The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 29, 1888.

FAIL TVA I" INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON BRIGHTON AND SOUTH COAST.

The directors of the London, Brighton, and
South Coast Railway Company have issued their
report in anticipation of the meeting. They state
that since coming into office their efforts have
been constantly directed towards winding up
all outstanding liabilities so as to arrive at a
closed capital account, and the result is that the
amount of these, which was formerly estimated
at £2,323,177, is now £804,320. Of this,
£275,000 consists of disputed liabilities for the
balance of alleged subscriptions to the Surrey
and Sussex and Chichester and Midhurst Railways,
leaving the balance admitted to be £529,320.
The assets of the company at present consist of
£326,572 cash at the bank, nearly the whole of
which will be absorbed in paying debenture and
preference interest ; balance of old debenture
power on the Ist of January, £43,000 ; balance of
existing authorised stock, £235,000 ; and debenture
power accruing in respect of the last issue and
otherwise, which the directors are advised amounts
to £392,000, but which they think it right to
defer exercising for the present. The position
therefore, is that, irrespective of disputed liabilities,
the existing powers of raising capital are just about
sufficient to meet the admitted claims. The report
goes on to state that the directors ate advised the
subscriptions to the Surrey and Sussex and Chiches-
ter and Midhurst Companies are invalid, and they
have had no alternative but to file a bill in Chan-
cery to assert the legal position of the company and
claim back the moneys which they are advised have
beenimproperly applied in payment of those sub-
scriptions. This was also necessary in order to re-
strain the action of creditors of those companies
who sought to prosecute their claims against the
Brighton Company. The directors, however, con-
sider that the question is oue which ought to be
settled by compromise rather than contested upon
strict legal rights, and they will be glad to deal
with any proposal which may be made in a liberal
spirit, and to avoid pressing too severely on the old
directors. The total expenditure on capital account
during the last half-year has been £199,226 17s.
ld., which consists entirely of expenditure on new
lines in progress or in winding up the accounts
of those recently opened. The gross revenue
of the half-year has been £709,654, showing an
increase of £53,96 over the corresponding period
of 1866. The expenditure, however, is much above
what had been anticipated, the old system of
accounts, which charged to capital much of _what
should have fallen on revenue, having completely
misled the board. The directors express their
belief that, if all proper expenses had been charged
to revenue, the real rate at which the Brighton
line has been worked for some time would have
been not less than 75 per cent., and that during a
great part of the time while dividends of 6 per
cent. were being paid on the ordinary stock, the
company was not really earning enough to pay its
preference interest. The balance shown of revenue
over expenditure is £309,525, including an amount
of £6,805 brought forward from last half-year.
This sum, after paying debenture interest, just
suffices to pay interest on all preference stocks
created prior to 1865, carrying forward a small
balance of £l,OOB. At the ensuing meeting it will
be proposed to reduce the number of the board
from nine to eight, and if the report be adopted
the present directors will remain in office, with
the exception of Sir Charles Jackson, who retires.

the height of the gale ; if so, there is no doubt they
must have all foundered.

On Saturdap afternoon the bark Britannia, Capt.
Greig, bound from the West Coast of Africa for
Liverpool, put in to Holyhead, having on board the
master (Capt. Ferguson) and 21 men of the ship
Ghazeepore, from Akyab, laden with rice, for Liver-
pool. On Monday afternoon the Britannia, while
40 miles south of Cork, came up to the Ghazee-
pore, which had been totally dismasted two days
previously and was in a sinking condition. The
crew were put on board the Britannia with consi-
derable difficulty. They landed at Holyhead and
proceeded on to Liverpool. They spoke very grate-
fully of Capt. G-reig's kindness to them.
The lifeboats in connection with the Royal Na-
tional Lifeboat Institution have been the means of
saving life on the coast of North Wales and at Holy
Island, Ramsgate, Anstruther, and other stations.

STALE SEI TLEJIENT AND NATURALI-
ZATION.

From the Anglo-American Times.)
Governor BULLOCK in his Message to the Mas-
sachusetts Legislature touches on a subject which,
in a more general way, is now exciting the atten-
tion of the Anglo-Saxon race. The Massachusetts

[aws of settlement are not remotely connected with

the laws of naturalization, and the customs of Mas-

sachusetts exemplify the necessity for change, show-
. .

