The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-28 00:00:00

LLOYD'S BONDS.

A case of some interest to the holders of Lloyd's bonds
has been disposed of by the Court of Chancery Appeal in
Ireland. The Newry and Armagh Railway Company
were authorised by their Act to borrow on mortgage or
bonds £lB,OOO, and had fully availed themselves of
their power to borrow on statutable bonds. Seven-
teen of these bonds, amounting to £11,760, were
assigned to the Imperial Mercantile Credit Asso-
ciation, who in December 1806, when interest was due
to the amount of £1,175, filed a petition through their
liquidator, their company being ordered to be wound up,
and obtained an order from the Vice-Chancellor, declaring
the bonds chargeable on the traffic receipts, and that all
such bondholders were entitled to a special lien on the
tolls and other property-of the company in priority to
other creditors. A receivership which has been ilpplinted
in another suit was extended for the benefit of the peti-
titioners. The railway company had issued Lloyd's bonds
to the extent of £219,000 beyond their. borrowing
powers, and also bills of exchange to the amount of
£70,850: Some of the holders of these bonds and bills of
exchange recovered judgments upon them, and converted
them into statutable mortgages. The Joint-Stock Dis-
count Company held such mortgages to the amount of
£22,800, and by their official liquidator—they also being
in process of winding-up—filed a petition in May 1866,
for a receiver over the tolls, and the prayer of' the
petition was granted. The receipts were found
insufficient to pay the interest on the debts. The Mer-
cantile Credit Association submitted in their petition that
the statutable mortgages obtained by the holders of Lloyd's
bonds and of the bills of exchange were puisne to the
statutable bonds which they hold themselves, and prayed
to have the amount charged upon the bills of the com-
pany in- priority to other conditions. The Lord
Chancellor pointed out the • distinction between the
right of mortgagees and bondholders, which were
definition in the 33rd section of the Act. It was not the
intention of the Act to give bondholders, as such, any
priority over judgment creditors. He therefore gave judg-
ment reversing the decree of the Vice-Chancellor, and
dismissing the petition with costs. The Lord Justice of
Appeal concurred in the decision, ruling that the bond-
holder had only a claim on the moneys of the company,
while the mortgagee had in addition a claim on the tolls
and traffic receipts.

There are now, or very shortly will be, no fewer
than eight vacant colonial bishoprics. The last resignation
is that of Dr. Alford, Bishop of Victoria, Hong
gong, who has held the see scarcely more than
sufficiently long to go out and come back again. The
bishopric of Mauritius has been vacant for some months ;
the bishopric of Labuan will be vacant in a fortnight ; the
bishopric of New Zealand is virtually vacant, though Dr.
Selwyn still holds it with his bishopric of Lichfield ; the
bishopric of Grafton is vacant by the untimely death of
Dr. Sawyer. The diocese of Westminster, British Colum-
bia, had a bishop assigned to it two years ago, but he has
not been consecrated. Dr. Harding has resigned the
bishopric of Bombay Vomit sine fructu defloruit sine luctu).
Dunedin's bishop, consecrated two-and-a-quarter years
ago, still continues to say " I go, sir," but goes
not, finding high ritual services in England more
pleasant than episcopacy in a primitive colony.
The Church News speaks of the diocese of Natal
as " vacant," though, as Bishop Colenso still fills
it, this is a theological figment rather than a
historical fact. On the other hand, " his Grace the Arch-
bishop of South Africa," as the News would call him, still
remains in England, and absents himself from his own
diocese in the vain endeavour to turn Bishop Colenso out
of his. Besides all these, there are a large number of
colonial bishops who name to England last September to
attend the Lambeth Conference, but have not yet found
their way back to their sheep in the wilderness.

