The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-01 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

-9--

THE LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER RAILWALY COM-
PANY.—In the Court of Chancery, on Monday, the Lords
Justices resumed the hearing of two appeals from orders
made by Vice-Chancellor Stuart respecting the affairs of
the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Compar y. The
first order was to restrain the directors from furitier pro-
secuting in the name of the company the bill for referring
the affairs of the company to the arbitration of
Lord Cairns and Lord Salisbury. This- bill passed
through the House of Commons, and has been
read for the first time in the Horrse of Lords.
The first order was made by the representatives
of the stock and share holders. The sentend order was
made upon the application of the represer mtives of the
debenture-holders, and directed the pay ment by the direc-
tors into court of the sum of £150,000, win el bad arisen from
the tolls received by the company. The Lords Justices,
after hearing arguments on both sides, reversed both the
decisions of Vice-Chancellor Stuart, and ordered the
costs of the directors to come out of the r.tompany's assets.
THE CASE OF OvEHEND AM) GUBN'FY.— In the Equity
Court, on Monday, Vice-Chancellor d alins gave-his deci-
tion with respect to a claim of SlO9. JOO made by the re-
presentatives of 0 we:end, Gurney, and Co. in respect of a
loan advanced to the Cork and Youghal Rail-
way Company. The Vice-Chancellor decided in
favour of the claim, observing that the Irish com-
pany had had the benefit of the advance, saying
nothing of its impropriety for two years, but they now
resisted the claim for payment on the winding up of the
company, on the ground that the directors bad exhausted
their borrowing powers. Such a plea of illegality was
contrary to all morality, and the loan must be repaid out
of the assets of the company before anything was paid to
the shareholders.
CHM:GE OF LIBEL.—In the Court of Queen's_l3ench,
on Monday, the court refused a second application for a
rule calling upon the publisher of the Sheffield Independent
to shew -cause why a criminal information should not
issue against him for libel upon Mr. Munster, a defeated
candidate for Cashel at the last election. Leave to renew
the application had not been solicited when the rule was
refused last term, and under those circumstances it could
not be entertained.
CAB-STANDS AT RAILWAY-STATIONS.—On Monday the
Court of Exchequer decided an important question con
cerning the status of cab-stands at railway-stations. A
cab proprietor, who is a member of the strike committee,
summoned a cabman for refusing to drive him from King's-
cross to Camden-town. The defence was that the com-
plainant had not arrived by a train. The magistrate
dismissed the summons on the ground that a railway
station was private property, and did not come within the
meaning of the Act. On appeal his ruling has been
lonfirmed.
ATTEMPTED MURDER IN Sus EX.— On Monday morn.

ing, a young man, named Cooper, aged 20, was brought
before the Sussex county magistrates charged with at-
tempting to murder his father, at Enfield, by discharging

a loaded rifle at him. The crime was com-
mitted on the 24th of February, but the wounds
were so severe that it was not until Monday
that he was able to give evidence. Mr. Cooper,
sen., is an agricultural implement manufacturer, and is
greatly respected. The court was crowded. At the con-
clusion of his evidence the prosecutor shook hands with
his son, and both were deeply affected. The prisoner had
nothing to say to the charge, and was committed for trial
at the next Lewes Assizes.

THE CEMETERY COMPANY FRAUDS.

