The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-15 00:00:00

THE SUGAR DUTIES.

The resolutions proposed by the Government for the
roductimi of the sugar duties, in conformity with the con-
vention with France and other countries, were agreed to.
Mr. WALPOLE, in asking leave to introduce two bills
relating to capital punishment, explained that the object
of the first was to confine the punishment of death, —to
murder with deliberate intention to kill, fur the purpose of
committing or aiding in the commission of rape, arson, or
other felony, in aiding in the escape of other persons con-
victed of murder, or on public officers in the discharge of
their duties. All other murders would be punishable by
penal servitude for a period ranging from life to seven
years, and the bill would also reduce the punishment for
infanticide in certain cases. The second bill provided for
the infliction of capital punishment within the walls of
gaols, under certain securities.

In the short discussion which followed Mr. Bright
doubted whether the bill, as explained, would vest in
juries the power of saying in which class a murder fell ;
Sir G. Grey expressed a preference for the classification
adopted by the Commissioners into murder of the first and
second degree ; and Mr. Henley, while taking the same
view, was of opinion that we were fast tending to the
abolition of capital punishment. Mr. Walpole, in reply,
explained that the jury in all cases would have to find the
deliberate intent. After some remarks from Mr. Ewart,
Mr. Gilpin, and Mr. Hibbert, the bills wore brought in and
read a first time.

Mr. Sergeant BARRY introduced a bill to extend to
Ireland tho provisions of the English law relating to tho
presence of military at elections.
Tha house adjourned at a quarter past stven o'clock.

COURSE OF EXPHANUE.-- This Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 .16 11 17
Ditto 3 Months. 11 181 11 19;
Rotterdam
Antwerp — 25 35 2.i 40
Brussels
Hamburg — 13 8f 13 9}
Paris Short 25 10 25 20
Ditto 3 Mouths.2s 30 25 371
itarsoilles
Frankfort on the Maine 120 1201
Vienna — 12 95 13 a
Trieste — 12 95 IS 5
Petersburgn - 80} 301
Berlin
Madrid — 47' 48

Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan
Genoa
Naples
Palermo
Messina
Lisbon
• •
Oporto

I
48f
26 90 27
26 90 27 -
26 90 27 --
26 90 27 --
26 90 27
26 90 27
51f b 2
51 521

THE BADGER HUNT.

(From the Veterinary Gazette.)
I have had a groat many dogs in my time, dogs of every
breed and description—greyhounds and bulldogs, pointers,
pugs, terriers and Newfoundlanders—but I have never had
so clever, so sensible, so really good an animal as a cur I
called " Old Jack." His breed it would be rather difficult
for me to describe; his head showed a deal of the bull-
dog, and in his other points and appearance he showed
something of the wiry-haired Scotch terrier qualification.
He was the best-tempered old fellow in the world, but his
looks were of the most blackguardly ; his jaw was under-
hung, and his white teeth put one in mind of an animated
rat-trap on a large scale. I will tell you how I became his
master.

