The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-12 00:00:00

THE EAST INDIA TRADE.

Yesterday a numerous meeting of the merchants, brokers,
and others, connected with the East India trade, assembled
at the East India House, for the purpose of proceeding
with the sales of saltpetre declared by the East India Com-
p*, and by the Committee of East India Merchants. The
attendance was the more numerous in consequence of an
expectation that was entertained that discussions would
arise as to the mode of conducting transactions in East
India produce, in order to give security to the members of
the trade who are buyers ; the adoption of a safe system
being considered essential for all parties interested in the trade.
The East India Company's declaration consisted of 500
tons of saltpetre, and was chiefly sold at from 255. 6d. to
265. per cwt., the prices obtained varying between 2 to
6 per cent. lower than ,the quotations realized at the last
quarterly sale.
The Committee of East India Merchants had declared
for sale 2,490 bags of saltpetre, to, follow the East India
Company's goods. Before the private sale commenced,
however, a most animated discussion arose relative to the
responsibility which ought to exist for the completion of
contracts entered into at the sales of East India produce on
the system that had been adopted to succeed the sales by the
East India Company, and which will shortly wholly cease,
pursuant to the India Bill passed last Session, by which the
Company was deprived of its commercial privileges and
character. _ _

Mr. KUM' wished to be informed by the Committee of
East India Merchants as to the extent of the responsibility
of buyers and sellers under the terms proposed for the sale
of East India produce.

No answer having been given by the Registrar,
Mr. COOKE, of the firm of Truman and Cooke, said it
was evidently the desire of the trade to know upon whom
the responsibility rested, and he would ask if the Registrar
had not some information upon this point ?
Mr. JOHNSON, the Registrar, said he had a legal opinion
upon the subject, which, if the trade wished, he would read.
• Mr. COOKE said, unless the case was also read it was of
little use to read the opinion. As a great change was
about being made in the mode in which public sales have
hitherto been conducted in the port of London, and as it
was of the utmost importance that everything should be
done to give stability and confidence to that trade, it was
most essential to know the amount of responsibility which
existed on the completion of the public transactions in pro-
duce. He applied his question to sales generally under the
proposed change ; but with regard to saltpetre he "zould
suppose a case. Saltpetre was now only worth about 255.
Per cwt., but should war arise it would advance to 355. In
that case, would the managing broker, under the proposed
terms of sale, be bound to deliver the goods ? If the weight
notes were not delivered within three days after the sale,
as proposed, would the owner of the goods be enabled, in
consequence of the non-delivery of the weight-notes, to take
advantage of the rise in the market, and refuse to deliver
the goods ? He contended, that a managing broker under
the new system was not bound to deliver goods under such
circumstances.
Mr. JOHNSON said the legal opinion he had received did
not state that the managing broker would be so bound.
Mr. COOKE said that was the point he wished to arrive
at. The public, then, would not be protected under the
new system. Here the Committee of East India Mer-
chants refused to take that responsibility, which in other
cases devolved upon the selling broker. If the plan adopt-
ed by the Committee of East India Merchants for con-
ducting the sales of produce was adhered to, the greatest in-
jury would be the result to the trade of the port of London.
Mr. JOHNSON, in reply to a question, was understood
to state that the managing broker in the first instance was
considered as being held responsible for the sale of goods ;
but if a difference arose then, a reference would be made
to the principal or owner of the goods.
Mr. FIRMAN considered that importers of goods offered
for sale under the new system, were responsible to the
buyers for a proper delivery, and not the managing broker.
Mr. COOKE said the stand now made was upon principle,
aril for the sake of protecting the trade generally.
Mr. CORRIE considered the legal responsibility for the
proper delivery of goods was imposed upon the auctiloneers,
and not upon the managing brokers.
Mr. ORn expressed a similar opinion.—(Hear.)
Mr. CARROL thought at least that the responsible varties
erould be stated in the conditions of sale.
Mr. WILKINSON (a managing broker for goods c .ow of

fered) said he was placed in a delicate situation. He had
been entrusted with the management of goods for sale, and
he did not see how he could withdraw them. As to the
responsibility, the trade would be guided by the custom.
After some further discussion Mr. FIRMAN withdrew the
saltpetre entrusted to his management for s ale.

Mr. HOWARD (of the firm of Tucker and Co.) expressed
a hope that every means would be resorted to in order to
crush the attempt of the St. Katharine Dock Company to
obtain advantages which would be prejudicial to the brokers
of the port of London, and ultimately to trade. The whole
of this proceeding was, he contended, the work of the St.
Katharine's Dock Company. Who was it, he would ask,
put their on the flaw in the East India Company's
Charter respecting private sales but the St. Katharine's
Dock Company ? What. was this done for ? Not, most
certainly, for the interests of th public, but in order to en-
able that Company to raise up a monc:,oly more odious and
more disastrous to the public than any otnzr- He trusted
that the trade would be enabled to defeat the designs of the
St. Katharine's Dock Company.—( Hear.)
Further attempts were made to proceed with the sale,
but there were no bidders, and the whole of the saltpetre
declared was withdrawn amid much cheering.
The sale was then adjourned.

