The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-14 00:00:00

I'HE SPEKE CASE REPEATED.

Mr. IV. Strange, of the London Commission Exchange,
Parringdon-road, gives the following details of the myste.
rious disappearance of a gentleman :—" My secretary, Mr.
Roche, left London on Tuesday for the purpose of transact-
ing some business at Bath, and, if necessary, after-
wards at Bristol, and ought to have been back at the
latest on Wednesday evening, his presence in London on
Thursday morning being absolutely necessary. But up to
this moment I have not heard a syllable of him, though
he was to have written to me on Wednesday, and this I
must say of him, that he has never hitherto disappointed
me either in writing a letter or keeping an appointment,
Alarmed at his prolonged absence, and knowing that he
was to have called on the manager of the Bath Theatre in
the forenoon of Tuesday, I wrote yesterday to that gen-
tleman, and this morning received a letter from him
stating that he had not seen Mr. Roche. If any
ordinary accident had happened to him, and he
had fallen into the hands of respectable people, either
his wife or I must have had an account of him, as he had
about his person a number of papers pointing out both his
private residence and his place of business."
Mr. Strange hopes that this public statement will lead
to the discovery of what he now considers an unfortunate
missing gentleman.

THE CHANCERY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST

MR. HARVEY LEWIS, M.P

The proceedings instituted by bill, by Air. Gray and
other shareholders in a joint-stock company, called Charles
Lafitte and Co. (Limited), against Mr. Harvey Lewis,
M.P. for Marylebone, and other defendants is still under
consideration in the court of Vice - Chancellor Malins.
The suit in commercial circles is regarded as of the first
importance. The plaintiff sues on behalf of share-
holders in Charles Lafitte and Co. (Limited), and seeks to
set aside certain agreements entered into by the defendants
as directors of that company, consisting of an arrangement
with the Ottoman Financial Association and the Interna-
tional Contract Company, as to taking shares in Charles •
Lafitte and Company (Limited), and a sub-arrangement
with the National. Bank. The plaintiff was the holder
of 200 shares of .C2O each, on which £5 had been paid, and
he had been put upon the list in the winding-up of
Charles Lafitte and Company (Limited) ; the Ottoman As-
sociation and the International Contract Company also
having been ordered to be witnd up. The grounds of the
plaintiff's bill were that what was done was ultra vires, and
that, in fact, the directors were purchasing their own
shares and committing a neglect of their duty. To this
ft was answered by the National Bank that the plaintiff
was a mere nominee, that the transaction did not
constitute a purchase of their own shares, and that the
remedy, if any, was by action. The company now in
question was proved to purchase the Paris business of
Charles Lafitte for £150,000-250,000 in cash and £lOO,OOO
in paid-up shares.
In the course of the proceedings on Wednesday the Vice-
Chancellor remarked that, as far as he had heard the case,
the plaintiff and the defendants were, in his opinion,
equally wrong. They had been participators in a fiction
and a fraud, and ought to be turned out of court together.
His Honour compared the certificate given to the Stock
Exchange by the sub-manager of the National Bank—to
the effect that the balance standing to the credit of
Charles Lafitte and Co. (Limited) in their hands
amounted to £337,550 —to the statement which
might be made by a candidate for legislative
honours. The law required that a member of Parliament
should be possessed of £3OO per annum, and a gentleman
might state that he bad £lO,OOO Consols, when the truth
was that the money was simply lent him, and had to be
returned the next day. Some persons called this honest.
but he (the Vice-Chancellor) could never see it in that
light.

Mr. Karslake, Q.C., in addressing the court for some of '
the Paris gentlemen whose names were published as
directors of the proposed new company, having
remarked that it was clear the plaintiff was only put
forward by some one else,
The Vice-Chancellor remarked that he shouta
very much like to know who that some one was,
but he supposed he should never ascertain. The
present was one of those eases in which it was felt that
the sooner the plaintiff was shewn out of court the better;
not, however, that the defendants were one whit better.
The whole case was one of the most lamentable that he
ever heard.

The plaintiff's counsel has yet to be heard in reply; after
which the Vice-Chancellor will, in all probability, reserve
tdgment.

LAW AND POLICE.

