The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 4, 1854. REFORMATORY SCHOOLS. A DEPUTATION on the subject of Preventive and Re fortnatory Schools for Juvenils De lin qu ents waited on Lord Palmerston, at the Home-office, on Weilneslay. The members of the deputation were, the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Earl of Harrowby, Lord Robert Grosvenor, Lord Lyttelton, Sir John Pakington, M.P., Mr. M.D. Hill, the Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P., Mr. 0. Power, Mr. Spooner, M.P., Mr. Adderley, M.P., Mr. W. Brown, M.P., the Mayor of Kidderminster, Mr. Ball, M.P., Mr. Packe, M.P., Mr. M. Milnes, M.P., Lord Lovaiue, Lord Calthorpe, Mr. E. Greaves, M.P., Mr. ItrGeachy, the Mayor of Birmingham Mr. Smith Child, Mr. J. Ball, M.P. , t he Hon. Mr. Liddell, M.P., the Rev. Sydney Turner, the Rev. John Clay, Mr. C. Tt Cliff, the Hon. and Rev. G. M. Yorke, Mr. Morgan, M . Scholefield, M.P., Mr. A'Court, M.P., Mr. bymons, Sir JOHN PAKINOTON stated " that they were in attendance to submit a memorial calling the attention of the Government to the subject of Preventive and Reformatory Schools, and requesting them to adopt such measures as would have the effect of prevent ing destitute children from becoming criminals, and that such children as were guilty of crime should be sent to re formatory establishments, and afterwards be provided with employment. There was, he added, a growing feeling in the country that some .measure to that effect should be adopted, and the deputation earnestly hoped the sub ject would have the attention of the Government. Com mittees had sat on the subject, and reported favourably to the house on the matter. The deputation represented very nearly all classes of the community, and they hoped his lordship would take the subject into his serious consi deration with a view to legislation. Other countries were before them in such a course, and he trusted that no fur ther delay would take place in meeting and settling the question. The question was one of great social importance, and imperatively required the interposition of the Legisla ture." Lord Robert Grosvenor, the Hon Mr. Liddell (who presented a petition from Liverpool), and other mem bers of the deputation, expressed themselves to the same effect. Lord PAEmERSTON in his reply admitted the ex treme importance of the subject : " He was quite convinced that this matter ought to at tract the attention and excite the'action of Government. It was manifest that unless they could devise some method of reforming youthful delinquents they would be driven fnr ther and further in the course of punishment. and it was well known that punishment inflicted in mature years sel dom produced the reform desired. He quite understood that a measure of this sort could scarcely be brought for ward with any hope of success by independent members of Parliament, especially in tie session which already pre sented a large bill of fare. fitftla'iwal; ready to admit that it was the duty of Goverutdedt TO' undertake the question. At least, he should feel it his anti to do so, and he would give his best attention to it. He hoped that in the course of the session they should be enabled to pass into a law some measure which would put a stop to this growing evil." The deputation thanked his lordship, and retired. WRECK OF THE " TAYLEUR." Arrxis many delays, caused by the tempestuous weather, the inquest on the late melancholy catas- ' trophe in Dublin Bay was commenced yesterday week. The jury met at Malahide, on the coast oppo site Lambay Island, being the nearest spot to the scene of disaster that was suitable for the purpose. Of the numerous victims in the wreck, the bodies of three were selected for identification, and viewed by the jury as the formal preliminary to the proceedings. The investigation lasted three days; several wit ` nesses, both from among the passengers and crew, being examined. Captain Noble's evidence was, hawever, the most importhnt and authentic " The drift of his testimony was much in accordance with the general description of the wreck already given iu this paper. He had three life-boats and four long-boats on board, which were ready to be launched; but when the vessel struck no boat could live in the sea that was then rolling, and lie made no attempt to lower any of those boats ; at no time from Liverpool to the moment of the accident did he experience any obstruction from the want, or efficiency of hands, but he found on some occasions that the rudder did not answer to the man at the wheel. His opinion was that the rudder was too small. On the day he left Liverpool he went ashore and told the owners of the Taykur that she was ready for sea, and that he was anxious to put to sea, as the weather seemed favourable. He was appointed to the I'ayltur by the owners in June last. She was then in the builder's yard where she was built. "On cross-examination Captain Noble said that he en gaged the crew himself about a week before she sailed. The entire crew,with the exception of one mate, had been all strangers to him previous to the time he had engaged them, and they were all on board on Wednesday, the day before he sailed. The wages at which he engaged the crew ranged from Al. 19s. to 2/. a month. He made no experiment as to whether the vessel would answer her helm, nor in any other respect did he, or to his knowledge the owners, make any experiment or investigation into the sailing powers of the vessel. An examination of the com passes was made about a week or a fortnight before she sailed, and a trial of the helm was made by the pilot in the tideway, and she answered to the helm on that occasion, although the trial was not made for the special purpose of testing whether or not she would answer to the helm ; the vessel was swung for the purpose of testing the compasses THE