The Sun. — London, England, 1865-08-28 00:00:00

RAILWAY AND OTHER COMPANIES LONDON, TILBURY, AND SOUTHEND. The report of the directors states that the revenue account furnished by the lessees showed that the re ceipts amounted to £25,435 and the expenses to £17,672, leaving a balance of £7,763. The receipts on capital account had been reduced by £l,OOO de bentures, which had not been reissued. The returns of passenger tolls and proportions of goods receipts derived by the Great Eastern, the London and Blackwall, and North London Railway Companies from the traffic of the line during the half-year had been furnished by the directors of those companies. They were—for the Great Eastern, £4,711 ; for the London and Blackwall, £5,839 ; and for the North London, £1,034 ; making together £11,584. Add ing to this the £25,435 received as above, the gross receipts for Tilbury traffic during the half-ye ar amounted to £37,019. Since the last meeting the Dagenham Docks Company had been successfully established, and eventually a large increase of goods and passenger traffic would be brought upon the Tilbury line. The capital account showed that £794,244 had been expended. WEST HARTLEPOOL. The report of the directors states that the amalga mation of this company with the North-Eastern Railway Company had been sanctioned by Parlia ment, and had come into operation on the 30th June last. The receipts on revenue account for the last half-year ending the 30th of June amounted to £127,713, against £120,157 for the corresponding half of last year, showing an increase of £7,556. The expenditure amounted to £61,050, against £58,943, showing an increase of £2,107, and the net revenue amounted to £66,663, against £61,214 for the corresponding half of 1864, showing an in crease of £5,449. The net revenue for the year, ending the 30th June last, amounted to £137,047 ; ending 30th June, 1864, to £123,743 ; ending 30th June, 1863, to £180,290, and for the year ending the 30th June, 1862, to £72,898. After deducting the interest on loans and special liabilities, the clear balance for the past half. year available for dividend amounted to £36,934, which would allow of a divi dend at the rate of £2 10s. per cent. per annum for the holders of consolidated A stock and unconverted B stock, and at the rate of £1 18s. 6d. per cent. per annum for the holders of unconverted ordinary stock, leaving a surplus of £495 for contingencies. Besides the ordinary revenue, there was now at the disposal of the West Hartlepool shareholders a sum of £5,929, being the balance in band from the working of the company's collieries. The directors, in conclusion, acknowledged the cordial support which they had uniformly received from the pro prietors throughout the various difficulties with which. they had had to struggle since their appoint ment in 1862. They desired also to repeat their conviction that the terms on which the amalgama tion with the North-Eastern Company had been concluded were decidedly beneficial to the Hartle pool shareholders, while the arrangement was an advantageous one for the North FA -stern Company, and also was conducive to the public 'interests. The capital account showed that £4,043,970 had been expended. WHIT EHAVEN JUNCTION. The report of the directors states that the dis turbed state of the iron trade had caused a consi derable reduction in the receipts of the company during the past half-year. The decrease in receipts as compared with the corresponding half of last year amounted to £4,559. The traffic receipts for the half-year ending the 30th of June last amounted to £22,768, and for the same half of 1864 to £27,327. The working expenses amounted to £9,454, against £10,629, showing a decrease of £1,165, and leaving the decrease of net receipts £3,394. The line, works, and rolling stock had been kept in efficient repair during the half-year, and 38 new waggons were added to the stock. The expenditure on capital account had amounted to £1,290 for new rolling stock and additional sidings. The balance available for dividend, after the payment of all preference charges, £8,548, and the directors recommended the declaration of a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, and that £3,506 be carried to the con tingent account. During the past half-year another claim fur personal injuries had been settled from the funds on hand on the contingent account. The terms offered for the purchase of the line by the London and North-Western Railway Company were such that the directors considered it right to submit them to the shareholders,' and at the special meeting on the 26th of June last those terms were approved, and the purchase o f the undertaking now only awaited the sanction of Parliament. The capital account showed that £279,000 had been expended and the •apital suspense account showed an expenditure of £16,366. The contingency account showed that £8,122 had been taken from revenue, out of which £3,058 was deducted for compensation, leaving a balance of £5,064. WHITEHAVEN AND FURNESS. The report of the directors states that the re venue of the past half-year had been £2,842 less than in the corresponding half of 1864, in conse quence of the disturbed state of the iron trade, and also to some extent in consequence of the reduction in the rates for traffic from the Cleator district, and from which a temporary reduction of revenue was anticipated. The traffic receipts for the past half year ending the 30th of June amounted to £22,778, and for the corresponding half of 1864 to £25,620, showing a decrease of £2,842. The working ex penses amounted to £9,096, against £11,232, show ing a decrease of £2,136. The revenue had again been debited with £l,OOO towards the renewal of the permanent way, and also with the cost of all re newals of the rolling stock. The balance available for distribution among the original shareholders was £7,943, and the directors recommended the de claration of a dividend at the rate of 64- per cent. per annum, leaving a balance of £549 in hand. On capital account £1,064 had been expended in erect ing a new water tank at Whitbeck and a new water crane at Drigg, in the purchase of two new compo site carriages, and some additional machinery for the workshops. The directors were successful in obtaining the Act for making a line of railway across the Duddon estuary. Negotiations after wards took place with the Furness Railway Com pany which resulted in a proposal from that com pany to lease or purchase the railway on terms which the directors had considered it right to ac cept, subject to the approval of the shareholders and the sanction of Parliament. The capital account showed that £489,943 had been expended. The capital suspense account showed an expenditure of £6,769. LAUNCESTON AND SOUTH DEVON. The half -yearly meetin g of this company was held at Launceston on Wednesday ; Col. Archer in the chair. The report stated that the line had been opened for passengers, and that in a very short time th e goods traffic would be commenced. It was Con sidered that the present traffic held out good promi se for the future. _ _ The CHAIRMAN congratulated the shareholders o n the present position of the company, and expressed his confidence that they would not be disappointed with the investment of their money. The report was adopted, and a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors concluded the proceedings. EXETER AND EXMOUTH. