The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-29 00:00:00

1238 On Mr. Ashcroft's resignation, Mr. Peter Bruff, an engineer of great ability, was appointed, who repre sented the state of the way to be unsatisfactory, and called for an expenditure of 150,000/. But of this sum Mr. Waddington explains 50,0001. is required for the erection of new and permanent works, while the expenditure of the remaining 100,0001. is to be spread over ten years. In reply to the final charge of fraud with respect to the stores, Mr. Waddington explains that a stores committee of the board con fided too much in Mr. Williams, the storekeeper, who neglected his duties, and was ultimately dismissed ; that the frauds were discovered, not by the committee of investigation, but by Mr. Waddington himself, who detected the plunderers, and had them tried and sentenced to transportation at the Old Bailey. As to the amount lost in stores, Mr. Waddington denies that it even reaches 10,0001., much less 40,0001., and concludes his explanation with an energetic appeal for a fair hearing, and a promise, if his views are carried out., of the line paying five per cent. within five years. PROFESSOR LEONI LEVI on Friday last closed his series of lectures at the King's College upon what may be called the " Learning and Literature of Commerce " by a final lecture upon " Bankers' Cheques," a topic to which considerab' . e interest was given by the recent decision of Lord Campbell in the case of Bellamy v. Coutts. The learned profes sor entered minutely into the system of giving and receiving cheques, the law respecting their presenta tion and payment, the object of the clearing-house, and the duties of bankers. The lecture-room was crowded, and at the conclusion of the proceedings Dr. Jell, the head master, and Mr. Gilbert, the banker, addressed the students with reference to the advantages they derived from having the laws of commerce so ably expounded to them by Dr. Levi. Mn. LOCKE KING has this week addressed a letter to the Times upon the subject of "Law Reform." In the course of his remarks Mr. Locke King, allud ing to the Court of Chancery, brings forward the case of one of its victims, of which he observes, "if cases of this kind were common, and were generally known, revolution must be the result." The facts appear to be m follows :—A grandfather leaves by his will several thousand pounds, and a moiety of a business worth several hundreds a year, to his grand children, believing that their father, his son, had died in a foreign country. The son not being dead, on his return to England after his father's death finds it necessary to place his children under the protection of the Court of Chancery. He files a bill to recover from another party that portion of the property which bad been bequeathed to his children. Judgment is given in a most marked manner in his favour : But (remarks Mr. Locke King) in spite of the law, in spite of judgment and of justice, in spite of everything being directly in his favour, his unfortunate family, through the law, through expenses of law, through the merciless way in which victims are allowed to be plun dered, finds itself in an almost worse condition than if nothing had been left to them. Nearly the whole of that which was their undoubted right is swallowed up before their eyes. The suit ran on for nine years, and then became so inextricably fixed in the meshes of " Chancery chicanery " that the family were utterly ruined by the law expenses, and ultimately forced out into the streets:— On a bitter winter's day (says the sufferer, in his appeal quoted by Mr. Locke King) down came four or five officers from the Chancery Court, and turned me and my family, destitute and houseless and homeless, into the streets, and put a padlock on our door, our only asylum ; I had but a few days before buried one child, brought to a premature grave by hardship and privation My eldest son was then stretched on a bed of sickness and suffering from rheumatic fever ; he, however, was brutally turned out of his bed, and literally limped and crawled and groaned with us into the streets, not knowing whither to directour steps or where we should lay our heads. The Chancery brokers, . ; they piteously corn obedience to orders, and they were obliged a few shillings extreme distress. at once in this ly would have tothing could be than the judg _ defeated, not opposed to justice, who have no right ,hole of it, in an mode." PALACE CoM• shareholders, prospects of the palace as a specu iticipating, " with the capital ex .; first raised as the subsequent first to there THE PRESS. being no positive data from which the real value of the shares could be atcertained, and secondly to ex tensive holders having on the first panic thrown a large number of shares on the market, and still con tinuing to realise their securities at such prices as they could obtain. The scheme of exchanging shares for life tickets, Mr. Anderson regards as a mere design of large speculators to enhance the value of shares for a time, in order to enable them selves to sell out with diminished loss. With respect to the palace having proved a failure as a remunera tive enterprise, Mr. Anderson denies the fact, and