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

LAW AND POLICE.

CAN A SECRETARY VOTE AS A DIRECTOR ?—This point ,
was settled in a case that was before the Court of Common 3
Pleas, called the Iron Ship-coating Company (Limited) v.
Blunt. This was an action by the company against a
shareholder to recover £2OB for amount of calls unpaid. 1
It was tried before the Lord Chief Justice, when a verdict '
was given for the plaintiff, but subsequently a rule nisi '
was obtained. When the case came on for argument,
the objection raised by the defendant was that by the
articles of association three directors were to be a quorum,
and they had power to make calls. By the Joint-Stock
Companies Act, 25 and 26 Victoria, cap. 89, sec. 72, any
director elected to an office other than manager was dis-
qualified from acting as such director. In the present case
one of the three directors had been elected and acted as.
secretary, and it was contended that his holding of this
office disqualified him from acting as a director under the
statute ; the call had, therefore, been made by two direc-
t ..s Only, and was not duly made, as a quorum of three
directors only could make a call. To this it was answered
that a resolution had been passed by the quorum that two
of their body might manage the business of the company;
to which it was replied that a quorum, as delegates
of the whole body of directors, had no power to
alter their delegated authority and delegate it to two
directors or to one, and that the call, therefore, was
not properly made. In giving judgment the Lord Chief
Justice said a resolution had been passed appointing two
directors to act as managers, and Mr. Grabham had been
appointed one of them, with a salary. It seemed to him
that on the passing of that resolution Mr. Grabham ceased
to be the secretary, and became on its passing a director,
and one of two appointed to manage the affairs of the
company, and as such competent to act as secretary.
Under these circumstances the objection failed. He was
a director, and the "call was regularly made. The rule
must, therefore, be discharged.
Cunious ACTION FOR DAMAGES.—In the Nisi Prius
Court of Common Pleas an action was brought
by a gardener, named,. Denyer, for damages against a
brickmaker named Burchett. It was an action for damages
sustained by the plaintiff by reason of the fumes and
vapours proceeding from the defendant's brick-kiln having
injured his crop of fruit and trees in 1864. The defendant
said that his brick clams had nothing to do with the state
of the plaintiff's trees and fruit. The jury found a verdict
for the plaintiff ; damages, £lOO.
THE HERNE BAY OYSTER COMPANY.—In Vice Chan-
cellor Stuart's court the case of Downs v. the Herne
Bay, Hampton, and.Reculver Oyster Fishery Company
was disposed of. The plaintiff is a fisherman, inhabiting a
cottage near Hampton Point, on the north coast of Kent:
of this cottage as well as that of a weir and of the adjoin-
ing foreshore (or the land between high and low water
mark), in the estuary of the River Thames, he claimed the
absolute ownership, subject to a quit rent of ss. a year to
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The Herne Bay
Fishery Company were incorporated in 1864 by an Act of
Parliament, the 31st section of which expressly provided
that the company should not take or use otherwise than
by agreement any weir, land, or fishery belonging
to Joseph Downs, the plaintiff ; this clause being
inserted in consequence of the plaintiff's opposition to the
bill in Parliament. Soon after the passing of the
Act the defendants commenced their works by the erection
of a pier within a few yards of the plaintiff's property, and
in so doing they removed a quantity of shingle that was
of great value to him, forming as it did a natural barrier
to his house and land from the sea. The shingle, notwith-
standing his complaints, continued to be removed, and
the plaintiff brought a suit to restrain the defendants from
so doing. The Vice-Chancellor, in giving judgment, said
that the defendants had no right to take away the shingle,
and the plaintiff was entitled to compensation.

A public park has been formally presented to
the people of Paisley by Mr. T. Coats, of Ferguslie, at a
cost of £20,600.

An idiot young woman has been burnt to death
near Stafford. She had been left alone but a few minutes,
when her clothes caught fire, and she died in a few hours.

A young gentleman, 19 years of age, the son of
Sir Richard Gethen, Bait., has been committed for trial
by the Birkenhead magistrates on a charge of arson,

According to the Wiltshire papers, the Earl of
Cavan has been preaching to large congregations in the
Congregational chapels in Warminster.

The pearl fishery grounds recently discovered at
Western Australia extend along the coast for 1,000 miles.
Upwards of sixty tons of pearl oysters were fished up in
December last, and sold for £lOO per ton.

