The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-30 00:00:00

ISLE OF JERSEY RAILWAY AND

PIER COMPANY.

A special general meeting of the shareholders of this
company took place yesterday, at the London Tavern, for
the purpose of receiving the report of the directors, and
to consider the propriety of proceeding with or abandon-
ing the undertaking.
The Right Hon. G. R. DAVISON took the chair
shortly after one o'clock; upon doing which, he stated
that the company was a peculiar one; it did not come
under the provisions of any Act of Parliament, and
it would be a dead letter till it received the
fiat of the States of Jersey. The company
had been formed about the present time last year. Pro.
spectuses were published and subscriptions received.
Upon the completion of the preliminary business it
then became the duty of the directors to proceed in the
usual course to bring the matter before the authorities
of the country. The company had been obliged to con-
sult two important departments of the Government—
the Ordnance and the Admiralty; they had been
obliged to consult the Ordnance Department because it
was proposed to carry the line through a large portion
of land belonging to that department, and it became ne-
cessary to consult the Admiralty in order to enable them
to build their harbour and pier. Surveys and valuations
had been made, plans had been drawn out, and as much
expedition as possible had been used. Some delay,
however, had taken place in consequence of the difficulty
of obtaining engineers, Mr. Walker, who had been first
appointed, declining to act, thinking it not consistent
with his duty as engineer to the Admiralty. Ulti-
mately, however, Messrs. Sherrard and Hall were em-
ployed. Those gentlemen made their report in
February last ; and upon the receipt of that report
the directors put themselves in communication with
the Ordnance Department, and he was __
sorry to
say the result of that communication was unfavourable
to the undertaking. Reference had also been made to
the Board of Admiralty, and to that reference the direc-
tors had not received any answer. A change in the
Government having taken place, it was thought, per-
haps, that the new Board of Ordnance would take a dif-
ferent view of the question; another reference was made
to the new Board of Ordnance, to which an answer was
returned on the 14th of the present month, which was
equally unfavourable to the undertaking, the new Board
stating that they were of the same opinion as their pre-
decessors; no answer had been received from the new Board
of Admiralty. Now, until the objections of the Ordnance
and the Admiralty were got over it was utterly impos-
sible to proceed to refer the matter to the States of
Jersey. Their directors had done all they could to
bring this undertaking to a favourable issue, and they
had nothing more to do then than to ask the opinion of
the proprietors as to the propriety of dissolving the
company.
The SECRETARY then read the report of the directors,
which stated that the receipts were 9,7251., and the
disbursements 3,6481., with a probability of 5001. more,
and recommended that the company should be die'
solved, a return made to the shareholders of 10s. (20s
having been paid) a share immediately, and a final divi-
dend paid when the directors were able to do so.
Upon the question of the adoption of the report a
long and somewhat angry discussion took place with re-
spect to the bills of the solicitors, the insertion, as it was
said by the directors of an advertisement in the Times
newspaper to puff up the shares, and the great expense
that had been incurred in the initiatory proceedings of a
line that was only Ioi miles in length, which ended in
the adoption of the following resolutions :
" That the report of the directors be approved and
confirmed.

" That the directors be enabled to take such measures
as may be necessary for the immediate dissolution of the
company.
" That the meeting approve and confirm the proposal
of returning immediately the sum of 10s. per share, and
such further sum as the directors may be enabled to
make, as soon as all the claims upon the company shall
be examined and discharged."
Thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the
meeting separated.

BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD
RAILWAY.
Fellow-Shareholders,—Our property is in peril
On Friday an attempt will be made to amalgamate our
undertaking with the Dudley line. Beware of
consenting to it. I doubt not the directors, deeply in.
terested as they individually are, will be provided
with proxies to carry the union, unless a determined
stand is made. If it is consummated we shall be
placed entirely in the power of the Great Western. The
London and Birmingham Company are, I am told on
authority, ready to guarantee us nine per cent. If united
to the Dudley line, they cease to feel an interest in °Mir-
ing any terms. Pease, then, at least until you know
whether the Great Western will give us a better offer.
No danger can arise from delay. Once allied, our power
of negotiation is gone. Let us adjourn the decision.
London, Oct. 28. A PROPRIETOR.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES AND

COMPLICATED FRAUDS AT ABINGDON.