There were some steeplechases in our neighbourhood ;
after the dun celebration of which " Old Jack" was seen
hanging about the streets of a not far distant town, exer-
cising his canine intelligence in cadging about for some-
thing to eat. At this point in Old Jack's life there can be
no doubt that his motto was "grub." In the course of his
peregrinations, and in the exorcise of his instinct, Old Jack
attached himself to a coalhoaver's boy, and as this boy
spent the greater part of his life in a coal waggon trading
to the neighbouring villages, Old Jack, the coal waggon,
and the smutty-faced boy became identified with each
other.
The master of the coal waggon, however, took a dislike
to Old Jack, and left him behind one day in a public-house
stable, with instructions to the ostler to kill him. I then,
fortunately for the poor dog, saved his life by offering to
become his owner, in settlement of which transaction I
gave the ostler a shilling. .
I soon found I had a valuable bargain—oranges at the
bottom of a bucket of water, rats in a barn, rabbits or
badgers, Old Jack would grab at ; and, talking of badgers,
I'll give you an account of a badger hunt. This interest-
ing sport is always pursued in the night, as Mr. Badger
does not venture out during the day ; he is a kind of quad-
rupedal owl, and leaves his hole about ten o'elock in the
evening, returning again ere the rising of the sun. Mid-
night, then, is the time to begin operations ; and while the
badger is roaming about in search of wherewithal to satisfy
his hunger, the bold hunter takes a sack, round the mouth
of which he has placed a hoop, to keep it open, and inserts
it into the badger's hole. Dirt is then to be thrown around
the entrance to the hole, and on the bottom of the sack, for
the purpose, if possible, of making the badger believe, when
he oomes up, that he is proceeding in the way he should
go ; then there is a cord tied in a slip• knot, put round the
sack posteriorly to the hoop, and the bold hunter aforesaid
takes the other end of the said cord, and ensconces him-
self behind a tree, some short distance off, or in any
other position favourable to secrecy—I ought to have
men-
tioneday that, as a preliminary step to this, all the other
holes should have been well stopped a night-or two before
so that there is only one, or at least two holes, with the
bags and the bold hunters, left for the badgers to enter—
all these arrangements being completed, the beaters and
the
tdhoog roundsnNeviagnhdheororhoo d theto cod
rive
ppicethaon dhaadbogourst
baothek.hedge
in olds
Jack was the boy for them ; if there was a badger within
half a mile, that blackguardly-looking cur would scant him
out, and make him go home a great deal quicker than he
intended to. It is not a very pleasant thing in the mean-
time for the sneaking Nimrod ; it is absolutely necessary
that this enthusiastic sportsman should remain as quiet as
a mouse when the cat is near—a pipe is a thing not to bo
thought of, even a pinch of snuff would impregnate the
air with its perfume, and bo fatal to the capture of the
keen-nosed badger. There he must wait "lying to hole,"
shivering, listening, and waiting patiently for his
In the midst of a large dark coppice, with the wind sighing
and moaning, and the trees creaking, a man of ne.!.vo,us
.
temperament is apt to imagine all sorts of dreadful things ,
game.
sometimes he sees a ghost; anon, ho hears unearthly sounds,.
his senses become acutely perceptible to every. little
as the
and he welcomes the badger, not as thseavifcriteman,,
friend, to relieve
object for which ho has come, but
his solitude,
is another living, warm-blooded anima in the world and to make him reallyai certain that there
be-
sides himself. Hark! here's one cowling; I can hear his
short, gruff grunt. Old Jack
i is after himl
can hear a; the badger tries
a hole, I suppose, and finds t stopped—then
regular serim meg o—that's Old Jack and the badger having
a shake up—now he's coming to the trap, as fast as he can
shuffle along—he's close now ! Old Jack gives him no
time to think, or to see the change in the entrance to his
abode —a grunt—a rush—in Le has popped. I pull tightly
on the cord, which has the effect of closing the mouth of
the sack, and the badger is the prize of the mighty hunter.

Railway and other Companies.

SOUTH DEVON.

The directors of this company have recommended
the payment of a dividend for the half-year ending
the 31st of December last, at the rate of £3 103. per
cent. per annum on the ordinary stock of the com-
pany, carrying forward a balance of £837.

last session, the circumstances had been altered, and
therefore he thought they should ask for power to
revert again to the former fares.

Mr. BURTON called attention to the large increase
of capital expenditure in the past six years, and the
comparatively small increase in the receipts. The
capital had been increased from £9,500,000, 223
miles open, to £16,500,000 in 1866, 315 miles open,
while the gross traffic receipts were increased from
£903,000 to only £1,190,000, showing an increase
of £7,000,000 in the capital and of £287,000 iu the
gross rcceiprs. Deducting 50 per cent. for working
expenses left only £143,000 available for dividend
on the £7,000,000, or about 2 per cent. Redid not
think that an encouraging result.

