The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

APRIL 22, 1854. shillings which they had received from passers-by, who compassionated their miserable appearance. An interpreter informed them of the nature of the evi dence against them, and stated their answer, which was to the effect that they did not know the name of the vessel in which they had come to England, or of the captain under whose orders they had worked; that they were willing to go back to China at once if they were accommodated with engagements ; and that, having failed to procure any, they were obliged to throw themselves upon the compassion of the pub lic : Sir R. W. CARDEN: I have taken great pains to investigate the cases of several of the Chinese sesinen who have lately appeared as beggars in our streets, and I have ascertained that they have in many instances insisted upon receiving all the money due to them, and then gone and remained out of the way when their vessels Bailed, notwithstanding the expostulations of the masters. I have ascertained, too, that they have pursued this course be cause they prefer a life of idleness, as exemplified in the conduct of our own native beggars, to the industrious habits to which they must have been accustomed. As the first of these men has been frequently complained of as a persevering vagrant and men dicant, I adjudge him to imprisonment for fourteen days in Hol loway gaol. The other two I shall discharge, with the assurance that if they are found begging in the city again they shall go to prison; and I inform them all that every successive offence of the kind shall be visited with a double amount of punishment. I am glad to be able to say that the trade of begging is so much on the decline in consequence of the resolute opposition of the magistrates, aided by the power of the press, that I have of late seen scarcely any instances in the streets of the city; but the public ought to join in the praiseworthy attempts to do away with mendicancy altogether. Ling Sung was then committed. The other Chinese sailors were discharged. A YOUTH of 18, clerk in an insurance-office, and named Alfred Richards, was charged at Worship street with having shot a boy who swept a crossing in the New North-road. The boy asked him for money as he crossed the road, when the prisoner drew out a pistol and shot him without saying a word. The bullet lodged in his shoulder, and the wounded lad was taken to an hospital, when the sur geon considered him to be in some danger. At the time of the examination before the magistrate, an other pistol, a number of bullets and percussion caps, a bullet-mould, and small black mask, were found in the prisoner's pocket, but no powder; and he seems to have used the dangerous weapon merely with an idea of frightening people in a stupid joke. He was remanded. A SALVAGE CASE of Some importance was decided by the Admiralty Court on Wednesday. Six fishing smacks, while engaged in their ordinary occupation in April and May last, picked up several casks of tallow between Heligoland and the Doggerbank, part of which they landed at Scarborough, and the re mainder at Hull. An appearance was given on behalf of the Crown. The value of the property salved MILS 2,1641. Dr. Lushington directed the costs of all parties to be paid, and a sum equivalent to two-fifths of the net proceeds to be distributed between the salvors. • THE ANNUAL ACCOUNT OF THE SUITORS AND FEE FUNDS have been presented to Parliament. The Suitors' Fund consists of 3,882,5581. stock ; 62,4421. out of the dividends are applied to the payment of the salaries of the judges and officers of the Chancery Courts, and the other expenses of those courts, and the surplus interest is carried over to the Suitors' Fee Fund. This latter fund, with the above contribution, and with the aid of 67,01 91 . " received from the Commissioners of Inland Revenue," amounted t 0183,764/. in the year ending in November last; and the amount was applied to the payment of other Chancery salaries and compensations. The list of Chancery compensations and pensions seems framed upon a liberal scale. This account has among its items compensation to two Six-Clerks for loss of office and profits 3,1551. per annum, to twenty sworn clerks 28,5961., one deputy clerk of enrolments, deputy record-keeper, and agent to sworn clerk 1,4531., the late clerk of custodies (in lunacy) 1268/., chief clerk to a Master 7501., pension to a retired Master 1,5001., to two retired registrars 2,5411., to the late Master of Reports 2,2501. WEDNESDAY BEING THE OPENING OF TERM, the customary notices from articled clerks seeking to be admitted, and from attorneys desirous of renewing their certificates, were given in the Court of Queen's Bench. There were 119 notices to be admitted this Easter term ; twenty-four being added to the list by judges' order, and ninety-five to be admitted in Trinity term next. There were twenty-three notices to take out and renew certificates this Easter term — one being from Mr. W. H. Barber, whose repeated applications to be reinstated on the list of attorneys have hitherto been rejected by the judges. Mr. Barber intends to make his application this time to the Lord Chancellor. THE LORD CR/amnion held his customary levee on Wednesday, the first day of term, and entertained the judges of the several Courts of Chancery and common law, as also Queen's counsel and sergeants at-law, to breakfast, at his mansion in Upper Brook street, Grosvenor square , previous toproceeding in state to open their respective courts at Westminster. Mr. Justice Crowder, on his arrival, was most warmly congratulated by the judges and counsel present on his elevation 9 one