The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

QUEEN'S COLLEGE.

The following promotions and elections to scho-
larships in this society have been this day declared :
Stone, to be removed to a scholarship of £so
London, ditto - ditto
Musson ditto ditto
Whitley, ditto ditto
Brent, ditto ditto • 40
A Fatuity of £2O to be granted to Stone, and
gratuities to Lees and Johnson of £lO each.
Ball and Marsden elected to scholarships of £l5
each.

SC.REIV STEAMERS, THEIR PRESENT
CONDITION AND PROSPECTS.

The sale of the French screw-steamer, Francois
Arago, by auction last week at Birkenhead, by order
of the High Court of Admiralty, has excited atten-
tion to the low prices ruling for that description of
property, and speculations as to the future of the
fleet of screw steamers at present on sale. Many
have been forced on the market from the bank-
ruptcy of the companies for whom they were
originally constructed.
Since 1852 screw propulsion for sea-going ships
has increased in a much greater ratio than the
legitimate demand.
1. From the exaggerated value attached to the
combination of the screw propeller with sails.
2. From the great stimulus given to it by the
Russian war.

3. From the great facilities of credit given to specu-
lative shipbuilders and owners in this country and
on the continent from 1854 to 1857, the practical
result of long sea voyages has proved auxiliary
screw steamships a costly mistake, and full-powered
ones to expensive to compete with clipper-ships.
The war demands, partially revived by the In-
dian mutinies and the Chinese war, has ceased.
The failure of the Western, Newcastle, and other
Banks has put an end to the credit systemi of the
shipbuilders, and the general result is that screw
steamers are selling at about one-third, or, as in
the case of the Francois Arago, one-fifth their origi-
nal cost, when they can be sold at all, for the diffi-
culty is to get a bidder at any price. In Hamburg
the Petropolis and Teutonia, two magnificent straw
ships, were offered by public sale a few days aso at
£lO per ton, having cost near £4O, and not a single
bid was made for them.
On the 28th a new screw vessel of 2,400 tons,
belonging to- the same owners, or rather to their
creditors, is to be sold by auction in the Clyde.
On the 30th the fleet of steam vessels belong-
ing to the Genoese Company, comprising six
screws, four of them of 1,800 toils, come to the
hammer, to be followed by the Antwerp steamers,
built for the Transatlantic trade, of 2,000 tons each.
In France, the Franco-American Company having
lost their capital of 1,800,000 francs (L 64,000),
their half-dozen vessels, of 1,600 and 1,800 tons,
must be sold to pay off the liabilities of the com-
pany ; and the fleet of the European and American
Company, composed of equally magnificent ships,
must follow, if the position of the concern is to be
judged of by the price of their shares. Here, then,
are twenty to thirty large screw steamers, that
must be cleared before the market can revive.
Where are the buyers to come from, and what are
the circumstances that will rule prices ? First, of
the whole, the great majority are of the highest
class, auxiliary screw ships. Perhaps there arc
not above two or three that could pass the Ad-
, miralty standard of twelve knots at the measured
1 mile.

It appears clear these vessels will be sold at the
price at which they will pay as sailing ships, con-
sequently their value is ruled by the freight mar-
ket, and their power of competing with the im-
proved class of timber ships now at work. With
their engines taken out many of these ships would
answer admirably as carrying vessels ; and we pre-
dict this will be the fate of all auxiliary ships. The
fact must be looked in the face that, in the present
state of steam navigation, no auxiliary steam vessel
can pay on a foreign voyage that does not carry
her coal for the whele distance.
The two or three of the lot that can steam 12
knots must look for customers in the large mail
companies, and take what price they can get for
them. The smaller class of screws on sale, from
400 to 800 tons, will be absorbed by the coasting
and continental trade in time ; but the North of
Europe and other kindred companies have so
swamped the market that a considerable time must
elapse before the brokers' lists are seriously dimi-
nished. Their owners are, however, in. better
pilisgleAlthat the holders of large stipmers ; for one
purchaser for a 2,000 there are 20 for an 800 ton
screw.

