The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1868.

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FAIN IN I ELLIGE NCE—This Day.

THE POWER OF RAILWAY DIRECTORS TO ISSUE DEBEN-
TURES.—In the suit of Fountaine v. theTarmarthen and
Cardigan Railway Company, Vice-Chancellor Wood was
called upon to decide what ought to be done with a number
of debentures which had been issued by the company when
the full amount they had authority to raise had been bor-
rowed. The case involved a. very nice point, and one of
great importance both to shareholders in railways and
those who advance money for them on debentures. The
directors of the line in question had issued a debenture
for 2500 beyond the limits of the borrowing powers of the
company. Subsequently two debenture - creditors ob-
tained judgment and issued execution, seizing on
the property. The directors then issued other
debentures, and paid off these debts. The ques-
tion was whether those debentures were valid.
By the Act it is provided that power should be vested in
the directors to renew debentures and to issue new deben-
tures to the amount of those paid off. This power is, how-
ever, to be exercised under certain limits, the consent of a
general meeting of shareholders being necessary, except
in the case where the money is borrowed to pay off old
debentures.-7-His Honour held that the debentures issued
subsequent to the payment of the old debentures' were
valid, notwithstanding that the general meeting of the
shareholders had not been convoked. The debentures
issued in excess cf the borrowing powers of the company
he held to be void.

NON-DELIVERY OF MACHINERY. —At the Nisi PriuS
sittings of the Court of Common Pleas, Guildhall, the
case of the British Columbia Saw Mills Company v.
Nettleship has for two days occupied the attention of
Lord Chief Justice Bovill and a special jury. It
was an action to recover damages for loss sustained
by the non - delivery of some !machinery. The
plaintiffs in the spring of 1365 chartered the defen-
dant's ship Kent to carry to Vancouver Island some
machinery to set up a steam saw-mill there. The ship-
ment was to be made partly at Liverpool, but the
bulk of the machinery was to be received from
Igessrs. Forrest and Barr, engineers, at Glasgow.
the value of the machinery was about £5,500, and there
was to be a lump sum of £1,225 fc% 350 tons of freight,
with £3 10s. per ton for extra freight. The machinery
was placed in packages, and one of these, which was
numbered 43 in one list and 46 in another, never
Arrived at its destination. This particular package
was 9 feet long by 2 feet broad and deep ;
it weighed 2A tons, and contained spindles and
other pieces of machinery, which were worth at Vancouuer
Isla,nct £5OO, and without which the remainder of the
machinery would be useless. The plaintiff laid before the
the jury a great deal of evidence to shew the way in which
the shipment of the various packages had been checked.
According to the documents, the package 43 appeared to
have been shipped, and the mate's receipt had been given for
it. The defendant's counsel called no witnesses, but submitted
that the box was of such a size and weight that it could
net well have been lost or mislaid, and that if it had been
placed on board in the Clyde it must have been found on
board at Vancouver Island. He also commented upon the
fact that it appeared upon the plaintiff's evidence that there
had been a mistake in reference to the shipment of one
package, and that tbe lists of packages appeared to have
various alterations and corrections in them ; and he sub-
mitted that this might account for the package 43 appear-
ing in the lists as having been shipped when in fact it had
not been.— The jury found a verdict for the plaintiffs. —The
Lord Chief Justice said that he perfectly agreed with the
finding.

BREACH OF PnoairsE OF MARRIAGE.—An action in the
Queen's Bench, Jackson v. Smith, has been tried at the
Sheriff's Court, Red Lion:square, for a breach of promise
of marriage. The 'plaintiff alleged that she " was ready
and willing to marry " the defendant, and he would not.
She laid her damages at £l,OOO. The defendant did not
appear, but it came out that he had lately married " very
comfortably off," and kept cabs. The parties had resided
at Kensington, and did not appear to be very young. The
jury assessed the damages at £6O.
HEAVY COMFESS4ION CLAIM.—A compensation case,
Leech V. the Metropolitan Board of Works, was heard
before Mr. Under-Sheriff Burchell. The claim exceeded
£B,OOO, and was for property at Kensington, to make some
important public improvements in that locality. After a
view, a verdict by consent was agreed upon for £5,000.

MR. BAINES, M.P.

On Wednesday the annual meeting of the mem-
bers of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce was held.
The report having been read,