PRESS. some time in November, and not afterwards ; they were then found to be correct ; when he found himself at Lam• bay he supposed that the compasses were in error, for he found them in the course of the day to be about two points astray ; Le had three compasses, each of which varied from the other, whereby he could not decide which was right, or which was wrong." On Monday evening the inquest terminated with the following verdict:— "We find that the deceased persons were drowned by the sinking of the Tayleur off Lambay Island, on Saturday, the 21st day of January, 1854, and that this deplorable ac cident ccca•-red in consequence of the highly culpable neglect of the owners in permitting the vessel to leave port without her compasses being properly adjusted, or a sufficient trial having taken place to learn whether she was under the control of her helm or not; and we find that Captain Noble did not take sufficient precaution to ensure the safety of the vessel, by sounding, after he found that his compasses were in error; but we consider, from the time the vessel came in sight of laud, he acted with coolness and courage, and used every exertion in his power to save the lives of the passengers, not having left the ship until she was completely under water. We are of opinion that the authorities should insist on some precautions being adopted, and the same number of men required in emi grant ships as are required in vessels chartered by the Government for the purposes of emigration or the convey ance ef the Government stores." THE ENGLISH FRIGATE AT SEBASTOPOL. THE Retribution, when sent to Sebastopol with the notification to Prince Menschikoff of the entrance of the fleets into the Black Sea, arrived before break of day off the entrance of that port, and the fog being very thick was in the very centre of the port before she was discovered from any of the batteries. On the fog clearing away all the forts fired guns with blank cartridge, in order to stop her advancing fur ther. Having arrived as far as he wished the captain immediately came to an anchor. The Retribution was very soon after boarded by a Russian officer, who told the commander of the frigate that he had en tered further than was allowed, and signified to him that he must return. Captain Drummond replied that.he had come on a special mission to deliver some despatches to the superior authorities. The RusSian officer said that he could not even listen to that explanation until the vessel had quitted the in terior of the port, and had retired beyond the reach of the cannon, and that the captain must immediately give orders to get under way, or the regulations would compel the forts to sink him. The rules respecting quarantine were appealed to by the Rus sian officer, and made the pretext of this requisition. Captain Drinsunowl said that he should be sorry to infringe established regulation-, and gave orders to get under way. This was, however, a work of some time, for the anchor held designedly so fast that it s-as very difficult to start it. When at last under way, the Retribution, going at a slow rate, ran along the whole of the fortifications, and again came to anchor at the spot which had been pointed out to her captain. The vessel was in all two hours in the port ; and, with the aid of telescopes and photo grapic instruments, so many observations and views were taken, that very nearly everything is now known that the Russians have been trying to keep secret for fifty years. When there, a Russian officer came on board to inform himself of the object of the arrival of the vessel, and said that the admiral and the governor were both absent, but that there would be plenty of time for them to be informed of his arrival before the English frigate had performed her quaran tine. This Captain Drummond refused to accede to, saying that his mission was confined to delivering his despatches, which he did in exchange for a receipt, and soon after left it to rejoin the combined fleets at Sinope. This is the first time that a foreign vessel of war has been able to enter the port of Sebastopol, and there is every reason to believe that the English officers not only carefully examined all the fortifica tions of the place, but also took a plan of them. There were only five or six line-of-battle ships in the port, most of them disarmed. Sebastopol is very strong, much more so than report gives. The people of the Retribution say that they observed more than 2(X) guns on them at one time. A French officer who went in her asserts that Cherbourg is very strong, but that Sebastopol was equal to three if not four Cherbourgs. GUNS FOR TURKEY. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir, —Knowing, from recent personal observation, the great want of guns experienced by the brave inhabitants of Asiatic Turkey, and the " antiquated imbecility " of most of the firearms they do possess, I beg leave to suggest, through the medium of your columns, that some of the thousand stand of flint muskets shelved as useless in our arsenals be sent as a present to the gallant subjects of the Sultan. These guns, though no longer fit for an English regiment, are infinitely superior to the miserable weapons now in the hands of the Turkish patriots. Yours, &c., IL S. S. THE ENGLISH GOLD CROP. Soma time since we gave an account of a new gold-crushing machine, the invention of Mr. Berdan, an American, and which, by an easy process, and at an almost nominal cost, quantities of gold can be profitably extracted from the ore that has hitherto remained either wholly unsuspected, or left untouched through the assumed impossibility of ob taining them, except at an outlay far beyond their value. In fact, it was believed that unless the proportion of gold or any auriferous ore exceeded 10oz. per ton there could be no profit from its extraction. Berdan's