The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-25 00:00:00

Cotton Supply Association.

At the usual meeting of the Executive Committee,
held on Tuesday, Oct. 23, a letter was read from
Patras reporting that the gathering of the new cotton
crop in Lavadia had commenced, and that should
the weather continue favourable it was expected that
the yield in that district would be about 1,000 tons
of clean cotton. Some few parcels for delivery have
been bought at 10k d. per lb. free onboard at Patras.
The quality promises to be fine. The old stocks in
the same district amount to from 40 to 50 tons. A
letter was received from Sao Paulo, stating that the
hopes entertained with respect to some Sea Island
seed which had been sown have been disappointed.
The plants, after showing immense vigour up to
flowering time, had suddenly fallen off when they
should have made and developed the promised bolls,
which failed to ripen. In what is called the " north
of the province," however, that is the north section
of the shore, better results were anticipated; the
ground being nearer the sea. One grower bad 480
acres planted with Sea Island seed, from which 4001 b.
of clean cotton per acre were expected. The last
season was a bad one on account of the weather,
and from other causes ; but the planters arc in no
degree discouraged, but are sowing more this year
than ever. Consular reports on the cultivation of
cotton, forwarded by the Foreign-office, were re-
ceived from Salonica, Swatow, Bangkok, and San-
tos. Her Majesty's Consul at Salonica reports that
the cotton crop in Macedonia is being rapidly ga-
thered, and that some bales have already been
brought to market. The quality is represented to
be much superior this year, and the crop will yield
a large increase, estimated by some at one-third,
and by others at fully one-half more than last year.

The sudden appearance of immense swarms of rats
in several districts and in Thessaly has occasioned
some injury, and the havoc committed by these
vermin on the grain crops of the last-named pro-
vince has reduced the rural population to
great poverty. The Acting British Consul at
Swatow states that cotton is not grown in the
consular district. Her Majesty's Consul at Bang-
kok, in Siam, reports that at least 2,500 acres were
planted in 1863 and 1864, and 3,000 acres in 1865
for the crop of 1866. Some damage was occasioned
by a heavy fall of rain while the cotton was in pod,
and the out-turn was expected to be between 17,000
and 18,000 piculs. More than 500 acres of waste

land were last cleared for cotton planting, and there
is a large extent which might be made available. Her
Majesty's Consul at Santos, in forwarding a report
upon the cotton crop in the province of Sao Paulo,
while promising additional information, enters into
full details of the progress already made. There is
every reason to expect that the growth of cotton
will be greatly extended. Sao Paulo, with its line
of railway now open, is admirably situated as a
grand central depot. It only wants agents to be
established there by foreign houses, and authorised
to issue small advances upon real securities. The old
mule traffic between the interior and the coast is
doomed, and the animals taken off the main line will
be put upon the branch roads, where there will be
no railways for some years to come. At Sao Paulo,
close to Santos and to the producing districts, the
cargoes will be discharged from mules to waggons,
and thus cotton can be readily, safely, and econo-
mically transferred to theport for embarcation. The
climate of Sao Paulo is excellent for delicate plants,
and especially for cotton. Frost is rare except in the
upland hollows, and there is a long, cool, and rain-
less season from May to October. Hence it is said
that cotton can be grown here at less cost than in
the United States, where frequently one-third, and
sometimes one-half, is lost from summer rains and
October frosts. Every kind of soil is found, from
the pure clay to the deep soft mould of the Terra
Roxa (the red volcanic ground), under the genial
suns even the sandy soils, apparently use-
less, produce magnificent pods, and the
plant seems to prefer the " tired lands," which
only want the plough and the incorporation
of foreign substances to recover all their fertilit3
The ordinary medium staple cotton bears in five
months and a half after planting, the Sea Island in
seven months. The plant is not an annual, but lasts
three and even four years. The first and fourth
give poor growths, the best are the second and third.
In 1862 Sao Paulo made her first modest appear-
ance in the English market, and there is every rea-
son to expect year by year considerably increased
supplies from the same quarter. The exports from
the port of Santos, which last year were 7,107 arro-
bas, will amount this year to 193,026 arrobas.