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on Friday, at the offices, Exeter ; Dr. Brent in the chair. The Secretary read the report, which stated that the bill for the amalgamation of this company with the London and South-Western Company had re ceived the sanction of the Legislature, and that the necessary steps were being taken to carry out the agreement in accordance with the provisions of the act of Parliament, which would take effect on Jan. 1, 1866. The report was adopted, and a dividend at the rate of 16s. 3d. per cent. was declared. LOSTWITHIEL AND FOWEY. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Fowey on Thursday , Mr. Head, of Exeter, in the chair. • The CITAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, stt‘ted that the line was nearly completed. from Carne Point to a junction with the Cornwall Railway at Lostwithiel, and an agreement, subject to the approval of the meeting, had been entered into with the Cornwall Company, which he thought was most satisfactory. The company had offered the shareholders 50 per cent. of the receipts, and he felt satisfied that the Lostwithiel and Fowey Company could not work the line for themselves under 60 or 70 per cent. The annual traffic in clay, minerals, and other materials was estimated at 78,000 tons. The report was adopted, and the directors were authorised to accept the surrender of 733 shares from the holder. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the pro ceedings. CORNWALL. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Falmouth on Friday —2l.r. R. Tweedy, chairman, presiding. The report was taken as read. The CHAIRMAN having moved the adoption of the report and statement of accounts, the resolution was carried unanimously. At the conclusion of the ordinary business the meeting was made special for obtaining the assent of the proprietary to an agreement made between the Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway Company and the Cornwall Company, with respect to the working of the former by the latter when completed. This measure was also passed unanimously, and the pro ceedings closed with a vote of thank.; to the chair man and directors. BLYTH AND TYNE. The directors of this company report report that there had been a steady increase in all departments of traffic, and that the new branch to Whitley and Tynemouth had been well supported. The gross revenue for the half year ending the 30th June was £56,977, and the expenditure, including way-leaves, interest ondebentures, and land purchases, £37,495, leaving a balance of £l9,4B2,applicable for dividends, out of which the directors recommended a dividend at the rate of £lO per cent. on the 10 per cent. pre ference stock, £5 per cent. on the 5 per cent. pre ference stock and shares, and at the rate of 9i per cent. per annum on the ordinary stock and shares of the company, leaving a balance for the reserve fund. VALE OF NEATH. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Neath on Friday—Mr. Gilbertson in the chair. The secretary, Mr. Crier, having read the report, an abstract of which has appeared in The Sun, The CHAIRMAN moved its adoption, and expressed his readiness to answer any questions that might be put to him. Mr. J. M. PARSONS called attention to the delay on the part of the Great Western Board in complet ing the details of the arrangements for the amalga mation of the company with that of the Great Western. He had come from London to attend the meeting, with the view of learning exactly how things stood, and would feel obliged if the chairman ' would give him some information. The CHAIRMAN said the remarks of Mr. Parsons must approve themselves to all the proprietors pre sent. The great difficulty in dealing with the Great Western Board was that one day they met one set of men and another day another set, and it had come to this at last that he had told Mr. Potter, the chair man of the Great Western Company, that the next time he had a new set of directors to meet him he should put on his hat and leave the room. He might say, however, that he had no reason to complain of the bond fides of the Great Western Board. They had sealed last week their resolution of the 5k per cent. dividend, and Mr. Potter had shown himself a most competent and straightforward man. He had no doubt in a few weeks they would substantially have everything settled. The elections and the grouse shooting he knew had had a good deal to do with taking people away ; but they had got the resolution of the Great Western Board of Directors signed, and nothing but the grossest breach of faith could interfere with the full and efficient carrying out of the amalgamation. Mr. PARSONS had thought it better to bring the matter before the present meeting. (Ilear, hear.) The Great Western Company's meeting would, no doubt, be a very full one, and some people at that meeting might wish to see this agreement with the Vale of Neath Company broken off. The proprietors of that company might not see, as the Vale of Neath did, the great importance of the latter Company to the former. It would be as well, however, for them not to procrastinate. They had a formidable anta gonist in the Midland, and if they did not soon close their bargain with the Vale of Neath, the latter might secure themselves in another direction. Mr. RICHARDS having seconded the resolution for the adoption of the report, it was carried unani mously. Dividends were then declared at the rate of 51 per cent per annum on the consolidated stock and shares, 5 per cent. on the preference stock, 5 per cent. on the guaranteed preference stock created in 1855 and 1861, and 4} per cent. on the preferential shares. A resolution authorising the consolidation of the ordinary £2O shares into ordinary stock was then agreed to. The directors were then authorised to create and issue £75,000 of additional capital. Thanks were voted to the chairman and directors, and the proceedings terminated. COLNE VALLEY AND lIALSTEAD. The report of the directors states that the capital had been increased £307, part of £BOO advanced from revenue to pay certain matters on land and compensation account. The traffic account, fur nished by Mr. D. Gooch, the contractor for work ing the railway, gave a total traffic receipt for the year of £4,439. Under the terms of the contract £35 per cent. of the gross traffic was payable to the company, and gave £1,554 available towards:in terest for the current half-year; but this sum ap peared to the directors too small for division. The gross receipt of £4,439 was an increase as compared with the corresponding half of 1864, which was £3,890. The railway from Haverhill to Cambridge having only been opened for public traffic by the Great Eastern Company on the Ist of June, 1865, the time was too short to enable the directors to report as to the effect of such opening upon the traffic over the Colne Valley line. The capital account showed that £262,636 had been expended. ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN. The traffic receipts of this company for the month of July amounted on 490 miles of railway to $595,523, against $332,098 on 322 miles in the cor responding month of last year, showing an in crease of $263,425. The total receipts from the Ist of January to the end of July amounted to $3,175,260, against $1,721,637 for the correspond ing period of 1864, showing an increase of $1,453,623, or 844 per cent. SOLWAY JUNCTION. The half-yearly meeting was held at Annan, on Saturday, Mr. A. Brogden in the chair. The report, an abstract of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as read. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the i:o n report, preparations had been made for press vigorously with the viaduct across the Sol- That viaduct was, of course, the great I l v v a o y rk p . Frith, shareholders, directors, and the public were interested intihndes much more construction of the line, and would feel their m saw considerable pro tress madewitheasy when they short i way the construc tion of that work. It seemed only a Solway a cross, as they stood on this sid e of the and l o oked to the opposite shore ; but there was a aY con siderable amount of difficulty, and anxious work to be done, before they reached that side. The' dis tance would in time be shortened, because there would be an immediate start made on the other side, so that they would have almost as much work going on from that side as from this. The other works of the line were of an ordinary character. As to the time when the railway would be complete, the directors bad named in the report that it would be completed in two years ; and he fancied there was no reason why, with fair weather and no unforeseen circumstance arising, that time should be exceeded. When their line was completed they had a traffic ready waiting for them to be brought upon it of some 200,000 tons a year ; their line would reduce the distance which traffic had to pass over in one case by 22 miles, and in another case by 17 miles ; and there was no possible reason why that traffic should not pass over the line from the first day of its existence. Mr. J. DEES seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Auditors were appointed, and the remuneration of the directors was fixed at £2OO per annum. The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman. THE SU N, _LONDON, MONDAY EVENIA G, A UGUST 28, 1865 having taken Miss Seagar's life, Robinson would seem to have gone upstairs into his bedroom, his hands wet with the young woman's blood, and then to have attempted - to shoot himself; for not only was blood found upon the bed, but the barrel and butt of the gun likewise had blood upon them, and a charge of shot passed into the ceiling and brought down some of the plaster. The gun, which bore marks of having been recently discharged, he would then seem to have reloaded. The child of Mr. Isaiah Fisher who first gave the alarm appears to have been attracted into the house by the report of the gun, and seeing Miss Seagar lying surrounded with blood, conceived the notion that she had been shot. The alarm is thought to have brought the murderer down stairs before he had, by the second discharge of the gun —one barrel of which was found loaded—completed the purpose with which he is supposed to have first exploded it ; but an equally ready means being at hand when he got down, he seems to have adopted it,and so gashed his throat with the razor that was already dripping with the blood of his dying victim. Robinson's habits had latterly been very irregular. As re cently as Wednesday last he came home at midnight drunk. Mrs. Fisher let him in, and alike to her and to Mr. Fisher he conducted himself very violently. On Thursday Mr. Fisher told him that he must leave and go into lodgings, and that as he had lately become accustomed to use harsh language towards kiss Seagar, she also had better leave, lest after he had left the peace of the family might still be subject to disturbances on the occasion of his visits. When even ing came Robinson craved the pardon of his executor, and, making promises of amendment, was allowed to re main. Miss Seagar used to chide him gently for his ex cesses and fits of moroseness, which followed upon most of his drinking bouts. There are two wounds upon the murderer's throat, one of them so superficial as to scarcely more than cut through the skin. The other does not include any of the principal arteries ; and whilst it extends to each side of the wind pipe, has not injured it. In a few days, therefore, it is expected that he will be sufficiently recovered to appear in the dock charged with the wilful murder of Harriet eagar. The deceased's father lives at Compton, near Wolver hampton, and is a blacksmith. - The coroner's inquest will be opened to-day (Monday). SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON CHLOROFORM.— A certa i n physician, being asked how chloroform was discovered, said that he supposed it must have been by inspiration. The higher significance of his phrase was so far justifiable in that no single dis covery has conferred so much individual benefit on mankind as the demonstration of the safe, certain, and pleasant method of extinguishing pain. In its other meaning, the work " inspiration" exactly de scribes how the anaesthetic or sensation-destroying properties of chloroform were first found out. Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, invited a few congenial spirits to meet at his home, and personally test (at their own risk) a variety of substances, with intent to discover a more satisfactory anaesthetic than tether, which was objectionable on account of the nauseousness of its vapour, and the large quantity and long time required to establish the necessary influence. To convey some idea of the risk which these experiments involved, it may be mentioned that chloroform (which they only took in its turn) had already been pronounced by M. Flourens to be dangerous to life. They experimented with it on November 20, 1847. " Drs. Simpson, Keith, and Duncan sat each with a tumbler in hand, and in the tumbler a napkin. Chloroform was poured upon each napkin, and all patiently inhaled and waited for something to turn up. After a proba tion, Dr. Simpson, drowsy as he was, became con vinced that something had turned up, for he heard Dr. Duncan snoring, and Dr. Keith kicking about in an inelegant manner." They were profoundly asleep, and would have certainly startled an intrud ing domestic more than the pipe of Raleigh frightened his servant. The action of these savans strongly contrasts with the proceedings of those who first used anther as an anaesthetic at Boston, in America, in September, 1846. In Edinburgh, the honour of discovering choloroform was at once conceded to Dr. Simpson. In Americi,, the discovery of the employment of tether vapour was disputed by those who made the earliest expe riments, and the squabble would probably be still going on if chloroform had not so entirely super seded the use of tether as a means of destroying sensibility to pain. But the search for such a mighty agent had been prosecuted for centuries previously; and, according to Dr. Snow, nether itself was probably used as an anaesthetic byßaptista Porta, the date of discovery being almost coinci dent with that of the first arrival of Columbus in America. This Baptista Porta, curiously enough, was also the inventor of the camera, and the most marvellous results of modern photography achieved by its aid depend upon the solvent virtues of this same wther in preparing the collodion film. The first employment of anaesthetics dates yet further back. From very early times, humane physicians earnestly pursued the search for some method of ensuring freedom from pain whilst the knife or the cautery did its dread work. The nepenthes of the ancients consisted chiefly of intoxicating herbs, and the employment of Indian hemp as a means of deadening pain was common to the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Scythians. The most learned and best-esteemed of our professional societies, occupying in medicine much the same position which the Royal Society bears in general science, recently appointed a select committee to exa mine and report on many matters of exceeding impor tance, both to the profession and to the public, in re lation to the use of chloroform vapour as an anaesthetic. This was a wise and timely proceed ing, since there had, year by year, grown up very serious doubts among the uninitiated as to the safety of its employment. " Another death from chloro form" is a stereotyped paragraph-heading. And the condition of fright induced by the suspicion of such a result forms a very bad preparation for those about to submit to its influence. Dr. Sansom has carefully collected the results of various observers as to the dangers of chloroform, and the statistics are very re-assuring. For relief from the pangs attendant on childbirth it has been used about 40,000 times in London alone, without a single acci dent. In general operations (and these furnish the materials for the accident paragraphs), it may be estimated that chloroform has, up to the present date, been administered upwards of four millions of times, and that nearly every case of death from its use has been published to the world. The statistics as to the actual number of deaths caused by admi nistration of chloroform vapour give, as the result, an average of one death in 16,000 cases of inhala tion. But this is undoubtedly an unfair estimate, since the numbers include all those deaths which occurred before the profession had thoroughly learnt the safest methods of using chloroform, what are the chief dangers attendant on its application, and how they may best be averted. There are only two ways in which chloroform ought ever to be administered. The one provides that the inspired air, previously prepared in a large reservoir or bag, shall contain an exact and safe percentage of chloroform vapour ; so that the patient, how ever he may breathe, can get no more than the re gulation dose. Under this regime, the insensibility may be maintained for many consecutive hours, if necessary. The apparatus for the purpose was de vised by Mr. Clover, an eminent London practi tioner, and has been personally employed by him upwards of a thousand times without a mishap. This is the only effectual way of assuring the minimum of risk. In the other process the safety of the patient depends exclusively on the personal observation and experience of the operator. In Mr. Clover's method it is assumed that the inflated bag contains a mixture absolutely innocuous under the conditions in which it is used. But as chloroform is generally a dministered, rudely lint, poured on a folded cloth, or on sponge orthe handy contrivance is a focus of vapour which has a deadly strength ; so that undivided attention is necessary to watch for and avert those symptoms which indicate that there has been a breath or two taken containing so excessive an amount of the subtle vapour as to be dangerous. It is under this latter method of administration that all the deaths have occurred. Yet this is the method of administer ing chloroform vapour which the profession recognise, simply because in good hands it is safe enough ; and the apparatus used cannot be too simple. The best yet introduced, because it is the simplest, is that devised by Dr. Skinner of Liverpool, and to which Dr. Sansom does but scant justice. He has an in haler of his own, which is somewhat pretentiously described. It presents the very great disadvantage common to all " inhalers," that the administrator is led to place faith in the ingeniously contrived appa ratus, and may thereby be induced to relax that unceasing vigilance which is the only safeguard of the patient. If there are possible dangers, such as make every prudent doctor anxiously observant throughout the whole time of a patient's insensibility under chloroform, it is evident that any careless and ignorant use of the anaesthetic must be fraught with extreme risk. And this warning needs to be publicly ignorant of since there are many persons who , of the dangers they incur, themselves employ chloro form vapour for the mitigation of temporary pa i n , breathing it through a saturated handkerchief u n til insensibility occurs. " THE SPECTATOR" ON THE THAMES. —The report of the committee of the House of Commons on the