Two months later, the whole of the criminals concerned were in custody, and charged with their offence at the Central Criminal Court. Two of them, Moss and Solomons, turned Queen’s evidence. Lewin Caspar (who had been for eighteen months in the service of the B. and I. Co. as General Superintendent), was detained in custody until sentence was pronounced, 3rd February, 1840, and was then acquitted, owing to a flaw in the indictment. His father, Ellis Caspar, and Emmanuel Moses, were each sentenced to be transported for 14 years, and sailed for Sydney on the 20th October, 1840, on the convict transport, LORD LYNEDOCH. Alice Abrahams (daughter of Emmanuel Moses) was also convicted of being an accomplice, and was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment. Mr. James Hartley (founder of the firm of James Hartley & Co., London) rendered very valuable service to the proprietors by his energy and skill in tracing and successfully prosecuting the thieves. Mr. James Hartley was elected a Director in 1838, and for his services in connection with the prosecution of the gold dust thieves, he was presented with a valuable piece of plate. In 1842, the steamship DUKE OF CORNWALL was built, and added to the fleet in order to meet the increased demands of the trade. Like her sister ships, she was a wooden paddle steamer, and the last of this type of craft employed in the service. The British and Irish Steam Packet Co. were amongst the first steamship owners to recognise the advantage (now universally admitted) of the screw propeller over the paddle wheel as a means for propelling steamships, and in 1845 they introduced into the London and Dublin trade two schooner-rigged auxiliary screw steamers, one of which was called the ROSE, and the other the SHAMROCK. Three years later the B. and I. Co. had to encounter a fierce and powerful opposition, engineered by the Messrs. Malcomson, of Waterford, but which involved nearly all the leading Steamship Companies on the East Coast of Ireland; the B. and I.; Belfast (Langtry’s); City of Dublin; Cork; and Waterford Steamship Companies all taking part in the contest. The Waterford Steamship Company placed steamers on the London and Dublin station, and the Directors of the British and Irish Steam Packet Company retaliated by placing steamers on the Waterford and London, Waterford and Liverpool, and London and St. Petersburg lines. The opposition lasted until April, 1851, when an arrangement was come to, whereby the Dublin and London traffic was divided between Messrs. Malcomson (Waterford Co.) and the B. and I., and at the same time the City of Dublin Co. withdrew from their official connection with the latter Company. In the meantime, several steamers had been built of iron (notably the GREAT BRITAIN), and had proved by the severest tests the great merits of that metal as a material for shipbuilding. So convinced were the Directors of the B. and I. of the advantages to be gained by the substitution of iron for wood, that