and on its eastern side by coffer-damming alone. The
soil of these embankments to bo obtained from the exca-
tion for the Close Dock.
" The latter enclosure was proceeding very substan-
tially, when, on the 13th of last November, its progress
was arrested for a short time by the occurrence of a
severe storm from the southward, visiting the English
Channel and Southampton, and occasioning a most extra-
ordinary rise of tide, the height of which exceeded, by
six inches, the previous and well-remembered storm of
November, 1824.
" The damage thus occasioned to the Dock works was
much less than might have been expected ; it consisted
chit fly of a breach in the temporary embankment on the
eastern side of the Close Dock, by which the site of the
last et Dock was again laid open to the tideway, and the
supply of sail from that source for embanking the sides of
the Tidal Dock cut off. The injury otherwise sustained
by the works was inconsiderable, the coffer-dams and
piling remaining firm, and the outer emankments of both
Doi Ist ben; only partially Lotted by the heavy seas that
roiled over them. The contractor's materials and machi-
nery were well secured, and very little loss was conse-
quently sustained by them.
" Under the foregoing circumstances the question arose,
whether to repair tnis breach in the temporary embank.
ment on the eastern side of the Close Dock, which was
destined to be altogether taken away when the enclosure
of the Tidal Dock should be finished, or whether I should
at once remove the remainder of this temporary embank.
meet, and use its soil in the work of enclosing the Tidal
Dock ; but I felt no hesitation in adopting the latter
course, and in preceding, with the aid of coffer-dam.
ruing, to enclose the whole of the Tidal Dock ; and I have
now the satisfaction to state, thatnutahrey elnastit, re
wenhcielohsubreeirogf
it was completed on the 28th Ja
The marriage of the Princes Theolincla of
Leutslitenb eg with Count William of Wirtemberg was M'ne' embraced at the same time the final enclosure of the
for the Cl )r e Dyck.
ctichratcd at un;ch on the Bth instant, according to ground
"
both The effects of the storm were therefore, I repeat, of
the Catholic and Lutheran rites. The witnesses for
very g
the Princess were Prince Charles, Prince Luitpold, and •nr.onveence and less; and although so
Duke Maximilian of Bavaria; those for the Count being large a number of men were exposed to its violence, the
the Prince de Ifeehingen and the Baron de Schmitz whi,t:le of them escaped unhurt.
It remains fsr me now to carry out the work of exceu-
Gtollesiberg, the Wirtemberg Minister at the Court of fne the Tidal Deck, the excavation of which is already
Munich. According to the cowl-tact, the children are to /11 msg. Msterials of stone, bricks, lime, and timber,
be brought up in the Roman Catholic religion, which is 'a
PlTS'and
re provided agreed for to a great extent for the eons
that of their mother. There was a grand dinner at Court, struction of the Quay-walls. Five steam-engines and
the Rine and Queen, all the Royal family, ail the Princes other mechanical means, as well as extensive borne-power,
and Dukes at Munich, the Baron de Gaily Min of the are also being established for carrying out this work, and
Royal Household and of the Interior, and the Wirtemburg it is my confident hope and expectation that by September
Minister ; and on the 9th there was a grand ball at Court next the Dock will be excavated, the entrance walls, as
in honour of the bride and bridegroom, who left Munich also the Quay-walls of the south-eastern, southern, and
far Stutgardt.— Galignani.
south-western sides will be completed, and the remainder
In consequence of the dry rot making its ap- of the Quay-walls built from their foundations up to neap
pearance in the roof over the State apartments in Kensing. tide low water mark ; pr
or (which I should much efer)
ton Palace, Government have given instructions for the 1 the whole of the Dock
may be completed by the end of
mei to be taken off and properly repaired. The apart- the present year.
meats formerly occupied by the Princess Sophia are to be The Dredging of the River Itchen is in full opera-
s
rebuilt
be
r, and
and t conservsad atory, the finest in the kingdom, is tion, and is proceeding very satisfactorily.
o beautified. I " Upwards of 600 meu are now employed OA the works ;