River Thames, just published, reveals a state of things scarcely credible to those who are not thoroughly aware of the perfection to whieh the art of " how not to do it " can be carried by public bodies under favourable circumstances. It seems that the river Thames, which under any reasonable management ought at least to furnish cheap carriage for heavy goods from the Pool to 20 or more Mkvad towns, supply London with pure water, and yet re main the " silvery Thames" in all its beauty, is actually in danger of becoming in some place a mere rivulet, and in others a "pestiferous swamp." There is daily danger of loss of life at those picturesque old locks and weirs which look so well on the walls of the Royal Academy, any one of which may at any time give way, drown the crew of a barge or the occupants of two or three pleasure boats, cause a destructive flood, and finally put an end to the navi gation of the river. Already some of the higher reaches are becoming unnavigable from weeds and silt, water carriage scarcely pays even between London and the wharves of Reading, Abingdon, or Oxford, about 100 unhappy bondholders have been victimised to the ex tent of £90,000 on security of tolls which have almost ceased to exist, and the railways—in this case of course the aggressors—are exulting in the approaching removal of the wholesome competition of the navi gation. We also find—though this did not come within the immediate province of the committee— thirty-two more or less considerable towns which send all their sewage into the river, besides the re fuse from gas works,paper mills naphtha works, and similar abominations. Even Kingston is allowed to pollute the river, Sir W. Page Wood apparently reasoning that as thenuisance - ill probably be much greater at some future day, it would be not fair to put an end to it now. Such is the present state of the river Thames, and such are the dangers which menace its very existence unless some energetic action be taken. To attain this happy result it must be evident to all that a complication of Boards, Commissioners, trusts, and Committees greater even than is usual in such cases, must have been at work. One ceases to wonder at the present chaos after reading the evidence as to the management of the river. From Staines downwards the river is under the control of the Thames Conservancy, a competent body, fairlyrepresenting the various river interests as well as the City, prosperous, and not dangerously in conflict with any other power or au thority. They manage a large amount of barge traffic from below London Bridge to the small towns below Staines, the five locks under their care are all in good order, they are free from encum brances, and they are ready to forward any mea sures for facilitating the ascent of salmon, in case of that fish ever being persuaded to trust itself in the Thames. But beyond Staines all is chaos. The control of the river from Staines to Cricklade, 107 miles, is vested in a body of Commissioners, con sisting of anybody who possesses either £lOO a year in land or £3,000 personalty in the counties through which the river passes; the members for those counties, and the members for, and mayors and re corders of, certain boroughs • the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London ; a good many Oxford Dons, the Fellows of Eton, and the incumbents of all parishes on the banks of the river. Of this large body some six or seven hundred have formally quali fied, and they elect a committee of 15—three from each of the five districts into which the river is divided—who act as the executive, subject to the control of the entire body. Of course the large ma jority of the latter are in no way interested in the navigation or the London water supply, or the state of the river, or anything of the kind, and of course the committee they elect cannot be supposed to be very enthusiastic about any of those subjects. Some of them are millowners, whose interests are directly opposed to those of the barge-owners and river-side merchants. The Commissioners, though they act under six Acts of Parliament, are not a corporation, and aretherefore personally responsible and liable to be sued for work done at their orders. By three Acts passed in the reign of George 111. they obtained bor rowing powers to the extent of £lOO,OOO, nearly the whole of which is now owing to about 112 bond holders, nominally at 5 and 41 per cent. on the security of the property and tolls of the commis missioners. From causes that will shortly appear the tolls received by the commissioners are not sufficient to meet their minimum expenditure, even without paying interest to the bondholders. There is not a penny in hand to maintain the works, the commission is hopelessly insolvent, the workmen have been discharged, and the entire navigation above Staines must shortly be closed. The bond holders are generally willing to take 2s. in the pound, but as many are executors, trustees, or inca pacitated, no legal arrangement can be effected without legislation. The real difficulty, however, is the rights possessed by the " old lockowners," specially reserved in all the acts. Between Staines and Oxford there are no less than 20 locks, chiefly belonging to millowners, who claim and exercise the right tolevy tolls of the most oppressive kind on every vessel passing up or down, and not in any way bound to apply receipts for the benefit of the navigation. These tolls are levied upon tonnage, not upon the amouutof freight and actually amount upon a partially laden barge to more than those levied by the com mission. In many cases the old locks are entirely done away with, and pound locks constructed by the commissioners, who have, however, to pay to the old lockowners the sum which would have been due to them if the old lock had been used. Some of these old locks threaten to fall into ruin day by day; others are so constructed as to prevent the passage of barges drawing more than a very slight depth of water, and the sum total of the blackmail levied by these legalised plunderers between Staines and Oxford is sufficient to render water competition with the railways utterly impossible. These twenty lock owners, again, are with few exceptions millowners too, and in some part of the river have to be com pelled by Act of Parliament to postpone the interest of their mills to that of the navigations on certain days in the week, which they then do with a very bad grace. The result of all this is that. the naviga tion of the Thames must cease, the locks come to ruin, the river become a mere rivulet in some places and a marsh in others, all flood water, after doing great damage and involving the insolvent Commis sion in law-suits with indignant " riparians," will flow at once away, instead of being stored up for water supply, and the unlucky bondholders will finally lose their chance of even two shillings in the pound. This is the state of things disclosed in the evidence before the committee, and one in which legislation of some kind is clearly desirable. THE " EXAMNER" ON A MODEST RAILWAY DE FENCE.