The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-24 00:00:00

OMNIBUS .RIVALRY.

. Yesterday, at the Westminster Police-court, this
case, the most, extraordinary ever placed before a
police magistrate, in which the Metropolitan
Saloon 'Company" charged the London General
.Omnibus Company with conspiring to ruin them,
was unexpectedly brought to a close.
Mr. Edwards said he had to make an application
to the magistrate.; Some overtures had been made
to carry out the kind suggestions of Mr. Paynter
for an arrangement, and he would therefore take
the liberty of requesting an adjournment for half
an hour.
The solititors- on either side, accompanied by two
or three gentlemen, retired, and were absent for an
hour. - ' •

On their return,
Mr. Edwards said he was happy to inform the
magistrate that an arrangement had been come to
to submit all the matters in dispute to arbitration.
Mr. Stammers objected to concur in any such
arrangement. His client, Mr. Hawkins, had been
falsely' charged with divers acts, and he (Mr.
Stammers) must request that the investigation
might be continued, or that he should be formally
discharged. Besides the present proceedings, three
actions had been brought against him for libel, one
of which had failed.
Mr. Paynter intimated that he must treat him
the same as the other defendants. If he had a good
defence with regard to the libels, he had nothing to
apprehend. The libels would be tried elsewhere.
Mr. Stammers urged that his client was then in
the position of a prisoner, and ought to be dis-
charged. He was fully prepared to answer the
monstrous charge that had been made against him,
and therefore thought it ought to be fully investi-
gated, or that he should be discharged from all
liabilities.
Mr. Edwards observed that his friend might take
any course he chose.
Mr. Sleigh remarked on behalf of Mr. Hartley,
who was a highly respectable man,that the charges
against him of encouraging nursing and obstruct-
ing, were without the slightest foundatiOn.
in Bodkin, on the part of the counsel, said it
was but justice to them to state that they had
nothing to do with what was complained of. They
had no power to control the management of the
company. They were merely the auditors, and it
was only fair to them to say that they were not
parties to the subject of complaint.
Mr. Paynter, who thought that the proceedings
before him ought to take the form of an adjourn-
ment for a month, repeated that when the matter
was referred to arbitration it would be advisable
to prepare or recommend an act of Parliament.
Mr. Giffardsaid that the London General Omni-
bus Company had previously to this determined to
apply to the Legislature for an act to regulate the
omnibus traffic of the metropolis.
The parties then withdrew.
The case stands adjourned for a month.

SUPPOSED LOSS BY FIRE OF THE
BRITISH SHIP NERO°.

This fine ship is supposed to have been entirely
destroyed by fire on the night of the 29th of last
month, near the Cape Verd Islands, while on her
homeward voyage from Calcutta with a valuable
cargo. She left Calcutta for London on the 26th
of August, and touched at St. Helena on the 9th of
November, and resumed her voyage on the follow-
ing day. On the 29th a large ship was seen on
fire in the track which the Memo would be in for
England, and from the circumstance of the stern,
partly burnt, bearing the letters " —Eltoo *
LIVERP—" there is little doubt that she was the
unfortunate ship seen on fire. Respecting the fate
of the passengers, if any, much anxiety prevails.
No tidings have been heard of them. The intelli-
gence was brought by the barque John Cobbold,
Capt. Rendle, which arrived in the river yesterday
from Point de Gallo. Capt. Rendle furnishes the
following details :
"Nov. 29, at half-past 9 o'clock p.m., wind mode-
rate from N.E., and the sea verysmooth, the second
mate came and reported a light on the starboard
bow, saying he thought it a ship's light, and that
we appeared to near it, and that he had been
watching it some time. Whereupon I went on
deck, and after looking at it some minutes came to
the conclusion that it was the rays of a star strik-
ing on a cloud near the horizon, causin g a reflection
very like the reflection of a fire, or very brilliant
light, on the sky. I thought it was from a star,
because they were exceedingly brilliant between
the clouds. I then went below and turned in. I
had lain down but a very few minutes when the
second mate came and told me we were coming up
to the light very fast, saying it looked like a ship
on fire. I jumped up and was on deck immediately,
and on going a little up the rigging could very dis-
tinctly see the flames ascending. We were pressing
on at the time with every sail we could crowd, and
I hung out lights and made a great flaring torch out
of an old tarpauling, and burnt that out to cheer the
hearts of the poor sufferers, if any, with the sight of
assistance close at hand. A little before midnight we
hove to, with the burning ship in the wind's eye of us
about three-quarters of a mile distant, showing
lights, so that the crew might easily, and without
any labour, come down. I kept in this position
until daylight, when there was a ship and an Ame-
rican schooner to windward of the burning ship.
As soon as the day broke the ship filled and went
away. -The schooner sailed close round the burning
ship, and then came down to inquire if I had picked
the crew up, and to tell me what he had made out
on her stern, and then proceeded on his voyage. A s
soon as day began to break I mounted the topsail
yard with my spyglass, and spent some time there,
carefully examining the surface of the water and
horizon all round, but could see nothing of any
boats, and consequently cannot say what became
of the crew, but am of opinion they must have
been taken off or picked up before I came up. I
think so because they would use every exertion to
keep as near the burning ship as possible, she
making such a beacon as would call every ship that
could get near her at night ; and for that reason I
ran to leeward, so that if they were there ex-
hausted they could come to us without any labour.
I next turned my attention to the ship (after satis-
fying myself they were not within my reach, and
seen several ships and barques to leeward), and beat
up to her, and at 8.30 a.m. passed round her within
about 50 feet of her stern, on which the letters
" —EROO,* LIVERP—," appeared, the other
letters having been burnt out ; there had been
space for one letter before the " E," certainly I
think not more than two letters, and she evidently
belonged to Liverpool. She was burnt down to the
chain bolts at the fore, main, and mizen rigging on
both sides ; also round the quarters she was much
burnt, and the cargo was very unevenly burnt in
the waist. The cargo was much consumed, and
burnt very low. Across from the main rigging,
one side to the other, there was a bulk rose very
abruptly, which appeared very nearly as high as
the deck could have been, which might have been
cable chains,:and water tanks if secured there.