The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-13 00:00:00

MADRAS.

The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders in
this company was held on Friday at the Eondon
Tavern; Major General Duncan Sim in the chair.
The report (taken as read) was a very voluminous
document. It stated that the work of construction
had been proceeding actively on the different lines
since the last general report ; and by this date the
company had about 257 miles open and at work, as
against 137 miles at the date of the last report.
The traffic of the railway during the past half-year
had unavoidably suffered from the unfortunate pre-
valence of cholera, and the comparative failure of
the crops. Other traffic, however, had sprung up,
and had supplied, to some extent, the temporary
deficiency in the-receipts from grain. Other por-
tions of the line wore being rapidly proceeded with.
The gross receipts for the last half-year exceeded
those of the previous six months by £1,358, and
those of the corresponding half of the previous
year by £5,118. The receipts for carriage of rail-
way materials formed 121 per cent, of the gross
receipts for the half-year. Various causes had
arisen which had increased the cost of working. The
running of first and second-class carriages being
at present unremunerative, certain suggestions had
been approved for developing that description of
traffic. Last year it only represented 11, per cent.
of the entire 'passenger traffic. The total number
of passengers carried during the past year was
887,452, of which no less than 875,506, or 981- per
cent. nearly, were of the third class, at a fare ofone
farthing a mile.
The capital account showed the receipts to
have been £4,771,891 17s. 4d., and the un-
appropriated balance to be £350,669 15s. 3d.,
making the expenditure £4,421,222 2s. id. The re-
venue account for the half-year ending Dec. 31, 1860,
showed the receipts to have been £36,956 9s. id.,
and the expenditure £29,922 13s. Bd., leaving a
balance of £7,033 15s. sd.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, pointed out, upon a large map suspended in
the room, the portions of the line already finished
and those in course of construction. He men-
tioned that the timber sleepers had showed unusual
symptoms of decay, and that a better description
of sleeper was being laid down. The traffic had not
been quite so satisfactory as the directors had anti-
cipated, hut that had been occasioned by causes
over which they had no control, and he looked for-
ward with confidence to the future. There had been
a decrease in the passenger traffic of £879, and an
increase in goods of £2,625, so that the gross in-
crease had been £1,746.
Mr. Arbuthnot having seconded the motion, a
long discussion took place upon the prospects of
the undertaking. The report was said to be of a
discouraging character, and several shareholders
doubted whether the line would pay for a length-
ened period.
Dr.Beattie thought the fare of a farthing a mile
too low, and suggested the propriety of abolishing
either the first or second class carriages, keeping
two classes only, as both first and second traffic
was at present unremunerative.
Mr. M. Lewin doubted whether the line could
be improved for the future ; and in this view he
was supported by another proprietor, who called
attention to the fact that the working expenses
amounted in the half-year to upwards of 80 per
cent., while the first and second class passengers
combined were only 30 per day.
The Chairman replied that he was not quite so
desponding as some of the shareholders. Various
unforeseen causes had operated prejudicially to the
company during the past half-year, which might
not happen again. The present fares were only
experimental. The higher and richer orders of In-
dia had very groat objections to associate with the

lower orders, but they had a still greater objection
to part with their money. That was the reason
why the first and second class carriages had not
been patronised, for the highest and richest in the
land, in order to save their money, would take off
their jackets, go into the third class carriages, and
squat down with the lowest characters, like so many
pigs. (A laugh.) The seats had mow been taken
out of the third class carriages, so that they might
contain more passengers; the present first would
be made into second class, and a new first class car-
riage substituted. If that did not answer, the di-
rectors would consider the desirability of adopting
the suggestion of abolishing one of the classes.
The farthing per mile was not quite so little as it
seemed, for money in India was supposed to be as
much as five times less value than in England. The
shareholders might be satisfied that the directors
would lose no opportunity of increasing the revenue'
of the company.
In reply to a question, the Chairman said the
first-class fare was ltd. per mile.
Several Shareholders—lt ought to be more.
The CHAIRMAN-But they will not pay more.
We have already tried them. We began with
higher fares, and have been compelled to reduce
them.

Ultimately the report was unanimously adopted ;
the retiring directors were re-elected ; a resolution
was carried for the conversion into stock of all the
shares in the fourth extension capital, in respect
whereof the whole money subscribed shall have
been paid up; and a cordial vote of thanks was
given to the directors.
In reply, various members of the board expressed
their belief that as the resources of India became
developed the traffic on the lines would increase to
a very large extent ; that great attention was being
bestowed upon the cultivation of cotton in India,
which would also improve the prospects of the rail-
way; and that the government was fully alive to
the importance of opening roads, &c., to join the
line, which would have the effect of bringing a con-
siderable amount of traffic.
The proceedings then terminated.
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THE JUDGMENT ON THE KOSSUTH
NOTES.

