The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-27 00:00:00

LEEDS, BRADFORD, AND HALIFAX
JUNCTION.

The half-yearly meeting was held on Friday at
Bradford, Mr. E. Akroyd in the chair.
The report stated that £14,814 was the amount
to the credit of revenue, which enabled the direc-
tore to declare a dividend of 21 per cent. for
the last six months, leaving £527. The divi-
dend was a quarter per cent, less, and tho amount
of capital £45,Q00 more than at the correspond-
ing half of 1838. The total expenditure on capital
account amounted to £589,916.
The report was adopted, a dividend at the rate of
41 per cent, per annum was declared for the past
half-year, payable on the 6th of March, and the
retiring directors and.auditors were re-clected.

ST. HELENS, FEB. 25.
The strike of the colliers emplcyed at the mints
in this district is assuming a very formidable cha-
racter, and, from what has transpired within the
last day or two, there is. too much reason to
fear that it is extending. Up to yesterday the
number oat on strike wag estimated at about
3,000; and last night we learn that this number
was increased by between 250 and 300 nun more,
who, in a body, left the Cropper's Hill Colliery, in
which they had been working. We understand
that the proprietors of the mine refused to give
them the advance they demanded, and hence the
strike. The expressed determination of the turn-
outs continues to be that they will not yield until
they obtain an advance of 10 per cent. on their
present wages, arguing that, inasmuch as the
masters have raised the price of coal, they are en-
titled to a proportionate advance. During the last
few days the turn-cuts in large tun.bers have
paraded the town of St. Helens and the surrounding
districts, and held open-air meetings. We learn that
at one of these meetings held at Haydock, near
St. Helens, yesterday, the men were addressed by
several delegates, who harangued them strongly in
favour of " sticking out," and communicated the
significant intelligence that they had every reason
to believe that th great bulk of the colliers in the
Wigan district were also about to strike.
Some hundreds of the county constabulary,
drafted from the Liverpool, Manchester, and other
districts, have been stationed in the neighbourhood
of the mines during the past week, to be ready to
act in case of an outbreak, which was expected, the
turn-outs having threatened intimidation to the few
hands remaining at work. So far there has been
no breach of the peace, but it his been found neces-
sary to escort the " knobsticks" to and from the
mines, in order to prevent their being interfered
With by the turn-outs.
The greatest possible excitement prevails amongst
the manufacturers and inhabitants of St. Helens
and the neighbourhood, for it is now feared that
the supply of coal for manufacturing purposes is
almost exhausted. The St. Helens Railway Com-
pany have offered to run a special train to the
Springs' Branch Colliery, near Wigan, in order to
convey coals to St. Helens, to meet the deficiency
there ; but it is said that the Wigan colliers will
strike next week, and, if so, the effect upon trade
in the neighbourhood of St. Helens will be most
disastrous, as several works are nlw unable to go
on for want of coal; and it is confidently believed
that, should the strike continue even only fur
another week, it will be necessary to import coals
into St. Helens for home consumption, as the stocks
at the various mines have been reduced very low
indeed.