The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-15 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

In the Referee's Court yesterday the following
bills were heard :—Court A.—The Shrewsbury and
Potteries Junction, to raise £150,000 by shareS,
and £50,000 by loan, to make two deviations of the
total length of two miles 40 chains, and to alter
levels for a distance of two miles 74 chains. The
bill was passed. The Devon and Somerset (Devia-
tions) was to be reported. The Craven Junction
Bill, to incorporate the company with a capital
of £120,000 in shares, and £40,000 by loan, and
to make a railway of six miles 60 chains in length,
and the Heysham Pier (Railways) were adjourned.
Court B.—The Wrexham, Mold, and Connah's
Quay and Hoylake Bill was reported. The Buckley
(Docks, &c.) case was adjourned. The Midland
(Additional Powers) Bill, to raise £130,000 by
shares and to define and determine the particulars of
the existing share powers of the company, amount-
ing to £24,442,818, and their debenture stock mort-
gage and bond debt of £7,064,519, and to . confirm
an agreement between them and the Great Western
Company. This bill was passed. The Midland
(Ashby and Nuneaton) Bill, and the Midland
(Branches, &c.), to enable the company to make
nine railways of about 27 miles in length, and two
deviations, were heard and adjourned.
In the Standing Orders Committee on Tuesday
the standing orders of the following bills were dis-
pensed with upon complying with certain condi-
t2-,13,1% :—Bridport, Lyme, and South Coast, provided
`,nat an amended copy of the plan and sections be
deposited ; the Anglesey Central, provided that the
powers for new works and for raising money for
their construettoivonbe struck out ; the Ryde Station
(Railway),
provided of certain.a that all compulsory powers in
el
Barbourroperties be struck out. In the
cases of the Cork
,Curraghbinny Ex-
tension, the Dublin
"In ules &c., and the Swan-
sea General Station and liotel'the .s,tanding orders
ought not to be dispensed •
clauses were settled, group 2, the
Elham Valley group 6,
the Bristol and Exeter (Exe -Valley Railways)ll
was
taken. Mr.
Venablci.es:
appearedQ Q.C., AI
for h
, r.JtohenprsoL,
promoters
Q.C.,e
Mr. Rodwell, Q.C., Mr. Saunders, Q.c., and
mr;
and Mr. Cripps, Q•
C•,
Bere, Q.C., appeared against them. The bill was
proceeded with, gnd adjourned. The Exe Valley
was also heard, and adjourned. In group 8, the
Bridgenorth, Wolverhampton, and Staffordshire and
the Ellesmere and Glyn Valley Bills were heard,
and adjourned. --
ANGLO-lONIAN STEAM.
The ordinary general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the offices, Leadenhall-street,
Mr. Foord in the chair.
The ;report stated that the gross profit for the
year 1865 amounted to £6,969, against £5,055 in
1864, which arose partly from a reduction in the
price of fuel, together with greater economy of con-
sumption, and from a reduction in the working ex-
penses. The directors congratulated the share-
holders on the state of the company, as being more
favourable than its position last year. At that time I
the company Owned £3,000 borrowed capital; that 1

sum had been paid off, and the company was now
not only out of debt, but was enabled to papa further
dividend for the half-year ending December last at
the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, to place £2,000
to the depreciation fund, and to carry forward £397
to the credit of the new profit and loss account.
The boats of the company were in the most perfect
order and repair, the whole of the expenses incurred
in placing them in efficient condition having been
written off in profit and loss account.
On the motion of the Chairmana,dsoepcout andbd the
by Mr.
G. J. Jackson, the report was adopted,
dividend was agreed to.

