The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

Pl' • - -,•-.. -:. - • .af7rtre." • - • • ,~:~.,.~~.rr: 826 DONCASTER RACES, which will commence on the 12th inst., promise abundant sport, the entries being excellent, and the amount of added money (1,600 guineas) unusually large. THE DIRECTORS OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAIL WAY COMPANY intend to recommend the proprietors, at the ensuing half-yearly meeting, to declare a divi dend of Bs. Od. per 30/. share, being at the rate of 2/. 16s. Bd. per cent. per annum for the half-year. THE NUMBER OF PERSONS RATED TO THE POOR in England and Wales at 10/. and under 201. is 177,397; at 201. and under 301., 82,375; at 30/. and under 401., 48,873 ; at 401. and under 501., 34,043 ; and at 501. and upwards, 182,677. A UNIFORM PENNY POSTAGE is to be proposed for adoption in Ceylon. The deficiency created by the change is to be made up by the imposition of new import duties. KILLARNEY was never known to be so frequented as at present by visitors. All the hotels and lodging houses are crowded. THE LORDS OF THE TREASURY have declined to grant any allowance to an officer in the Customs who was about to be placed on the superannuation list, on account of his conduct while in the department not being of a character to warrant them in granting him a pension for his services. THE report on the state and condition of Penton ville prison, and the convicts confined in it, has been printed for the year 1853. The buildings throughout are in substantial repair. Twenty additional baths have been completed, and several minor repairs within the prison have been completed by the pri soners at a very moderate cost. The exterior work has been executed by hired labourers. The directors have reason to be satisfied with the manner in which the officers have executed their duties. As compared with the three former years, the number of punish ments awarded to prisoners is somewhat increased ; and the number of prisoners who have escaped unishment, in proportion to the total population, is less than in the same year. THE SHIP Essex, Captain Martin, from Melbourne in 117 days, arrived at Falmouth on Thursday. She has gold on freight valued at from 180,000/. to 200,000/., and landed her mails at Penzance. SIO3 an Voila. NUMEROUS " BEER BIM, • CASES continue to come before the metropolitan magistrates for adjudication. Mr. Hardwick, in one of them, has ruled that al though Londoners going into the country a little way may legally obtain refreshment in the character of travellers, they cannot enjoy a similar privilege upon returning home again, and he acc9rdingly convicted and fined a publican who served liquor under such circumstances. Mr. Norton, on Wednesday, fined the wife of a publican in the Waterloo-road 405., no fewer than seventy-five customers having been found in her house on Sunday evening. She pleaded that the customers had returned by railway and almost took the place by storm, forcing their way and in sisting to be served, with the threat of helping them selves if their demands were not complied with. Her husband was absent at the time, and she drew beer for them in sheer terror. Mr. Norton, though in flicting a file in this special case, expressed his con viction that the act must be modified. He said : " The present act cannot. in my opinion, last; for the time of opening (from one until half-past two) is not long enough for a publican to serve his customers and clear his house; and, there ?ore, I feel confident it must be repealed. and, indeed, I feel much surprised the public did not oppose the passing of such an act. With respect to the much-canvassed question as to who are travellers and who are not, it is my opinion that a person going from the east end of the town to the west is as much a traveller, and, as such, as much entitled to refreshments, as the person going to Hampstead or Richmond—indeed, they are more en titled ; for, in one case, the people go on business. and in the other (the latter) for pleasure. A publican who has a house in the vicinity of the Waterloo station said it was perfectly distressing to hear the lamentations and entreaties of those arriving by the excursion and other trains after ten o'clock on a Sunday night to be served with a glass of ale or a pint of beer, and nearly as distressing to be obliged to refuse them. On last Sunday night he sat outride the door, when a lady and gentleman came up to him, and the former almost implored him to give her a glass of ale. He was obliged to refuse her, but it went to his heart to do so, particularly in the state she was in—far advanced in pregnancy—but he knew If he did so an information would be laid against him, as a policemau was within sight. Mr. NORTON did not think that if an information was laid a magistrate would, under the circumstances, convict. MADAME CARADORI, the prima donna of the com pany lately performing at Drury Lane, was arrested on Saturday, the 10th ult., for an alleged debt claimed by Benjamin Sloman, a carpenter and ma chinist employed at the theatre. The claimant ob• tamed a judge's order for the arrest upon an affidavit declaring that his debtor was about to leave England, and this statement Madame Caradori (who had ob • tamed release by depositing the money claimed) dis puted by bringing a charge cf wilful perjury against Sloman. The case was investigated at Bow street Police Court on Wednesday : From the opening statement of the case it appeared that Mme. Caradori and Signor Pavesi had engaged to sing at Drury Lane, on the reopening of the theatre " under new management.," and Were announced to appear on Monday evening, the 2lst ult., in .