The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-05 00:00:00

THIS DAI'S SHIPPING.

LONDON, Jan. 4.—Wind this day at noon, N.E. ;
light breeze and hazy.
SOUTHAMPTON, Jan. 4.—Arrived—Pera (screw steamer),
from Alexandria, with loss of propeller, &c. ; Report
(steamer), from Gibraltar. Sailed—Celt (screw steamer),
for Cape of Good Hope.
TORBAY, Jan. 4.—Wind N. to N.E.—Sailed—Courser,
for Valencia.
DARTMOUTH, Jan. 4.—N.N.E.—Sailed—Liffey, for St.
Michael's.
PLYMOUTH, Tan. 4.—Wind'N.N.W.—Sailed—Prince of
Wales, for Melbourne ; Alice Thompson, for Suez.
OFF HURST CASTLE, Jan. 4.—Arrived—Tagus (screw
steamer), from Gibraltar, &c.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday Morning.
Wind N.E. • hazy.
Arrived—Artisan, steamer, from Cardiff ; Pera, and
Ripon, steamers, from Gibraltar; Ceres, steamer, from
Dublin ; Henry, from Goole ; La Poule, from Cherbourg ;
Charlotte, from Jersey ; Princess Royal, and Harmony,
from Shields ; Thomas Powell, steamer. .
Sailed—Celt, steamer, for Cape of Good Hope ; La Poule,
for Cherbourg ; Cores, steamer, for London.
LIVERPOOL, Wednesday Morning.

Wind N.N.W.
Arrived, Jan. 4.—Plower, from Denia ; Progress, screw
steamer, from St. Nazaire.
Sailed, Jan. 4.—Medallion, and Nietaux, for Charleston;
Dolphin Elise, for Bordeaux ; N. Larraboe, for New
Orleans ; Laurence, for Havannah ; Petronella, for Bar-
celona.

(BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Wind N.E. ; tide, one hour's flood ; cloudy.
Arrived, Jan. 4.—Fantasy, from Christiana ; Ocean
Gera, from Gothenburg; Izian, from St. Petersburg.
Sailed, Jan. s.—Albion, steamer, for Boulogne ; Hollen-
side, for Sydney; Astarte, for Rangoon.
DEAL, Wednesday Morning.
Wind N.E. by N., moderate.
Passed.—Glance, for Canaries ; Paris and London,
steamer, for Paris; Pillar, for Teneriffe ; Instine, for
Rouen—all from London.
Sailed.—Weasel, for Falmouth.

LIABILITY OF RAILWAY COMPANIES.—At the
Glasgow Small Debts Court last week the Glasgow and
South-Western Railway Company were sued for breach of
contract under the following circumstances: —A boy named
John M'Nab, residing at Milliken-park, had purchased a
second-class season ticket to enable him to attend school at
Glasgow, and travelled thither by a particular train. The
company withdrew the second-class carriage from that
train, and insisted that he should travel in a third-class
carriage, or pay the difference between
.the second and first-
class fare to ride in a first-class earflap?. The company
pleaded that they were entitled, by their regulations, to
make what alterations they pleased in their trains. The
Sheriff, in. giving his verdict, said that, although the com-
pany might alter the hour of the train, or even withdraw it
altogether, they could not, as in this case, continue the
train and withdraw the class of carriage
Mailimg at the
time the contract was made,

First Lieutenant A. C. J. M'Meekan has been
appointed Acting Adjutant of the Chatham division
of Royal Marine Light Infantry, during the ab-
sence, on leave, of Adjutant H. G. Elliot.
A large and commodious building, which hag
been erected at Chatham on a portion of land given
by the Government, has just been opened as a nur-
sery and school for the infant children of tho.troops
belonging to Chatham garrison. The establishment
haf been built.at Brompton, adjoining the Royal
Engineer barracks and the barracks occupied by
the troops of the line, and has been raised by sub-
scriptions collected chiefly by the Rev. Dr. Cooke,
the incumbent of the district. The building will
accommodate about 200 children, and is admirably
adapted for the purposes to which it is to be applied.

ROYAL MAIL ATLANTIC STEAM
COMPANY.