BERLIN, OCT. 29.—There has been a ball, sup-
per, and theatrical fete, at Court. Amongst the chevaliers of
the Black Eagle, are Jerome Bonaparte and the Count de St.
Leu.—Augsburg Gazette.
The first stone of a Booksellers' Exchange has been
laid at Leipsic in great ceremony.—Augsburg Gazette.
A nurse, named Jefferys, met with her death last
week at Leicester, from having, while squeezing a lemon, in-
jected some of its juice into a wound on one of her hands.
Erskine gave a very lively illustration of the text,
" Union is strength," when he said of a place where he had
slept very ill, that if the fleas had been unanimous, they would
have lifted him out of the bed.—Liverpool Albion.
CARICATURA.—Dantau, who has been termed
the Scarron of plaster-of- Paris and the Sterne of sculpture,
has lately been among us " taking notes," and if not to
" prent 'em," to imprint them upon the minds of all the
loungers of the French capital ! The House of Commons and
the House of Lords from the hand of Dantan ! • Lords Grey
and Eldon, O'Connell and Cobbett ; we scarcely dare hint at
all he has given to the contemplation of the flaneurs of the
Parisian Exchange.—Court Journal.
EXPORTATION OF ICE.—A cargo of ice, forming
part of the surplus stock of the salmon fishers from last year,
is now being shipped here, as we are informed, for the King
of the French. The moderate price which his French Ma-
jesty is, we understand, to give for this cargo, is two guineas
per ton, besides paying 100/. for freight to Havre. The sal-
mon fishers must be very confident of a supply this winter when
they thus part with their stock.—Aberdeen Herald.

Mr, Turner, late of the firm of Trumpherey and
Turner, wholesale grocers, of Horsham, recently invited a
large party of friends to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of
his wedding day ; a few days after he was seized with a fit,
in which he expired, on the 29th ult., in the 84th year of
his age.

A WELSH PATRIARCH.—There is now residing,
in the hamlet of Gwynfe, in the parish of Llangadock, a per-
son of the name of Thomas Rees William Bowen, once hold-
ing a farm, and now in his 108th year, who walks to and from
the Episcopal Chapel every Sabbath, in good health, and in
full recollection of past events.—Carmarthen Journal.

AN INFIDEL.—A Florentine Ambassador, just
before the restoration of Charles 11., is said to have written
to his Court, " Some say the Protector is dead, others that
he is not ; for my part I believe neither the one nor the other."
STEAM NAVlGATlON.—Notwithstanding the ex-
traordinary celerity and accommodation obtained by steam
navigation and railways, we have this week to record another
feat which serves to prove that dispatch may be (indeed is
already) obtained, which is such as to exceed all previous cal-
culation. That fine steam vessel, the Majestic, left the Tees
on Thursday afternoon, at four o'clock, arrived in London on
Saturday, discharged her large and valuable cargo, took in
another cargo, and arrived again in the Tees on Monday,
about one o'clock ; thus accomplishing both passages, a dis-
tance of about 700 miles in little more than 90 hours, includ-
ing ten hours whilst at anchor waiting for daylight in the
upward passage. In about one hour after landing, several of
the passengers were conveyed sixteen miles by the railway-
train to Darlington, and meeting the coach, were safely at
Newcastle by 8 o'clock the same night.—Newcastle Journal.

On Sunday evening last, as Phillip Quinlin, of
Knockfelough, parish of Sollihead, and barony of Clanwilliam,
a respectable farmer, and a most upright and well-conducted
man, was returning to his house, he was waylaid and beaten in
such an inhuman and ferocious manner with stones, that his
mangled and mutilated body was left on the road side without
the least symptom of animation being apparent. He was,
hover, removed to his own house, whet every possible
means ::Yat medical skill could devise were resorted to, but all
was in vain he died at an early hour the following morning.
lie has left a and eleven children to mourn irreparable
loss I—Clonmel Advedliser.

FACTORY LABOUR.--We are glad to record a fact
which reflects great honour on one of the principal houses of
Leeds. Messrs. Hives and Atkinsons, flax-spinners, have just
made an arrangement, the effect of which will be to give their
numerous work-people three hours a week. They pay for
sixty-nine hours, and they grant three hours of that, which will
be carried to the account of holidays and breakage. The re-
sult is, that while sixty-nine hours are paid for, sixty-six are
only worked; in other words, holidays and breakages are not
deducted for according to past custom. The expense to the
firm will amount to a larger sum than many persons may feel
disposed to believe; so much, we understand, as 1,0001. a-year.
—Leeds Paper.