—Mr. Best, a commercial traveller, brought an action in the Bloomsbury County Court against the North-Western Railway Company for the re covery of expenses incurred by him in consequence of detentions on the road contrary to the announce ments of the time-table. The defence of the com pany deserves notice for its matchless impudence. First there was the plea, often put forth but never allowed, that the times stated for the arrival and departure of trains are not guaranteed, in which case, if a train appointed to start at a certain hour never started at all, or never arrived at its promised destination, the company would not be liable for the disappointment of travellers and derangement of their plans. But more impudent still was the second point of defence, that on the days of Mr. Best's detention the company was conveying a very large number of excursionists at a cheap rate, which interfered with the punctuality of the ordinary . trains. So the travellers who paid dear fares, rely ing on the promises of the time-table, were to be thrust aside, belated on the road, and to have all the plans for their journeys deranged, in order that the excursionists who • paid cheap fares should be con veyed in great numbers. The avowal of this pre ference is cool, but the reason of it, is intelligible enough. The low fares of the numerous excur sionists pay better than the high fares of the regular trains, and therefore it is that the regular trains are made irregular that the road may be clear for the more favoured and more profitable excursion trains. Yet it never occurs to companies that if all trains were run at low fares they would pay as well as excursion trains. It is said that baggage makes the difference, but baggage might be charged according to weight, so as to defray the cost of any extra steam power. And in the present system, which, as it began without experience, has been carried on without profiting by experience, it certainly seems somewhat inequitable that passengers with very unequal weights of baggage should be carried at the same price. But to return to things as they are, not as they might, could, or should be, nothing seems to be gained by the public paying first-class prices, and to bring companies to their senses and something like fair dealing, people who have hitherto been accustomed to take first tickets should take second, and those who have taken second should take third. As it is, what happens on every holiday, or such-like occasion, when trains are full, and places still in demand ? Why the mob at the stations are allowed to storm the car riages, and half a dozen roughs, some half or whole drunk, will force themselves into a first class compartment, and hold possession. When the ticket-collector comes round he will take the tickets of those intruders and interlopers as if it was quite a matter of course that they should be where they are. As the Irishman in the sedan chair without a bottom observed that he had as lieve walk, so the first-class passengers on these pleasant occasions are apt to reflect that they might as lieve be third class in tickets as well as in company. The decision in Mr. Best's case was most satisfactory, the judge holding the company to the implied engagements of its time-tables, and as upon this ground the judg ment rested, he probably did not think it necessary to animadvert upon the impudent admission that faith was broken with the regular passengers at high fares that monster trains at low fares should have precedence on the road, His Honour ruled that the statement made by the railway company as to their not guaranteeing the times of the arrival and de parture of their trains did not protect them except in cases in which an accident, or circumstances which could not be anticipated, came in the way ; and if persons made their arrangements on the faith of the time-tables, and the company departed from them, they were answerable for losses sustained by passengers. 'The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for three guineas. " THE LONDON REVIEW" ON THE FASHIONS OF WIT.—It has become a smart thing for a certain class of writers to detect the age of a joke and to ascribe its origin to some remote period, either of Lempriere or Joe Miller. The process is just as cruel as if you hunted up the parish registry for the baptism of a parish belle • the result of antiquity in both cases being fatal. Yet it is just possible that the ways by which people can be made to laugh are so far limited that in a certain time we should come back upon the place we started from and go the entire round of fun over again. Hallam gave it as his opinion that the world was closer to where it was a thousand years ago than he would at all like to suspect. Historians will tell you that the com binations of events are not incalculable, and may yet furnish sufficient data for a set of laws by which their study will become a science. Humanity is much the same in the lump. There were rouge-pots found in Pompeii, and there are a few still extant in London. Burlesques were in high favour before now. Plato put into the mouth of Socrates a sentence which shows how well they are appre ciated. " All opposites (he says) can be fully understood only by and through each other ; con sequently, we can only know what is serious by knowing, algo, what is laughable and ludi crous." Thus, having a lively recollection that Claude Melnotte or the Colleen Bawn were used for the purpose of getting sentimentally the better of us, it is positively a relief to the mind to have them dancing a break-down and making puns, which put us quite at our ease as to their intellectual supe riority. The Athenians laughed at Jupiter, on the stage, attempting the window of Alcmena by means of a ladder, or at Socrates comi ng d own f rom th e flies in a basket. This trick is often repeated in our travestie and pantomime. In the " Clouds" of Aristophanes, a part of the fun consists in making the " clouds" walk about or gather up at the sides. So we find Nick Bottom recommending somebody to represent a " wall" and " hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny let Pyramus and Thisbe whisper." Thehumour of mugging at the pit is more or less modern, but the joke of having an aside with the theatrical officials is to be found in the " Peace" of Aristophanes, where