EMBEZZLEMENT BY A COLLIERY MANAGER AT
BARNSLEY.—On Monday, at the Barnsley Police-court,
John Clarkson Sutcliffe, late manager of tho North Gaw-
ber Colliery, near Barnsley, was brought up on remand,
charged with embezzling certain money belonging to his
employer, Messrs. Richard Thorpe and Co. The defalca-
tions amount to between £6,000 and £7,000. The prisoner
was remanded to Monday next, the bail being fixed at
£lO,OOO.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—
Diarrhoaa, Bowel Complaints.—The wet weather, defec-
tive drainage, and noxious vapours are now producing an
unusual amount of sickness, which should have early at-
tention. In all complaints affecting the stomach, liver, or
bowels, Holloway's ointment has a most salutary effect
when diligently rubbed upon the abdomen. It penetrates
to the seat of the evil, and soon removes the indigestion
and flatulency which warn us of approaching disease. It
is safer in urgent cases to take the pills while using the
ointment, as both used together act more energetically. A
few days of this treatment will stop every case of bowel
complaint in its early stages or acute form, and spare the
sufferer a long and tedious convalescence.

SPIRIT OF THE PDBLIO JOURNALS.

TIMES. —Sir Morton Peto has been down to Bris-
tol, and has delivered to his constituents a very long

but by no means luminous explanation of his trail-
sactions in the matter of the London, Chatham, and
Dover Railway Company. As the proceedings com-
menced with a promise to Sir Morton of something
better than an impartial hearing, and as they con-
cluded with an emphatic declaration from one of the
authorities present that a railway could not be made
out of nothing without some breach of correctness
and propriety, the public at large will probably be
disposed to attach little weight to the resolutions of
the audience. More important matter should be
found in the deliberate statement made by Sir Mor-

ton himself, but we are compelled to say that the
questions at issue are obscured rather than eluci-
dated by the involved and prolix exposition before
us. The best that an ordinary reader could make
out of it, if he made anything at all, would be that
in Sir Morton's opinion there were people who were
more to blame than himself. However, as Sir Mor-
ton courts attention, we will endeavour to show
him what it is that the public desires to know, and
what it is that he, if he wishes to exculpate himself,
should more clearly explain. The explanation, in-
stead of occupying three columns, might be con-
veyed in as many paragraphs. On the 17th of De-
cember, 1863, the finance committee of the London,

Chatham, and Dover Railway Company passed a
resolution to the effect that as regarded future
financial arrangements Sir Morton Peto should be

invited to attend all the meetings of this committee,
to assist the directors with his advice and counsel.

This invitation Sir Morton acceptad, and as we must
needs conclude, placed himself by so doing in the
position of financial adviser to the company. On
the duties of this office, in fact, he entered without

an hour's delay, obtained from his clients a " com-
plete analysis of their financial condition, and pro-
ceeded to give them his advice under the cir-
cumstances disclosed. The company owed some
£1,250,000 on the securities known as Lloyd's
bonds, which securities took precedence of all
other claims upon the property. Virtually, in
fact, there was a first mortgage on the line to
this extent, and Sir Morton judged that this encum-
brance must be cleared off before the company could
go into the market to borrow any more money.
This advice he now says he is prepared to stand by,

