The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-24 00:00:00

fide, and is in fact only a lodgment of borrowed
money.. The necessary amount is raised at a high
interest, and deposited in due form, so that, instead
of being in any way a guarantee of the stability
of the company, it is in reality another obstacle
to the completion of the line, because it entails
the payment of a high rate of interest upon
it. Almost all the schemes now, said Lord
REDESDALE, are contractors' schemes, got up by a
contractor, an engineer, a lawyer, and a Parlia-
mentary agent ; the money is found by the con-
tractor, and there is little or no subscription of any
kind. An instance of the manner in which these
schemes are got up was given by the noble lord, in
the case of a contractor's line, in which the con-
tractor made a certain number of persons in his
employ shareholders, and called a meeting, at which
he announced that the line was completed, that it
would no doubt be profitable, and that he engaged
to work it for five years, and guarantee the share-
holders five per cent. for their money. He got
this widely reported, and in consequence raised the
value of the shares, and produced the other effects
the contractor wanted by obtaining credit for his
capital ; so that he could get money on very fair
terms, while, whether the line paid at all or no,
was a matter of no moment to him after his gua-
rantee expired. One great evil attending this
mischievous system is the vast and unnecessary
expense to which the regular existing railway com-
panies are put, in being forced to buy up these
easily got-up schemes. A couple of years ago the
secretary of one of the principal lines stated
before a Parliamentary committee that no fewer
than 161 schemes affecting his company had
been promoted that year, and of these the company
had been obliged to oppose 60. The same gentle-
man gave fulldetails of a contractor's scheme, which
was begun in reality with no company at all ; it was
only after parties concerned had obtained the bill
and the line was started that they had to find the
subscribers. Railway property is increasing so
much in extent and importance that it is becoming
one of the regular forms of investment ; and Lord
REDESDALE pointed out to their lordships how
seriously trust and other moneys so in-
vested might be affected by these bubble
companies. There was considerable danger, he
said, to the general security of railway property,
and it was important that it should be placed on a
solid foundation. His suggestion towards bringing
about a better state of things was that the deposits
should be made really available for the construction
of railways. This proposal was made by the com-
mittee of the Commons, but from the strong opposi-
tion which the recommendation encountered it was
put aside. We must, however, bear in mind that the
railway interest is so very strong in the Lower House
that questions affecting the management of the lines
are not always judged or discussed impartially.
Lord REDESDALE proposed to submit certain alto-
rations in the standing orders to their lordships after
the recess, so that both Houses and the public
might have time to consider the subject. The
general feeling of the House was strongly in favour
of some alteration, and we hope the matter will
receive very careful inquiry. It is a common com •
plaint that railways are multiplying too fast, and
that the advantages which the public might derive
from a more moderate extension are counter-
balanced by the annoyance and obstruction
of quite unnecessary and useless move-
ments. It will be a useful check upon
excessive speculation to insist upon some
better guarantee for the stability of newly-formed
companies, while the additional security which the
estblished lines will acquire from the removal of
the present drain upon their resources by reckless
and interested competition will put the whole ques-
tion of railway property on a more satisfactory

footing.

The Meeting of Liberal Members.

The following is the circular which has been
issued by Earl Russell convening a meeting of
Liberal members :

Lord Russell requests the favour of your attend-
ance at a meeting at 10, Downing-street, on
Tuesday April 10, at one p.m., on matters of great
importance.
Thursday, March 22, 1866.

The Mystery of Stodare's Sphinx Explained.

If we unveil the "Mystery" which Colonel Sto-
dare has been exhibiting at the Egyptian Hall for
some time, we trust, says the Reader, that we shall
patent,v"
isTi
th. e STap
The
einsxp'h'
indeed
ionr x
eo,
vf
be
etr hyi ott
hs
lei
nnwgo ho osn ,
nintend - paying not incur the displeasure either of the inventor of
o f
Titheaa
specification, which has just been made public, gives
us the required information. In Colonel Stodare's
exhibition, as almost every one knows, a head ap-
pears on what seems to be an ordinary three-legged
table, which stands in the centre of the stage. To
all appearances the head is an independent member,
which makes a speech, and answers questions, quite
as well as many an " independent member" in
" another place." The secret lies in the table, which,
instead of being open underneath, is occupied by
two mirrors extending from the two back legs and
meeting at the front leg. Now if a spectator is
ignorant of the existence of a mirror, he has no
reflected from real objects,
unlessmeans
they
e y
appeardistinguishingin unnatural positions. It is a
law in optics that the reflected image of an object
appears as far behind the mirror as the object re-
flected is in front of it. It is obvious that by a
proper arrangement of duplicate pictures of that part
of the scene hidden by the table a reflection of those
duplicates may be caused to appear in the mirrors
underneath the table, and thus lead the spectator
to imagine that he sees beyond the table, whereas all
the time he is looking at a reflected image of the
back scene. The triangular space enclosed by the
glasses serves to contain the legs and body of the
Sphinx, whose head appears on the top of the table.
The principle, it will be seen, is somewhat similar
to that of Eidos Aeides, a clever illusion shown at
Her Majesty's Theatre last year, which consisted in
rendering an object alternately visible and invisible
by placing a sheet of plain glass in front of it, and
disposirg a facsimile of the scene at the back at a
suitable angle at the wing. When the duplicate
scene was strongly illuminated, the stage-lights
being lowered, it was reflected in the glass, which
acted for a time as a mirror, and the object disap-
peared. When the lights on the false scene were
turned down, the stage lights being allowed to pre-
dominate, the object became visible again. We
may add that Colonel Stodare's patent was not
granted, the application having been successfully
opposed by the proprietors of " Proteus," another
of the ingenious optical delusions in fashion just
now.

SALE OF PRINCE NAPOLEON'S HOTEL.—The sale
of Prince Napoleon's Hotel in the Avenue Montaigne,
Paris, took place on Wednesday. The total produce of the
sale was £46,004.
NARROW ESCAPE OF PRINCE MURAT.—Prince
Murat, colonel in the Guides, had a narrow escape a few
days back while descending the Champs Elysees in a
phaeton which he was himself driving. The horse took
fright, and, becoming uncontrollable, dashed the vehicle
against a tree. Both shafts were broken by the shock, but
the prince escaped unhurt. '

ENFRANCHISEMENT OF COPYHOLDS.—The Copy-
hold Commission state in their report for 1865 that in that
year they completed 88 enfranchisements in clerical manors,
48 in collegiate manors, and 903 in lay manors. Since 1841
the Commission have completed 6,610 enfranchisements
and commutations, the consideration consisting of £972,368
for payments in full, rent-charges amounting to £8,158,
and 1,388 acres of land. OperationA continue under the
Universities and Colleges Estates Acts of 1858 and 1860,
and the Commission have authorised in all 254 sales, 97
purchases, 38 enfranchisements, 18 exchanges, 29 applica-
tiona for raising money, and 2 transfers of trust.