The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-25 00:00:00

THE GREAT SHIP COMPANY.

Ths directors of this company have compiled a
report to be pfesented to the shareholders at a
public meeting to be held at the London Tavern on
the 28th. They congratulate the shareholders that
the trial trip to New York was made at a loss of
only £344 odd, and then continue as follows :

As explained in the previous report of your
directors, it was their intention to have despatched
the ship on a second voyage to New York on the
17th of October last, but after considering the re-
quirements of the Board of Trade for one voyage
only, and the very imperfect state of the decks laid
down by Mr. J. Scott Russell under his contract,
your directors, with the advice and concurrence of
some of the largest proprietors, whom they invited
to confer with them on the subject, abandoned that
intention.

Your directors then reduced the staff and all other
expenses as mach as possible, and proceeded with
the alterations and repairs. The bearing of the
screw shaft was far the most serious task. By very
skilful arrangements the necessity of removing the
shaft from the ship was overcome, and the work
has made such progress as to leave no reasonable
doubt of its satisfactory completion, together with
the feed pumps to the paddle boilers, recommended
by the Board of Trade, in the ensuing month.
The main deck has been sheathed with 11-inch
boards over a layer of tarred patent felt, thus form-
ing a double deck. Your directors believe that by
these means the deck (hitherto a constant source of
injury and annoyance) will be watertight, and the
inconvenience thoroughly removed.
The saloon and cargo decks have been caulked,
and many other minor but important works are in
progress.
The question of future employment for your ship
has received the most serious consideration of your
directors. The want of public confidence in the
ship has hitherto baffled your directors in their
endeavours to obtain sufficient passengers and
freight to remunerate the proprietors. They hope
that the voyage to America has in a great degree
removed the impediment. The passengers unani-
mously expressed their aprcciation of the ease
and comfort they enjoyed, and the total absence of
sea-sickness, even to the most sensitive. Her ex-
cellence as a sea-boat has been proved, and notwith-
standing the inevitable disadvantages of an ex-
perimental voyage, your directors can now place
full reliance on her steady speed. They believe
that another successful voyage to America will
establish the desired confidence, and that she may
then be profitably employed in any trade where
her great capacity and power can be developed.
It is clear that by a computation of her speed now
established, she would accomplish a voyage to
India or Australia within 40 days, upon a ratio of
consumption of coals far below that of other steam-
ships. Your directors hare, therefore, resolved
upon despatching the ship to America early in
April next, and they hope that the receipts from
all sources will at least equal the expenditure, as
experience has proved that the working expenses
of the ship may be reduced to the ordinary charges
of merchant steamers, which reduction your direc-
tors are determined to effect.

The liabilities of the company are stated to be as
follows :
Amount awarded to Mr. J. S. Russell £lB,OOO 0 0
do. claimed by Mr. R. S. Parry 5,876 6 4
do. „ „ Mr. C. Lungley
do. „ „ sundry persons 1,120 9 7

£31,815 16 9
The report to the directors of Mr. Brereton, the
engineer, is subjoined, and is highly satisfactory.

EXTRAORDINARI CASE 01 BREACH

OF PROMSE OF XARRIAGE

In the Glasgow Sheriff Court on Tuesday, an
action was tried at the instance of a saddler in
Cathcart, named Andrew Turnbull, against Agnes
Barr, for breach of promise of marriage, conclud-
ing for £2OO damages.
The pursuer stated that he had always been en-
tertained in a kind and cordial manner by the
defender, and that in June, 18A, in presence of a
nephew and others, an offer and acceptance of mar-
riage were concluded between them, inconsequence
of which he had made extensive alterations in his
dwelling-house, and otherwise incurred consider-
able expense, while the defender refused to fulfil
her promise. Not only so, but she had taken up
with another man, and been cried in the parish
chu.-eli, in order to marriage with him. The pur-
suer put in the following document:—
" Promise of marriage between Andrew Turnbull
and Agnes Barr :—Busby, June, 18, 1800.—I,
Andrew Turnbull, before God, do take Agnes Barr
to be my beloved wife, and to the party that rues
they must pay £lOO to the other party.—Signed
by AGNES BARR. AND. TURNBULL."
The defence was a denial that any mutual affec-
tion had sprung up between the parties, or that any
offer or acceptance of marriage was concluded be-
tween them; and an averment that the signing of
the document called the " Promise of Marriage"
was purely a joke.
John Thomson, the defender's nephew, deponed—
In June last, in the kitchen of Busby Farm-house, I
wrote out the document produced. The pursuer
asked me to write it. We had been joking about
lads and lasses. It was as a joke that the pursuer
asked me to write said document. I wrote in addi-
tion the writing above the words "signed by," and
the pursuer wrote after them the words " James
Todd," but he afterwards scored them out. I believe
the pursuer at that time put his own signature to
it, and that the defender then signed it also. They
were laughing at the time: The whole thing was
considered a joke by all parties. Some weeks after-
wards the pursuer spoke about the line, and said
he must get money from the defender if she did not
marry him. The defender's interest in her brother's
succession does not exceed £lOO, as far as I know.
After some other evidence had been led, the sheriff
pronounced judgment in favour of the defender ;
but she would have to bear the expense of 4pfend-
ing the action, as a punishment for her imprudence
in signing the "promise ;" and said that lovers
could not be too cautious in avoiding anything like
a joke about marriage.

An Old Four-Horse Stage Coach will ere long be less a
novelty than premature Grey Hair, which is fast disappearing
under the effects of Herring's Magnetic Brushes and Combs,
which recent improvements have rendered almost infallible
in restoring the colour to grey hair, and also in removing:
the agony of tic doloreux and nervous headache. N.B.—Coun-
terfeits are being made. Offices, 32, Basinghall-street,
London.

betheairvoi
agipap‘oaintetmaenadt, paearpdetueaatpeendeelseamseasy;
[A.DvEaTistmENT.) rills and medicine invariably ag-
aanednoybayncpee,
redolass-
in indifferent health sending only their address to E.
S. Barry, Esq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and the)
will receive gratis and free by post the "INVALIDS' OWN
iITIDr," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex
p 'nee, of perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, and
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints
nausea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility, nervousness, paipitatiot,
cough, asthma, consumption, dropsy, flatulency, diarrhoea,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds,
noises in the ears. rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpi-
tation, heartburn, headache, despondency, cramps, spasms,
sinking, fits, brootiitte,— .‘ Lro tustion.Ably the rudest Quids
Pt health.','