The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-31 00:00:00

, 1850.

[PRICE SD.

and those inevitable petty charges to which men were
subjected, who once, twice, and sometimes thrice in a
week quitted their business or their domestic hearths
to transact the business of a trading company ?
(Hear, lifer.) It would not be creditable to the
Ehareholders of a great and powerful company, as the
New Company had already become, to permit the
directors to place them under such an obligation.—
(Hear, hear.) Ile would propose a vote which,
while it would enable the directors to defray the
petty cash expenses to which he had referred, would
obviously be an adt quate recompense for their labours.
Ile proposed 500/. a year from the commence-
ment until they should, at the price of 4s. per thou-
sand, pay the dividend of ten per cent. out of the pro-
fits ; after which he would propose an allowance of
1,000!. per annum, with a further addition of 500/.
per annum upon their paying a ten per cent. divi-
dend, atter reducing the charge to 3s. 4d. per thou-
sand, which he was confident would be effected within
two years from that day.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. PEARsoN having proposed a resolution to that
effect,

Mr. MACHIN felt the liberality of the conduct of
the directors in proposing to suspend the receipt of
any recompense for their services until the dividend of
10 per rent. should be realised. He, however, had
been convinced by the reasoning of Mr. Pearson that
some pecuniary acknowledgment should at once be
awarded them for their valuable exertions.—(Hear,
hear.) Whether the sum proposed by Mr. Pearson
for that purpose was an adequate remuneration might
be doubted. He should second the motion if it would
be acceptable to the directors.—(Hear.)
The CHAIRMAN said that the directors having stated
their confidence in the speedy realisation of a ten per
cent. dividend, and their readiness to suspend all re-
muneration until that event, they would leave that
matter where the deed of incorporation left it—with
the shareholders.—(Cheers.)
Mr. G. Virtue was appointed one of the auditors,
and, other business having been transacted, the meet-
ing adjourned.

AMERICAN PACKET STATION
IN IRELAND.
An interesting report on the south-western har-
bours of Ireland, and their respective capabilities for
a transatlantic packet-station, has lately been pre-
sented to the Cork and Bandon Railway Company by
Mr. Nixon, their engineer. The harbours examined
were four, namely, Berehaven, Bantry, Crookhaven,
and Dunmanus, and they all present advantages of
an important kind. Berehaven is at the entrance of
Bantry Bay, forty miles in longitude west of Galway,
and from its large area, and the great facilities which
the surrounding coast affords for making its defences,
it is pointed out as a most commanding position both
for a naval and a Transatlantic packet-station. Bantry
harbour is situated twenty miles up the bay above
Berehaven, to which, however, it is inferior both in
respect to extent as well as to ingress and egress
with adverse winds. Crookhaven is situated on the
most southern promontory of Ireland, and its longi-
tude is 30 miles west of Galway. It is small, as com-
pared with Berehaven or Bantry, but it is particularly
safe and easy of access in all winds, while its eligibi-
lity as a packet station is shown by the fact that it is
more frequented by Transatlantic traders than any
other harbour on the southern coast of Ireland. It
lies in a direct course between the coast of America
arid that of England ; the neighbouring coast is well
lighted from the Fastnet Rock and Bock Island, and
it is said to be generally free from those fogs which
so frequently occur on the western shores of the
island. The fourth harbour, that of Dunmanus, is
but little known. It is situated on the eastern side of
Dunmanus Bay, and is exceedingly small, and rarely
frequented. Its position, however, is very favourable
for a railway communication with Bandon. Each of
these harbours, from their southern position, would
present the advantage of being suitable as a port of
call, so that steamers might leave London or Liver-
pool with a much smaller supply of coals than
under present circumstances. At Berehaven
and Crookhaven this would especially be the
case. With regard to the means of connecting all or ,
any of the various points thus described with the pre-
sent
railway communication between Dublin and
Bandon, Mr. Nixon recommends the construction of
a line from Bandon to Bantry, with single rails, which
should branch off in two routes as it approaches the
latter town, the one to Berehm en and the other to
Dunmanus and Crookhaven. From Bandon to Bere-
ha‘en would he 641 miles, and the cost is estimated at
642,7501. From Bandon to Crookhaven would be 50
miles, at a cost of 395,0001. Supposing, however,
the entire plan carried out, 30 miles of the road
(namely, from Bandon to within five miles of Bantry,
cisting 225,000/0 would be common to both routes.
Mr. Nixon concludes his report as follows :—" In con-
clusion I have to offer a few remarks on the great na-
tional I;enetit4 which would arise by the construction of
railways in those loca'ities through which the pro-
jected lines would pass. I need scarcely remark that
the employment of the labouring poor is the only
means of reducing the rates which in the western and
populous districts of the county (Cork) is a matter of
the greatest importance to the ratepayers. And the
general employment created, as well by the construc-
tion as the maintenance of lines of railway, would so
reduce the pressure on the labour market, that all
classes would unquestiouably be greatly benefited by
the carrying out of large undertakings of the kind.
No better proof of this need be given than the fact
that during the construction of the Cork and Bandon
Railway several electoral divisions in its vicinity had
their poor so generally employed that no rate was
made in those districts during the time the works
were going on, and the increased traflic caused by the
completion of such works must lead to permanent
advantages, both to the agricultural and commercial
classes of the district,which cannot be over estimated."
—Times.