machine, however, seems to have overset these assumptions. A ton of ore can by its means be crushed and forced to surrender the golden grains it may hold at a cost of a few shillings ; and the value of a quantum of the precious metal though amounting to only a fraction of an ounce to the 20cwt. of crude ore is sufficient not only to repay expenses, but leave *tempting margin of profit. It appears moreover that the aggregate mass of mineral existing in England, which is rich in gold to far above the minimum point of profitable working, is enormous in quantity and various in charac ter. The consequences to trade and industry, the increase which this home supply may ihrnish to the cirsulatioti the influence it may have on private fortunes, and the 4-, mulus it will offer to milling adventure, can as yet be but faintly appreciated. As a matter of course, however, the first symptoms that have become developed have taken the shape of speculation, which but for accidental circum stances, and the general distrust arising from political un certainties, might have even already have expanded into a mania. As it is, much excitement has .arisen in the cir cles where schemes are dealt in and joint-stock companies get formed and launched upon the public market. Since the first notice of Berdan's crushing-machine appeared in the Paa:ss, mining adventurers of all descriptions have thronged the works in the City-road where the machine is set up, bringing with them samples of ores to be teated. The same plan has been adopted iu some cases by the proprietors of foreign mines, and the total number of ex penments performed is now 674, which are said to hay° resulted in orders being given for seventy-six machines. Out of these experiments, a large majority of which were upon materials presenting no visible trace of gold, b4O are alleged to have yielded that metal, and in two cases out of three in quantities that would pay for working. Indeed, the most common rate seems to be about tot. of gold to the ton ; and, as the expense of working is only a few shillings per ton, the prospects are dazzling. These, however, are moderate results, compared with some that are obtained in special instances; and, although 16 or 17 or. per ton recently constituted %he maximum, the wonders of a lead-mine in North Wales have lately been pro claimed, the ore of which has given '217 ounces of gold per ton from picked specimens, and something very extraordinary even from the inferior ones. The consequence of all this is a multitude of daily advertisements of mines that were never before heard of, giving " the results of experiments made with Mr. Berdan's machine," and there is every prospect that the rage will go on increasing. The de pressed state of the money market prevents the movement being turned to such account as would otherwise be the case, but still from individual to individual its fame is quietly spreading, and, as the belief in the soundness of the results increases, so should the public grow cautious, in order to avoid being duped by those cunning individuals who never fail to attach themselves to every new commer cial movement or industrial adventure, with the sole inten tion of turning the general credulity to their individual pro fit. Against the efficiency of the machine itself, or theood faith of Mr. Berdan, no evidence has yet been publicly brought in any quarter; but it must be borne in mind that he knows nothing of the origin of the ores brought to him. A hundredweight of stuff from Australia or California could be divided among a set of schemers who might found upon it a reputation for half a dozen mines; and when it is known that, according to a recent statement made by Mr. Hargreaves, at Sydney, a person who has since re turned here openly remarked, on purchasing a small quan tity of auriferous earth, that he intended to make his for tune with it in England, there can be no degree of suspi cion that is not warranted. At the same time the pre sumption that some of the reported results lately obtained are perfectly genuine is very strong. Even this, however, instead of causing the public to grasp eagerly at shares, should render them cautions, if not indifferent. Those who possess ore in abundance, yielding 2oz. of gold per ton, under a machine which costs only 6001., and which can Brush many tons a day at an almost nominal expense, can scarcely, if they believe their own stories, desire to sell their shares to persons less informed of their value. The transaction would be the same as if a man cognisant of the worth of a sovereign were to sell it to a purehasas who from ignorance would give only 10s. for the coin. THE CORRESPONDENTS 01 , THE LONDON JOUISNALS IN PARIS complain heavily of the strictness observed withre gard to their telegraphic despathhes. The branch office in the Rue Richelieu will not receive any soceounts unless copied from the Moniteur, but refers the bearer to the Minister of the Interior, where, although every courtesy and attention are shown, much delay is occasioned. ntis circumspection, it is pleaded, might well be owed with regard to London journals, which serve no other interests than those of the public. A TEBRIBLE EARTHQUAKE took place at Finana, in Al meria, in Spain, on the 13th of January. Between two and three o'clock in the morning, Miring complete darkness, and while every one was asleep, the soil was suddenly shaken and turned over by a series of violent shocks follow ing each other in rapid succession, and scoompanied by a prolonged noise resembling the rolling of thunder,. sad fol lowed by numerous fissures . It crumbled down the great est part of the Akszaba (an ancient castle of the Moors), broke houses to pieces, and sawed large chasms in snarly all the streets.. Eight persons were afterwards dugout in a terrible state of mutilation. • ~_ .:: ..-'