It was a matter of course that the judgment de-
' livered on Saturday last by Vice-Chancellor Sir John
' Stuart, in the case of the Emperor of Austria
versus Messrs. Day and M. Kossuth, should be ap-
pealed against. We believe that the general opinion
' of the bar is entirely unfavourable to the judgment,
• and that no man of any eminence, except the
plaintiff's counsel, hopes to see it confirmed. Sir
John Stuart argues that the Court of Chancery
has a jurisdiction in the matter, on the ground
that the right of the sovereign power to regulate
the currency of any realm is not a municipal
right, but a great public right, recognised and
protected by the law of nations; that England re-
cognises the right by enacting statutes against the
counterfeiting or forging of foreign money ; and
that, in the absence of any other protection for it,
, the Court of Chancery is bound to step in and shield
it. The argument is a very strange one on many
accounts. The English statutes against counter-
feiting and forging foreign money are rather an
argument against our recognition of the supposed
international law than in its favour, seeing that the
statutes would scarcely be enacted if the common
law of nations already afforded protection. Besides,
their purpose is rather to protect the victims of
false coin or forged nota3 in this country than to
protect the foreigner, who is usually held competent
to protect himself. Again, the interference of the
Court of Chancery is limited to the defence of pro-
perty rights where there is no other remedy, and it
might possibly be argued that for the manufacture
of counterfeit notes or coin in England the only
sufficient remedy would be in England. But the
issue of notes which bear expressly on the face of
them the political assumption under which alone
they could be available stands on quite different
ground. The Emperor's property rights (if they
are recognised by England at all) in the currency
of Hungary are not endangered by these notes in
any way, though they clearly contemplate a time
when these property rights may have ceased to exist
de facto. They assume a political convulsion as the
only agency which would turn them to account,
and, therefore, if they supplant the Emperor's pro-
perty rights at all, it is only through his political
rights. If any Austrian, dreaming of a conquest
of England, were to prepare orders in his own name
on her Majesty's Exchequer for money no one would
imagine that such orders, openly signed by a per-
son without authority or right, would be an inva-
sion of her Majesty's property rights, which a Ger-
man Court of Chancery could restrain, because they
could by no means injure or affect that property,
even though after a cer taro political catastrophe
they might conceivably take the place of Treasury
warrants • yet this is exactly a similar case. Instru-
ments which have no tendency to excite a revolu-
tion (or even if they had would certainly not be
liable to the jurisdiction of a Chancery Court on
that account), which, if they ever have any effi-
ciency at all, can acquire it only through political
events, strike, in Sir John Stuart's opinion, not at
the political stability, but at the civil property of
the Emperor of Austria. The precedent quoted by
Sir John Stuart is a thoroughly unfortunate one.
He tells us that in the case of Farina v. Silverlock
an injunction was granted against the issue of cer-
tain eau de Cologne labels professing to state that
the contents of the bottles bearing them was eau de
Cologne manufactured by Farina, although it was
not proved that they had been or were intended to
be put to any use injurious to Farina, simply on the
ground that it was probable they might be so put.
That judgment, however, was overruled on appeal,
and overruled expressly because the defendant
showed that under certain contingencies they were
capable of a pErfectly lawful use. The same may
be said of these Kossuth notes. They are only an
inchoate instrument, capable of uses, if they should
ever have any, which may be either lawful or un-
lawful in Austria, according to the course of future
events. It is indeed quite clear that if Kossuth
has been guilty of any breach of law, at all, it is a
criminal offence, a political conspiracy—if that be
an offence under our law—to upset the power of the
Emperor of Austria in Hungary. This is a case for
a Common Law Court and a jury. It is a case,
doubtless, which could not be successfully pressed
by the Emperor of Austria before an English jury,
both because the notes are very insufficient evidence
of any conspiracy to upset the power of the Austrian
Government, and because it is by no means certain
that such a conspiracy, if proved, is a criminal
offence by English law at all. But if there has
been a breach of law at all it was of the law of
conspiracy. It is incredible that the Court of
Chancery can have any jurisdiction in the matter,
and it is something of an artifice in the Emperor of
Austria's representatives to take their case into the
only English Court in which, from personal rather
than legal considerations, there was any hope of
their getting a favourable judgment. We confi-
dently expect that the decision will be reversed by
the Court above.—Economist.

COUNTRY IMARK_ETS.

OXFORD_MAY 11.

The trade was good, and wheat of prime quality coma
mauled more money-60s to 70s per qr. Barley advanc•frd
from is to 28 per qr. Oats at previous rates for fine sa.m•
pies. Beans in good demand. Flour was worth 46s per
sack. '