The Royal Mail Atlantic Steam Company have
received the following despatch from Worcester :
" At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Worcester Chamber of Commerce, held at the
Guildhall, Worcester—E. Evans, Esq., banker,
president, in the chair—yesterday, the following
resolution was proposed by IV. H. Kerr, Esq.
(Royal Porcelain Works), seconded by J. W. Isaacs,
Esq., banker, and unanimously passed
"4 That the Lords of the Treasury be memo-
rialised to take into immediate consideration the
propriety of including the Lever line, via Galway,
in the future arrangements for postal service be-
tween Great Britain and the United States and
British America, on that Company undertaking to
effect an average saving of two clays in carrying the
mails to and from America and Great Britain! "

THE MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY. —The
steamship Celt left this afternoon for Plymouth, where she
will take in the mails for the Cape of Good Hope, for which
port she leaves on the 6th. The Sultan, with the heavy
portion of the Bombay mail ; and the Tyne, with the Brazil
and River Plate mails, will be here on Thursday. The
Ceylon is prepaiing to take out the next East India and
China mails on the 6th, being delayed to that date by per-
mission of the Post-office authorities. The Tamar will take
out the Brazilian mail of the 10th. The Thames takes out
the Australian mail of the 12th.
MAILS FOR THE UNITED STATES AND AUSTRA-
LIA.—The screw steamer City of Washington will sail to-day
(Wednesday) from Liverpool to New York. The Liverpool
Post-office will close at 9 a.m., but letters with late fees will
be received until 10 and on the landing-stage until about
10.30. The Black Ball clipper Lightning sails also to-day
for Melbourne. The Liverpool Post-office will be open for
the reception of letters and papers until 2.15 p.m., and with
late fees until 2.30.

- - FOGS ON THE SOUTH-COAST.—SOUTHAMPTON
TUESDAY.—For nearly a week dense fogs have prevailed
day and night on the south-coast. At Southampton the
Isle of Wight mails have had to be brought up in a four-
oared boat, as the mail steamer could not find its way. The
Channel Island mail, due on Monday afternoon, did not
reach Southampton until yesterday forenoon. At Winches-
ter the fogs have been as dense as at Southampton. In the
English Channel also fogs have been prevalent. The Ripon
and Pera, which arrived yesterday, were obliged to go at
half speed in the Channel, in consequence of thick weather.
When the Ceylon arrived in Southampton water, on Satur-
day night, the tug steamer sent in search of her mails had
great difficulty in finding her. Even when she did find her,
it was impossible to say afterwards at what part of the rive?:
she had dropped anchor. The La Plata, with the Aire!t
India mails, which was to leave on Monday afternoon, was
obliged to lie the whole of Monday night in
water. Such dense and long-continued fogs have not
experienced here for many years.
hole body
FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.—Taking tho w ,
d and Wales, we
of registered friendly societies in Englan
2 000 000,
find that the total number of members is about „ h
Southaniptell
' in English
£1,431,543 is invested by 9,133 societies
and the aggregate of funds about X 9,000 000, of which
and Welsh savings banks ;
,10a0ottervegrar
adnnuaulilmny
bys6of
societies,N ga" Reductioni the Na
public funds,and
with the Commissioners fortlh'
tional Debt; and the rest in
sick-
ot other
improving.investments
ic o less
e;s
st hae charactersuni
thant b e oxfi, the
insesesxapleonndee.d Of the ttlibee2B,ooocOie,toioeos offoim' aeffmobrdeii•ns,gthreeliMefanin.chester
.
Unity and Odd Fellows alone contribute 276,25.1; the
Ancient Order of Foresters, 135,600 , and the Grand
United Order of Odd Fellows, 37,000.
PRICE OF GOLD. The quotation of gold at
Paris is about per mille dis., and the short exchange on
25.121 per £1 sterling. On comparing these
itandard gold, it appears that gold is rather More
the English Mint price of £3 17s. 10d. per
orl:llinotneesdeowifi
rt
than 1-10th per cent. dearer in Paris than in London. By
the price of gold is 4241 per mark,
nichbanurgge on London is 13.4.1 perXl sterling.
andalvi (;17e fsrhomorraex
Standard gold at the English Mint Trice is, therefore, at
about the s.ame price in London and Hamburg.'
The course
of exchange at New York on London for bills at 60 days'
sight is 1091 per cent., which, when compared with the
Mint par between the two countries, shows that the ex-
change is slightly in favour of England ; ard, after making
allowance for charges of transport and difference of interest,
the present rate leaves a very trifling profit on the importa-
tion of gold-from the United States.
POEMS IN HONOUR OF BURNS.—Mr. Monckton
Milnes, M.P., Mr. Tom Taylor, and Mr. Theodore Martin
have consented to act as judges of the poems submitted in
competition for the premium offered by the Crystal Palace
Company for the best poem in honour of the poet Burns.
These geneemen have already commenced their examina-
tion. We understand that the number of works received
up to the Ist inst.—the period named in the conditions—
amounted to no less than 600.