The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

PRICES OF SHARES

IN (~ANALS, RAILWAYS, BANKS, ASSURANCE
AND OTHER COMPANIES' STOCK.

LONDON, TUESDAY, DEC. 17.1

160
1334

105
313(
63

6%
5,i,
400

u.l3*.

49%
189

5!7"!I

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)
(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at the Guildhall, before Lord II
DENMAN, and a London Special Jury.)
TOTTIE V. HOLMES ♦ND ALLEN.
The plaintiff in this case is a civil engine and the
defendants are attorneys, carrying on business in Bed-
ford-rcw. Th- action was brought to recover the amount
of a bill sent in by the plaintiff to the defendants of
1,8061. 13s. 9d., for engineering, which be alleged he had
been employed by the defendants to perform. It appeared
that somewhere about the latter end of 1842, the de-
fendants, who were attorneys, thought it would be ad-
vantageous to form a railway to be called the Middlesex
and Surrey Grand Junction Railway Company, and en-
tered into communication on the subject with the plaintiff,
who was to be the engineer to the proposed Company,
and with a Mr. Smith, who was to be the secretary.
The original plan was for a railway from Southall to
Twickenham, with a branch to Richmond. Tottie was
at ',that time about to leave the service of the Eastern
Counties Railway, and he undertook to make the survey.
He then suggested that it would be advantageous to ex-
tend the railway so as to make it a junction railway,
joining all the railways approaching the metropolis. The
proposition was acceded to, and the surveys were made
for the formation of a line from Harrow to Reigate, thus
connecting the Birmingham, the Great Western, and the
Dover lines. These surveys were deposited with the
clerk of the peace. During this time the defendants
had paid plaintiff 501. a month according to agreement,
and he had received from them 6301. in all. The company
was formed, and plaintiff was appointed engineer, but the
scheme was finally given up in the beginning of the
present year, and then the plaintiff had brought this
action. The plans were put in, as wore various letters
which had passed between plaintiff and defendants. A
witness, named Burleigh, who had been employed by
plaintiff, proved that the work had been done ; and Mr.
Braithwaite, the engineer to the Eastern Counties Rail-
way, deposed that the plans were most carefully exe
cuted, and that the charges were such as were usually
made. For the defence, it was contended that the 6301.
which had been paid to the plaintiff by defendants was
all that he was entitled to by agreement, inasmuch as it
was proved from his letters that he had agreed to take
501. a month, as the amount of his expenses from the de-
fendants, and that he looked for his profits to the pro-
posed Company. lle had undertaken to make the sur-
veys in the hope of being appointed engineer to the
Company, in the same manner as the defendants had
undertaken the legal portion of the business in the hope
of becoming solicitors to the proposed Company, and as
Mr. Smith had executed his duties in the hope of being
appointed secretary ; and therefore he had no claim
upon defendants beyond the 501. a month, which he had
agreed to accept for the expenses incurred, and which
they had regularly paid him.
In the course of his speech, Mr. MARTIN, who ap-
peared for the defendants, read several documents signed
by plaintiff, one of which stated that he should look to the
Provisional Board of Directors, as soon as such should
be formed, for his remuneration ; and another, that, in
consideration of a note of hand from Messrs. Allen and
Holmes for 100 L, which he had received, he exonerated
them from all liabilities up to that date.
At the conclusion of Mr. Martin's address, the jury
intimated that they were prepared to deliver their ver-
dict; and a hint was thrown out by Lord Denman as to
the possibility of coming to some settlement. A con-
sultation took place, and it was ultimately arranged that
a juror should be withdrawn.
Mr. Watson conducted the plaintiff's case, and Mr.
Martin appeared for the def t r!ants.

AWFUL COLLISION BETWEEN
THE SYLPH, WOOLWICH STEAMER, AND
THE ORWELL, OF IPSWICH. _ _

Just as we were going to press with our last edition
we ascertained that a collision took place between
the two above named vessels, between Woolwich and
Greenwich, which has caused considerable excitement.
It appeared that after the Sylph had landed her pas-
sengers at Woolwich, and was proceeding up the
river with a fresh supply of about forty persons,
when about half a mile from Greenwich, a vessel, which
was coming in an opposite direction, came with fearful
contact against her larboard side, and capsized her. She
almost immediately filled, and went down. The Orwell,
which was the name of the other vessel, was proceeding
on her voyage to Ipswich, and the weather being so
foggy, it was believed that the captain could not see the
Sylph until they came in contact. 'We were not able to
ascertain whether there were any lives lest, but two per-
-182 sons were conveyed on board the Dreadnought much
205 injured.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAL

