The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-13 00:00:00

' LONDON AND NORTH - WESTERN
RAILWAY.
WEST COAST ROUTE TO SCOTLAND.
Additional Express and Further Improved Service of
Trains between London and the North of Scotland.
An ADDITIONAL EXPRESS TRAIN, conveying
first and second class passengers, now leaves Eustnn Sta-
tion at 8 p.m., for EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, PERTH,
and the North of Scotland. A direct Train for Greenock,
in connection with this Express, leaves Motherwell at 7.0
a.m., arriving ir. Greenock at 8.20 a.m., allowing ample
time for passengers for Oban and the West Highlands to
join the lona Steamboat, which leaves Greenock at 9.0
a.m. Tourist Tickets and Return Tickets for Scotch Sta-
tions are available by this Train. Passengers for Green-
ock are conveyed without change of carriage by this Train.
Passengers for Edinburgh by this Train will join the
Limited Mail at Carstairs : those for Perth and the North
of Scotland will join the Train at Gartsherrie.
Passengers by this Train are allowed fifteen minutes at
Carlisle for refreshments.
The Train lk•aving Euston Station at 9.0 p.m. has been
accelerated so as 10 arrive at Aberdeen at 2.0p.m., two
hours and twenty minutes earlier than heretofore.
A new Express Train for London leaves Aberdeen
(Caledonian) at 9.0 a.m., Glasgow (Caledonian) 1.45 p.m.,
and Edinburgh at 2.0 p.m. ; arriving in London (Euston
Station) at 3.15 R.lll.
Passengers booked through to Scotland are allowed to
break their journey at Carlisle.
For further particulars see Time-bills.
W. CAWK WELL, General Manager.
Fusion Station, August, 1869.

TILE " SINGER" SEWING MACHINES.
THE ." NEW FAMILY"
SEW THE LOCK-STITCH AND THE NEW EMBIIOIDERY•

STITCH.
Work by Hand and Treadle, and in a Portable Case
for Travelling.

THE " SINGER " SE WING MACIIINES
ARE WORLD-RENOWNED AS THE BEST SYSTEM
AND THE MOST COMPLETE, WITH NEW IMPROVEMENTS
FOR EVERY CLASS OF SEWING.
The p I.ullar simplicity of these Machines enables any one to
acquire their perfect use in a few hours.
Illustrated Price Lists post free.

THE "SINGER" MANUFACTURING COMPAIS
Chief Office in the United Kingdom:
147, CHEAPSIDE.
Branch Deptits or Loca Agents in every Town

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING
COMPANY.

Established 1836.
Subscribed capital, £2,500,000, in 50,000 Shares, of
£5O each.
Paid-up Capital, £1,000,000; Reserve Fund, £500,000.
DIRECTORS.
Nathaniel Alexander, Esq. I Frederick Francis, Esq.
Thos. Tyringham Bernard, Frederick Harrison, Esq.
Esq. Lord Alfred Hervey.
Philip Paton Blyth, Esq. William Champion Jones,
John Wm. Burmester, Esq. Esq.
Thomas Stock Cowie, Esq. James Morley, Esq.
John Fleming, Esq. William Nicol, Esq.
GENERAL MANAGER.
William M'Kewan, Esq.
CHIEF INSPECTOR.
W. J. Norfolk, Esq.
INSPECTORS OF BRANCHES.
IL J. Lemon, Esq., and C. Sherring, Esq.
CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.
James Gray, Esq.
SECRETARY.
F. Clappison, Esq.
HEAD OFFICE.
21, Lombard-street.
MANAGER.
Whitbread Tomson, Esq.
A SSISTANT-MANAGER.
William Howard, Esq.

At the Half-yearly General meeting of the Proprietors,
held on Thursday, the sth August, 1869, at the City
Terminus Hotel, Cannon-street Station, the following re-
port for the half-year ending the 30th June, 1869, was
read by the Secretary.
FREDERICK FRANCIS, Esq., in the Chair.
The Directors, in presenting. to the Proprietors the
balance-sheet of the Bank for the half-year ending 30th
June last, have the satisfaction to report that, after paying
interest to customers, and all charges, allowing for rebate,
and making provision for bad and doubtful debts, the net
profits amount to £85,010 2s. 7d. This sum, added to
£5,817 4s 10d, brought forward from the last account, pro-
duces a total of £90,827 7s. sd.
They have declared the usual dividend of G per cent.,
with a bonus of 21 per cent., for the half year, free of in-
come tax (being at the rate of 17 per cent. per annum),
which will absorb £84,601 9s. 10d., and leave £6,225
17s. 7d. to be carried forward to profit and loss new ac-
count.

