The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-09 00:00:00

NAVAL FORCES.*

The Naval Officer actually commanding the said Naval
Forces—Fifty-one shares.
Captains in the Royal Navy, not commanding the said
Naval Forces—Seventeen shares each.
Commanders—Sixteen shares each.
Lieutenants in the Royal Navy, Captains of Marines,
Masters, Surgeons, Paymasters, and Pursers—T;velve
shares each.

Mates, Lieutenants of Marines, Assistant Surgeons—
Seven shares and a half each.

.......
Second Masters, Midshipmen, Master's Assistants,
Clerks, Navel Cadets, Clerks' Assistants—Five shares and
a half each. _ . _ . __

Warrant Officers, and Sergeants of Marines—Three
shares each.

Vv
Petty Officers, and Corporals of Marines—One share and
•
a half each.

Seamen and Marines—Ono share each.

The share of the native troops to be fixed in proportion to
their day's pay;
but no such share to be less than one-half

RAILWAY LATTEJLIGENCE.

GRAND TRUNK W CANADA.

The select committee of sharehcders and bondholders in
this company, appointed on the 2d f January to confer with
the directors concerning all the affairs of the company,
have just issued their first report. It states that they have
-examined at great length the preident and many of the
officers of the company, whose 'sit to this country had
been required preparatory to the anuary meeting, and for
other purposes. The committee lave also examined other
persons practically acquainted will Canada, and personally
conversant with the condition, diiculties, and prospects of
the Grand Trunk line. The comnittee have also, as directed
by the terms of the resolution afpointing them, conferred
frequently and freely with the Lndon Board of Directors,
and they have had placed fitly at their disposal all
the information and resources available in this coun-
try. - As thn result of these Inquiries and conferences
the committee have stavired at the clear conviction that
until the report of the three commissioners appointed by
the Government of Canada, in November last, to inquire
into the present condition and management of the Grand
Trunk line, has beet, received here, it will be premature to
send to Canada from this country any second commission of
inquiry. The report of the Canada Commissioners will be
presented in the course of the present month of February,
and will, therefore, be received in England within a few
weeks from this date. The committee havo also arrived
at the conclusion that at present it is not expedient to send
to Canada, as proceeding officially either from the commit-
tee or the London Board, any specific scheme or proposal
indicating the precise mode in which relief is to be sought
from the Government of Canada. The Canadian Parlia-
ment will assemble about the end of the present month of
February, and the committee believe that they are quite
justified in their expectation that the subject of the difficul-
ties of the Grand Trunk Company will form one of the ear-

liest questions to be consideredby one or both of the Houses
of Legislature. The committee, as at present advised, re-
commend the share and bondholders to await intelligence
of the course taken by the Canadian Government and Par-

liament. The committee desire to state that they have exa-
mined carefully, to the extent of the means in their power,
into the manner in which the affairs of the company are
managed in Canada; but, inasmuch as the evidence thus
obtained is voluminous in its nature and refers to matters of
practical detail, requiring closer investigation and more
careful deliberation than the committee have been able as
yet to bestow upon it, they refrain for the present from re-
cording their opinims in this report further than that the
general system of management will require considerable
modification. In the meantime the committee have adopted
the conclusion that the best and most effective means of
advancing the claim of the Grand Trunk Companyupon the
ccnsideration of the Canadian Government and Houses of
Assembly will be by means of a petition to be sent by the
share and bondholders in this country, praying generally
(subject to a careful reservation of all legal rights) for
relief and assistance in the present embarrassments of
the line. The committee have prepared a petition in
this sense, and a copy of it is appended to the report.
This petition will lie for signature in London at the offices
of the company, 21, Old Broad-street, City ; at Messrs.
IVaterlow's, Bit:lain-lane and Parliament-street; and at the
Stock Exchange, London ; and at the several Stock Ex-
changes at Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, and Dublin. The despatch
of the petition by the earliest possible date is most impor-
tant, and hence the committee have to urge the promptest
measures for the collection of a large number of signatures.
The committee have appended to their report a statement of
reasons in support of the petition of the share and bond
holders applying for aid to the Canadian Parliament. The
committee rest their appeal tc the Canadian Parliament on
sixprincipal grounds, viz., 1, on the circumstances connected
with the introduction of the Grand Trunk scheme into the
English money market early in 1853; 2, on the declared
policy of the-Legislature of Canada on the subject of rail.
ways for several years prior to the prospectus of 1833; 3,
on the apportionment of nearly two-thirds of the total aid
granted by the province to the construction of lines which
at present and for several years to come are and must be
wholly non-commercial in their character—that is to say,
that while desirable as public works for the benefit of Ca-
nada, are indefensible as mercantile investments for pur.
poses of dividend ; 4, on the obligations of aid which have
been admitted by the province in the course of discussions
which have taken place during the last few years ; 5, on
the benefits which have been conferred by the Grand Trunk
system on the province ; and 6, on considerations of general
policy touching the future progress of Canada, and insepar-
able from the financial credit of the Grand Trunk Railway
Company. The original prospectus of the Grand Trunk
Railway Company of Canada was issued in London in
April, 1853. It proposed to raise a total capital of £9,500,000
sterling, for the purpose of completing and constructing a
series of main or trunk lines within the province of Ca-
nada, extending to a mileage of 964 statute miles. As por-
tions of this mileage, the prospectus set forth that the fol-