Trygessus is suspended in the air on the back of a beetle, and calls out anxiously to the manager to take care his neck is not broken. He afterwards intimates his safe arrival on the earthby joining the musicians in the orchestra. The " Ecclesiazusaa," or " Woman's Parliament," embodies the idea of Tennyson's charming medley. Nor is it in drama alone we can find these analogies. Lucian and Rabelais, Swift and Diogenes, had much in common. You might yet find a club philosopher at this day sharing an opinion or two with his tub progenitor. We have, however, a few modes of fun which seem to have no precedents. Where, for instance, will you find the antecedent of the comic nigger ? There is no account in Plautus, or else where, of a Carthaginian minstrel who wouldl pro bably be the ancestor of Mr. Bones. We think the ne gro such a funny dog that we have him inlamp-black when the real article cannot be imported. The humour of cotton trousers, wooden boots, and hee haw conundrums appear to have been quite un known to our forefathers, who did some business with Jamaica, and got quite a different value out of Sambo. Nor were they acquainted with the intense joviality of such songs as those of the " great" Vance, the very St. Vitus of comicality. They were ignorant of Slick " down east" stories and sells. Those fashions of wit are all our own, pure and simple. At the same time, we have discarded the epigram, which now only turns up as a curiosity. The acrostic, too, has had its day, appearing but once in a twelvemonth, when the stationers' shops are measled with valentines. The chronogram is no more, and a lover is not now required, as in the Elizabethan age, to play 50 tricks with his mistress's name before she permits him to change it for his own. Nor have we those curious specimens of humour recorded by Addison. No one writes a poem in the shape of an egg, an axe, or an altar, or attempts the highest peaks of Parnassus on wings composed of his own verses. Even the rebus shows symptoms of decay. It only appears at the fag end of cheap journals, and as an innocent dodge for purchasing our next in which the solution will be given. Frequently the answer is withheld for a period of two or three numbers, the periodical thus having a little game of send-the-fool-farther with its readers. Enigmas are nowhere, except in. Reuter's telegrams. A pun has come to be alto gether unlike what it was ; instead of a laugh, it extorts a murmur of astonishment. Perhaps this was the manner in which the jests of Dick Tarleton and the Shakespearian clowns were received. We read that Cicero, Aristotle, Caesar, and Cleopatra, all punned. Victor Hugo has a long chapter on the subject in " Les Miser ables," and one cannot help associating the title of the work with that partigular section of it. There is a sort of genuine wit lying between fancy and plain prose, having the vivacity of the one and the truth of the other, which is at once serious, pic turesque, and playful, and which, in fact, makes the most of a thought by putting it in the very best position and in the very best words. It may con sist in a comparison, an allusion, or the discovery of some new and unsuspected quality. It rejoices in similitudes ; illustrating a single idea, it fills in a meagre outline with warm colour, and light, and perspective. In some proportion every man has wit. It is a characteristic of our minds never to be wholly unoccupied. Nothing is presented to us that we do not pass judgment on, compare, con trast, combine, retain, or reject. We never allow things to remain simply as they come. We must piece them together with other matter, distinguish them by the native hue of our own mental com plexions, and recognise them afterwards not as we knew them first, but as we know them when par taking of ourselves.' The strange idea will, in truth, be enriched according as we are furnished, and we shall reproduce it in a manner and- garb indicative of our resources. Peter Bell had nothing to say of the primrose save that it was yellow ; Wordsworth or Burns could see a ten derness in it, and by a thousand attributes mag nified the powers into a promise of spring fulfilled, a hope of sweet summer days to come, a something that enjoyed the very air it breathed, and SO on. And this, though poetry, is also wit. "By resemblances," Burke writes, " we produce new images ;" and true wit increases our stock just as poetry does. There was seldom a great poet who was not also a great wit. Even Homer has it in a measure, and it shines here and there like a torch through the gloom of Dante's terrible revelations. Milton has left us " L'Allegro" as well as "Para dise Lost." In that author, whose name is a house hold word amongst us, there are many beautiful prose poems ; and in the works of Thackeray there are passages of sentiment, which are assuredly poetry. In both are phrases and sentences in which we know not whether wit or poetry predominate ; they hover as it were between thoughts half gay and half sad, with a fluttering uncertainty which causes in us a feeling of suspense similar to that which good music produces. And we want something of this instead of the perpetual gagging and gibe which passes for humour amongst our smart writers. Nor is it the height of comicality to job up the worst mannerisms even of the best men. A literary mimic is one of the saddest objects in the world. Our mo dern wits not only find the joke, but, as Cibber wrote_, find the laugh also. If th ey wou ld on l y cease from being so very funny, but the appetite they cater for is a coarse one, only a degree above that which is tickled at the music-halls with cockney vulgarities, hot and hot punch, and hot and hot songs. The stage indeed gives us small hope of re- ' formation in this respect ; but we look to our novel writers for it, possessing as they do models of genuine humour and examples of real wit, which have never been surpassed or even approached in the literature of any other country. THE ATHENEUM" ON LONDON BRIDGES.