The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 10, 1855• that every man who was engaged in that disastrous affair at BidaWave, and who was fortunate enough to oome out of it alive, must feel that it was only by a merciful decree of Almighty Providence that he escaped from the greatest apparent certainty of death which could possibly be con ceived. (Loud cheers.) The noble earl concluded by repeating his acknow ledgments for the honour that had been done him. SAVINGS-BANKS' STOCK. ACCOUNTS presented to the House of Commons, put swat to act of Parliament, state that the gross amount of all sums received by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt on account of savings-banks and friendly societies in Great Britain and Ireland, from their commencement in 1817 up to the 20th of November, 1854, amounted to 70,829,7571., and the gross amount of all sums paid to 31,720,905/. The total amount of stock standing in the names of the commissioners amounted to 33,009,2181., the amount of Exchequer Bills to 58,0001., and that of Exchequer Bonds to 1,000,000/. The sums paid for the purchase of such stock, funds, and Exchequer Bills amounted to :33,018,9061.; the gross amount of interest or dividends received thereon by the said commissioners was 24,070,2501.; and the gross amount of interest paid and accredited to savings -banks and friendly societies by the said com missioners (including interest up to and due on the 20th of November, 1854), 26,901,3561. A balance of 174,6831. remained uninvested on that day. The ex penses incurred by the commissioners for clerks' salaries and other incidental expenses during the preceding year are estimated at 4,7011. The total amount of stock transferred and paid to the commis sioners within the year 1854 was 198,1581.; the money paid (including commission), 851,6611.; the amount of immediate annuities granted', 47,648 ; and the amount of deferred annuities, 1,0271. The gross amount of moneys received and paid by the commis sioners on account of " the fund for the military savings-banks" from the 9th of September, 1845, to the sth of January, 1855, was 208,123; and the total amount of stock bought and transferred, 232,6161. PURIFICATION OF LONDON AIR. --------- SINCE active measures have been put into operation during the last few months in order to abate the smoke nuisance, not only has the air been cleared with astonishing rapidity, which was hitherto considered almost impossible, but those measures to effect it have proved eminently successful and satisfactory ; and it is stated by the inhabitants of some of the worst manufacturing districts of the metropolis that they now not only daily see the improved appearance of the atmosphere, but feel the beneficial effects of the change upon their constitutions ; and in consequence of this suc cess a number of appliances are being suggested by various parties in order to meet the requirements of those furnaces which at present are exempt from the provisions of the binoke Act, such as potteries, glass works, smiths' forges, dec., it being notorious that the most inveterate smokers now are those existing in the Lambeth pottery district. And, moreover, as it has been stated by Mr. Wright, C.E., Government inspector of smoke nuisance, that upwards of 3,000,000 tons of ooal are annually imported into London, and that only 1,000,000 tons of this quantity are consumed for manufacturing purposes, and the smoke arising from which is conveyed into the air by 6,000 tall chimneys, ranging from twenty-five to two hundred feet high, it is, therefore, obvious that fully two-thirds, or 2,000,000 tons of coals are annually consumed by the 390,000 reeking dwelling-houses of the metropolis, and that a single stack, Consisting of ten or twelve house chimneys, during the winter months, will give out quite as much smoke as those manufacturing chimneys ranging from twenty-five to sixty feet high, which class proportionately comprises by far the greatest number of the 6,0110 shafts who are obliged by the clauses of the Smoke Act to consume their own smoke. Hence it is evident that by far the largest amount of smoke created in the metropolis is that emitted from the immense number of dwelling-houses ; and in sight of this state of things a variety of plans are being further proposed, not only to annihilate smoke arising from every drawing-room fire, but, in fact, that no particle of smoke be allowed to escape into the air, by which means also chimney-stacks and chimney-pots, with an infinite variety of ugly and dan gerous cowls and deformed pipes, may be dispensed with, that are now distorting in every kind of formidable shape the appearance of our private dwellings, and threaten atno distant day in some disastrous gale of wind to fall down, and commit fatal depredations amongst unsuspecting pedestrians. These objects, therefore, once attained, houses in London will assume the clean and neat appear ance of those in eastern countries, and the British capital become comparatively as free from the pollution of smoke as a country village. THE Cleveland (U.S.) Herald states that the Minie rifle is being adopted into the American service upon an improved plan. Instead of a short iron tube in serted in the ball, it is to be made with a cavity, into which a portion of the charge of powder will be forced, and its explosion does the whole work of spreading the ball so as to completely slug or fill the rifled bore of the gun, and driving it on its mission of death. The manufacture of muskets in the United States armouries is to be abandoned, and the troops are to be armed with the improved ➢line rifles, with bayonets. I I bayonets. i.