The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-12 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN STEAM-SHIP,

The directors of the Great Ship Company have
rescinded the resolution to which they had come a
few days since, to call together the shareholders
on the 15th, and have postponed the holding of the
meeting until the 11th of January. The reason
assigned is that they would not then be able to
enter as fully into all matters connected with the
company as they would desire to do, owing to
the fact that the questions pending between the
contractor and the company are still under arbitra-
tion. An approximate statement of the liabilities
and assets of the company, identical with that which
would have been laid before the meeting, had it
li
been held, has been issued to the shareholders.
One of the objects which the meeting of the 15th
would have had to consider has been already dis-
posed of, arrangements having been entered into
for meeting all the engagements of the company as
they may fall due during the ensuing three months.
A sum of £40,000 has been borrowed by the direc-
tors, on the security of the ship, and this will be
sufficient to meet all existing liabilities. The diffi-
culty in which the company finds itself placed at
present arises from the liabilities for ship stores
and provisions which are still on hand. There is
an item of about £lO,OOO for coals, and £20,000 for
wines, spirits, &e., most of which are still on board.
Had the great ship gone on its voyage to America,
or made the trial trips, as originally projected, with
passengers on board, the receipts would of course
have come in aid of those liabilities. The balance of
£8,750 of temporary loans is covered by the ba-
lance at the banker's and the amount of arrears on
calls, all of which are considered good. The capital
of the company originally was £330,000, but of
this sum only £303,250 has been issued, leaving
£26,742 yet to be issued. These, at the present low
value of the shares, with the stores in hand, are
nearly equal to the amount of the liabilities. In
addition, however, to these items, a sum of £15,000
will bo required to carry out all the requirements
of the Board of Trade, which include feed pumps
for the larger engines in substitution of the donkeys,
and some other arrangemnts. Whatever defi-
ciencies may be ultimately found by the arbitrators
to exist in the work performed by Mr. Scott Rus-
sell will, of course, have to be.made good by him,
and the company holds security of the contractor
to the amount of £25,000. The arbitrators meet
twice a week at the offices of Mr. Hawkshaw, and
an enormous amount of evidence has already been
given on both sides. The claim of the company,
as against Mr. Russell, is of a very large amount,
and it includes an item of £60,000 for losses sus-
tained by the company in consequence of the works
not having been completed in a proper manner, and
thus preventing the ship from going to America at
the time originally specified. Had the ship made
the voyages expected all would have gone well, an
immense sum would have been received for visitors
and passengers, and the large amount of stores and
provisions which lie as dead weights upon the
concern would have been consumed, and paid for by
the recipts or earnings of the ship.

THE FOG YESTERDAY.-LOSS OF LIFE

The metropolis yesterday afternoon was enve-
loped in, the most dense fog we have been visited
with since October, 1851 ; from half-past twelve at
noon until two o'clock the darkness was so intense
that it was dangerous to attempt crossing the car-
riage road.
In Newington-causeway, Mrs. Willott, with an
infant in her arms, was knocked down and run
over by an omnibus; the unfortunate woman had
her arm broken, the child providentially escaping
any injury.
Several cases were brought- into the hospitals,
owing to accidents which occurred to persons re-
turning from places of religious worship. Few,
however, were serious. At half-past one o'clock the
darkness had attained its climax, and the lights in
Licensed Victuallers and other shops, imperfectly
observable, only tended to render it more visible.
On the river the opacity of the atmosphere was
much more dense, objects at a few yards' distance
not being discernible. The steam boat traffic for
nearly two hours was totally suspended, and the
large Continental, Scotch, and Irish screw and
paddle steamers were compelled to bring up at
Blackwall, in order to avoid the intricate naviga-
tion of the upper and lower pools. On the ebb tide
much damage was occasioned in spars and rigging
by vessels dropping down and coming into colli-
sion with others in the tiers. At Blackfriars-
bridge, at the commencement of the fog on the pro-
ceding night, a man and a boy were drowned from
a barge. The bodies were not recovered at a late
hour last even'ng.

The Moniteur publishes the text of a law which
the Legislature of the State of Louisiana passed on the Ist
September, absolutely interdicting people of colour, not
born in the State, to sojourn in the territory; declaring
that a free coloured man on arriving in a port shall be put
in prison and be maintained there at the expense .of the
captain bringing him; also that if the free black shall
not consent to quit the State within a given period, he shall
be condemned to not less than three and not more than 12
months' imprisonment, and in the event of his coming a
second time, to five years' imprisonment. The law adds
that any private person or police officer arresting a free
black wan in Orleans shall receive a reward of 10 dollars,