Mr. BAINES, M.P., addressed the chamber. He
remarked that he always attended those annual
meetings of the chamber with the greatest interest.
Individual members of Parliament, and the Legisla-
ture generally, had their attention kept alive to com-
mercial questions by the action of the various cham-
bers of commerce in the country ; and the Associated
Chambers of Commerce exercised, especially by
means of deputations, a great-influence on all the
department of the Governments. (Hear, hear.) He
had listened with much interest to the extremely
comprehensive and minute report which had just
been read, and in almost all the points to which it
referred be felt pleasure in being able to concur
with those by whom it had been drawn up. Be-
fore referring to the first subject with which the
report dealt—namely, bankruptcy reform--he
would, with their leave, make a few remarks upon
the general state of trade iu the' country. Not-
withstanding what was said in the report,
he thought they might congratulate themselves
that trade in Leeds was considerably less depressed
than it was in most of the other great towns of the
country. As far as he knew, there was much less
distress in Leeds than there was in London, Liver-
pool, Manchester, or Birmingham. And this, he
thought, might be ascribed in part to the varied
industries Malt were carried on in Leeds, and in part
—he might say in a greater degree—to the spirit
of prudence and moderation which distinguishes
its inhabitants. The depression of trade during
the last twelve months had not, however, been
confined to England ; it had been, felt all over
Europe ; and it became rather an interesting
question to consider the source from which this
depression had sprung. Two years ago they were
all in the highest spirits ; the greatest confidence
was felt in all monetary operations,in all commercial
transactions, in the firmness of joint-srock com-
panies. That confidence was now almost entirely
gone ; and a very large sum was locked up in the
Bank of England from distrust in the operations
of trade, and iu the various companies in which
moneywitne was
witnessed the
formerly eomf ployed. They
banks,
the lidacompanies had been
stop-
pagepositioonf
tjooiwnht-isethocinkancyonirapialwnia7 and the disastrous
reduced—the effect of that necessarily being to
damage public confidence, and greatly to impair
the means both of the upper and middle classes.
In considering whether this remarkable contrast
did not admit of explanation, he had no hesitation
a expressed
greatonfinornireepreatoienugastiohnes,cotnh.vaitctiiotnwhase hiand
o
o v mea-
sureer t roadinugg tot o
t hteh
eexucensrsei
ayseonsaphelceulae
confidence
eat: e t hoef
ehpaasdt
b teiemn sb, r o that
t th
about.e presTenhte
esotantfiedeonfee,minatttehres
first place, was well founded. Several years of
good trade —the result of a singular combination
of causes—had existed, and had fairly.and properly
induced a feeling of confidence throughout the
whole of the mercantile community. Then came
that fever which frequently supervenes upon confi-
dence. What was in the first instance a reasonable
confidence, was carried to an unreasonable extent ;
credit, justly given to begin with, was afterwards
given where it was not deserved ; and undertakings,
calculated originally to benefit both private indivi-
duals and the country, became, as in the case of
many joint-stock companies, wild in the amount
of their speculations. From the imprudence
then committed the country was now suffering ;
and he referred to it for the purpose of ex-
pressing a hope that a lesson of moderation for the
future would be learned from it. (Hear, hear.)
It was impossible to ignore the fact that Leeds
took a great part in the general mania—he might
almost call it—for speculation which then existed ;
and that we had much reason to be ashamed of
the dreadful consequences entailed by the failure
of one of our banks ; but he had some hope
that more moderation and prudence was exercised
in Leeds than in many other large mercantile and
manufacturing towns, and that as a necessary
result there wa3 a decidedly higher tone
of commercial morality. (aear, hear, and
great applause.) With regard to bankruptcy
legislation, he thought they did quite right to
endeavour to make the law—at present exces-
sively defective—as effective as possible. (Hear.)
He confessed he had better hopes than those
expressed in the report, that a great improve-
ment upon the law of bankruptcy might be made
in the present session. He urged the matter
frequently upon Sir John Rolt's attention last
year, and, in conjunction with his friend Mr.
Beecroft, he should be glad again to promote
the question ; but, after all, most could be done
by deputations from chambers of commerce. The
subject should never be lost sight of for a moment ;
deputation after deputation must be sent to London
until the Government felt that the mercantile com-
munity were quite resolved to have a bankruptcy
law which would protect the interests of creditors.
(Hear, hear.) Allusion was made in the report to
one subject on which he had some doubts—the ad-
visableness of the telegraphic communication of the
country being taken in hand by Government. 1
was quite true that the Post-office had been ad-
mirably managed as a department of the public
service ; but at the same time it was questionable
whether a departure from the genelial rule of indi-
vidual enterprise was desirable in the case
of the telegraph. (Hear, hear.) He should
be sorry to see a stop put to private tele-
graphic communication, and he doubted much
whether the passage of all telegrams through
the hands of Government officials would be in
accordance with the feelings of the country. He
had some doubts therefore on the subject, although
he had not given the matter that full and complete
consideration to enable him to express a decided
opinion upon it. As to the tribunals of commerce,
he could not help thinking, after the information
he had received as to the admirable manner in which
they worked in other countries, that they certainly
ought to be established in England. (Hear, hear.)
After expressing his pleasure at the notice taken in
the report of the abuse of accommodation bills, the
hon. gentleman concluded by declaring his belief
that by continuing the good work they had so well
commenced, chambers of commerce would aid
greatly in the amelioration of the commercial law
of England, and if of the commercial law, there-
fore of the commercial interests of the country.
(Applause.)

Foreign Mail Packet List,

MAILS DUE.

A.ustralla and New Zealand, via Southampton Feb. 19.
Ditto, via Marseilles l3.
Ditto, via Panama
Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video Mar.% 5.
Ditto, by lermoh packet
Cape Verde, by Brazil packet
Cape of Good Hope. Ascension, and St. Helens... . Feb. 27
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton.. Feb. 19.
Ditto, via Mareuillos .. ...... . Feb. 13
Falkland islands March 5.

Gibraltar, via Southampton Feb 11.
lndia,via Southampton
Ditto, via Als.rseil.es * ••••• . • ...Feb. 13
Malta, Egypt, ,Ls. Feb. 19.
Ditto, Marseilles Feb. 13.
Mauritius, Cape 01 Good II ve, and Natal, via
Southampton Feb. 19.
Ditto, Maneldes Feb. 13
Newfoundh.td
Maros 5
Portugal ... . .

Ditto, by pi.‘. to ship to Oporio ..
Ditto ( .tto to Lisbon
United States, . allada, California, &0., by British
packet .. . - Feb. 17
.Ditto, by L L ited States packet
Ditto ditto 'New York.)
D:tto uitto Nt.w York)
Ditto ditt. (3altifuore)
Ditto, by Canadian packet...... ...Feb 11.
Weat Coat of Afri a, liadoira, ani Tenerin Feb. 16
West Indies and ra_lifio except Mexico and Baha-
mas) Feb. • 3.
Cub.: and ~:exico Feb. 2S.
Bahamas, via New i starch 2.
Bermuda, via Halifax