ABINGDON, WEDN ESDAY.—Considerable excitement
has prevailed in this town for some days past, in conse-
quence of the discovery of several extensive robberies
and frauds, in which have been engaged many persons
holding respectable positions in the town and neighbour-
hood. The depredations have been principally com-
mitted upon the eorndealers, malsters. and brewers, re-
siding in Abingdon and its vicinity; the property stolen,
amounting in value to several hundreds of pounds, con-
sisting chiefly of malt, hops, barley, and wheat. Several
examinations of the persons engaged in the plunder have
taken place before the mayor and borough magistrates,
the last of which was held yesterday, before D. Belcher,
Esq., in the large room at the House of Correction,
which was crowded during the lengthened proceedings,
which occupied upwards of five hours.
No less than seventeen persons, some of whom were of
apparent respectability, holding respectable positions in
society, were brought up in custody, and placed in three
rows, before the sitting magistrate. Their names are :
—William Hazel], John Hassell, Joseph Edney, Charles
Trinder, Benjamin Blagrove, William Peed. Richard
Jones, George Bowler, George Haycroft, John Seymour,
William Westbrook, Joseph Dutton, James Edney, Geo.
Peck, Thomas Pryor, John Huggins, and Mary Huggins,
his wife ; the whole of whom were charged as either
principals or accessories.
Mr. J. J. Williams, barrister-at-law, of the Oxford
Circuit, was specially retained on the part of the Crown
It appeared from the examination of the numerous
witnesses, that the brewing establishment of Miss Spen-
love had been plundered of large quantities of malt and
hops, and that a most deeply formed system of robbery
had been in existence for the past three or four years.
It further appeared that the principal
portion of the
plunder had been disposed of to persons in a respectable
way of business residing within a circuit of ten miles of
Abingdon.
At the conclusion of the inquiry, the whole of the
prisoners were remanded for further examination (war-
rants having been issued against several other parties not
yet in custody), and conveyed to the borough gaol.
The case excited the greatest interest. The mayor
and magistrates have expressed their determination to
adopt the most inefatigable means to bring the whole of
the guilty parties to justice.
Warrants have been issued against three men who
were amongst those who were the most actively engaged
boatsi n
fremovingfrom
large portions of the stolen property in
the
premises of the corn dealers and malt-
stars contiguous to the river. They are now supposed
to be engaged as navigators on some railway works.
Their names are:—William Butler, alias Turkey, alias
Tiney, aged 40, about 5 feet 4 inches high ; Thomas
Giles, 40, 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high; and William Faulk-
ner, alias Perch Faulkner, 40, dressed in a shooting
jacket.
The prisoner Benjamin Blagrove, who was one of the
first of the batch who was taken into custody, has con-
fessed to several robberies in which he was engaged,
connected with the cases against the other prisoners.

Mills
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ri
son
of Philip
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ffiel r
p:t
KILLED IN ESCAPING PROM lIANWELL ASYLUM.—
f
tLhaetellOannwMe4lTLdauynaetviecniAngsyMlurm.
cWerastsoofnihaegaedsytlhuieirt,e,
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frFormomthtahteoef
it appeared that he was received into the institution on
the 4th of June last from the county House of Correc •
tion. He lost his father at an early age, and when only
five years old he began to earn a living by standing on
his head, beating time with his feet, and singing Jim
Crow. The continual practice of these feats causing un-
natural pressure of blood on the brain, deranged it
so much as to render him violently irritable imme-
diately after his performances, and if he did not
consider himself sufficiently remunerated for them, he
would throw missiles at the crowd and break windows.
For having done so he was committed to the House of
Correction for a month. On being liberated, instead of
being corrected by the discipline of the prison, he
became worse, and from tumbler advanced to pick-
pocket. In his new vocation he stole a watch and chain,
and was sentenced to twelve months'
felony. Whilst undergoing the sentence of the House of
Correction his conduct became so palpably tinged with
insanity that he was sent to the above asylum, from
which he had escaped twice, and was continually medi•
tating imprisonment for
escape. In eonseqnence of this he slept in the
" escape ward," so called from the difficulty there is in
escaping from it. All the inmates of this ward, about
twenty in number, are required in stripping for bed to
place their clothes outside the doors of their sleeping
cells. On Friday evening, at the usual hour, the
ward keeper saw deceased get into bed undressed.
and found outside his door a parcel containing,
he thought, deceased's clothes, but which turned out
afterwards to be portions of the clothes of others he
had cleverly purloined, hiding his own clothes, no
doubt, under the mattress of his bed. The following
morning, about six o'clock, he was found dressed in his
own clothes on the pavement, about forty
.feet beneath
his cell window. He was quite dead, and in one of his
pockets was found an iron
spoon, which he had used to
unhitch the bolt of the shutter of the cell window. A
water pipe ran by the window, and circumstantial evi-
dence proved that the deceased fell and was killed in
trying to slide down this pipe, and so escape. The Jury
recommended that the windows of the escape cells should
for the future be more firmly secured, and the authori-
ties of the asylum having promised to carry the recom-
mendation into immediate effect, a verdict of " Acci-
dental death " was returned.
INCREASED CONSUMPTION Of MILK.—The farmers
in Lancashire and Cheshire have nearly discontinued
making cheese and butter,in consequence of the increased
demand for milk, which is attributed to the increased
consumption of rice, Indian meal, and oatmeal, owing to
the scarcity of potatoes.—Liverpool
Mr. John Scott. the father of William and John
Scott, the celebrated trainers and jockeys,this
died in
town on Thursday last, at the advanced age
of 96. Mr.
Scott was formerly a jockey himself.—ik/ghton Gazette,