The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-21 00:00:00

THAMES SUBSCRIPTION CLUB
UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

A great number of other toasts were given, and
in the course of the evening the chairman handed
to Mr. B. N. Phillips, many years an enthusiastic
promoter of boating, a silver cup, presented by the
Thames Subscription Club, of which he was pre-
sident, and a pair of silver oars from the Christ's
College (Cambridge) crew, of which he was many
years ago the captain. The plate, as well as the
inscription, bore undeniable proof the high esteem
in which Mr. Phillips is held.

MEETING IN SUPPORT OF THE ATLAN-
TIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

A large and highly influential private meeting
of the shareholders in the Atlantic Telegraph
Company, resident in Liverpool, was held on
Monday, the 18th inst., at the Clarendom Rooms,
South John-street.
The chairman of the company, the Right Hon.
James Stuart Wortley, .M.P., accompanied by Mr.
Saward, the secretary, attended for the purpose of
affording information, and in order to obtain the
opinion of the local proprietors upon the arrange-
ments proposed to be submitted to the approaching
extraordinary general meeting for the purpose of
resuscitating this interesting undertaking.
The right hon. gentleman having taken the
chair, commenced his observations by stating, that
although he had become the chairman of the com-
pany at a comparatively recent period, he was yet
one of the original shareholders in it, and as evinc-
ing the warm regard entertained by him for the
welfare of the great enterprise over which he had
been called. upon to preside, he mentioned that,
although at present immersed in political en-
gagements in Yorkshire, calling for his very
active attention, he had laid everything aside to
come over from that county ',this morning for
the purpose of attending the present meeting.
He then went on to describe the presen t position
of the company—their absence of immediate funds
for the attempted restoration of the old cable, or
for the prosecution of a new one—pointing out the
various applications that have been made by the
board to her Majesty's Government for guarantees
of a similar character to that granted with such
success to the Red Sea and Indian Telegraph Com•
pany, and contrasting the niggardly manner in
which half measures of assistance are doled nut to
great national works in this country, with the large
and open-handed policy of the French Government,
which, although it has guaranteed fixed dividends to
works of utility involving an aggregate capital of
over 32 millions sterling, has never been called upon
for any contribution whatever towards making up
the dividends so secured. Mr. S. Wortley then ad-
verted to the terms ultimately offered by Govern-
ment, after long and anxious negotiations with them
on the subject, which terms the directors in Lon-
don considered might form a basis in connection
with other auxiliary arrangements for inducing
the subscription of the necessary amount of capital
for the prosecution of the work. The terms offered
were as follows :—A guarantee of eight per cent.
upon the capital to be employed, not exceeding
£600,000. This guarantee to be for twenty-five
years, conditional upon the successful working of the
cable at a rate not less than 100 words per hour.
A postal contract of not less 'than £20,000 per
annum for the business of the Government. Any
excess of work to be paid for at the company's
ordinary tariff. The company's contract with the
American Government, whereby a further mini-
mum sum of £14,500 per annum is secured to the
company, is to be allowed to subsist, so that by
this arrangement the guaranteed revenue of the
company, independent altogether of mercantile
support, will be £34,500 per annum. The
Government to allow £20,000 of the guaranteed
capital to be expended in efforts to resusci-
tate the old cable. The company to transfer
to government that portion of theirprivileges under
the agreement between themselves which contained
the exclusive right to land cables from Europe on
the shores of Newfoundland. The Chairman re-
marked in reference to these terms that they had
been considered by the board as worthy the accept-
ance of the company, not so much as offering amy
attractive inducement to capitalists to invest in the
undertaking, which had been in a more unselfish
spirit than most undertakings of a public pature,as
that, with subsidiary arrangements, to which he
was about to refer, they would be a protection to as
full an extent as is possible under the circumstances
against the risks which such investments are neces

stiffly exposed. It wouldfbe for public spirit[to do
the rest, and he (the chairman) had full faith in
the result. The subsidiary arrangements alluded