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At the annual meeting of the Abney Park Cemetery
Company, the frauds upon the company by a clerk were
discussed at length. The directors offered a dividend of
10 per cent; and after congratulating the shareholders on
this, the chairman went on to explain the defalcations in
the accounts. He did not think that was the occasion
when they should discuss the question as to whether the
clerk who had robbed the company so heavily had been
their servant, or simply the servant of the secretary.
That point would, no doubt, arise hereafter; but he had
no hesitation in saying that the board had always reposed
the fullest confidence in Mr. Heath, who had discharged the
duties of secretary in an efficient and satisfactory manner.
The discovery of the frauds was a little remarkable. Mr.
Bontems, one of the directors, naturally surprised at the
disclosures that were being made in the commercial
world, suggested the propriety of investigating their own ,
accounts, with the view of seeing whether they were being
kept in a manner that secured the interests of the share-
holders. That suggestion led the secretary to see Mr.
Brown, the superintendent at the cemetery, and, in the
course of the conversation, Mr. Brown said, "I think you
had better look more at home, at the office in the City I
mean..., than come here." Mr. Heath was at once put upon
his metal, and asked what such observations pointed to.
Mr. Brown then referred to the style in which Carter,
the clerk, was living, as being out of all character with
the receipt of only £lOO a year, and added that it had
frequently struck Lim that, considering the amount of
business which was done at the cemetery, much of the
money received did not appear in the published accounts,
which he had perused. Mr. Heath communicated with
the directors, and a scrutiny of the books took place.
Carter was questioned ; his replies were not considered
satisfactory ; but on the pretext of procuring some
luncheon he left the office, and had not since been heard
of. The other person connected with the frauds was a
clerk named Kitchen. He worked under Carter, and after
that individual had absconded Kitchen was closely interro-
gated, and after some show of virtuous indignation he
said if anything was wrong he was not to blame, as he
had on'y acted under the instructions of his superior.
While the investigation was proceeding the secretary
found some rolls of papers in a secret drawer, and those
documents disclosed many frauds, and the precise manner
in which they had been committed. He did not believe
the auditors could have discovered the frauds. By some
means Carter had obtained possession of an extra order
receipt book, and when people paid money they received
receipts from that book, when the fly leaves were torn out,
and it was a toll of these that was accidentally discovered.
Unfortunately the receipt books in use had not been con-
secutively numbered by the printers, or the frauds would
have been more difficult to perpetrate, and they could not
have been committed at all if Carter and Kitchen had
not been in collusion. How could blame attach
to the directors in the matter? It was very easy to say,
" You (right to have done this, or you ought to have done
that ;" but all boards and all other persons who transacted
an extensive business must of necessity place a large
amount of confidence in their servants, or they would
have to limit their transactions to what they could indi-
vidually superintenl. The hoard placed a large amount
of confidence in the secretary, who deserved such con-
fidence, and the secretary, no doubt, had full reliance on
those who served him. 'The directors had taken every
precaution to prevent frauds in future.
A SHAREHOLDER : You have not told us the amount of
Carter's frauds.

The CHAIRMAN : I regret I cannot give a definite answer
to that question. Carter bad been in the offices of the com-
pany for twenty years, end at present we have only been
able to carry the investigation over one year, IS6S, and
we find that his defalcations in those twelve months
amounted to a little over £6OO. I trust the frauds in

former years were not so large as in the last few, because
people who commit wrong without detection often became
more bold as their offtnce increased.

An-amendment was moved to the motion for the adop-
tion of the report. It was pointed out that the balance-
sheet did not contain any allusion to the frauds; that
in fact they were not fully discovered 'as yet ;
and therefore the accounts were not truAworthy enough
to declare a dividend. The directors, however, contended
that of necessity this could not be otherwise; the books, as
far as they went, were quite correct, and the money was
embezzled by keeping items out of the books. Mr. Reed,
M.P., one of the directors, stated his opinion that Carter
was the secretary's servant, and not Vie company's. The
secretary was doubtless responsible for what Carter had
done, and the company ought not to be the sufferers. Ire
defended the directors from any charge of neglect, ;:nd
said. no board could withstand a conspiracy that hail been
carried on by collusion, as the one under discus; ion. At
the close of the discussion the amendment was rejected,
and the original motion was agreed to.

The reply frem the Queen to the Ceuntets el Der-
v-"r twater's,petitiou is that " lier Maje.s.ty has received it:,
The ceuuters remaics .at Corl ri-iEe, and Eenus determined
to Troc,ced further with her claims.
LIFE IN STONES AND 1107,:s.—Dr. Jonzsch, of
Gotha, as for some years past devoted himself to NI bat. be
calls microscopic-litbologiral researches, and now au-
nounces that in various kinds of crystalline and 'volcanic
rocks he Las discovered minute animal and vegetable
forms in prodigious numbers and fossil con.
Some of these' minute creatures be describes as having
Leen petrified in the midst of their "life functions."
:ii-tifois them he finds infusori9 and rotif,_rx, ihteimitvjed
with alg•:7, and he infers the:t formation is a large expanse
of Fironalt water.
The -I,* ew Fork

SUMNER -IN A RAGE,
jA7(;)•(//2 of the Nth May contain:l the following Para
gr.lph :-" Senator Sumner called at the White I lut;s:. to
see the President last week, but Mr. Dent, the chii.f
usher, . having carried up his card, returned with the
remark that he would have to wait fifteen minutes. Mr.
Sumner • said he would not wait fifteen minutes for
Napoleon, Victoria, or anyone else, and that when Mr.
Grant wanted to cee him he could.senct for him., With
that lie withdrew in a rage, and told a. friend that .the
White Halm_ wasnothin but a railitaryeat