Lug that however good originally, and well qualified
to meet the difficulties of the day, the best laws

may, under another order of things, become op-
pressive, and even absurd. It appears that in Mas-
sachusetts the State is responsible for the support
of all descendants of men and women who once

gained or derived a settlement within its limits,
their obligation remaining, though the family may
have left the soil for centuries. Whoever once se-
cured a settlement in Massachusetts retains the

right for his descendants, no matter how remote—
no matter where born or bred—to a provision in
case of destitution. Their sick, their insane, their

defective, their paupers, may return to Massachu-
setts to be supported by the town of original set-
tlement. The statutes of the State, as shown in

elaborate treaties by the Attorney-General, forbid
their removal--though they.may be but great-grand-
children of the original settler, and acquired sub-
sequent settlements elsewhere—except with their
own free consent. Practically to illustrate his sub-

ject, the Governor gives the following instances :
" One hundred years ago a resident of a small town
in the county of Worcester whose political senti-
ments, according to tradition, were obnoxious to his
fellow-citizens, emigrated to a neighbouring State,
where he lived and died, and his descendants after
him to the fourth generation, all having settlements
in that State, and nearly all owners of the soil. A
few years since one of his great-grandsons returned
to Massachusetts, became insane, and was sent to
the hospital at a cost to the small town above
named, whence his ancestor originated, of about
twelve hundred dollars up to this time, and of two.
'
hiandreddollaii a:- year' jee addition, asllting ae-lie
may live. He cannot legally be returned to his, own
birth-place and. the hotne;of. his
fathers' for four
generations. About 1743 ajapeily lett:'a
,smalltown in the conntyofßristoj, ,and.gained Settle-
meats successivelY. in three other New. England
States, never retarnine to reside in Massachusetts.
One hundred and . eighteen years afterwards four
idiot members of this family were returned to this
State to be supported by the ancestral town at an
expense of not less than six hundred dollars a year.
A town in the county of Norfolk, by virtue
of an ancestral settlement, is now compelled
to support a lunatic who escaped a few
months since from the almshouse of his native
city, where his legal residence, is undisputed."
The English law of citizenship is
• I difference, that
same principle, with this mateagrounded on the
m
England selfishly endeavoured to hold her subjects
to the duties involved in citizenship, while she in
effect repudiated the reciprocal duties of protection.
i▪ ts inhabitants the
But Massachusetts has fixed on
right to her support. The burden of supporting the descendants of Close who
once acquired the
per-
manent and settled population has been gradually
entitled to aid may be counted by millions scattered
course such a system. is; unfair
over the globe. Of ce .
but surely decreasing, while the number of those
The first. instance of State
and requires rev
the history of Massachu-
settspauperism mentioned
in the time of
occurred as early a 51639,
ae
when the ruined and houseless inhabi-
tants Plume's war, w
of the ravaged districts were disteibuted by
maintenance among tile towns
the general court for
Nearly three-quarters of a century
of the colony.
revised, and based as before upon
.i a inoenii
in
ago the code was . .
Governor BueLocKsays:—"The
that of England, rernaming substantially unchanged
payment of all taxes assessed
to settlement are now resi-
denceuccesswe years without receiving
for ten s
principalto th epres
requisitions
utiismi
tel.o n s .
successive yea ea---the party
for State, county, or town purposes for any five
opwubnlirceaalide,s
years during that time, or the residing upon one's
a citizen and of lawful age. These
conditions might have been well suited to the needs
always being
of an agricultural and cenamercial population,
secure in its own permanence. But the progress of
manufactures among us has developed. new and un-
foreseen relations towards our countrymen from
other States, while immigration has imposed new
duties toward our brethren from other lands. Both
classes, seeking homes among us, have, added largely
to our productive energies and material wealth ;
but for both, the conditions of acquiring settlement
are far too onerous. Compelled to :follow the ebb
and flow of the demand for labour, they can hardly
maintain an uninterrupted residence of ten years in
a single town ; or, if perchance they accomplish it,
some wary official will omit to assess them for the
fifth time, or abate a tax with ready lenity. Large
numbers are thus, in ignorance of their rights,
deprived of the residence they are on the point
of acquiring; and after a sober and indus-
trious life, in the infirmity of age, are given
over to a State almshouse."
The late Governor
ANDREW earnestly advised a revision, and proposed
specific additions, which were defelted in committee
with one exception. GovernorßuLle Deli entirely agrees
with his predecessor, and n
erepoeef ; rather an exten-
sion than an alteration of the present statutes,
which may secure the objects wit'atmt provoking liti-
gation. Ile would permit aliens to. 'enjoy the privileges
of the native born on having g complied with the
conditions of settlement. ,4 Ye accidents of birth,
or colour, or race, or sex," tiays this document,
" should bar any from the right; of acquisition and
enjoyment. in her justice an i her charity Massa-
chusetts should recognize no 'frontiers but those of
humanity itself." The settlerement of single women
after useful and guileless lives„ is next adverted to.
" We should not permit they a, in their advancing
age and infirmity, to be torn i sway from the friends
and associations and homes of half a century, to
linger out the remnant in a S ',ate almshouse." The
Governor next calls attention to a more efficient
protection of the rights of eitiz.ens, whose paternal
settlement is obscure, but whc , have a well-known
maternal settlement. The cities and towns take
advantage of this to send such persons to the State
altnshouses. It is earnestly' re commended to en-
courage the towns to assist at he .me worthy and in-
dustrious families who have :'lo -settlement, with a
partial or full reimbursement fron i the State, in the
same manner and under the sa: ne supervision as
that now adopted for the relief of the sick poor
therein. The Governor recommends careful in-
quiry whether the pre-requisitie of ten years' con-
tinuous residence may not safely be reduced at
,least
to the maximum of the neighbot Tiug States. Maine
requires New York but
but five years' residene* ,
one, and the maximum of the of aers is seven. And
further suggests whether assesse.rs shall be permitted
to prevent the acquisition of a settleineC
t by omis-
Biwa to impose a tax, or abatement of am Ny already
laid. We cannot doubt that a great a, loant of
hardship will be averted by these two change s alone.
It ii quite clear that this subject, connected as it is
with naturalization requires revision throng' i,oai all
the States.. We may here allude to the broader
subject of naturalization now exciting so - Clue.:; in-
terest in the United States. There is .eo law of
expatriation in the Union, as emigration I fe,snoe been
contemplated by the Legislature, ay esi. the judges
have carefully avoided establishing any precedent.