PARTRIDGE SHOOTING.—On Wednesday, at
noon, as Mr. Williams, woollen-draper, Lord_, treet, was sitting
in a back room, he was much surprised at obseving a fine par-
tridge in the yard, busily engaged in picking zip some corn
which happened to be about. He went for his gun, loaded it,
gently raised up the window, and shot the bird on ;he spot. It
is supposed that the partridge must have been blt.swn over,
during the late severe gales, from the Cheshire side; aid that,
tamed by hunger, it ventured among the crowded anti busy
haunts of men.—Liverpool Albion.
NEW MATERIAL FOR ROPES.—TOULON, OcY
26.—A Superior Commission was present yesterday at a
series of trials made here to ascertain the comparative strength
of cables made of hemp and of aloe from Algiers. These
trials all turned to the advantage of aloe. Of cables of equal
size, that made of aloe raised a weight of 2,000 killogrammes,
that made of hemp a weight of only 400 killog,rammes.—
National.

Yesterday morning, between 11 and 12 o'clock, a
gentleman named M'ellant, who resides in Charles-street,
Berkeley-square, was proceeding on horseback along the Ken-
sington road, and when near to Knightsbridge the horse sud-
denly stumbled, and came down with great violence. throwing
its rider off with much force into the road. Mr. Mellant fell
on his head, and struck his forehead a very heavy blow. On
being taken up he was found to be in a state of insensibility,
bleeding profusely from the mouth and ears. He was directly
conveyed to his own residence, and on a surgical examination
of the injuries he had sustained, his skull was found to be ex-
tensively and dangerously fractured. His life is at present
considered in great jeopardy.

READERS.—In a lecture delivered upwards of
twenty years ago, at some hall in Fetter-lane, Coleridge di-
vided readers into four classes. The first he compared to an
hour-glass, their reading being as the sand ; it runs in and it
runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class,
he•said, resembled a sponge, which imbibes everything and
returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A
third class he likened to a jelly-bag, which allows all that is
pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and the dregs.
The fourth class, of which he trusted there were many among
his auditors, he compared to the slaves in the diamond-mines
of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, pre-
served only the pure gem.

FIRE.-This morning, about five o'clock, the ware-
houses of Messrs. Izons and Co., extensive manufacturers of
iron pots, &c., College-hill, near Southwark Bridge,
were discovered to be on fire. Such was the rapidity
of the flames, that they communicated with the adjoining
prZ•lcases of Messrs. Blythe and Winkfield, at the corner
of ma;,lfenlane, and the interior of the former was one come
plete sheet Of fire in less than half an hour. There were nine
engines on the sp:,t inr full play, so that the fire was arreste 1
in its progress, and' weedily subdued. Great anxiety was
excited lest some extenve oil, paper, and cotton ware-
houses in the immediate vicinity' should catch fire ; because, if
they had, the mischief would have bc.•?n dreadful. The upper
stories of the premises which are destroyed were filled with
hops, which, with every commodity capable of ignition, were
speedily consumed. It is stated that the premises ws9re insured.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.-About a quarter before
six o'clock on Saturday night, as one of the clerks of the
Branch Bank of England in Queen-street, Norwich, was
going from the bank of Messrs. Gurney and Co. to the joint-
stock bank, in Surrey-street, in crossing the Castle-ditches, ha
was met by two persons unknown, dressed like some of the
London " swell-mob ;" by one of whom he was knocked down
by a severe blow on the face. Both then fell upon him and
rifled his pockets, 'from which they took checks on the Nor-
folk and Norwich joint-stock banking company, to the follow-
ing amount, and drawn by the following persons :-Barnes,
10/. Bs. ; J. Rudd's executors, 101. Bs. 3d. ; S. Batley,
91. 18s, ; G. Read, 781. 15s. 10d ; W. J. Bayes, 15/. ss. ;
G. Murrell, 52/. ; W. Warren, 71/. 19s. 6d. ; J. Carman,
281. 3s. 4d. ; T. Farren, 14/. ; R. Priest, 12/. 18s. 9d. ;
G. Hughes, 5/. ; R. G. Rudd, 13/. 2s. 4d.; J. Howell,
Si. ss. 7d. ; Barnard and Joy, 8/. 7s. ; Ele-de-Carle, 75/. ;
J. Kippon, 34/. ' • E. S. Mann, 66/. 7s.,-amounting in all to
513/. 18s. 7d. Notes of the same bank, amounting to 740/. ;
and also four five-pound notes of the Yarmouth bank of Lacon
and Co. ; and 158 light sovereigns ; altogether amounting to
1,431/. 18s. 7d. Every exertion has been made to discover
the parties concerned in the robbery, but hitherto without suc-
cess. Sheriffs' officers were immediately on the look-out for
strangers, and two were dispatched for London. The par-
ment of all tho checks and notes was immediately stopped,
and one hundret' pouuds' reward offered for the conviction of
the offenders. They are supposed to be Londoners, but no
clue wli4tcvcr is &tt present obtained.