appeals to the dividend of nine per cent. for the time the palace has been open in support of his view. In conclusion, while Mr. Anderson admits that the Exposition at Paris and the want of a con venient mode of access from the West-end have proved serious drawbacks, he anticipates a most suc cessful ensuing season, when the waterworks will be finished, the West-end railroad completed, and various new arrangements for the exhibition of the finest objects of art and manufactures from foreign coun tries arranged. THE MISSING ENGINEER OFFICERS, lost since the 14th from the Brompton-barracks, are supposed to have been drowned in the Medway. On the 15th the three officers, Lieuts. M'Donald, Eden, and Bat tini, stopped at Rainhaml and took some slight re freshment, leaving the inn shortly after half-past four, p.m., from which time to the present nothing further has been heard of them. A deserted boat, half full of water, with her sail set, has been found on the banks of the river, and an officer's regimental cap, bearing the initials of Lieutenant Battini, has also been picked up. It is feared that, having made the sheet fast, a sudden squall struck them and par tially capsized the boat, threw them out, and drowned them, no assistance being at hand. ARCHDEACON DENISON has issued a circular, in which he states that the renewal of the proceedings against him, arising out of his holding and teaching the doctrine of the "real presence," compels him to make an appeal for assistance, to enable him to meet the necessary expenses of the defence. THE APPROACHING CONVOCATION will be petitioned for a restoration of the lay element. A petition to the Archbishop, bishops, and clergy of Canterbury, is now in course of signature by the general clergy and laity, praying that " some provision be made for the due expression of the mind of the faithful laity in matters affecting the welfare of the Church." THE FUNERAL OF THE LATE MR. ROGERS took place on TLursday morning. The remains of the venera ble dilletante were conveyed to the family vault in the graveyard of the picturesque little church at Hornsey. The funeral was strictly private, and attended only by a few of the oldest literary friends and relatives. THE COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION have issued their rules for the public examination of law students in Hilary Term, 1850. Studentships of fifty guineas per annum have been founded, to be conferred on the most distinguished student at each examination, while the three next best candidates on the list may dispense with two terms previously to their being called to the bar. The Bth, 9th, and 10th of Jan., are fixed for the examining days in constitutional law, legal history and equity, common law and the law of real property, and jurisprudence and civil law. A NEW COMPANY has just bean registered, under the title of the "River Thames Esplanade, Railway, and Sewage Company," for the purpose of construct ing river walls on both sides of the Thames, from London to Westminster-bridge. Under the arches of the esplanade, which is to run parallel to the river, a railway is also proposed to run from Hungerford to London-bridge; while another feature of the scheme is to purify the river, by entrapping the sewage at the mouths of the present sewers, and conveying it from the heart of the metropolis to convenient spots, where it may be deodorised and converted into manure for agricultural purposes. The promoter of the scheme, Mr. Wieland, of Glasgow, is of opinion that the economy of the employment of the ground, by raising upon it three distinct classes of buildings, would yield a ground rent more than sufficient to cover the interest upon expenditure, whilst the sew. age and railways would be both sources of consider able profit. The promoter is of opinion that Parlia and the Government might not be adverse to grant ing a guaranteed interest upon the capital expended. A NEW POSTAL CONVENTION has been concluded between the Governments of France and England, and arrangements made which will materially assist our means of intercourse, not only with that country, but with all places to which correspondence is for warded via France. The rates of postages on books and printed matter, and on newspapers and periodical literature, will be reduced on the Ist of January next, and at the same date a rule will come into operation requiring the entire postage to be paid in advance. Practical regulations on this subject have been issued by Mr. Rowland Hill. SATURDAY, Tisz SOCIETY OF ARTS held a meeting on Friday last, to resume the discussion upon Mr. Bailey Denton's paper "on the under-drainage of land." Mr. Bazalgette, and several civil engineers of high standing, addressed the meeting at great length in favour of 'eep drainage. THE NIGHTINGALE FUND has been the subject of a meeting at the Mansion-house on Wednesday, over which the Lord Mayor presided, and at which the names of many of the most influential merchants, bankers, traders, and manufacturers, were announced as having consented to become members of an auxiliary City committee, to aid this most laudable object. A circular inviting contributions, which is to be addressed to the working classes, is in