EMIGRATION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlB,—The prosperous state of the country, and the
want of subjects of interest to occupy public atten-
tion, seem to make the present a fitting time to
bring forward any plan by which a retrograde social
movement may be prevented, and the circumstances
of our labouring classes permanently improved. Emi-
gration is so universally admitted to be the simplest
and easiest means to this end, that I need not occupy
your paper with arguments to prove it. Emigration
has, however, in some sort fallen into descredit, be-
cause it has been presented to us in two phases only,
either as the indiscriminate shovelling of paupers out
of this country into another, or as an elaborate and
expensive process, which cannot be carried out except
under peculiar conditions, the success of which is by
many esteemed problematical, and which can never
be adopted on a larger scale.
I have for many years past been endeavouring to
arrarge some system which shall occupy a middle
position, make the labourer a landholder, and yet not
leave the capitalist without labour; be inexpensive
enough in its details to admit of universal adoption,
yet afford opportunity for the investment of large
capital ; give to the emigrant ultimately the freedom
of mind and independence resulting from the know-
ledge that what he possesses he has bought
and paid for, and return proper interest on
the capital required—a system which should
be at once social and remunerative, which
should offer as much inducement to the
small capitalist as the labourer, not only
from the cheapness of land and prospect of success in
the mere business of life, but because it would afford
religious and mental instruction and medical aid,
without which the voice of the world has most justly
decided that emigration is a serious, if not anunmiti-
gated, evil to the emigrant, whatever relief his ab-
sence may prove to those whom he has left behind.
The expense of the voyage to Australia or New
Zealand, and the price and character of the land in
those countries, unfit them for any such purpose. Our
North American colonies are, therefore, those only to
which we can look with hope. Lately " annexation"
has, if I mistake not, been a bugbear to many ; it
may be doubted if even her Majesty's Government
did not share the panic ; and, indeed, annexation will
take place in one sense, though not as they supposed.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have, it appears,
determined to connect themselves commercially to
Maine and Massachussette, by accepting the proposal
made by those states to continue the line of railway
from Portland to Halifax, and make that port the
Atlantic terminus, at least for passengers and mails.
That in some way Halifax would arrive at this pre-
eminence was geographically certain, though our
rulers appear never to have recognised it. It was less
to be expected that the Yankees would have done so.
They are, however, wise in their generation ; let us
profit by their wisdom.
The additional value thus conferred on the province
of New Brunswick, together with the wise decision
of its Government with respect to the sale of waste
lands, may induce others to think, as I have long
done, from intimate personal knowledge of the cha-
racter and resources of that colony (in which, how-
ever, I have no other interest whatever than arises
from this knowledge), that it presents advantages for
emigration afforded by no other, and is specially
adapted for the abode of Englishmen. The accounts
given in the dispatches of Sir Edmund Head to Lord
Grey, with those of Dr. Gesner and Others, may
satisfy any one that, notwithstanding the rigour of
the winter—which has, however, been greatly exag-