On Lord SEYMOUR moving the second read-
in: of Lord R'ant's Annuity Bill,
Mr. HUME said, that everything which had
came to his 'Klima-ledge in relation to this Bill,
had confirmed him in the opinion that it ought
not to pass, that the reward was altogether dis-
proportioned to the services that had been performed
by tho Noble Lord, and that, if they passed the 1112a-
sure, they would be setting up a bad principle and
acting with gross irjtistice towards those whose services
bad been much more vlluable ; ho should, therefore,
continue his opposition to the Bill. He wished to ask
the Noble Lord whtt‘cr he would lay upon the table
of the House the statement of the services of Lord
Eearie, pursuant to the recommendation of the Corn-
nissionerg, that no pension should be grated except for
good services.
Lord SEYMOUR thought these would he no ob-
jection to do so, but could not give any precise answer
unt the R;ght Hon. Gentleaan the Secretary-at-War
vies

The Bill was then re id a second time, and ordered
to be committed on Friday meek.

An HON. AlEmsmt moved :or returns of the number
of let'ers passing through t:ie General Past, and the
turnbe* of money orders granter'.
Mr. HUME complair el that small parcels coming
frcm abroad, by private hands, were obliged to be
passed through the General Post-office ; and although
they might contlia only books or pamphlets, or books
of trifl ng value, they were charged the full foreign
postage.

Lord SEYMOUR said, he would direct inquiries to
be made ii.to the subject.

The returns were -then ordered.

Adjourned at Eight o'Clock.

PARLIATIIENTAItY BUSINESS.

COMAIIILTEES ON PET.PII6NS FOR PRIVATE BILLS

Fad THIS DAY.
I. Meerbrook Sough Drainage, &c.
2. Wigan Small Debts.
3. British Commercial Insurance Company,
4. St. Ives Fishery.
5. Wells (Somerset) Market.
6. Dalton Pier.
7. Burwell Fen Drainage and Navigation.
8. Cheveley Inclosure.
9. Leverington, &c.

THE ELECTRO-TYPE v. THE

NEW POSTAGE LABEL.

We are authorised to contradict the statement
wider this head in the Morning Post and Herald.
The only reason that the Post-office has not been
isupplied with the new medallion envelopes is,
that the demand at the Stamp-office is so great
That it has been impossible to prepare the neces-
r,ary stock. The chief security of the envelope
Li in the threads interwoven in the paper; and
there is no intention whatever of discontinuing
/heir issue. .

We copy from the Herald the article referred

to:

"Our readers are, no doubt, aware that the Post-office autho-
rities have issued a new envelope, to replace those first breught
into use under the present system. This envelope contains,
on the right-hand corner, a neat medallion portrait of her
Majesty, but, in consequence of representations which
;lave been made to Colonel .Maberly of the facility with which
/he mark can be forged, orders have been given nat is supply
any more of the envelopes. On Monday the Lecturer on
Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institution stated to his au-
dience, when lecturing on this wonderful discovery, that he
had offered to teach nine of the most ignorant boys the
Yost-office authorities in London could select, so that in
forty-eight hours each boy should produce 1,000 copies of
the new medallion, so perfect that the most skilful artist
should not be able to detect which were the genuine and
evhich the counterfeit. The Lecturer exhibited some models
;which were taken from the original, quite perfect, and stated
that, as the medallion was made to produce others from itself,
the productions were so exact that it was impossible to discover
which was the authorised and which the unauthorised copy.
Ile added that, having made this known to Government, he
was engaged on a series of experiments, by their authority,
to show the applicability a the invention to forgery. In
Fact this invention, which has not been known more than
twelve months, must create a complete revolution in the
science of copying prints, documents, and indeed every
thing ; for by means of the electro-type, every thing which
a substance can be exactly copied, and a copper plate pro-
duced from a mere copy of the engraving with every line so
distinctly marked, that even the artist himself would be
unable to discover whether a print from the plate so pro-
ducsd was taken from the plate he had engraved, or from the
felectro-type plate, for even the slip of the graver would be
Chown as exactly in the one as the other. In case of prosecu-
tion for forgery too, most probably some difficulty would arise
as the law at present stands, for instead of the production of
the electro-type being a false and counterfeit imitation it would
be an exact copy, the original (being made to reproduce itself)
ray, for instance, a five pound note; The only guard against
forgery of notes now being the paper, before that could be
detected, many hundreds might get into the hands of trades-
s ien not au fait at detecting forgery. The operation is so
very simple, and has become so generally known, that, as the
Lecturer truly observed, it is to be feared dishonest. characters
will avail themselves of the discovery to serve their own kite
proper purposes, and to cheat their more honest neighbours."