the course of preparation, and application will be made to the principals of large establishments to receive dona tions. _ _ THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETURNS for the week showfa mortality of 1,257 against 1,522 births—about the average rate of London in the third week of December. oinntial. AN INFLUENTIAL MEETING was held at Brighton on Friday last, presided over by his Grace the Duke of Richinone, to consider the question of establishing a reformatory school for Sussex. The noble duke expressed himself strongly in favour of such institu tions, and believed that in so important a county as Sussex every effort should be made to reform the young criminals. The meeting was addressed at some length by the Earl of Chichester, the Earl de la Warr, and by several gentlemen connected with the county, and various resolutions were passed, propc. sing the foundation of a society for the reformation of juvenile offenders and the establishment of a reform atory school in the county. AN ACCIDENT by which several persons were seriously injured occurred on the North Kent Rail way on Christmas-day. The 10.50 down train on reaching Stroud, by the unaccountable negligence of the switchman, ran into a siding, and, coming into violent collision with several empty carriages, the engine-tender and some carriages were thrown off the line. The switchman, Edward Kington, was im mediately taken into custody, and on Wednesday brought before the bench at Rochester. It appeartd from the evidence of the station-master and the ion man of the locomotive department that the prisoner had not only neglected to keep the p ints in proper order so that they might work easily, but had not gone to attend them at the moment of the arrival of the train. A certificate was handed in, stating that one of the passengers lay in a most precarious state from concussion of the spine, and the bench at the conclusion of the evidence committed the prisoner for trial. THE BELLS OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, after a silence of twenty-five years, rang out a merry peal on Cnristmas-eve. The present peal consists of ten bells, which have been rearranged upon a strengthened framework, while an effective corps of ringers has been organised by the dean and chapter. Mr. T. HASTINGS INGHAM has written to the Times, in reply to some remarks made by their assizes re porter connecting the number of garrotte robberies in Yorkshire with the non-existence of a rural police. Mr. Ingham states t. at the West Riding magistrates, so far from being sparing of expense, in using every preventive to crime—precaution necessary for so large a district—are willing to spend 30,000/. a year on a new police force. The erection of reforma tories in the county, he admits, does not at present meet with much favour among the magistracy. In conclusion, Mr. Ingham compares the statistics of crime between Lancashire and Yorkshire in the last assizes, showing a result much to the advan. tape of Yorkshire, although the calendar for York shire extended over a period of fully a month more than that of Lancashire. AT ACCRINGTON, IN THE NORTH, a scene occurred last Sunday week which may well challenge our boast of civilisation. Two young men, Hacking and Riley, early in the forenoon, met in the presence of an immense crowd, on the public common, at Ham bleton, to have a wrestling-match. With the excep tion of their stockings, they both stripped naked, and " went to work." For an hour and five minutes the struggle continued, till exhaustion forced both men to retire. Their bodies at the close of the struggle are said to have presented a frightful spectacle; the blood was running freely, and in many places the flesh was torn from the bones, and hung like meat on butchers' hooks. The crowd, while this barbarous work was going on, were shouting and urging on the combatants in every way. It is difficult to believe in so disgusting an exhibition in these days, and this example is another proof for the necessity of provi ding proper enjoyment for the people. THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS have re. ported in favour of a division of the diocese of Dur•. ham, but have kept for further consideration whether the new see shall be established at Newcastle or Hexham. however, felt and acted like men • they miserated our situations, pleaded o bedience asked our forgiveness for the brutal part the to perform, and they made a collection of among themselves to help us in our extren Had an unjust decision been given a ease, says Mr. Locke King, the famil; been infinitely better off, but while not more clear and decided in their favour t ment of the judge, yet justice was because " in this instance law was oppc but because the law allows those who to the estate to take and absorb the whi indirect, technical, and mysterious mod THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CRYSTAL PANT has addressed a circular to the explaining the present condition and pi company's affairs, denying that the pall lation has failed to pay, and antici good management," a fair return on tl pended. The sanguine expectations to the profits of the enterprise, and tl depression, Mr. Anderson attributes