As the Scotch express train was within half a
mile of Usworth station, on the North-Eastern line, a day
or two ago, an old woman, named Maria Hand, who bw-
pened to be walking on the line, was knocked down ..,nd
killed.

Up to the 22nd instant 5,297 petitions, contain-
ing 5:37,385 signatures, had been presented to the House
of Commons against the disendowment of the Irish
Church, while 2,132 petitions, signed by 558,138 persons,
had been deposited in favour of Mr. Gladstone's mea•

sure.

KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.—Professor Plumptri
has resigned the chaplaincy of King's College, whit
b
he has held during the long period of twenty-two years.
It was generally thought that he would have been
elected to the principalship of the college in succession to
Dr. Jelf.

On the 25th of next month Lord Elcho will move
that a humble address be presented to her Majesty, pray-
ing that she will he graciously pleased to appoint a royal
commission to inquire into and report upon our military
organisation, in so far as it relates to the establish-
ment of a sufficient and economical army of reserve, and
the means it offers of speedy and efficient expansion to
meet the requirements of war, more especially for home
defence.

THE CHARTERHOUSE.—It is known that the old
Charterhouse School is to find a new home near Godalming,
in Surrey, where a large and commodious edifice is build-
ing for the accommodation of the scholars of the famous
Sutton's foundation. It is now stated that another asylum
is also contemplated for the " poor brotherhood " of the
Charterhouse ; but whether the site will be that of the
new school or be selected elsewhere is not known. The
poor brothers now number about eighty.

THE MI C .lANI CS' INSTITUTE AT LEEDS. A
bazaar of more than usual interest has been opened in the
Leeds Town Hall by the Mayor. It has for its object the
liquidation of the debt—about £6,000—remaining on the
new local Mechanics' Institute, and has the Queen, the
Empress of the French, the Princess of Wales, and
the Crown Princess of Prussia, as well as the promi-
nent ladies of the West Riding, amongst its patronesses,
the Empress of the French and the Crown
Princess of Prussia being also contributors. Leeds
Mercury.

The Queen has received an address from the
parishioners of Crathie in reference to the attempt upon
the life of Prince Alfred. The following was the reply :
" I thank you for your loyal and affectionate congratulation
on the providential escape of my dear son from the hand
of the assassin. The expression of sympathy and of loyal
attachment to myself and to my family which this outrage
has called forth from every part of my dominions has
been most gratifying to me ; but nowhere has it been
more grateful to my feelings than when coming thus cor-
dially and spontaneously from you, the friends and neigh-
bours amongst whom it is always a source of happiness to
me to reside."

THE REFORM LEAGUE.—On Wednesday night a
meeting of the Reform League was held at the offices of
the association, under the presidency of Mr. Edmond
Reales. In opening the proceedings, the chairman said
that though there was great difficulty in convening a
numerous meeting on the evening of the Derby Day, he
wished to address a few words to those present on a subject of
considerable importance. The question had been submitted
to a committee of the League as to whether the present Lord
Mayor of London had on several recent occasions properly
represented the feelings of the citizens of London concern.
ing the present attitude of the Irish Church.. In other
words, he wished to know whether or not the Lord Mayor
of London bad represented the opinions of the English
people as regarded religious freedom—or, as he would say,
religions
e lqnalait3y.orii(liiltrhinegslisits ;eeacrotomf torfryi.celoilelgchotntsoidhefrtNede
that a Lord
no politics, and that the chief magistrate of the City for
j the time being ought to hold the balance of power between
all political parties. It was important to know
whether the Lord Mayor bad adequately represented the
feelings of the citizens of London by the part lie had
taken in the meeting at St. James's Hall and also at the
meeting at the City Terminus. Hotel. He believed that
the Lord Mayor had rendered himself liable to a charge
of great indecency in submitting his own individual
opinions on a great national question to an assembly in
which her Majesty's judges were comprised, and in the
presence o• f several gentlemen of high position in the
State—many of whom were known to be opposed to the
policy advocated by the present Government. He believed
that it behove 1 the I e,gue to take such steps as would
c induce to the proper understanding of the opinions of
the citizens of London as regarded the all-absorbing subject
of the Irish Church. A long discussion then ensued on
the subject of the lodger franchise, after which the meeting
adjourned.