-- THE PRESS. buerezia Borgia. On the p;evious Saturday, however, the de fendant made an affidavit at judge's chambers, in which be as serted that Madame Caradori had informed him of her intention to discontinue singing at Drury lane, and to return forthwith to Germany; and in consequence of the statements deposed to in the affidavit Baron Martin granted au order for the apprehension of the complainants, the debt claimed being 221. leis. for services performed. The execution of the order was deferred until half past eleven o'clock on Saturday night, at which time Madame Caradori was arrested on leaving the residence of Mr. Jarrett, the managing director of the company. She was taken direct to a sponging -house; and, it being too late to get assistance. was detained in custody the whole of the following Sunday (the 20th), having only obtained her liberation at a late hour on that day by paying the amount of the alleged debt and costs, not a farthing of which was due from her. Signor Pavesi was treated in a similar manner, and, not being able to speak or understand a word of English, he believed he had been forcibly taken to some house of iniquity for the purpose of being robbed. In re ference to the alleged perjury it was argued that, with respect to Signor Pavesi, the simple fact that he could not speak English, and that Mr. Sloman could speak nothing but English, was suffi cient to show that no conversation of the kind could have ever passed between them. Madame Caradorl could only speak the English language very imperfectly, but it happened that she knew nothing of Mr. Sloman, except from seeing him occasion ally at the theatre, and had never had any conversation whatever with him in-her life. She had never been asked to pay the money, no account was ever sent to her, no notice of the pro ceedings was given to her. She never heard of Sloman's claim until after she had been locked up iu the sponging-house, and it was only by paying the exaggerated charges of the sheriff and the unjust claim of defendant that she ultimately regained her liberty. Mr. HENRY, the presiding magistrate, observed that neither in his experience when in practice nor as a magistrate had he ever heard of the sudden ap prehension of a person for a debt without previous notice of the claim, and he could not conceive any set of circumstances that could make such a course justifiable. He ordered the case to be adjourned, and in the meantime strongly advised the defendant to endeavour to effect a settlement. AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF ELOPEMENT AND SEDUCTION has within the last few days been brought before the magistrates at Bath. It appears that Mr. Jones, livery-stable keeper at Weston-super- Mare, had a daughter, who employed her time in dressmaking, being engaged by the most respectable persons in the town. While so employed at the house of a lady some time in April last a note was taken to her by a ragged boy to meet a man called Pearce, with whom she was familiar, in what was called " the Lovers' Walk." She did so, and was taken away in a cart, on the pretence that she was going to a picnic, but nothing was heard of her till a few days since, when her family discovered her at the Railway- station Tavern, Bath, where she an.l Pearce had been living together as man and wife for several months. Her father and brother went there to her, and persuaded her to leave; but the landlord interfered, saying that she was of age, and could not be molested. He also struck her brother. In the midst of the excitement which occurred the young woman took up a carving knife, and was in the act of dashing it into her side, when her hand was arrested by a person standing near. The landlord succeeded in pushing the father and brother out of the house; and by the time they returned with a policeman their relative had been spirited away, and nothing has since been heard of her. The landlord has been fined by the magistrates, who also intimated their intention of bringing up the matter when he next applied for his licence. COUNT DUNIN, who has lately been declared a bankrupt, but remains abroad, exhibited at the Crys tal Palace in 1851 a curious piece of mechanism, for which he had obtained a patent, so constructed that it would form a perfect model of the human form of almost any size by contraction or expair4ion, and was intended for the use of army and navy tailors, for making uniforms, &c. The bankrupt obtained pos session of the model and sent it to France, but, by the active exertions of the assignees and their soli citor, the French authorities directed it to be given up to the assignees as having been fraudulently re moved. On Thursday an application was made to the Bankruptcy Court for a summons requiring the attendance of a gentleman who claimed alien on the figure, which was detained at the Custom-house until the right had been decided. His honour imme diately granted the summons. THE dispute concerning the pier at London-bridge, between the Citizen Steam-boat Company and the proprietors of Fennings'-wharf, presented itself at Southwark Police Court in the shape of a summons against Mr. Pillow, for unlawfully mooring a barge so as to obstruct the free transit of vessels in the River Thames. A long investigation took place, ending in a decision that the defendant had acted illegally, but on►y a nominal fine was inflicted. Mr COMBE, the magistrate, afterwards expressed his opi nion touching the legality of