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH-COAST.
The half-yearly general meeting of this com-
pany was held yesterday at the International Hotel,
London- bridge. Mr. P. Northall Laurie, the chair-
man, presided.
The report (an abstract of which has appeared in
the Sun) was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said it conveyed the intentions and opinions
of the directors with respect to the increase of
capital on account of the additional works. The
revenue account showed a great increase in the
receipts,which must be considered satisfactory. The
increase of traffic in the past year was £13,000 iu
excess of the previous year; which itself was
£67,269 in excess of the traffic in 1864. There was
a larger increase in the two past years than in any
previous year. Last year was one of unexampled
gloom and depression, and, as their line was a
pleasure line, it was susceptible to influences which
lines in manufacturing districts did not suffer from.
A great portion of their line ran through agricul-
tural districts which had suffered from the cattle
plague. The traders in the agricultural districts
and those whose means were limited curtailed all
unnecessary expenses. The weather had affected
the traffic, but not so much as the monetary pres-
sure, although they had carried 2,000,000 addi-
tional passengers. The increase was principally in
the third class. The first-class traffic was confined
in its proclivities, and the second class was se-
riously affected. The increase in the number of
passengers was attributable to.the opening of new
lines. The East Grinstead and Tunbridge-wells
was opened in October, and the Mid-Sussex and
Midhurst Junction in December, and other lines
were recently opened. It was, however, premature to
take the traffic on the new lines into account, but,
as far as it had gone, it was perfectly satisfactory.
The expenses of the opening and working new lines
were immediate, while the returns were more re-
mote. The decrease of the dividend was explained
in paragraph 8 of the report by the increase in the
expenditure of £89,300 over the corresponding half-
year. This included about £52,300 for compensa-
tion for accidents, and arrears of tolls due to the
West London Railway, neither of which belonged
to the half-year ; the remainder was from £7,400
paid for renewals, £5,500 loss on steamboat traffic,
and about £23,970 as the increased expenditure in
working the newly opened lines, and the general
increase in wages, stores, Sze. There was also an
increase in the amount of capital upon which they
had to pay dividend. They thought it' better to
make a clean sweep of the £52,000 due for compen-
sation and arrears of West London tolls not belong-
ing to the half-year as soon as the actual accounts
were ascertained. This amouat would have given
them one per cent. on the ondinary stock, so that
otherwise they would have been enabled to pay 3
per cent. out of revenue, instead of 2 per cent. for
the past half-year, which, with the 2 per cent. paid
for the first half of last year, would have given them
5 per cent. for the whole. Some of those items
would, perhaps, not occur again, while others would
not happen every year. They had made a large
addition to their second-class carriages, which was
not fairly chargeable to the half-year. The goods
traffic had shown an increase of 95,000 tons, and an
excess of £l,BOO. They had no manufacturing
towns on their line, the chief towns on the coast
being Hastings, St. Leonard's, Seaford, Brighton,
Chichester, and other places, to which the goods
traffic was from London, and they had no return
goods trade. The South London line was only par-
tially open between a place near Brixton and Lon-
don-bridge, but when opened to Victoria station
there would be a large traffic ou it. -When they found
that running the boats from Littlehampton to St.
Male and Jersey produced a loss they suspended the
traffic, and removed them to Newhaven to run to
llonfleur and Dieppe during the Exhibition in Paris.
The new line from Horsham to Dorking, which
would form part of a second line to Brighton, would
be opened in the summer. It passed thro.2gli a
beautiful district, and would be important as a
relief line in case of accident to the main line. The
Tunbridge-wells line to Brighton woull be impor-
tant as to increase of traffic. They had since the
last meeting made a reduction in the mileage of the
trains, which would enable them to work with fewer
engines. The advantage of this arrangement would
be seen in the next half-year. Comparing the ex-
penses of January with the same month in 1865 a
large reduction was shown. In the locomotive ex-
penses there would be a saving of £5OO a week
during the current half-year. As to the issue of the
new stock of £1,600,000, the directors were entirely
disappinted by the shareholders not taking it up.
It caused considerable annoyance, as the money was
required to discharge obligations to contractors and
others, and in consequence the works had to be re-
tarded as much as possible, instead of being pushed
-on to completion. They could not delay the con-
tractors without incurring additional expense. It
was of importance to complete the works on the
lines in the neighbourhood of London as soon as
possible, and also the works on lines that were
nearly completed, so as to bring them into profit-
able operation. The bill before Parliament was to
enable them to carry out arrangements with other
companies with greater economy than at present.
He complained of the course adopted by Parliament
last session in respect of sanctioning the new line
to Brighton. The decision as to granting or reject-
ing railway bills rested entirely with the commit-
tees to which they were re 'erred, and therefore he
contended that Parliareat'; had practically aban-
doned its functions with re;ard to railways. Such
matters should, in his ( I il2;31:1, be referred to an ex-
ternal tribunal properly c instituted, before which
decisions would be giv n o i railway matters in ac-
cordance with evidence. He ventured to say that
of the £450,000,000 now invested in railways, the
ordinary stocks did not produce 3 per cent. on the
average. He then referred to communications and
conferences between himself and Mr. Watkin, chair-
man of the South-Eastern Railway, by which it was
agreed that no competing schemes should be pro-
moted for 12 months, and there was every reason to
believe from the disposition of the boards of the
Brighton and the South-Eastern Railway Com-
panies that amicable traffic arrangements would be
entered into, so as not only to be mutually beneficial
to the two companies, but advantageous to the pub-
lic. He trusted that those arrangements would lead
to the establishment of a permanent peace between
the two companies. (Cheers.)
By means of toe contemplated arrangement it was
suggested by Mr. Watkin that in future a very large
outlay of capital might be avoided by both com-
panies, and a large outlay in contemplated works be
dispensed with. The energies of both boards would
then be available for the legitimate development
of their traffic, and for the exercise of a rigid eco-
nomy in expenditure, with a view to produce satis-
factory results for the shareholders. (Cheers.)
Colonel BA RITE LOT, 111. P., deputy-chairman,
s._conded the motion for the adoption of the report.
A SHALl.:ifoi.rwn suggested that something ought
to be done by railway companies to obtains ruo7li-
fic:klion of Lord Campbell's Act iu regard to com-
pensation for accidents.

