The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-29 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE ROYAL BANK OF the Court of Chancery
the case of the Royal Bank of India has been heard before
the Lords Justices. The Royal Bank appealed against a
decision of Vice-Chancellor Stuart, which fixed the bank
upon the list of contributories of the Asiatic Banking
Corporation. At the date of the order for winding-up that
corporation 605 shares were registered in the name of the
Royal Bank. It seems that these shares were taken
among others as security by the Royal Bank for advances
which they had made to certain customers. After they
had done this, one of the Indian courts decided in a
case tried before it that when shares deposited as
security remained iu the name of a depositor, they must in
the event of his bankruptcy be taken to be still in his
order and disposition. This decision alarmed the direc-
tors of the Royal Bank, and it was resolved that shares
taken as security should be transferred to the name of
the bank or its manager. The mode of the transfer was
somewhat informal, but the bank received dividends on
the shares, sold some of them, and received the purchase
money. The rest were left standing in the name of the
bank when the winding-up order was made. Lord Justice
Selwyn decided that the whole transaction was within the
scope of ordinary banking business, and that the directors
had only acted with common prudence in making the
transfer. The informalities in the transfers were imma-
terial, as they had been accepted and acted upon. The
Royal Bank was therefore rightly placed on the list of
contributories, and the appeal must be dismissed with
costs.

THE " SPORTING LIFE."—In the Vice Chancellor's
court, another suit arising out of dealings with the news-
paper the Sporting Life has been heard. In the suit of
Kelly v. Hutton, the plaintiff succeeded in establishing
that, subject to a mortgage for £2,000 to the defendant,
M`Murray, on the whole newspaper, and a lien of £512
to the defendant John Hutton, he was entitled to the
nvnership of the moiety of the newspaper. While the
proceedings in chambers for ascertaining the balances
were still pending, the defendant William WAlurray
served a notice on the plaintiff that he had sold the news-
paper, and the plaintiff's solicitors discovered that
a declaration had been filed that James Hitchins
was the sole proprietor. The plaintiff prayed
to have the sale set aside, and to have the
property sold under the direction of the court. After
some arguments on both sides, Vice-Chancellor Stuart
said that until the accounts were taken it was impossible to
ascertain what was due between the parties. He there-
fore directed the appointment of a receiver and manager
until the further order of the court, commenting severely
on the course taken by the defendants, who, he said, had
done their best to baffle the course of justice.
MR. ELLISON'S CASE.-At the last Old Bailey sessions
Mr. Ellison, a City merchant, was tried for having pub-
lished a libel on the directory of the Ottoman Railway
Company, but as the jury were unable to agree, he was
discharged. On Thursday preliminary proceedings were
taken in the Court of Queen's Bench to obtain a writ of
certiorari for the removal of the trial into that court. The
application for a rule was based upon two grounds—that
the case was essentially one to be tried by a special jury ;
and that an important question of privilege had been
raised in the defendant's plea of justification. The court
granted a rule calling upon the defendant to show cause
why the writ should not be issued.

They say that Mr. Burlinghame's attach6s—
mandarins with long tails—are greatly astonished when
they go to a theatre to hear the coughing and sneezing
which the tardy and almost unexpected advent of cold
weather has made common. They think it a breach of
good manners for anyone with a cold to appear in public,
because nothing would be easier than to cure himself at
once by taking a drug which they call to quian wkian, and
assert to be a certain specific for a cold.—Daily News.

THE DISTRESS AT POPLAR.—The prevailing dis-
tress at Poplar will be partially relieved, some of the
large shipbuilders having received orders for the con-
struction of vessels for the Turkish and other Govern-
ments. Messrs. Wigram are about to lay down two
passenger steam-vessels for the Portsmouth and Ryde
Steam Packet Company, to be ready for traffic during
next summer. They are to be named respectively the
Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Alice.

RABBITS. -On and after Tuesday next the
tenants on the estate of Mr. Price, a largo landowner in
Merionethshire, will be pf rmitted to destroy rabbits on
their own farms. The permission is extended 'beyond the
tenant himself, and includes one of his yearly servants.
The rabbits destroyed are to be the property of the
tenant, and the privilege is clogged with no other con-
dition than that " traps, ferrets, and purse nets shall be
the only means of destruction engaged, the traps to be
placed in burrows twelve inches from the surface, and not
elsewhere."

A HINT TO INCOME TAX ASSESSORS.—A corre-
spondent writes :—"At a time when London did not con-
tain much more than half of its present population, the
late well-known Mr. Alderman Waithm an kept a very large
drapery establishment at the south-cast end of Fleet-street,
fronting also to New Bridge-street. I was personally
acquainted with the alderman, and frequently saw him in
the shop. There was a man, apparently in a state of absolute
destitution, who swept and had for many years swept the
crossing to Ludgate-hill. Miss Waithman, out of pure
compassion to this man, was in the frequent, if not daily
habit of supplying him with soup and other means of
L7sup-
port. At length the poor mu died, leaving her
,000.
These facts were well known at the tittle, and, I hare no
doubt, are NMI within the reeelleeti n t
-•• • • • ° INA Ism
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