Is screw steaming at an end then P Far from it.
The joint-stock companies and banks, who have
been the principal means of creating this surplus
of ill-adapted screws, are for the time done for, but
the legitimate trader will go on gradually and
profitably developing steam navigation, using his
experience, and, what is of equal consequence to
success, his own money, in constructing the best
description of vessel for the particular trade she is
required for, until, in the progress of time, a new
generation of directors and their dupes get up
steam navigation companieB, raise prices 50 per
cent. in all building yard, pay sham dividenois,
build in twelve months what ought to have been
spread over ten years, spoil legitimate trading;
finally, go out in bankruptcy, and glut the.steam-
boat market as it is.

THE CARDEN ABDUCTION CASE.

TheppCwoaoas rl
siidte
positively
le. weree, DUBLIN, MONDAY EVENING.
swore
resumed
enigtsr
that
imaji nteoe
Jones,
part
tsaeh,
res
believeda o stipendiarysfe
morningot hf
e'
dArea.
defendant,
ebe Carden
Kingstowndnn etonttai
magistrate,nvnd
capable of committing any act of violence towards
Miss Arbuthnott. The woman Keating, alias
Douglas, was also examinedir the defendant, and
deposed that she had no auth ity from Mr. Carden
to offer money to any person for any
re-
specting Miss Arbuthnott, except purposeat was
con-
tained in letters found on her person. is
Walsh, Q.C.
MissE l
len
Nl
Arbuthnott was then called and examined by Mr.
She said, " The last witness came to
Car-
den. m
on the first occasion, and had an interview of
*)ut ten minutes, when she stated that she had
been offered a situation as housekeeper to Mr.
r. Gough was present at the time, but not
concealed. Mrs. Keating purported to have come
to know if I recollected a certain promise that I
made to her to place her children at school. I re-
plied that I did not. She said she was trying for
a situation as lady's-maid, and I said I hoped she
would be successful. Mr. Carden's name was cer-
tainly not mentioned at the second interview. I
was alone, and Mrs. Keating said that she had
come to inform me and Mr. and Mrs. Gough also
that she had been offered the situation of house-
keeper to Mr. Carden of Barnane, and she wished
to know whether it would be offensive Co me and
to Mr. and Mrs. Gough if she should accept it ? I
said that I was surprised at her mentioning Mr.
Carden's name to me, but that I had not any wish
to interfere with her arrangements, at the same
time saying that she should never attempt to hold
any communication with me again of any kind, and
I desired her to leave St. Helen's at once, or I should
be under the necessity of desiring the servant to
turn her out. She then went away. and I have
not seen her since. Nothing further occurred after
the mention of Mr. Carden's name. I should think
the interview did not last over five minutes."
After a lengthened discussion the magistrates
decided on holding Mr. Carden to bail in the sum
of £5,000 to keep the peace towards Miss Arbuth-
nott.

ROYAL NAVAL BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.—The
quarterly court of this society was held yesterday at
Willis's-rooms, King-street, St. James's., Tho chair was
Vice-Admiral Sir W. 0. Pell. After the con-
firmationof the minutes the balance-sheet was read and
ocacdouppteiel. by
It showed that, including the previous balance
of £543 17s. ld., the gross receipts amounted to £1,160
7s. ld., of which a balance remained of £6BB 7s. 4d., in
addition to the funded stock of £36,513 18s. 9d. Admiral
W. Richardson proposed a resolution, having for its object
the admission of officers of the RoyafMarines as members
and of themselves and families as participators in its
benefits. The chairman said this could not be adopted
without altering the charter, which mentioned nothing'
about marines, but confined itself to officers of the royal
navy, and consequently the proposed resolution must be
taken only as a notice of motion for the court to be held in
January next.