Mr. COIIEN stated that the working expenses of
the company amounted in 1848 to £147,000, and
that in 1866 they amounted to £586,000, showing
an increase of £439,000, while the
gross receipts
in 1848 amounted to £453,000 and in 1866 to
£1,189,000, showing an increase of £736,000. He
considered that the working expenses were too
high, and that they ought to have a report from the
locomotive engineer with the half-yearly accounts
similar to that given by Mr. Beattie, locomotive en-
gineer of the London and South-Western Com-
pany. He suggested a revision of fares on the
line and a uniform charge of a penny a mile for 3d-
class passengers over the whole of their system,
and that the passenger duty should be added to the
first and second class fares on their linos.
Sir C. JACKSON said that various items which were
charged to capital in the present accounts ought to
have been charged to revenue. Among those was
£20,435 for the Parliamentary expenses of last
session charged to capital, which, in his opinion,
ought to have been charged to revenue; and if
.all
the sums to which be objected were placed against
revenue, the dividend would be nowhere. In 1848
the capital amounted to £2,485,000, and the gross
receipts to £453,000; in 1866 the capital expended
amounted £16,721,000, and the gross receipts to
£1,189,000. So that the capital had increased in
the ratio of 7 to 1 while the traffic receipts had in-
creased only as 2+ to 1. He thought nothing could
be more damaging to their prospects than that
course. As they bad to expend £2,000,000 more of
capital to complete the works in hand, he wished to
know how they were to pay any dividend in 1868,
even if last year's traffic were to increase in the
present year by £lOO,OOO, allowing an increase
of £50,000 to the working expenses. They had
charged £176,673 last year to capital as in-
terest on money • expended on unproductive
works, and if this was to go on they might
require more capital than the £2,003,000 to com-
plete the works. They ought to have au account of
the company's liabilities and assets, similar to that
given by the Great Northern and other companies.