—. THE PRESS. V olitual anli 6traral. Sin EDWARD BLAKENEY, after nearly twenty years' service, retires from the command of the army in Ireland. He is to be succeeded in his high office by General Lord Seaton, Colonel of the Second Life Guards, and better known to the military world as Sir John Colborne. THE MANCHESTER GAS WORKS have cost 400,0001. The length of the main is between 170 and 180 miles, and the number of meters fined is about 10,000. The production of gas is 000,000,000 feet. The price is 4s. to ss. per 1,000 feet, and the profits, which are applied for public purposes, are between 35,0001. and 40,000/. per annum. THE following steamers have been engaged by the Admiralty as regular transports, viz., the New Fel ton, /Etna, Great Britain, Imperial, Killingsworth, Snowdown, Crcesus, Baltic, Victory, and the Severn. UP to the Ist of December the Admiralty had expended 0,793/. in maintaining Russian prisoners of war. WITHIN the last few days, says a Paris paper, there have been forwarded to the Crimea, for the French army of the East, 150 officers' huts, and 1150 privates' huts, for thirty thousandjmen, made at Toulon and Marseilles ; 450 officers' huts, and 1,500 privates' huts, for 30,000 men, ordered from England ; and 210 hut-stables, for 10,0110 horses, ordered in Paris. SONE OFFICIAL DESPATCHES were published on Monday, in a parliamentary paper, received from the governors of the British colonies, containing addresses by legislative assemblies and councils approving of the war with Russia. Fos' the time being, the armies may be said to have gone into winter quarters; the French, English, and Turks on the plateau of Sebastopol, and the Russians at Simferopol, Baktchi Serai, and Sebastopol. Moss. A. SoYER has offered his services gratuitously and is willing to proceed direct to Scutari for a short time, at his own personal expense, to regulate the hospital kitchen department, if the Government will honour him with their confidence, and grant him the full power of acting according to his own knowledge and experience in such matters. A PERSONAGE belonging to one of the highest families in Portugal, who desires to preserve a strict incognito, has placed 10,000 bottles of port wine at the disposal of the French Government for the army in the Crimea. The Minister of War, in thanking the generous donor for his welcome present, has ex pressed his regret " at not being allowed to mention the name of one who so well merits the gratitude of the French people and army." THE MORTALITY OF LONDON is still excessive, and the number of deaths, as returned in the last report, exhibits but a small decrease on that of the previous week. In the last five weeks the deaths were-1,404, 1,468,1,549 5 1,680, and 1,604. Throughout December the temperature was about 41 deg. ; and the deaths in a week were about 1,300. The weather has since become colder by 12 deg., and produced an increase of 300 in the deaths. Compared with the decennial average. it appears that 391 persons died last week above the calculated amount. THERE has been a rather serious affair between the British troops stationed at Christianburg Castle, on the west coast of Africa, and the natives of the town, who showed signs of rebellion. The batteries of the castle fired on the town, and the fire was re turned. We lost one corporal and three privates killed, and had twenty-four men wounded. Peace was finally restored. THE HORTICULTURAL Socinry held a winter meet ing, the first under the new arrangements, on Tues day, at the society's house in Regent-street, the Right Hon. Lawrence Sulivan, vice-president, in the chair. Notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the wea ther, the exhibition surpassed anything of the kind that has been witnessed in London for many years, and was extremely well attended, many leading hor ticulturists and amateurs being present. The first spring meeting was announced for Tuesday, the Bth of March. Tan Rev. E. S. FOULKES, 8.D., late fellow and tutor of Jesus College, Oxford, has seceded from the Church of England. Mr. Foulkes, who is a nephew of the venerable principal of Jesus, was admitted a member of the Church of Rome on Monday last, at. the Church of the Oratory, Paris. He held the of of divinity tutor at Jesus College for several years. In Easter Term, 1841, Mr. Foulkes obtained a second class "In Literis Hurnanoribus." A PROJECT has been set on foot for the establish ment of a new London Joint Stock Bank, to be called the City Bank, with a capital of 300,0001., and power to increase that -amount, if necessary, to half a million. The active promoter is Sir Robeit Carden, who, it is understood, will be chairman. The success of the existing institutions, the dividends latterly declared having