GLOBE.—A reference to Lord Stanley's appoint-
ments will prove his preference for the navy, inter-
rupted occasionally by an infidelity in favour of a
scarlet coat—exceptions to the rule more apparent
than real, perhaps. The nautical finance of Captain
Fitzroy in New Zealand enjoys a pendant in the
currency regulations at Cape Coast, in Guinea, which
settlement was this year blessed by being placed
under the immediate control of the Colonial-office (it
had been for many years previously governed by a
committee of London and local merchants), Lord
Stanley sending out, as first Governor, Commander Ilill,
R.N. The currency of Guinea is regulated by a gold
standard—all transactions of moment being valued in
ounces of gold and in ackies (the 1-16th part of an
ounce) ; the smaller business of life being managed
by couries, Indian shells, of which there are some
fifty to a penny sterling. These, however, are com-
monly moneys of account only—trade being barter,
and pieces of cotton cloth (romauls) are in general
circulation ; they were formerly used even to pay
the troops. In short, money's worth is given
for money's worth only, or for what will pro-
cure money's worth from the European merchant.
Lord Stanley and his naval Governor view with
disdain this uncivilised system; and Mr. Gladstone,
the Master of the Mint, is ordered to pack up chests
of silver pieces worth three-halfpence each, of copper
farthings and half-farthings, which it is proposed to
introduce into the monetary system of Africa through
the military and civil departments of Cape Coast
Castle, whose inferior servants are to be paid in these
coins ! Fancy our sable brother, disgracefully ignorant
of Ricardo and Torrens, and of the incalculable advan-
tages of a metallic currency—who had never received
for his palm oil, his bunch of plantains, or his day's
work, anything but a yard of cotton, which he could
twist round his waist, a piece of lead with which to
sink his fishing-net, or to be cut into a musket slug,
or some courie shells, which are the favourite orna-
ment and (therefore) the universal currency of the
interior—fancy a man who never had received
anything not intrinsically useful to himself or
his Neighbour, gazing at Captain Hill's copper
half-farthings or three-halfpenny silver—things
unknown to and rejected by his neighbours,
and objectional even as not of that substantial
bulk which constitutes, in a
,country of clumsy
fingers, and destitute of locks and pockets, one
of the essential merits of a currency! He would as
readily perceive:the value of Captain Fitzroy's assig-
nats as of these atoms, inconvertible to any end.
Time may lead him to discover that the silver
spangles are fractional parts of a dollar, but there is
no hope of his ever taking to the half-farthings. Ly-
curgus s iron money may have been as inconvenient
(though our Ashantee or Fantee friend would prefer
it), but that was avowedly issued "as a restraint on ex-
cessive speculation"—as our solem Premier would ex-
press it. However Capt. Hill having a vile corpus, the
local corps, on Which to experiment, and compelling
them to receive pay in this money, they in their turn
compelled, no doubt after " awful sacrifices" and tre-
mendous palaver, their creditors to receive it; and
these poured it as legal tender into the coffers of the
European merchants. After taking the trash to an
inconvenient amount, the merchants bethought
themselves of asking the Governor to receive it
again for Government bills on England. His Ex-
cellency declined compliance, giving the gratifying
reason that he was not yet in want of money—in other
words, that he had yet stores of the trash in his strong
boxes. On a merchant replying that he must then
refuse to take any more, Captain Hill ratorted, that
a refusal to take the " current coin of the realm "
would expose him to a fine; and that if the merchants
refused to take " his " money, he would get Yankees to
settle there who " would be glad of the chance !"
This was assuredly an old menace from an officer
placed to protect British interests and commerce ; but
the science displayed in the remark is more interest-
ing, bringing us back, as it does, to the type of Cap-
tain Hill's half-farthings and Captain Fitzroy's two-
shilling notes, the French assignats, the projectors
and issuers of all three being evidently assured that
nothing but sheer stupidity or deep villainy could
' prompt any one to refuse their valuable issue. It
appears to have been to carry out this philosophic
finance that Captain Hill broke his promise to Sir
George Stephen, of returning to England in the first
ship after his arrival. Sir George's disappointment is
one in which the colony of Cape Coast must deeply
sympathise.
STANDARD.—The decision of the Board of
Heads of Houses and Proctors at Oxford has had the
rare good fortune of giving general satisfaction. This
is pleasant so far ; but it is rather invidious to com-
pliment so emphatically as some of our Whig-Ra-
dical Contemporaries compliment the Board—a body
of educated gentlemen—for acting with good sense
and in a just and honourable spirit. For ourselves,
we never had a doubt of the line the Board would
take, and therefore perhaps it is that we are less
struck with the formal announcement of it. We
have heard of but one objection whispered against
the Board's decision, which we will give in the wore
of the objector :—" The most objectionable point in
the proposed proceeding regarding Mr. Ward's book
is that with which the case opens—' Whereas it is
notoriously reputed and believed throughout this
University, that a hook, &c., has recently been pub-
lished in Oxford, by the Rev. W. G. Ward, AI.A. It
were a hard thing formally to proceed against a man
upon mere notoriety and general belief. Mr. Ward
has, indeed, obviated the difficulty in his case by
avowing, under his own hand in a letter to the Vice-
Chancellor, that the book was written by him, but the
accusation in its present form stands awkwardly for a