erecting the proposed pin The simple question is, whether the free transit of the river was clear, and that no obstruction had taken place? The place had been measured, and all admitted the obstruction, and no doubt the transit of the river was blocked up. The stairs and that part were public ways, and must be kept clear. If a pier were to be erected or placed there it would be a greater obstruc- Don ; but the harhour-master could take it down or remove it, as he might have done in this case. The fine and costs were immediately paid; but Mr. HaslewoOd declared, notwithstanding his worship's -- REPORTED LOSS OF EIGHT HUNDRED LIVES. THE overland mail has brought intelligence leading to a general apprehension that two very appalling shipwrecks have taken place in the Indian seas, both of which it is feared were attended by dreadful sa crifice of life. One of the unfortunate vessels is known to have been a large-sized brig called the Hygeia, of above 450 tons, which had bet n bought up by some speculators for the purpose of using her as a Chinese passenger or emigrant ship to Califor nia. On her purchase she was sent to Hong-Kong to be fitted as a passenger-ship, and surveyed, but was rejected by the emigration agent, and then left, as was understood, for Macao. Whether she went there has not been clearly ascertained ; but on the 31st of May she received on board 508 souls, some where near the Green island, and proceeded on her voyage to San Francisco, her crew consisting of eleven hands, under the command of Mr. Dribble, the captain. Nothing more was heard of the move ments of the brig until a scbooner happened to be sent to the Prates sandbank, midway between For mosa and Hong-Kong, in order to bring off the pas sengers of another ship which had been lost there. This schooner, on returning to Hong-Kong, reported that a second vessel bad been seen on the rocks, and that no fewer than 390 had been left to perish on the wreck. This was found to be the Hygeia, which, after beating about the coast for some days, encoun tered a heavy gale from the eastward, and on the night of Saturday, the 13th of June, struck upon a reef and became a wreck. Captain Dribble, with some of the crew and passengers, left the brig, and reached the island. Some others succeeded after great difficulty in gaining the land, but twenty-nine poor creatures who had taken to a raft were carried out to sea, and no doubt perished. On the schooner reaching the island she took on board all she could -147 persons. She had only half a-dozen casks of water to supply such a large number of famished creatures: her provisions were almost as scanty. However, she did the best under the circumstances to save the greatest amount of life; but the melan choly fact is to be told, that when she left 390 of the emigrants were to be seen on the broadside of the hull of the wreck under a burning sun, without a particle of food or a drop of water to sustain life. On the authorities at Hong-Hong being informed of the catastrophe application was made to the agent of one of the large steam navigation companies for the despatching of a steamer to the island, but although several were in the harbour none were forwarded. It is said that 1,0001. was demanded before a vessel would be allowed to leave. By the last accounts the poor creatures were still left on the wreck; but little bad been done to save them, and it is feared that the next mail will bring tidings of their having been starved to death. The second melancholy loss is supposed to be that of the British ship Lady Nugent, Captain Banner man, chartered by the Governcr of Madras, for the conveyance of the staff and head-quarters of the 25th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry for Ran goon. The ship sailed from Madras on the 10th of May, having on board the following officers and men :—Lientenant-Colonel Johnson, Lieutenant and Adjutant Daley, Lieutenant and Quartermaster King, Lieutenant Bumford, Assistant -Surgeon Simpson, 1 warrant officer, 0 native commanding staff officers, 247 rank and file, 33 public officers, and 50 fol lowers. The brigadier-general, Sir S. W. Steel, K.C.8., was to have accompanied the troops out, but sailed in the Oriental steamer, and has since arrived at Rangoon. The Lady Nugent has been overdue for a considerable time, and it is known that she must have encountered a terrific monsoon three weeks after her departure. Other ships which have since sailed from Madras with troops for Rangoon have reached that port., and it is feared that the Lady Nugent has foundered with all on board. Late dates from Rangoon mention that the a uthorities had despatched steamers from that p ort, as also from Calcutta, in quest of the missing ship, but nothing had been seen or heard of her. r. , A GANG OF SHARPERS, four in number, have lately adopted the plan of procuring situations as barmen and waitresses for a number of their confederates , who, as soon as they are installed, commence their plundering operations. The leaders of the gang make a daily round, calling in at the houses where their confederate's are placed, and ordering a glass 9f ale or spirits, for which they tender a small coin in payment, but receive change as for half-a-crown. The system is said to be extended to grocers' a nd other tradesman's shops. W. • ro SATURDAY, opinion, it was their intention to construct the pier. He ha I the authority of the Lord Mayor, and that was enough. Mr. Comm : You must not commit a breach of the peace; and I have no doubt the bar bour•master will do his duty. *ands ad Carats. I