Although Vice - Chancellor Giffard has denounced
spiritualism as "monstrous nonsense," and its great
apostle has come to grief in one of the most remarkable
cases heard for very many years, the believers in its reality
will doubtless take fresh courage from an extraordinary
letter which has recently appeared in the New York Round
Table. The writer, who is a lady, confesses that she was
connected with spiritualism before she was married ; that
after she was married her husband, who was " highly
scientific," refused to be a believer ; and that all her efforts
to convert him were vain, because " she was no medium."
Some time afterwards her husband died, and she had only
one hope—that of communicating with him. She had told
him to remember that she should call his spirit after death,
and on the evening which followed the fatal event
she was in company with three gentlemen, one of whom is
described as " a medium," and every spiritual exertion
was made to communicate with the deceased. "For four
nights," says the writer, "we sat two hours at a time,
with no signs of success. The fifth night I perceived a
slight motion. The sixth, the little table under our
fingers moved all round the large one, and this began per-
ceptibly to oscillate." Her companions soon afterwards
left her, and the results of the first spiritual manifestation
are given in detail. " I lay upon the sofa, with a drawing
board on my knees, and a sheet of paper on that, with
a pencil through a smaller board, hoping it would
write or move. In about half an hour two
very loud scratches sounded under the larger board.
I exclaimed, My God ! is that you ? If so, scratch twice
again.' Immediately two more loud scratches replied ;
then six or seven more, and all. was still. I went to bed ;
heard ticking all round the room ; then a loud shuffling of
feet on the floor." On the following morning the scratch-
ing was continued, the curtains overhead were violently
jerked, the board and pencil began to move rapidly, and
it appeared to be impelled by electric shocks. The
spirit was implored to write, and after some difficulty
the word " love " was traced distinctly. The writer's
hand then began to move of itself, and in a few days she
wrote " a running hand (not mine) which goes with great
velocity." Frequent communications were then made to
her, which ended in her being told that she was not
destined to 'bury herself, "hut to pursue a bright and
brilliant career, and to become a great writer and a great
instrument in the spiritual cause." The correspondent of
the Round Table concludes with a dissertation on the
:` singularly accurate parallel" presented by the progress
of spiritualism to that of Christianity, believing that the
parallel will be carried out to the end ; with this exception,
however, that as all things advance in keeping with their
epoch; niost likely the progress will be in a geometrical
ratio. Evidently the writer had not heard. the result of
the Home trial, or she would, perhaps, have found the
" parallel" less accurate.

The Dargan. Testimonial is making satisfactory
progress. Amongst the subscribers is the Duke of Lein-
ster, whose name is clown for £lOO.
It is stated that Lord Strathnairn, Commander-
in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland, will not return to
Dublin in that capacity.

The Yorkshire Post says a case of suicide, in-
volving also, it is supposed, one of murder, is reported
from Selby. The body of a young man named Adamson
has been found in the Derwent, near Bubwith, and there
is good reason fcr the belief that he drowned himself after
having made away, in a similar manner, with a young
woman named Buttle, whom he was courting, and who is
now missing.

SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—A fatal accident of a very
remarkable character is reported from Lancaster. An in-
quest has been held in that town respecting the death of
Robert Townley, a youth aged 17 years. The deceased
was a clerk in the employ of the Lancaster Banking Com.
pany, and it was a part of his duty to remain after the
other clerks had left, at closing time, for the purpose of
making the strong room secure. On Tuesday afternoon
he stayed for this purpose, as usual. In tho strong room
there was a trapeze suspended from the roof, ane. the
junior clerks were in the habit of amusing themselves by
exercising upon it in their leisure time. Deceased was
noted for his skill upon the trapeze. About two hours
after closing time the cashier, who had been to dine, was
surprised to find the hat of the deceased hanging in its
usual place in the office. He ordered a search to be made,
and on entering the strong room they found deceased
hanging by the neck to a rope which had been fastened to
one of the rings of the trapeze. He was quite dead. It
appears that be was fond of practising on the rope, and
often hung upon a noose by the chin. It is supposed that
he was doing this on Tuesday, when the noose slipped
against his throat and strangled bin before he could take
.hold of the loose end of the rope and so release himself.
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