The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-28 00:00:00

THAMES.

AUDACIOUS STREET ROBBERY.—An active and well •
known thief, who gave the name of James Byrne, but
whose real name is Smith, was brought before Mr. Selfe,
charged with the commission of the following impudent
robbery.

Mrs. Charlotte Cooke, the wife of Mr. Stephen Edward
Cooke, of the Dining-rooms, No. 6, Little Argyll-street,
Oxford-street, stated that she went to the surgery of Mr.
Arnold, in Brook-street, Ratcliff, last night, to have an
operation performed upon one of her fingers. She was on
her return home, along the Commercial-road, a feW minutes
before ten, carrying in her hand a blask bag, containing
15s. in money, some books, and other property, when the
prisoner came up to her, snatched her bag and ran away.
She pursued him, and screamed aloud, and also called out

"stop thief." The prisoner was stopped by a young man,
and her bag, money, and property were recovered.
The prisoner, a sullen and impudent fellow, here said,
"The woman don't know what the bag contained. She
said there was only 14s. 6d. in it last night when she was
at the station."

Mr. Selfe—You can make the most of that when you are
before a jury. She now says there was 15s. in the bag.
Two young men, named Story and Bissett, said they saw
the prisoner running with a black bag in his hand. They
seized him by the collar, and took the bag from him.
Inspector Dendy, of the H division, said he believed the
prisoner had just come out of the Wandsworth House of
Correction, where he had been imprisoned for 12 months.
Roche, the gaoler of the court, said that convictions of
the prisoner in that court could be proved without diffi-
culty. •
Mr. Selfe said he had seen some remarks in the news-
papers attributed to his intelligent and experienced col-
league, Mr. Yardley, in which he entirely concurred, that
it was most important for the proper administration of
justice that wherever there had been a previous conviction
against a prisoner charged with felony, the police ought to
be in a condition to prove the former conviction. In the
first place, he could not, under the summary power en-
trusted to him, sufficiently punish offenders for such auda-
cious robberies as these; and in the next place,' where a
person had been previously convicted he had no right to
convict summarily.

After some further discussion, the :prisoner was com-
mitted for trial, Inspector Dendy undertaking to prove
former convictions when the prisoner was tried.

THE AFFAIRS OF MESSRS. CALVERT
AND COMPANY.

The inspectors of the affairs of Messrs. Calvert
having issued a proposal for the reconstruction of
the brewery on the joint stock principle, with
limited liability, accompanied by a form recom-
mending the unsecured creditors to take over the
balance of assets, after paying secured creditors,
and accept stock at par, in the proposed company,
or debentures payable in 1867, at the rate of £75
for every £lOO of present claim, bearing interest
at 5 per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly, in
satisfaction of their ,claims, a meeting was held
yesterday at the London Tavern, in pursuance of
the following resolution, unanimously agreed to at
a meeting of the deposit creditors on the 11th of
May, 1858, to take into consideration such pro-
posal :—" That this meeting strongly recommends
that the proposed three inspectors do allow Mr.
Smalley, the chairmim of this meeting, to act on
the part of the depositors, and to be allowed to in-
spect -the-books of the firm that now eitist and
which may be in future used ; and that the three
inspectors be requested to supply Mr. Smalley with
every information that he may require on the part
of the depositors, and that Mr. Smalley do report
to a future meeting of the depositors, to be con-
vened when and for such purposes as he may see
fit."

Mr. SMALLEY addressed the meeting at consider-
able length, entering into a variety of statistics
to prove the soundness of the scheme. He stated
that the brewery produced a profit of £45,000 dur-
ing the last year, and there was no reason to sup-
pose that, in the event of the formation of a
company, its profits would diminish, so that by
adopting the step suggested there would be a fair
chance of the creditors getting their money, whilst
if such a course were not adopted very considerable
loss would ensue in the altered circumstances
arising out of the deficiency on the sale of the
private estates. It was believed that debentures to
the extent of about £lOO,OOO would be taken ; but
even if they extended to £200,000, there would still
remain a considerable dividend from the profits of
the brewery after paying the interest on the deben-
tures, while the debentures being available in the
market could be immediately realised. Not a
shilling would be required to be invested beyond
the amount of the debt, nor would any shareholder
be liable to the holders of debentures.
Mr. FUNNELL moved a resolution to the effect,

" That this meeting having considered the circular
of the inspectors of the 14th inst., distributed
among the creditors, and also the circular of Mr.
Smalley of the 13th inst., convening the present
meeting, and having heard the explanation given
by lir. Smalley of the altered position of the affairs
of Messrs. Calvert and Co., which works to the
detriment of the joint estate, are of opinion that it
is highly desirable, and in the interest of the credi-
tors generally, to avoid the fearful consequences of
winding-up the estate by a sale of the property, to
adopt the suggestion made by the inspectors in
their circular of the 14th inst., and that this meet-
ing resolve to refer the suggestion made to the
inspectors, with the request that they will endea-
vour without delay to carry out the suggestion
made by the letter of the 14th inst., and to report
to a further meeting of the creditors."
The motion was seconded by Mr. VOUSLEY, and,
after a lengthened discussion, was carried, there not
being more than about half a dozen dissentients.
A resolution was then passed, authorising the
issue of circulars, and requesting the unsecured
creditors to return them signed within a month,
expressing their approval or otherwise of the
scheme. Another resolution was also passed, re-
questing Mr. Smalley to continue his supervision
of the affairs of the estate, and the proceedings
then terminated.