The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1860.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
CHEAP EXCURSION to BATH and BRISTOL.
On SATURDAY, August 18, an EXCURSION TRAIN
will leave Paddingt•n at 6.40 a.m., for Bath (12$. and Os.),
and Bristol (14s. and 75.), returning on Monday, August 20,
from Bristol at 5.30 p.m. and Bath at 6 p.m.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY._:..
CHEAP EXCURSION to READING, HUNGER-
FORD, OXFORD, &c.
On SUNDAY, August 19, an EXCURSION T RAIN
will leave Paddington at 7.45 a.m. for Reading, Theale,
Aldermaston, Woolhampton, Thateham, Newbury, Kint-
bury, and Hungerford (ss. 6d., 45., and 35.); Pangbourne,
Goring, Wallingford Road, Didcot, Culham, Abingdon, and
Oxford (6s. 6d., Cs., and 45.), returning the same day from
Oxford at 7.15 p.m., and intermediate stations as per hand-
bills.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.-
On SUNDAY, Aug. 26, a CHEAP EXCURSION
TRAIN will-leave Paddington at 7.45 a.m., for.CHIPPEN-
HAIL and BATH (fares 9s. and 55.), and BRISTOL (105. and
6s). Returning the same day at 7 p.m. from Bristol, 7.30
p.m. from Bali, and 8 p.m. from Chippenham.

posed works. The traffic as compared with the
corresponding half of last year showed an increase;
it was-not much, but it was an increase. Owing
to the state of the weather in May and June last
they had had scarcely any pleasure traffic, but he
hoped they would have some increase from that
source in the current half-year. He trusted that
the result of the goods traffic wfiich they
were preparing to accommodate on their line
would not fail to be of great advantage
to them. The gentlemen connected with
the Midland, Great Northern, and London' and
North-Western Railway Companic3 would not
have made such arrangements for goods traffic and
expended their money unless they saw their way
to having a good and remunerative truffle.
Mr. J. WILSON, a director, seconded the motion
for the adoption of the report.
Mr. G. SMITH• thought that the shareholders
should have had some explanation in respeot of the
sums to be guaranteed by the different companies
using their line, so as to induce them to subscribe
to the new capital. _

The CHAIRMAN said it was proposed to issue the
new shares at £6 10s. each, and, when consolidated
into stock, they would rank as £lO shares - the
result would be to give the subscribers something
more than 5 per cent., while at the same time, the
outlay would have the effect of increasing the
traffic generally, and gradually augmenting the
dividend on the existing shares of tho company.
They would be allowed interest at 5 per cent. on
the outlly for the branch to the docks, and 6 per
cent. on the cost of the station and siding accom-
modation, which would be appropriated during
construction to dividend on the new shares; and
when the works contemplated were completed and
£6 10s, paid the new shares would be consolidated
on the terms mentioned, and participate in the
general dividend.
Mr. SMITH estimated that the new shares would
yield, even at the present rate of dividend, a return
of more than 6 per cent. per annum to the sub-
scribers. He looked forward to increased dividends
for some years to come.

A PROPRIETOR thought they ought to be well
satisfied vvith their prospects, and that they had a
fair chance of ultimately obtaining a remunerative
return upon their capital. s • s

Resolutions were passed adopting the report,
declaring a dividend at the rate of 3 per cent. per
annum for the past half-year ; authorising the
directors to raise £300,000, in shares of £6 10s.
each, which were to be consolidated into stock at
£lO per share, and the new shares would be offered
rateably to the proprietors in the propnrtion of one
new share for each £3O stock held by them. The
deposit of £1 10s per share was to be paid in Sep-
tember next.
The CHAIRMAN then announced that there were
two candidates for the office of uditor. It was a
question upon which the directors would not vote ;
Mr. G. Smith and Mr. Radcliff were both qualifiea
to fill the office of auditor.

Mr. TITE, M.P., remarked that if they wanted
two excellent auditors, the gentlemen proposed
were the men to elect, but as Mr. G. Smith had
done good service to the company on various occa-
sions, and was well acquainted with the affairs of
the company, he thought they would do well to
elect him to fill the vacancy.
On a shew of hands 75 appeared in favour of
Mr. Smith, and a much smaller for Mr. Radeliff.
The chairman declared that Mr. Smith was elected
auditor by a large majority.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman and directors.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

HOME CIRCUIT.-GUILDFORD, Aug. 14.