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

Yesterday, at noon, a well attended meeting of
merchants and others interested in Atlantic tele-
graphy was held at Liverpool for the purpose of
hearing explanations from Mr. Cyrus Field, Capt.
Anderson, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Varley, as to the
present position and prospects of the undertaking.
Mr. Field was voted to the chair, and he explained
the circumstances under which the enterprise had
been handed over by the Atlantic Telegraph Com-
pany to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company,
which is now subscribing £600,000 for the purpose
of laying the new cable and completing the old
one. He explained that this course was imperative
to insure the carrying out of the project during the
ensuing summer, in consequence of the decision
of the Attorney-General that the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company had no power to issue twelve per
cent. preference shares. The new company would be
answerable for thesuccessful laying of the cable, and
would then have a claim to a certain amount on the
profits of the undertaking. If any shareholder
thought this unjust, he was of course welcome to
take as many shares as he liked in the new company.
Mr. Canning then gave a short account of the ex-
periences gained, and the improvements effected in
the machinery. He had not the slightest fear but
that in their next effort they would be quite suc-
cessful, not only in laying the new line, but in re-
covering and completing the one partially laid last
summer. Captain Anderson said they were pre-
pared to anticipate even worse difficulties than any
yet met, and no difficulty had been suggested which
they were not fully prepared to meet and overcome.
He had the fullest confidence in the Great Eastern.
Mr. Varley, the electrician, entered more fully into
the details of the project, and showed the advan-
tages which the new cable would possess over the
old one, in having a greater breaking strain. He
also showed that with improved apparatus the re-
covery of the old cable and its completion would be
a work of very little difficulty, and of almost certain
success. As to the earnings, he showed that the
Persian Gulf cable earned nearly £lOO,OOO a year,
and that with bad management and great delays ;
with the Atlantic cable, and the improved instru-
ments for the transmission of messages, which were
extremely sensitive and delicate, he believed it
would be no exaggeration to say that at the pro-
posed rate of charges, it would be quite able to
remit messages at a speed which would earn a mil-
lion
pounds per annum. In the course of his re-
marks, he explained the manner in 'which the splic-
ings or joinings of the cables are frSrmed. So deli-
cate, said he, were the tests employed that it was
often found that the state of an operator's nerves or
skin seriously affected the work ; and it had often
happened that when a man had been living freely
the previous day his work in splicing failed to pass
the test, and was rejected. In answer to ques-
tions, Mr. Canning and Mr. Varley explained that
the state of the cable at the bottom of the Atlan-
tic up to the point where it parted was as
perfect now as the day it was laid. Mr. Varley
also stated that the first cable laid was destroyed by
the immense power required, owing to the imperfect
instruments and probable defective insulation to re-
mit Ni ords at a rapid rate. As high a power as 5,000
cells to one battery had been then employed ; but
with the last cable an order had been made that no
greater power than 20 cells should be used, and it
was quite possible to obtain with the improved in.
struments a rate of five or six words a minute, with
a power of only a single cell. A gentleman remarked
that there appeared a letter signed by an Bllgineer,
and apparently a man of some note, but he could not
recollect his name, who had declared that it was a
mechanical impossibility to raise the sunken cable
because of its weight. He wished to know if the
company had thought it worth while to answer that
letter., Mr. Field remarked that if the company
were to answer all the letters addressed to them, they
would soon have to employ the whole of their capital
in the task. They had already given, that day, an
answer. Capt. Anderson said he had not answered
all the letters he had received, because he could not
do so. One writer, a lady, proposed to raise the
cable with a magnet. There were lots of people who
wrote to say they would raise the cable, but they
must have £lO,OOO for doing it; £lO,OOO seemed a
favourite sum with such people. Mr. Field said that
one gentleman called upon him and proposed to sink
a hollow tube to the bottom of the sea, and then go
down in it and look for the cable. He plagued him
considerably, until one morning he (Mr. Field) told
him that he had decided that the thing could be
done, and he (the inventor) should have the ap-
pointment to go down and look for it. He hadn't
seen him since. Captain Anderson said it was only
fair to admit that many of the letters contained very
sensible suggestions. The proceedings then con-
cluded with a vote of thanks to the speakers.

GARDENING.