as being of " a sound commercial character." Very
good ; but how was the clearance to be effected ? It
does not require much commercial ability to see
that money cannot easily be raised on property,
pledged already, and that the best way to " re-
establish credit" is to discharge debts. But in
what manner were the debts to be discharged? Sir
Morton says quite truly that the directors could not
as honest men go into the market to borrow money
on debentures when the lenders would not be aware
of their position, and he argued with equal truth
that thejudicious course was to relieve the company's
property of its encumbrances, so that it might be
fairly pledged,' for further advances. Less experi-
enced financiers might have said as much as this,
but then came the ,real question—How was the
thing to be done ? Sir Morton advised the com-
pany to create £1,500,000 of ordinary stock ; on
which, when £750,000 had been actually paid up,
£500,000 could be borrowed by an issue of deben-
tures, the outstanding claims on the score of Lloyd's
bonds being paid off out ofAdae proceeds. But where
were the subscribers to belound for the stock ? No
doubt, if people would come forward and take shares
to this amount in the encumbered concern, it
would greatly improve the position of affairs, but
were they likely to do so any more than they were
to take debentures? In point of factathey did not,
or, at least, they were not asked to do so. This
large amount of stock was " created " by simply
placing so much paper in the hands of Sir Morton
Peto himself. Sir Morton then took it into the
City, and by lodging it as security for loans raised
money enough to pay off the Lloyd's bonds. The
company, therefore, no longer owed the million
and a quarter on those securities, but it owed the
money with which those securities had been called
in, and was not, so far as we can see, in any better
condition for raising money fairly in the market.
Sir Morton was distinctly accused of an over issue
of debentures, in that, whereas he received from the
company so much money wherewith to clear off old
debentures for which new bad been issued, he ap-
propriated part of it to other needs of the company,
and so left old and new debentures to that amount
outstanding together. As we understood him on a
former occasion, his defence was that the purpose to
which he did apply the money was more urgent than
the purpose to which he should have applied it, and
that the company owed him thanks for the service.
But as far as we can now apprehend his explana-
tions, presuming him to be speaking of the same
transaction, there was no legal over issue whatever,
nor was the public in any degree wronged. He tells
us that he took some documents—" he could not call
them debentures"—and lodged them with a finan-
cial company among other securities • but that they
had " not the force of a statutory document," nor
were they, indeed, " documents which were in force
as against the company." By this we understand,
that although debentures were, in consequence of
proceedings, outstanding in excess of the legal limit,
some of them were so informal, so imperfect, or so
defective that they could not be regarded as genuine
debentures at all, and that therefore there was not
really any over-issue of valid documents, On this,
however, we must ask, what, then, was the nature
of the security which they conveyed to the financial
company ? How was it that this company received
in pledge for money lent documents which had "no
force" against those who issued them ? Somebody
must have come off poorly in such a transaction. If
Sir Morton Peto wishes to attain as favourable an
opinion from the public as his Bristol friends were
already provided with before he opened his lips, he
must understand that it can be earned only by dif-
ferent arguments from those which he here employs.
It is no justification of a transaction to say that so-
licitors allowed it ; still less to say that other people
have done the same, or that nothing under the cir-
cumstances could have been done better. The Lon-
don, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company may
have been in desperate straits when Sir Morton was
enlisted as its financial adviser, but this position he
accepted and retained, and he cannot be held as ir-
responsible as he claims to be for its financial ar-
rangements.
POST.—The appointment of Mr. Rolt to the office
of Attorney-General shows that Lord Derby, in the
distribution of legal patronage, is disposed to pay
greater regard to professional qualifications than to
political services. The office of Attorney-General,
which places its holder at the head of the bar
although rich in emolument, carries with it duties
which are equally laborious and responsible. The
Attorney-General is not only the authority in whose
name important criminal and civil proceedings are
instituted, but he acts as the chief standing counsel
of all the public departments, and not unfrequently
as the adviser of the Cabinet as to the mode and
manner of giving effect to a particular policy. He
ought to be equally well acquainted with inter-
national law as with every branch of English
municipal law. When cases occur like those of the
Cagliari and the Trent, the Attorney-General, in
the first instance, gives the advice on which the
Ministers of the Crown act. It is therefore a matter
of the highest importance that the person selected
for the office should possess that legal training and
those legal acquirements which would enable him
with comparative ease to master every branch of
jurisprudence, and always be ready to give sound
and safe advice to the Government of which he is a
member. We cannot speak of Mr. Rolt's qualifica-
tions either as a common or as an international
lawyer, but he is beyond question an equity lawyer
of great learning and experience, and he has
given abundant proofs of a capacity which will
enable him to deal satisfactorily with the multi-
tudinous questions which daily engage the atten-
tion of the chief law officer of the Crown. Lord
Derby, therefore, could not have made a better
selection, althougb perhaps the members of the
common law bar may treat as a grievance the pro-
motion of Mr. Rolt over the head of the Solicitor-
General, Sir William Bovill, an able common
lawyer. The practice has undoubtedly been, at
least in modern times, to appoint a law officer of
the Crown from each branch of the profession, and
to permit the process of promotion to go on so long
as this rule was observed. Thus, when Sir Alex-
ander Cockburn became Lord Chief Justice of Eng-
land, Sir Richard Bethell became Attorney-General,
and a common lawyer was appointed Solicitor-
General. It has, however, sometimes happened
that two equity lawyers have held the offices of
Attorney and Solicitor-General. This was the case
during a portion of the Duke of Wellington's Ad-
ministration, when Sir Charles Wetherall and Sir
E. B. Sugden were law officers, and more recently
when Sir John Romilly and Sir W. Page Wood
held similar appointments. Occasionally two com-
mon law lawyers have been selected, as when Sir
Frederic Thesiger and Sir Fitzroy Kelly were At-
torney and Solicitor-General under Lord Derby's
former Administrations. It is stated that Sir
William Bovill accepted his present office on the
understanding that if the Attorney-Generalship fell
vacant an equity lawyer would be selected to fill
that appointment, and if this be so neither Sir Wil-
liam Bovill nor the common law bar can have a
right to treat as a grievance an arrangement which
has been solely made with a view to the public ser-
vice. Mr. Rolt has for several years represented
West Gloucestershire in Parliament. He is a Liberal
Conservative in politics, but he has never taken an
active nor distinguished part in the discussion of
general or professional questions. He certainly has
not aided the cause of law reform ; but this indiffe-

