The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-30 00:00:00

EAST ItirblA tioUz;E.

A Gcriral Co *t of Proprietors‘ of East •India
Stock was held yeSterdaY.,at the Compauy's !loose
in Leadenhall-street, porsitam to public advertise-
.Ment The usual forms having been gone through,
a variety of Docomenis (the titles of yvhielr were
read). which had peen presented. to the House of
COMeIIOIIS since the last Court, were laid on the
table. z
,
The CHAIRNIAN (John Pattison, Esq.) then
•
stated, that tire Court was comvened in ordyr
that there be laid before the Prop' ietors the Draft
o'f a 13it1, Vroyir in p.rogreSs through the House of
Commons, for consolidating the several Acts re-
lative to the 1-liriog ofthe Company's Shipping.
The Bill having been read by the Clerk-
1-10aiE rose, art:l in,a speech of considera-
ble length opposed, the yvhoie.of its enactments',
except that connected with the_ last clause, as
being calculated to overturn the existing Stripping
System. That system, he observed, which ha,l
been established alter a struggle of 15 years, was'
sanctioned by the late Hight Llon. Heury.Dundas,
and by the. concurrent Itesolotions of the Court of
Directors and Proprietors. As there was no im-
mediate necessity for'the Bill, he wished that it
should be suffered to lie over till next Session of
Parliament.
Mr. GRANT defended the Bill. It was necessary,.
to prevent theprinciple on which the existing ship-
ping system was established from being wholly
stroyed, to adopt certain modifications, in order
to meet the various contingencies to which homaic
affairs were liable, and which, at the commence-
ment of a contract that would probably last for
14 or '2O years, it was impossible to foresee.
Mr. ELPHINSTONE condemned the existing. sys-
tem as a most vicious one, but, as the present Bill
was better than those which had preceded it, he
did not mean to oppose it.
Mr. GRANT started, that the present shipping
system had saved the Company half a million of
nioney:_

I.llr-ELPHINSTONE denied this position, and was
quite ready to argue the.poiut with the Honour,
able Director.

Mr. D. K N NAT RD observed, that the Bill,"which
he understood to he the work of the President of
the. Board of ti:ontroul, was much more worthy of
a miter of poetry than of a grave Statesman, for
to his humble comprehension it was utterly unin-
telligible. There was no immediate occasion for
any measure on this subject, and. therefore he
conceived in fairness and candour die further pro-
ceedings with respect to it ought to be postponed.
Lowtwes was also of Opinion that the
kill ought not to be passed in the present Session.
In the course of his speech, the Honourable Pro-
prietor inveighed strongly against the conduct of
the Court of Directors, who had lowered the in-
terest on their bonds, in England, from five to
.tour per cent. by which his father lost 10,0001.
4-le believed, while the interest in this cotin-
try was reduced to • a peace rate, it was con-
tinued at a war rate in India. This was rank--
it strong—it looked as if cie Court of
Directors were only anxious to serve their sons
and nephews, while they paid no attention to the
public.

Mr. Alderman ALKINS agreed perfectly in the
principle of the Bill, but conceived • the measure
might be.postponed, without inconvenience, till
next Session.

Mr. RoßlNsos said the measure had been fully
consitkred in the Court of Directors—they had
given their assent to it—the great body of the
Proprietors appeared to like the Bill, and, under
these circumstances, he saw no good reason fur
postponing it.

_
Air. nutria moved a long amendment to the
motion '' That the Court do approve of the said
Bill," in which he condemned the measure, and
called on the Coot t of Directors to petition Par-
liament that it should not pass into a law until
the whole of the Company's Shipping System was
examined.

The amendment, on a slew of hands, was ne-
gatived, and the originfil n►«tion carried in tl►e
affirmative.—The Court then adjourned.