It was understood in the town on Monday even-
ing that the High Sheriff had received the com-
mands of the judges to be in attendance yesterday
morning in the court in which Mr. justice Black-
burn presided. Accordingly the High Sheriff, in
court dress, came into court, and was quickly fol-
lowed by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and Justice
Blackburn in their robes, escorted by their mar-
shals and officers.

The Lord Chief Justice then called upon the
High Sheriff to state whether the placard that had
been posted outside the walls of the court had been
placed there by his authority ?
The High Sheriff replied that it was.,
The Lord Chief Justice then inquirecl what ex-
planation he had to give for'such a proceeding?
The High Sheriff then rose, and bowing to their
lordships and tl,e bar, of whom there was a full
attendance, he said he was glad to have that•op-
portunity f offering an explanation of the course
he had pursued in publishing the placard which
was now the subject of remark. That course he had
not taken without deliberation, and he was bound,
with the greatest respect and deference to .their
lordships, to affirm that he believed that he had dis-
charged his duty to the county of Surrey as the
high sheriff appointed by her Majesty. He pro-
ceeded to say that Mr. Justice Blackburn had
ordered the court to be cleared of several of
the audience, and that the officers effectually
executed the command. This he respectfully
contended was an illegal act, and had the
effect of invalidating the verdicts which had
been afterwards returned, and this being so,
be considered it obligatory on him to do what he
believed the duties of his office required at his hands,
viz., to assert the illegality of the course pursued
by the learned judge, and to command his officers
not again to obey such orders from the court. The
High Sheriff then stated that he had left the town
on Thursday with their lordships' sanction, that he
had departed in terms of amity and good feeling
with their lordships, and he now distinctly (Hs.;
avo wed ou his honour as an English gentleman the
least intention to offer any personal insult to Mr.
Justice Blackburn. (Mr. Justice Blackburn bowed
his assent to this remark.) He would say, in con-
clusion, that he desired to treat the court with all
respect and submission, and that the step he had
taken was taken upon a sound conviction that in
ordering an English court of justice to be cleared of
the auditory, the learned judge had assumed an
illegal authority, and one which he (the High
Sheriff) felt bound to disobey as the chief officer of
the county. (Some slight applause occasionally
greeted the High Sheriff's observations.)
Their lordships having briefly consulted,
The Lord Chief Justice, amidst breathless silence,
said that the court had heard with anxiety and
sorrow the statement which the High Sheriff had
addressed to them, amounting as it did to
.an

entire justification of what their lordships, as her
Majesty's judges of assize, sitting as the represen-
tatives of the sovereign, felt to be a most improper,
unlawful, and unseemly contempt of their office,
and of the administration of justice. The High
Sheriff had most unquestionably mistaken his
law to the dtmost, and he (the Lord Chief Justice)
now declared that the power and authority of her
Majesty's judges, acting in pursuance of her Ma-
jesty's commission, were perfectly well defined
and establishe3, and that the course taken by his
learned brother was one which he had the most
undoubted right to adopt. His lordship said that
he at once conceded that English courts of justice
were open to the public in the fullest sense, and he
trusted they ever would remain so ; but it was
going far beyond either law or necessity to avow,
as the high sheriff had done, that there was no
power reposed in the presiding judge to order such
modifications of the arrangements of the court as
were indispensable to that which it was"the office
of a judge to carry out, N;Z., the efficient adminis- ,
tration of justice. His lordship then adverted to
the great structural inconvenience of the courts in
which the judges had presided, and to the fact that
his learned brother had ordered the lower part of
the court open to the street, and-not the other parts
of the court, to be cleared, because the examination
of witnesses in criminal cases, when prisoners were
standing on their trial, were inaudible to the court
and jury, and this was surely a transparent neces-
sity for the order which his learned brother had
conveyed to the officers of the high sheriff. His
lordship then observed that the high sheriff had
not made the least complaint or remonstrance be-
fore he left the assize town, and stated that the
court were nevertheless perfectly assured that the
high sheriff, who was an honourable English gen-
tleman, neither had intended, nor was he capable
of offering any personal indignity to her Majesty's
judges ; but the course the high sheriff had pursued
was clearly a painfully contumacious contempt of
the court as such, and a most serious reflection upon
the authority of the judges' commission, which
emanated from the throne, and demanded, espe-
cially from the high sheriff, as one of her Majesty's
important officers of justice, obedient and respectful
observance.

' The Lord Chief Justice then fined the high sheriff
£5OO, and the fine was immediately recorded.
The business of the assizes was brought to a con-
clusion late last night.