of the judges of the Common Pleas, in the room of the late Ur. Justice Talfourd. THE PRESS. THE COMMERCIAL INJURY arising from the forgery of a manufacturer's " mark" was referred for assess ment to a jury at the Secondaries' Court on Wednes day. The Messrs. Dent had it seems attained much celebrity for the excellence of their gloves, which, in the course of years, enabled them to realise a handsome fortune and retire from business in 18-10, leaving their manufactory to a succeeding firm of Allcroft and Co. These in their turn endeavoured to maintain the re putation of the house, bestowing great care 'on the workmanship and materials used in the fabrication of their gloves, and also continuing the old "mark," well recognised in the trade, consisting of the words "Dent and Co." in rod letters inside the right band of every pair of best gloves. Some time since, however, they discovered that a mark almost identical was stamped on gloves not of their make, and of very inferior quality; and having traced several packages of this article to the warehouses of Mr. Culverwell, an extensive draper in Bristol, they brought an action against him in the Common Pleas. This was allowed to go by default by the defendant, and the case being referred to the Secondaries' Court, for the purpose of assessing the amount of damages, the counsel for Mr. Culverwell now explained that the fraudulently-marked gloves had become included among his stock without his know ledge, and expressed his readiness to make every re paration in his power for the accidental wrong. He accordingly offered 2001. by way of damages, in which the jury immediately concurred, and a verdict was taken for that amount. gltatnts and Oftittes. A ROPEMAKEB named Ellis has recently been dis- charged from her Majesty's dockyard at Devonport for writing and publishing in a local newspaper a letter complaining of certain arrangements for the working of the ropemakers in the dockyard. His name was attached to the letter, and, soon after its publication, an order came down for the immediate discharge of the writer from Government employ. Ellis, who has always borne a good character, has memorialised the Admiralty to be reinstated, on the ground that, at the time of his writing the letter, he did not know it was contrary to any rules of the ser vice. MANY INCENDIARY FIRES have occurred in Devon shire and the neighbouring counties during the last few weeks. Agricultural buildings have chiefly suf fered, but in several instances some malicious per sons have set fire to extensive tracts of plantation. At Rora Wood, Elsington, near Ashburton, fire was set to a plantation, and before it could be extin guished upwards of an acre was destroyed. A few days before a similar conflagration took place near Collumpton, a town about twelve miles from Exeter. A young fir plantation was set on fire, and within one hour more than an acre was consumed. The devas tation would have been much greater had it not been for the prompt exertions of the neighbours. The plantation belongs to Sir Thomas Acland, M.P. for North Devon. A WOMAN NAMED BARBARA MITCHELL, who resided in Little White Lion-street, Seven Dials, and coha bited with a man named William Busey, was killed on Tuesday by her paramour. The deceased came home tipsy, when Busey commenced kicking her, and knocked her down. Her cries of murder were heard, but had been so frequently repeated before that no notice was taken of them by the neighbours. In the morning her body was found lying on the floor, the head shockingly disfigured, and every part showing marks of brutal violence. ON Goon FRIDAY a man was killed on the Furness Railway, whilst walking on the line in a state of in toxication. Three men have been killed on this rail way since its formation, all by the same engine- dri - ver. LIVERPOOL WAS VISITED BY ♦ VIOLENT TECIINDEI STORM on Tuesday night, which lasted several hours, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. No injuries to the shipping or property in the town or neigh bourhood are, however, reported. A SERIOUS FIGHT took place in Winchester, on Sunday last, between about 150 soldiers belonging to the 88th Regiment and the Hants Militia. It appears that the regulars bad been sneering at the awkwardness and unsoldierlike qualities of the militia men : the consequence was a desperate fight with fists, sticks, stones, and soldiers' belts, a terri ble weapon, with its large metal buckle. Several soldiers were taken to the hospital dreadfully and it is feared fatally wounded. The militia men were victorious, as they numbered two to one over the regulars. The policemen were too few to interfere to stop or even to mitigate the disgraceful affray. TAE GOVERNMENT Entosswr SHIP Maria Hay, Captain Brown, 1,007 tons, which left Southampton on Monday morning, with a large cargo and 401 pas sengers, came in contact at nine o'clock in the even ing with a strange steamer, which carried away her bowsprit close to the stem. The Maria Hay was obliged to put in at the Sound, and will be detained for several days by the necessary repairs. 