A CHRISTMAS PARTY.—At the Central Criminal uourt,
on Wednesday, George Campbell was indicted for the
wilful murder of John Moir, at a Christmas party in
Barnsbury. A verdict, of manslaughter was returned, and
the sentence was deferre.l.
ROBBING THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL.—At the Central
Criminal Court, on Wednesday, the two men, Ball and
Rutter, who were convicted of defrauding the Paymaster-
General of more than £BOO, were sentenced to ten and
seven years' penal servitude respectively.
A CURIOUS OFFENCE.—The Board of Works on Wed-
nesday summoned a scavenger for sweeping mud down the
-rating of a street into a sewer. The offence is more
serious than it seems ; the board has to pay thousands a
year for clearing the sewers of the mud thus accumulated.
the charge could not, however, be substantiated, and the
'immons was dismissed.

POLICE INEFFICIENCY.—On Wednesday a case was
neard at Clerkenwell police court, which shewed the want
of more surveillance on the part of the police. An elderly
gentleman was robbed of his watch and chain at ten in the
forenoon in a public thoroughfare, and no policeman being
near the thief escaped, although he was afterwards dis-
covered through the intervention of a pawnbroker.
CONVICTION OF A LADY.—On Tuesday an aged lady
was indicted at the Brighton Quarter Sessions for stealing
property from a draper in the Western-road, Brighton. The
jury returned a verdict of guilty, but recommended her to
mercy. The Recorder (Mr. Locke) sentenced her to one
month's imprisonment, without hard labour.
PART OF AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE.—A curious narra-
hire has been heard at Guildhall. A lithographic
printer, named Payne, saw a suspicious looking fellow -in
the Strand with a lady's reticule and silk umbrella, and
believing them to be stolen resolved to follow their
possessor. After a time the man, whose name turned
out to be Whitley, arrived at a thieves' kitchen, into
which Payne courageously peeped, and saw him in con-
versation with three others. The four then came out and
were dogged through a variety of low lanes and turnings to
a coffee-shop in Long-lane, and having thus run the game
to earth he called the police to dig them out. They
were taken into custody, and the reticule, ecc., were
found to have been stolen from the carriage of Lady
Dacre, the end of Queen-street. The prisoners were
temanded.

A sewing machine driven by electricity may now
be seen in actual use in Paris.
The death is announced of Mr. Charles Caleb
Atkinson, who was for a long series of years secretary of
University College, London. He had been called to the
bar, but did not practise.
A woman has been sentenced to five days' impri-
sonment, in London, for carrying to her husband, who is
in the Clerkenwell House of Detention, a loaf, in the
middle of which was a cake of tobacco.
A meeting of the central committee in connnection

with the short time movement was held on Tuesday in Man-
chester. It was resolved that, although the Manchester re-
solution for three days work in the week Lad not been car-
ried out in its integrity, still the movement would be gene-
rally adopted, as they left the further extension with con-
fidence in the hands of the local committees.
The Rector of Morpeth—a brother of Lord Grey—
was, the Manchester Guardian reports, somewhat roughly
interrupted on Sunday, while acting up to the spirit of one
of the resolutions of the London meeting. The hon. and
rev. gentleman spoke of the judgment of the Privy Council
as an " unrighteous judgment," and avowed his intention of
preaching the doctrine of the Real Presence "more strongly
than ever." Upon this there was a cry of " Treason, trea-
son," and several persons left the church.
A Liverpool commission agent, named Harrison,
was on Tuesday committed to the assizes for trial on a
charge of libel. The prosecutor, Mr. Tipper, of Birming-
ham, a manufactmer of patent medicines for horses, had in-
dicted Harrison at the sessions Cu a charge of drawing
money for coma: fission on the false pretence that he had
obtained cer!hin a viers. ITarrison was convicted; and sub-
scquently he publAied a handbill alleging that the prose-
cutor had cernmit:,4l perjury. This was the libel for which
Harrison has been sent fof trial. He was admitted to bail.

ENTHRONE3IENT OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTER-
DUEL This interesting ceremony will take Place on

Thursday, February 4. Admission for all persons, clergy
as well as laity, will be by tickets only. Application for
tickets must be made by letter to the Dean, on or before
Wednesday next, January 20. No tickets will be issued
before that date, and no application whatever can be
received after that date. Full instructions as to time,
manner of entering the cathedral, &c., will accompany the
tickets. The ordinary tickets held in permanence by the
clergy for admission to consecrations, &c. ,in the cathedral,
will not be available on this occasion. The public are
warned that Canterbury Cathedral is not warmed, and
that the po seat temperature is 43 degrees.