lowing railways, the works of vhich were in a state more or
less advanced, would be amalgamated with the new com-
pany,viz., Grand Trunk Railwsyof Canada East, 142 miles;
Quebec and Richmond Railvay, 96 miles; St. Lawrence
and Atlantic Railway, 144 miles; Grand Junction Railway,
50 miles; Toronto and Guelph Railway, 51 miles. To the
mileage of 964 miles within Canada was to be joined, by
means of a lease in perpetuity, the Atlantic and St. Law.
rence Railway, running for 48 miles through the State of
Maine from the frontier at Island Pond to the city of Port-
land on the Atlantic shore. The total mileage, therefore,
amounted to 1,112 miles, and included the Victoria-bridge
at Montreal. Interest at 6 per cent. per annum on the shares
and bonds was promised until the entire completion of the
works. A sum of £837,600 in shares and debentures was
stated to be expressly reserved for parties in Canada inte-
rested in some of the amalgamated lines. The estimated
gross earnings of the 1,112 miles when fully open were
computed in the prospectus atthe rate of £25 per mild per
week, or equal to £1,479,66) per annum. The working
expenses were estimated at 40 per cent., or equal to
£591,864 per annum, leaving sn annual sum of £887,796
available for rental of leased lines, debenture interest at 6
per cent. per annum, and a dividend on £4,864,800 of share
capital equal to 111 per cent. per annum. Attached to the

prospectus were three elaborate appendices, the first de-
scribing in detail the proposed topography and estimated
cost of the system of lines ; the second entering into minute
calculations of revenue ; and the third, a copy of a lengthy
despatch from Lord Elgin, Governor-General of Canada,
dated at Quebec, the 22d of December, 1852, and setting
forth facts illustrative of the progress of Canada. By
frequent passages in the prospectus and appendices, this
despatch was rendered an integral part of the publication,
and was expressly employed and put forward in order to
stimulate the applications for shares and debentures. The.
first two names appearing in this prospectus as directors
in London, were Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P., and Mr
George Carr Glynn, M.P., described as "agents of the
Province of Canada, and directors of the company, on behalf
of the Canadian Government." The first six names in the
list of persons under the title of " Directors in Canada,"
were entered in the prospectus as follows, viz. :—" Hon.
John Ross, member of the Legislative Council, Solicitor-
General of Upper Canada, president ; Hon. Francis Hineks,
M.P., Inspector-General; Hon. E. P. Tache, M.L.C.,
Receiver-General; Hon. Jas. Morris, M.L.C., Postmaster-
General; Hon. Malcolralliameron, M.P., President of the
Executive Council; Hon. R. E.Caron, Speaker of the Legis-
lative Council." Your committee desire to represent in
terms the most forcible consistent with the perfect respect
entertained by them for the Legislature of Canada
that it was in bone fide reliance upon the representations
put forward as from the Canadian Government in this
prospectus, that in 1853 the petitioners and other persons
became subscribers to the Grand Trunk Railway. The
petitioners, and their fellow-countrymen generally; read
the prospectus in its plain and obvious sense, and with
every disposition to attach none but the most obvious and
honourable meaning to the statements contained in the
document. Thoy found that two of the most distinguished
merchants and bankers in London were prominently
described as " directors on the part of the Canadian Go-
vernment." They found that no less than six leading
members of the Canadian Executive were directors in
Canada. They found elaborate topographical descriptions
in support of the statements of traffic ; and they also found
the official signature and statements of the Governor-
General virtually made part of the document. The
petitioners gave to Canada the full benofit of the official
connexion which its Legislature and Government so
markedly assumed in the prospectus, and they became in-
vestors in Canada and claimants on the Grand Trunk
Railway, in the full persuasion that a Colonial Government
which had sought assistance in England in a form so public
and conspicuous, would at all times be ready to extend'to
the obligations thus incurred at a distance of 3,000 miles
not a construction resting on narrow rules of law, but an
interpretation large, liberal, and statesmanlike. The
committee rely with confidence upon the readincge of the