to were—a marine insurance on- the successful
submergence of the new cable, which it is believed
can be obtained at comparatively moderate outlay,
if divested of any condition as to the working of
the cable when laid, and a contract on the follow-
ing basis, which Mr. Wortley was enabled to state
would be readily entered into by parties of high
respectability and responsibility. The contractor
to make all preliminary experiments as to the form
of the cable, and the manner of submerging if,
charging for the same the bare cost of such experi-
ments. So soon as the right plans are decided on,
the contractor to proceed to make and lay the cable,
keeping separate accounts of the whole cost, and
allowing a proper check upon all his expenditure
for such purpose. The profit to be calculated at a
per tentage upon the actual cost of making and
laying the cable. The contractor to take payment
in shares of the company for a portion of the actual
cost of making the cable. The contractor to forfeit
the whole of his profit and a penal sum of £lO,OOO
absolutely if the cable, when laid, does not work
satisfactorily during thirty days after the date of
its submersion between shore and shore. The
chairman proceeded to say that it was proposed
to issue the new capital in shares of five
pounds each, with a view to popularise and
extend the interest in the undertaking, and
that the summary of what the directors would have
to offer to the public over and above the national
character of the work and its value as a commercial
and imperial agent, would be as follows : A capital
of £600,000 in 8 per cent. preference shares, of five
pounds each, guaranteed by the Government con-
tingent on success. 2d. A guaranteed minimum
income of £34,000 per annum in support of such
preference independent of public support. 3d. A
policy of insurance upon the successful extension
of the cable from the shores of Great Britain and

Newfoundland. 4th. A guarantee for careful ma-
nagement and electrical success under a contract
similar to the one just described, whereby the
interests of the contractor are involved absolutely

in those of the company. The right hon. gentle-
man concluded by hoping that the foregoing
explanations would be satisfactory to the meeting,
and that he might be enabled to say when the
extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders
took place in London, that the arrangements
now shadowed forth, without committing any one
to details, or anything but general policy, would be
acceptable to the shareholders in Liverpool.
Mr. J. C. EWART, M.P., expressed his admira-
tion of the exceedingly lucid manner in which the
chairman, with whose clearness and perspicuity he
was well experienced in another place, he explained
the present position of the company.
H
Ewart) cordially agreed in the views set foerth(Abfry.
Mr. Wortley, and approved of the course recom-
mended to be taken by the board for raising the
new capital.

Mr. -BUSHELL, president of the Chamber of
Commerce, in rising, observed that for his own part
he was so satisfied with the general features of the
proposal which had been so clearly and ably
pointed out by the chairman, that he was
desirous, if it Would strengthen the hands

A very numerous party of members of this influ-
ential club and their friends partook of a handsome
dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern, on Tuesday
evening.
The Hon. George Denman, of the University of
Cambridge, President of the Thames Subscription
Club, took the chair. There -were present nearly
all the Oxford crew, who were victorious last Fri-
day in the great University race, and one of the
Cambridge party, and while on this subject it may
be as well to state, that the report that fatal conse-
quences
had resulted to No. 1, in the latter boat,
owing to the immersion during the race, is un-
founded, that gentleman having perfectlyrecovered.
The most interesting toast of the evening was
" The Contending Crews of Oxford and Cambridge,"
which was given by the chairman, who at a subse-
quent period strongly reprehended the dangerous
practice of rowing iu such light outriggers as those
used in the late race. He warmly eulogised the
courage the Cambridge gentlemen had displayed in
continuing to row until their boat dropped from
under them, and, at the same time, entertained no
doubt that the honour of their university would
have induced the Oxonians to do the same.
Mr. ARKELL, the captain of the Oxford boat, and
Mr. BARRACK, of the Cambridge, replied. The
former said they were proud of winning a race over
those by whom they would have been proud to
have been beaten. He explained that an offer had
been made by the Cambridge crew to reverse the
course, which he felt bound to refuse, for the hon-
our of his university, as their best prospect of suc-
cess was the state of the weather ; he, however,
much regretted that it was not a more befitting
day.
Mr. BARRACK, in replying for Cambrigde,
honestly declared the conviction of the whole of
his crew that they must be swamped ere they com-
menced the race; butthey felt bound, for the honour
of Cambridge, to row, and no one did so more
cheerfully than a gentleman in the boat who could
not swim.