rence may be attributed to his enormous court
business, which his new office will at once double-
Next session the public may reasonably expect to see
a bankruptcy bill, as well as a measure converting
the Land Registration-office into a Landed Estates
Court. The competency of Mr. Rolt to deal with
the legal bearings and details of such bills cannot
be doubted, but whether he has sufficient energy
and strength to conduct them through the
stormy debates of the House of Commons remains
to be seen. It may be hoped also that the new
Attorney-General will direct his attention to a
matter connected with the Court of Chancery which
requires early and careful consideration. In conse-
quence of the many disastrous failures of joint-stock
companies which occurred during the late panic, the
Judges' Chambers in Chancery are overwhelmed
with winding-up business. During the vacation
most important questions respecting the making and,
enforcement of calls have been settled by the Chief
Clerk. 'The Chancery Amendment Act of 1852,
which abolished the Masters, never intended to sub-
stitute for those officers gentlemen of less profes-
sional standing and experience. Chief Clerks now'
exercise judicial functions, not only in winding-up
cases, but in Chancery business generally. This
was never contemplated by the Legislature, and when
the circumstance was brought before the House of
Commons several years ago the late Sir James
Graham and Mr. Henley, two members of the
Chancery Commission, stated that the intention of
the framers of the act was that the Chief Clerk
should only make preliminary inquiries, and that if
the judicial staff of the court were not sufficient it
would be infinitely better to appoint an additional
Vice-Chancellor than to have judicial business con-
ducted by inferior officers. The state of the wind-
ing-up business must soon force itself upon the con-
sideration of Parliament, and we commend this
question to Mr. Rolt, who is specially qualified to
deal with it. Mr. Rolt's career at the bar affords
another example of the success which almost uni-
formly attends ability, perseverance, and industry
He was called to the bar by the Society of the
Inner Temple in the year 1837, having previously
studied in the chambers of the late Mr. Sutton
Sharpe. His merits were at once recognised by the
solicitors, and from the day of his call he may be
said to have enjoyed a large and increasing przctice:
He owes his success entirely to his own exertions, all
not to any of those adventitious circumstances of
birth and connections which sometimes give undue
prominence to mere mediocrity. While he may b?_
congratulated upon havin g reached a position of which
any man may be proud, the country and the Go-
vernment may be congratulated on having secured
the services of so able and distinguished a law
officer.