By the recent appointment of ffr.Whitbread Toreson as
Manager of the Head Office, a vacancy has arisen in the
Auditorship, which, in accordance with the Deed of Set-
tlement, it will be in the power of the Proprietors to fill at
the annual meeting in February next.
The dividend and bonus (together £1 14s. per share)
will be payable at the Head Office, or at any of the
branches, on and after Monday, the 16th instant.
BALANCE-SHEET OF THE LONDON AND /
COUNTY BANKING COMPANY,
30TH JUNE, 1869.

DR.
To capital paid up
To reserve fund
To amount due by tbe
Bank to customers'
balances, &c. £12,411,805 2 4
To liabilities on ac-
ceptances, covered
by securities

13,366,810 18 9

To profit and loss
balance brought
from last account
To gross profit for
the half-year, after
making provision
for had and doubt-
ful debts

5,817 4 10

263,40 G 1 1

269,223 5

£15,636,06,1 4 8

By cash on hand at
Head Office, and
branches, and with
Bank of England .£1,864,743 1 7
By cash placed at call
and at notice,
covered by secu-
ritios

£3,063,51219 0

Investments, viz. :
ByGovernment and

Guaranteed Stocks 1,300,123 16 8
By other stocks and
securities •

59,581 3 8

1,359,705 0 4

By discounted bills,
and advances to
customers in town
and country 9,361,787 5 8
By liabilities of custo-
mers for drafts ac-
eel ted by the Bank
(as p-r contra) 1,4:.5,035 16 5

By freehold premises in Lombard-
street and Nicholas-lane, freehold
and leatehold propertyat the branches,
with fixtures and fittings
By interest paid to customers
By salaries and all other expenses at
Head Offices and branches, includ-
ing income tax on profits and
salaries

105,073 18

£15,636,064 4 8
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT.
To interest paid to customers as above £52,977 0 8
To expenses, ditto
To rebate on bills not due, carried to
new account
To dividend of 6 per cent. for the half-

20,344 18 1

year
To bonus of 2/ per cent.
To balance carried forward

59,718 14 0
34,882 15 10
6,225 17 7

£269,223 5

By balance brought forward from last
account
By gross profit for the half-year, after
making provision for bad and doubt-
ful debts

£5,817 4 10

263,406 1 1

£269,223 5 11
We, the undersigned, have examined the foregoing
balance-sheet and have found the same to be correct.
(Signed) WILLIAM NORMAN,
R. H. SWA INE, Auditors.
London and County Bank, July 29, 1869.
The foregoing Report having been read by the Secre-
tary, the following resolutions were proposed, and unani-
mously adopted :-
1. That the Report be received and adopted, and printed
for the Ilse of the Shareholders.
2. That the thanks of this Meeting be given to the
Board of Directors for the able manner in which they have
conducted the affairs of the Company.
(Signed) FREDK. FRANCIS,
Chairman.
The Chairman having quitted the chair, it was resolved,
and carried unanimously :-
3. That the cordial thanks of this Meeting bo pre-
sented to Frederick Francis, Esq., for his able and cour-
teous conduct in the chair.

(Signed)

W. CHAMPION JONES,
Deputy Chairman.
Extracted from the Minutes.
(Signed) F. CLAPPISON,
Secretary.

LONDON and COUNTY BANKING
COMPANY.
Notice is hereby given, that a DIVIDEND on the
CAPITAL of the Company, at the rate of Six per Cent.
for the half-year ending 30th June, 1869, with a BONUS
of Two and a Half ler Cent., will be PAID to the Pro-
prietors, either at the Head Office, 21, Lombard-street, or
at any of the Company's Branch Banks, on and after
MONDAY, the 16th inst.
By order of the Board,
W. MeKEWAN, General Manager.
21, Lombard-street, Aug. 6, 1869.

GUARDIAN FIRE AND LIFE OFFICE.

Established 1-821.
Subscribed Capital... ................... Two Millions.
11, Lombard-street, London, E.C.
DIRECTORS.
CHAILMAN—WiIIiaru Steven, Esq.
DEPUTY-CirmumArt- Fredetick 11. Janson, Eeq.
Henry Hulse. Berens, Esq Diehard M. Harvey, Esq
Ily. Bouiam- arter, Esq J. G. Hubbard, Esq
Charles Wrn Curtis, Esq G. J. Shaw Lefevre, Esq, ALP
Charles F. Devas, I,:sq John Martin, Esq
Francis Hart Dyke, Esq Rowland Mitchell, Esq
Sir W. R. Farquhar, Bart James Morris, Esq
James Goodson, Esq Abraham J..ttoberts, Esq
Archibald Hamilton. Esq Henry Vigne, Esq
Thomson Ilankey. Esq

SECRETARY—Thomas Tallemacb, Esq.
ACTUARY—SamI. Brown, Esq.

, -
The full benefit of the Abolition of the Government Duty will
be aff.rded to Insurers.
Prospectus and Forms of Proposal free on application to the
Company's Agents, or to the Secretary.

