The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-04 00:00:00

REGENT'S CANAL COMPANY.

The half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of
the Regent's Canal was held yesterday at their office,
City-road Basin. There was a very large attendance of
proprietors.
On the motion of Mr. Alderman WILSON, J. D.
Bethune, Esq., was called to the chair.
The minutes of the last half-yearly meeting, as well as
those of a special meeting, held in September, having
been read, were confirmed.
The CHAIRMAN said that he had to submit for their
consideration the report of the committee for the pre-
ceding half-year. The Chairman read the report, which
was in substance as follows:—" The committee congratu-
late the proprietors on the continued prosperity of the
Company. The working of the canal during the last
half-year had been most beneficial ; and, as compared
with the correspondin g period of 1844, exhibited a marked
improvement. They found that for the half-year end-
:^e the 30th of November, the commerce had been
527089 :9ns,,which yielded an amount of 19,4891., giving
a profit to the Company, on the 30th of September, of
13,920/. 15s. 4id. This would give a dividend of 12s.
per share to each of the proprietors, as also 5 per cent.
on the profits of the last half-year, amounting to 6761.
14s. 10d., leaving a surplus balance of 393 L 4s. 61d. to
be added to the next dividend. They begged to call the
attention of the proprietors to a purchase of some pro-
perty at Lewisham, for the improvement of the
canal, and they had to add, that the pro-
moters ' of the Regent's Canal Railway had
deposited the necessary documents with the Board of
Trade, and paid in 5,000 L, as a portion of the purchase-
money, into the Bank of England, which their com-
mittee had invested favourably in the purchase of Ex-
chequer-bills."
The report having been read,
The CHAIRMAN again rose, and read several resolu-
tions confirmatory of the paragraphs in the report,
which were unanimously agreed to. He then stated
that a letter had been received by their Secretary, Mr.
Lynn, from Mr. Greene, one of their auditors, resigning
his office.
A desultory discussion of a personal character fol-
lowed in relation to the motives that induced that gen-
tleman to tender his resignation.
In reply to questions from different proprietors,
The CHAIRMAN stated that the plans and sections of
the proposed Railway Company had been deposited
agreeably to the requirement of the standing orders ;
that the subscription lists were filled up, but he could
not say whether the calls had been fully responded to.
It was also added that no portion of the Parliamentary
expenses would fall on the Regent's Canal Company,
and they were, by the terms of the agreement, to retain
possession of the canal until the Railway Bill should have
been obtained, and the purchase-money should be paid
up. They were, in addition, to receive whatever money
should have been in' the meantime expended in the im-
provement of the canal.
Thanks having been voted to the Chairman and the
committee, the meeting separated.

SUPPOSED CASE OF MURDER.
(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
ENNISKILLEN, Nov. 29.—A very shocking murder—
happily, however, unconnected with the agrarian sys-
tem—has just come to light in the vicinity of this town.
" On Wednesday was a week, a Miss Irvine, sister
to the clerk of the crown for the county of Fermanagh,
was found dead under the feet of her horse in the stable
attached to her house, which stands almost in the
suburbs of Enniskillen. She was covered with wounds
and bruises, particularly on the head ; one of her arms
was broken, and the hand of it very much damaged.
" It was supposed that Miss Irvine, who, though an
elderly lady was of very active habits, had, upon this
occasion, gone to fetch some apples from the loft above
the stable, where they had been stored, and that in her
descent either the step-ladder had slipped, or that she
had fallen from it under the horse's feet, and had thus
been kicked and trampled to death. This would have
been the more extraordinary, as the animal was known
to be very gentle, and, moreover, very familiar with and
attached to his mistress, who frequently used to feed him.
The death, however, was considered accidental, and the
body was buried, without an inquest.
" Things remained in this state until late yesterday
(Friday) evening, when a lad about sixteen or seventeen
years of age, who had recently been taken into Miss
Irvine's service, came forward, under the direction of
his father, and gave such information as induced the
magistrate to arrest the woman servant who lived with
Miss Irvine at the time of her death. This woman had
been reared by her mistress from her childhood, and no
suspicion had previously attached itself to her, nor, in-
deed, to anybody else.
" The body was this day (Saturday) exhumed, and
an inquest was held, but at so late an hour that the
sitting was obliged to be adjourned to Monday morning.
Two physicians, Drs. Ovenden and Nixon, deposed,
I understand, that the injuries of which the lady died
were not such as could have been produced by the hoofs
of a horse, and that some, at least, of them were in-
flicted by a sharp instrument, such as a hatchet or
cleaver (of the latter there had been one in the house,
which cannot now be found.)
" The boy deposed that a few evenings previous to the
murder his fellow servant had said to him Now, if
some stranger should come and murder the mistress,
what would become of us?' He also stated, that on the
day of the murder this woman had sent him out of the
way on the pretext of fetching her an apron and other
articles of clothing from some distant place, and that on
his return she would not admit him by the shortest and
most usual entrance, but sent him a long round. On
her opening the door for him he observed blood upon
her hands, but, supposing she had been killing a turkey,
he took no further notice of it at the time. The woman
said nothing about the murder, and he went about his
business, until having occasion to go into the stable, he
saw blood,, upon which water had been thrown, flowing
from under the stable-door, and on entering it found his
mistress dead as described.
" This is the material part of the evidence, as far as I
have heard it, and I have reason to think it is essentially
correct. The woman and the lad are, of course, both
held in custody until the result of the inquest shall be
known.
" The motive to this horrid deed is not yet ascer-
tained. Some impute it to the desire of robbery, as the
old lady was rich, and the woman has been observed to
have more money than usual about her. Others think
it arose from resentment and revenge for the mistress
having recently discharged a man-servant, on the grounds
of too great a familiarity having existed between him
and the woman. 6. —.

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