Mr. ADAMS thought the cost of maintaining the
permanent way was undercharged. On a compari-
son with other lines the cost of maintaining the
permanent way of the Brighton Company was 3id.
per train mile, while the South Western paid 6id.,
the Chatham 61(1., the Great Northern 5:11, and
the Great Eastern 71d. per train mile. The average
cost of maintenance of the 10 principal railways
was old. per train mile.
After some observations by Mr. GOEZ,
The CHAIRMAN replied to the various observa-
tions. Ile said he could not entertain the despond-
ing view taken by Sir C. Jackson of their affairs.
The large amounts paid for compensation were ge-
nerally inflicted by juries. He could net see the
justice of awarding one Hut class passenger £l,OOO
and another, because he was richer, £.10,000, unless
he paid a higher fare in proportio❑ as an assurance.
Some of the lines they had formerly promoted were
now unnecessary, and they would endeavour to
abandon unproductive or unnecessary lines as much
as possible. They would economise outlay of capi-
tal, and do their utmost, if the shareholders
would supply them with the requisite capital, to
complete productive lines and make them remune-
rative. Ile held a different opinion from Sir C.
Jackson as to charging Parliamentary expenses in
defending the estate of the company.
Ths report Y: as then unanimously adopted ; a di-
vidend of 2 per cent. for the past half year was de-
clared on the ordinary stock of the company ; the
retiring directors and auditor were re-elected ; the
directors were authorised to convert certain paid up
preference shares into a like amount of preference
stock in the company ; and the proceedings ended.

Mr. WRIGHT remarked that at the last half-yearly
meeting between £BO,OOO and £90,000 had been
carried to capital for interest of money expended on
unproductive works, which, if charged to revenue,
would hare stopped the ruinous course adopted.
Th3re was a further sum now charged of £85,000,
making together £170,000 for the year. He thought
it a great mortification for English railway com-
panies that a petty American State should be
able to borrow money in England on much better
terms than a British railway company could. A
great number of railway directors were members
of Parliament, and he thought they might by
a little exertion relieve railway property from the
Government duty. The fares of the company had
been reduced all over Their system ou the faith that
Parliament would not grant a new competing line
to irrighton ; but, as Parliament had granted onu

THE SU.N, LONIJON, FRIDAY 111 VEINING, FEBRUARY 15, 1867.

on board the Severn and Hunter. from February,
1800, until December, 1802, and was engaged with
the batteries at the Isle of Bas. In 1803 he entered
the Royal Marines, and served in the Spartiate off
Brest, in the West Indies, and at Trafalgar. In
1806 he embarked in the Argo, and served until 1809
on the Coast of Africa, Canary Isles, IVe:it Indies,
and Spanish Main. He distinguished himself by
zeal and gallantry. The late General was at the
siege and blockade of St. Domingo, and at the bat-
tering of Fort St. Jerome in 1809. After his return
to England he was voted a sword from the Patriotic
Fuad. Tic had received the war medal with one
clasp for Trafalgar, had fur years been in receipt of a
pension for wounds received in the service, had also
enjoyed a " good service pension" since September,
1858. In December, 1851, he was appointed Col.
Commandant of the Plymouth Division of the Royal
Marines. His commissions bore date as follows :
Second Lieut., July, 6, 1803; First Lieut., August
15, 1805 ; Capt., July 31, 1826 ; Brevet-Major,
Nov. 23, 1841 ; Lieut.-Col., May 6, 1844; Colonel,
May 25, 1849 ; Col. Commandant, Dec. 23, 1851;
Majo-Gen., June 20, 1855; Lieut.-Gen., Feb. 6,
1857 ; and General, Sept. 8, 1858.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Lord Wm. B. Phipps, midship-
man, to the Galatea ; Robert F. Smyth, assist.-pay-
master, to the Victory, as supernumerary ; Simon
Matthews, chief engineer, to the Cumberland, for
Myrmidon ; John F. Hattersley, engineer, to the
Royal Alfred ; Stephen B. Williams, first-class
assist.-engineer, to the Caledonia, for Pigeon ; and
John A. Leicester, first class assist.-engineer, to the
Royal Alfred.