SUM

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUS7 13, 1869

Silent throughout the whole of the past session,
Lori STANLEY has spoken, immediately upon the
Prorogation. His is the very first of what are ab-
surdly called extra-Parliamentary Utterances.
The occasion was the thirteenth annual gathering of
the Ormskirk and SouthportAgricultural Association,
on Wednesday last, at the former locality. A speech
upon agriculture, delivered by one of the most clear-
headed and practical among living Statesmen, is
something refreshing in its way, after what Mr.
BRIGHT would call so much childish tinkering over
Life Peerages in the Lords, and after so much arrogant
legislation by a tyrant majority in the Commons in
regard to a work still regarded, we presume, by Mr.
DISRAELI, by Mr. HARDY, and by Dr. BALL as one
simply and solely of sacrilegious spoliation. Having
had so long dinned into our ears that—until but yes-
terday it almost seemed—interminable theme of dis-
cussion, the Irish Church Question, any other sub-
ject in the wide world comes to us exhilaratingly and
refreshingly, whatever it is. So long as it is not the Irish
Church Question, so long as it has nothing whatever
to do with thelrish Church Question—it has the chance
of novelty, or at any rate of comparative novelty.
But—Agriculture ! From the very nature of things,
the selection of such a theme as that, to begin with, is
like an invigorating breath of country air after
just a little too much, in its way, of town life. It
bad its attraction, we doubt nut, for Lord STANLEY
himself when it came first of all to be submitted to
his consideration. Particularly after his protracted
silence as a public man, both inside and outside the
walls of Parliament. At a few days notice, as he says
himself, he accepted the invitation to preside at Orms-
kirk over the proceedings. And—as he adds—
he consented to take the chair " with all
the more pleasure because during the last three years
duties of a very different kind, the nature of which
they knew, had caused him to see far less than be
could have wished of his friends anl mighbours in
incasiiire." After referring, in a complimentary
manner, to the evident progress made within that
interval by the local association, the noble lord spoke,
with reason, in warm tams of commendation,
of societies of this particular character. Ex-
hibitions or shows like these, he remarked,
were most useful and valuable as a means of intro-
lucing to the publ:c the newest improvements, whe-
ther in cultivation, or breeding, or the manufacture
of implements ; adding, however, that those great
shows, as it seemed to him, bad hardly reached
the smaller class of farmers as generally as one
could wish, such being a matter of importance,
in a district like Ormskirk, seeing that the small
farmer was there the general rule. " There were
hundreds of persons," he said, " who would pay a
shilling to go into a show near home, who would not
incur the expense of going half over the county to
see a show even upon a much larger scale. In the
matter of prizes, too, it was at these comparatively
small gatherings," he argued, " that the small holder
had a chance of getting a prize, as, while he would not
challenge a whole county, he would not be afraid to
challenge his immediate neighbours." Lsrd STANLEY
by no means flattered the farmers of Lancashire.
His eulogiums were throughout carefully and
well - considered. They were in no way
rose - coloured. They were fair, frank, and
manly in every particular —for the simple reason that
they were, as we have said, well-considered.
"He had to own," he observed, " and he
always had owned, that there were counties
in the south of England which had got the start of
Lancashire, but he doubted whether there was any
part of England where—comparing what they are,
with what they were a generation ago—practical
agriculture had made so rapid or so continuous a
progress." Drawing upon his own individual
recollections, he said that he remembered within
the last thirty years the time when the townships of
Rainford, Bickerstaffe, Kirby, and some other towns
were, to a great extent, occupied by what were there-
abouts called mosses. They had a little of that land
yet, and he held that a little was too much—but
compared with what existed a generation ago the
greater part had disappeared. Upon the reclama-
tion of waste land, in effect, he expatiated, imme-
diately afterwards, with considerable gusto. Drain-
age he spoke of as, in a moist climate like this,
a matter of sheer necessity—and he, sugges-
tively enough, remarked that he would un-
commonly like to see, for example, " a return of
the millions of tiles which had been buried in the soil
within a few miles of that town during the last few
years. Any one counting them, and reckoning the
cost, would be apt to say, as a friend of his once said,
that a landed estate was a devouring beast, and yet
he might say there had never been money better
spent." Homely, practically hints of advice like
these are better than all the philosophizing in :the
world in regard to a progressive service like that
of farming—particularly when thrown out in tile
course of a popular speech addressed to an assimbly
chiefly composed of small farmers, as was the one
delivered on Wednesday last down at Ormskirk,
when Lord STANLEY, while he happily broke at length
his own protracted silence, very admirably inaugu-
rated, by an earnest speech upon agriculture, the va-
ried addresses delivered betweea session and session
outside the walls of the Imperial Legislature.

Two Canadian topics, bearing upon ourgeneral rela-
tions with the colonies, appeared in so;mewhat unsatis-
factory juxtaposition in the House of Commons on
Thursday evening. Whilst Mr. S'Z'ANSFELD was,
on the •ne hand, asking the B'itish nation