The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-20 00:00:00

CEYLON.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was to
have been held yesterday at the office, Copthall-
buildings, Throgmorton-street, but in consequence
of the non-attendance of a sufficient number of
shareholders to constitute a legal meeting it was ad-
journed fur two months. It appeared from the re-
port laid on the table that the directors were of opi-
nion that the company should be kept together for
another year, in order to take advantage of any cir-
cumstance that might arise favourable to the scheme.
The company had no liabilities, and there was A small
balance in band.

EASTERN COUNTIES.
The following is the Auditor's report, to be read at
the meeting to be held on Thursday next:—
"57, Coleman-street, Aug. 9, 1850.
" Gentlemen,—We regret that, notwithstanding the
utmost diligence and perseverance, we find ourselves still
unable to make a complete report of the result of our
investigation and analysis of the capital expenditure of
the Eastern Counties Railway Company.
" The examination has a twofold object: namely, the
ascertainment of the integrity of the expenditure
charged; and the production of an accurate and lucid
statement of it, in order to the due exhibition, under
appropriate heads, of the cost of the various lines and
works executed.

" The extent and multifarious character of the trans-
actions which constitute the subject-matter of investiga-
tion would alone render much time and great labour
necessary in order to its satisfactory completion; but the
difficulties we have met with in the conduct ot our in-
quiries have not been simply those which necessarily
pertain to every operation of the like nature; we have
had to act upon contused, imperfect, and erroneous ac-
counts, only partially supported or explained by vouchers,
while the vouchers that could be found were protais-
cously heaped together without order or arrangement;
added to which there existed a general want of uni-
formity in the mode of treating various parts of the same
or similar accounts at different periods.
" In this state of circumstances we found it indispens-
ably necessary, in order to carry on the examination in-
telligibly and with certainty. to establish supplemental
books; and, in effect, to reform the entire accounts for
a considerable period, opening a personal account with
each individual recipient of the company's cash, and al-
lowing no credits to such recipients in discharge of cash
paid to them, except upon the authority ot bills, in-
♦oices, certificates, or other adequate vouchers.
" The deficiency of vouchers has thus proved a fruit-
ful source of difficulty and delay, leading unavoidably to
much correspondence and personal discussion with par-
ties, in order to obtain from them the information which
the vouchers would have afforded.

" Although to the causes thus glanced at is to be
mainly referred the non-termination of this inquiry, it is
to be borne in mind, that in addition to the continued
investigation of the capital expenditure, we have been
called upon during the half•year to perform certain
other special services connected with, or arising out
of, the accounts, such as extensive calculations to
determine the amount earned by the company's
traffic over each particular section of the line, with a
view to the formation of a basis whereon to found a re-
vision of the present system of rating railways for pa-
rochial purposes, the preparation of the voluminous re-
turn mode to the House ut Lords in answer to the order
obtained by Lord Brougham and other matters.
" We may also mention that the examination of the
important items of land purchases and compensation
has been attended with peculiar difficulties; the course
of our examination into these matters in conuexion with
the pecuniary transactions conducted through the agency
of the late solicitor to the company, made clear the ne-
cessity, i❑ order to do justice to the interests of the
shareholders, of subjecting the whole of those transac-
tions to a most rigorous scrutiny.
" The meagre and unsatisfactory state of the infor-
mation which we found existing in relation to this
branch of the inquiry had been an especial cause of
delay; but having already made a report to you upon
it, we do not feel it to be necessary now to le fer to
the subject, further than to state that we are still pur-
suing it; and that since the date of the report alluded
to, we have found further sums to be accounted for by
Mr. Duncan, which, together with those reported, make
a present total of about 30,000/. to be accounted for by
that gentleman. The items of which that total is com-
posed occur at various dates during the years 1845,
1846, 1847, and 1848.

" Independently of the advantages which must neces-
sarily result from this extensive examination, in the
sense of a well informed conviction► produced by it, of the
truthfulness of the accounts when finally settled, and the
more intelligible and comprehensive view which it will
have been the means of presenting of the character and
location of the objects to which the company's capital
has been applied, it has alrrady been productive of
direct pecuniary benefit in the discovery and setting
right of errors to the extent of upwards of 6,0001., ex-
clusive of the important result of a similar character
arising out of the examination of the trausactiuna and
proceedings of the late solicitor.—We remain, gentle-
men, your most obedient servants,
"QUILTER, BALL, and Co.
" To the Chairman and Directors of the
Eastern Counties Railway."

GOING TO SEA.—The strong love of the sea is not
peculiar to boys in seaports only. In inland towns, in places
where boys have never seen the sea at all, the passion is
nearly as strong. They read " Robinson," lend the book
about, and relate all sorts of marine adventures to each other ;
if there is a bit of water near, they manufacture miniature
ships, and have sailing matches; they launch paper boats
upon the tide of rain as it sweeps along the village streets
after a heavy shower. Who, that has been bred in an inland
town, can ever forget the emotion with which he gazed on
the sea for the first time ! The remembrance of that first
sight rises up with vivid distinctness, after the lapse of many
years. We can remember, wken a child, our own sensations
of wonder, awe, and delight. That seeming great hill of
water, and the little specks of ships along its apparent sum-
mit; the notion, whispered by the nurse, that worlds lay
beyond that ocean line; the solemn roar of the waves, as
they broke along the shore; all impressed the mind with a
sense of power and vastness which was never afterwards
effaced, Then there was the " treat" given to the impatient
children, of a sail from one side of the little harbour to the
other, the rolling about of the little boat amid the swell of
the sea, whiehd ashed in at the harbour's mouth, the sob-
bing of the girls, and the dizzy joy of the boys ; who could
ever forget so bewildering and exciting an event in a child's
life?—Eliza Cook's Journal.
MUSIC IN CHURCH, NUT NOT CHURCH MUSIC.—
Donald Moore, a dashing young drover, from somewhere be-
north the Braes o'Doune, had purchased at Carlisle, where
he had been with some cattle from the tryst of Falkirk, a
musical snuff-box, and, on his return home, being determined
to make a display, he carried the same to church next Sun-
day. The snuff was prime, but, unfortunately, when hand-
ing a pinch to a crony, and just as he minister bad begun to
draw his inferences, off went the box to the not inappropriate
tune of " We're a' noddin'." Donald applied himself to the
stop catch, which he mistook, and away went the music to
the profane tune of " ➢laggy Lauder." In the perturbation
of the moment, Donald tried to smother the box with his
sporran; but at last took fairly to his heels, when, just as he
was about to slam the door behind him, as if in reply to the
inquiring gaze of the astonished audience, the dying cadence
of the instrument ended with " My name is Muggy Lauder."
Carlisle Journal.