371 A ROMANCE or A COALFIELD is related by the Mining Joarnai to have happened a few years ago in Parr, about thirteen miles from Liverpool. An elderly widow lady sold to a gentleman some property in Parr, consisting of a house and about thirty acres of land, for 3,0001. Thu old lady thought there must be coals under the land, as there is so much in the neighbourhood ; and insisted that all title to them should be reserved, unless the purchaser would give her 1001. extra. This he ref u sed doing, and the coals were, accordingly, excepted from his purchase, and reserved to her. The old lady died soon after, bequeathing the coal-mines among the children of a deceased sister, seven in number, who were all labourers, and the residue of her property, worth about 3,0001. to the children of another sister. The bequest of the coal-mines was considered a nominal thing, and dissensions in the two families arose on account of it. The coal legatees brooded for a length of time over their disappointment, but at length contrived to induce some persons, who were supposed to have morn money than wit, to undertake the expense of boripg on the land, to ascertain whether there were coals or not. Thu boring continued for a considerable time, to the great amusement of persons connected with collieries; but at last, to their great astonishment, the chagrin of the put-- chaser, and the unbounded delight of the legatees, two delis of the best coal in Lancashire were discovered, ex tending nearly the whole breadth of the land, and which could be easily worked. These coals were immediately purchased by the proprietors of a neighbouring colliery for 20,0001. On subsequent borings three lower dell's were found, which the same parties purchased for 15,0001. THE FORMATION OF A TUNNEL under the river Ohio at Cincinnati has been seriously entertained, the necessity of providing some means of communication with Kentucky being manifest, while the navigation of the river would be seriously impeded by a bridge. It is proposed to construct this tunnel of iron, and a plan has been laid before the town council of Cincinnati. The inventor thus describes his project:—" I propose to build a tube of iron of any desired dimensions, and sink it in the bed of the river, in sections, as low as may be found practicable, by first dredging a channel deep enough to admit of the top being sunk below or even with the bed of the river, entirely avoiding the use of cofferdams. There is no question about the practicability and superiority of iron tunnel over all other materials, besides being about 50 percent. cheaper. 1 put the footway in the top of my arch, the arch being as near a parabolic curve as practicable, combining strength and cheapness. If it is proposed to lay down a railway through the tunnel, I would propose putting the track on the top of the arch, in place of the footway. I should not, in any event, recommend running locomotives through, but simply the cars, by atmospheric pressure, as has been done in other instances. This would dispense with the necesity of a footway, as passengers could go through very expeditiously by the ears. I also propose to make the approaches all of iron, as being cheaper and safer." Uenze the heading of "Law's Muskets,' the New York Evening l'ast says :—" The famous muskets have gone off at last. Law is reported to have sold his two hundred thousand guns for something like a million of dollars, to some person in London, concocting revolutionary designs in Europe. The clipper barque Grape tihoe was purchased some time since by George I.sw, for twenty-four thousand dollars, and has just sailed for Constantinople, freighted with those guns, which have been so long at rest. If they do not prove more quick to the trigger in the hands of the Turks, and go offmore speedily than they have done daring Law's skirmishing, the Russians will have reason to be grateful. THERE WERE 188 RAILROAD ACCIDENTS in the United States during the year 1853 ; 227 persons were killed, and 488 injured. In the same year there were 81 steamboat accidents, by which 359 persons were killed, and 158 injured. The list includes the wholesale slaughter of 48 persons on the New Haven road in May last, the molt awful catastrophe in the annals of railway travelling. During the present year 17 fatal steam-boat accidents oc curred in the Unit** States. Of these, one—the burning of the Independence near Margaretta Island, in the Pacifie —hurried 120 souls into eternity. The sinking of the John L. Army, in the Mississippi, ranks next in magnitude, and the burning of the Caroline in the same river, and of the America in the Alabama river in January last, which destroyed respectively 51 and 50 persons, complete a total of 281 deaths from four accidents. Corroe-pownen dissolved in etherforms a varnish which sticks fast, dries quickly, is impermeable to water, and im penetrable to air. It is called collodion, and is much used in surgical cues. A gardener has just discovered that it is of vast utility in producing plants and shrubs from cut, tinge. On making the cutting the varnish is applied to the part cut, which immediately becomes closed, or, so to speak, healed. The cutting is then planted in the ordi nary way. Out of twenty-six cuttings of hothouse plants to which collodion was applied twenty-three struck root, whereas out of the same number to which it was not applied only twelve succeeded. With plants kept in greenhouses and in those in the open air even more satisfactory results have been obtained. The collodion may also be most advantageously employed in grafting. Tut Zuist, in giving some accounts of the results of " spirit-rspping," says :—" We have given (samples of in sanity produced by these ignorant fancies, and now we have to record another in the person of a well-known au thoress, who always had indulged in such superstitions, and has, of course, adopted all the recent spirit fancies. She has gone stark mad and stark naked on the spirit rapping. She was found the other day in the open street as her mother bore her, except that she had a pocket handkerchief in one hand and a card in the other. She said the spirits had informed her that if she walked out so prepared she would be invisible. She is now la • madhouse. ■