In addition to the statutes of the Federal Go-
vernment relating to naturalization, each State
has determined by law the qualifications of citizen-
ship and suffrage within its limits. The United States
demands before admission a residence in the country
of five years, and of one within the particular State
where the application is made. The applicant must
also give two years' notice of his intention to be-
come a citizen. No alien can be admitted while his
country is at war with the United States. " Bacon's
Handbook" gives the following estimate of the
number and original nationality of naturalized
citizens :—lreland, 1,611,000 ; German States,
1,198,000 ; England, 430,000 ; British America,
250,000 ; France, 109,000 ; Scotland, 105,000 ;
Switzerland, 54,000 ; Wales, 45,000 ; Norway,
43,000 ; Holland, 28,000 ; Turkey, 28,000 ; Italy,
10,000 ; Denmark, 10,000 ; Belgium, 9,000 ; Po-
land, 7,000 ; Mexico, 7,000 ; the Antilles, 7,000 ;
China, 5,000 ; Portugal, 4,000 ; Prussia, 3,000 ;
various countries, 204,000—total, 4,136,000. The
computation of Chinese is now altogether under
the mark ; and we have little doubt that the figure,
representing Prussia, although prior to the late N orth
German Confederation, is an error. The great
bulk of naturalized citizens are British and Ger-
man. There is no reason as regards the United
Kingdom why Congress should not pass au Act
making naturalization tantamount to birth in
the United States. As English law now stands,
half the citizens of the Union are regarded as Bri-
tish subjects, including very probably the PRESI-
DENT himself. Such an Act would only add a
comparatively small number more to those consi-
dered by English law as subjects of the Crbwn, one
of those fictions which abound in British statutes,
and which no one ever dreams of seeing carried
into practical effect. The case is, however, differ-
ent with Germany. By the law of Prussia every
man born within the limits of the kingdom is
obliged to do military service between the ages of
26 and 30, and this obligation is lasting, and can-
not be escaped by absence, which indeed is regarded
as a crime. The nation recognizes the citizen's right
to expatriate himself after performing this obliga-
tion. The subject has already caused lengthened
controversies between Washington and Berlin.
American naturalized citizens who have returned
to Prussia have been arrested and forced into the
military service. Such an Act by Congress would
either compel Prussia to modify her law or lead to
a rupture.