been large, will, no doubt, ive a stimulus to the undertaking. toTim lOrarussses, now en route from India to le Crimea, will be reinforced by recruits from Eng land. 135 A BODY OF Two THOUSAND POLICE CONSTABLES is being organised for service in the Crimea as a trans port corps. The body to consist of a quartermaster, sergeants or superintendents, drivers, and corporals. The strength of the whole is to be 2,000. There are to be 1,400 drivers, at a pay each of 3s. per day, and 2s. ed. each for the lower class, clothing and rations to be given in addition. The officer is to receive 1001. for an outfit, but the candidate must be in every respect efficient, capable of holding her Mikjesty's commission, and qualified to associate with the officers in the British army. Pensions are to be allowed to the men in the event of their receiving wounds whilst on duty. It is proposed to raise MOO second-class drivers, who are to be officered by about 100 men of the different grades of non-commissioned officers. FORY-FOUR years since Sir De Lacy Evans was five times in as many months mentioned in despatches published in the London Gazette for baying specially distinguished himself, not as a favoured member of the staff, but as a working soldier, who had been iu ten battles and sieges, flume' ous skirmishes, had ridden on horseback without rest three bundled miles on exigent service, had five horses killed under him, been three times wounded, and had led three or four desperate assaults in person, as desperate as any forlorn hope, and was still no more than a sub altern officer. IN THE RADNORSHIRE BOROUGHS Sir George Cornewall Lewis, son of the late Eight lion. Sir T. F. Lewis, M.P., has come forward as a candidate to fill the vacancy in the representation caused by the death of his father. In his address to the elec tors the hon. baronet says :—" My political principles, which have always connected me with the Liberal party, remain unchanged." I,'atu ant Volta. MR. CHARLES WESTERTON, the churchwarden of St. Paul, Knightsbridge, has proceeded in the Con siatory Court against he Hon. rd Rev. Robert Liddell, the incumbent of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, Knightsbridge, for the purpose of restraining him from certain Tractarian observances in those churches. The allegations are that a " high altar " had been set up, that candlesticks and crosses were placed thereupon, and that a marble credeutia, or prepara tory altar, had been erected. The episcopal monition which has been issued directs that all these articles shall be forthwith removed, and that there shall be substituted in lieu thereof a decent communion table for the administration of the Lord's Supper, or that Mr. Liddell shall show cause to the contrary in the Consiatory Court. MESSRS. COOKE, printers at Maidstone, had for year or two contracted to do the county printing for 1401, per annum. Afterwards they declined to renew the contract, stating that it did not pay, and asking 2351. Mr. Wildes, the deputy clerk of the peace for the county of Kent, obtained a contract from a Lon don firm at the old rate, and in reporting thereon to the county finance committee, observed, concerning Messsrs. Cooke's demand, that it appeared to be "an attempt to extort a considerable sum from the county by misrepresentation." The parties thus alluded to brought an action for libel against Wades, which was tried on Monday in the Court of Queen's Bench, and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs, with 501. damages. Leave was, however, given to the defen dant to move a nonsuit on the technical plea that his report came within the description of " privileged communications." Two PRIVATE SOLDIERS of the 90th Regiment, W. Gibson and W. Gallaher, were tried by district court martial at Chatham, for the offence of making away with their ammunition iu shooting at the Emperor of Russia, whom the; had drawn on the barrack-table with chalk. A most severs sentence has been passed upon them—that of Gibson to 52 days with hard labour, and Gallaher to 102 days' hard labour in the military prison, Fort Clarence. Six troops of the Household Brigade of Cavalry, comprising about 350 men, will leave for the East in the spring with the additional contingent of cavalry. The present mounted men of the Household Cavalry number about 750 men. The recruiting for the cavalry in general is going forward most actively, and by March next, it is expected that upwards of 1,300 men will be added to the cavalry force of the service. It is stated that two new cavalry regiments will be added to the light division, to be denominated the Pith and Nth Light Dragoons. The following is the cavalry standard now acted upon : He ivy Cavalry.-741en and lads not below b ft. hi in. nor above 5 ft. 9 in. in height, and not exceeding 24 years of sae. Light Cavalry.--Men and lads nut below 0 ft. 51 in., nor above 5 ft. 9 in. in height, and not exceeding 2.5 years of age. Cavalry in India.—Men not below 0 ft. 5i 5 ft. 8 in. in height, and not unde r 1„ y ears of ago nor c eeding 25. in., n ex or ahoy° Men who have previously served are eligible for re enlistment into cavalry up to :t years of age, with good characters. Bounty 101. I