--Per sons of satirical turns of mind aver that the archi tectural quality of our bridges over the Thames, not less than those which span the streets of London, suffices to prove the almost total absence of good sense and common honesty of design among us. Without going higher than Hampton Court, the observer may satisfy himself that such is the fact. There stood, until lately, in front of Wolsey's noble house, a picturesque, but decidedly inconvenient, wooden pile-bridge, constructed in the cheap but handy way that suited our grandfathers, and which, having no architectural pretensions,—being, in fact, a mere structure—grew, by process of wear, to be as pleasant a thing as any painter could desire to see. It cost scarcely anything to keep in order, for if a pile decayed there were certain persons who, with skill worthy of dentistry, drew it out of Father Thames's jaws, and put a new one in so deftly that you would hardly believe the thing had been done at all. Folks said the old viaduct was narrow and steep. As to the first, one might reply that a few more piles, placed to right and left, would bear footways wide enough to ac commodate the gigantic crinolines now worn by the lower female orders of her Majesty's subjects ; the portliest cook in London, hoop and all, might cross the river on such on a trottoir. As to the steepness, people forget that in such cases an ascent must be made somewhere, so that it is delusive to aver that a gradient has been reduced, when it has been really transferred from a bridge to its approaches. The unkindest cut of all, with regard to this bridge, was administered by gratuitous information that the lean,iron o intendedcontrivancefi ttoon which m supplanted on„ wi t t h h et the eld architecture pil eswas Palace ! Some ' C ' olluarrt rnileS fill`tilt34' down the river we o§s several really baudieme railway bridges, and those pseudo-classical structures that serve the needs of Richmond and Kew, as well as the fine work of suspension at Hammersmith, Telford's best bridge, having a design which is, beyond all comparison, superior to that over the Menai. Two miles below Hammersmith we come to another of the old wooden bridges, constructed of piles, like that at Hampton Court, and, like it, we hope, soon to be demolished. Picturesque as Putney Bridge un doubtedly is, it exhibits also, as every oarsman knows, an unhappy com bination of the evils to which a bridge is liable. As a wrathful coxswain once said to us, " Putney Bridge is Scylla and Cha rybdis in one." As oarsmen, however, are in a mi nority to those who walk, while the trade navigation goes through Putney bridge in barges, which rarely fail to lumber past somehow or other—and if a bargee is drowned there (such things will happen) it is mostly because the poor man was drunk—we should be sorry if the terror of our early rowing days were removed, merely in favour of an iron con struction of the class unhappily so common of late. We may be premature in hoping that Putney Bridge is destined to go. According to evidence recently given before a committee of the House of Commons on Toll Bridges, it appears that a com pany which intended to supplant not only this bridge but that of Battersea, is not likely to do so within the time allowed by an injudicious act of Parlia ment. Our objection to the act is grounded on knowledge derived from authorised drawings of the suspension bridge which, by its means, was pro jected in order that the people of Chelsea might gain access to Pattersea Park without using the existing Battersea Bridge, the situation of which compels them to go one quarter of a mile round about, i.e., supposing they start from a space of about this extent between the existing Battersea and Chelsea Bridges; beyond this space either of these structures serves better than the projected bridge. The design accepted by the Legislature for the new Cheyne Walk Bridge is not only unfortunately toy-like in itself and of a class which all artists condemn, but such as is certain to destroy the characteristic picturesqueness of Cheyne-walk, one of the few relics of old suburban London, where only are to be found trees, water, and old houses in one charming union. If Cheyne-walk-bridge is not to be, so much the better ; we know however, the vitality of such schemes in speculative hands. Should it revive, one of the principal objects of our writing will be attained if the attention of the Legis lature is called to the meretricious character of the design, so that it may be 4 tiy authority revised to something presentable. It is hardly necessary to descend the river beyond Chelsea-bridge ; the rail way viaduct, designed by Mr. Fowler, which is close to it, is serviceable and architecturally satis factory. Vauxhall-bridge offends rather by what it omits to exhibit than by what it possesses of artistic character. There are parts of much-abused Lambeth-bridge which need skilful treatment ere it can become pleasant to the eye ; this done, it would do well enough. In rejoicing over the con venient width and gentle slope of New Westminster- Bridge, most of us have forgotten that such advan tages were rather matters of course in its construc tion than sufficient of themselves to satisfy an artistic eye, and justify the claim of its rather lean and liney form to admission amongst works of art. No two bridges over the Themes differ so much in art value as that at Westminster does from its neighbour at Chelsea ; although they are by the same engineer, the one is worthy of its site near to that of tawdry Ranelagh Gardens, while the other is, although meagre, respectable in its attempted elegance. Having recently spoken of those viaducts which are strictly metropolitan, we shall not now return to them. WEST CORK. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on Friday, at the offices, Gracechurch-street, Sir C. P. Roney in the chair. Mr. H. WOOD, the secretary, read the report, which stated that owing to several unforeseen diffi culties in obtaining possession of certain houses and land in the town of Bandon, the opening of the line to Dunmanway had been unavoidably delayed beyond the time anticipated. Those diffi culties had, however, been entirely removed, and the works required to complete the junction with the Cork and Bandon Railway had so nearly ap proached completion as to leave only an excavation of 130 yards in length to be removed for finally completing the junction of the two lines. The di rectors made a satisfactory trial trip over the line on the 14th March last, from a point near the town of Bandon into the town of Dunmanway, a distance of 17 miles. The rolling stock was all delivered on the railway, the engines were ready, and the sta tions and other requisites for opening were com pleted up to Dunmanway. Of the 151 miles of line to complete the line from Dunmanway to Skibbe reen, four miles had already been finished, and the permanent way and fencing for the whole length had been delivered. The works on the remaining 111 miles were easy of construction, and a considerable extent of land was expected to be obtained by pay ment in shares of the company. The preference share capital of £120,000, bearing interest at 6 per cent. per annum in perpetuity, authorised in the last session of Parliament for completing the line to Skibbereen, was now ready for issue in shares of £lO each. On the completion of the works between Ban don and Dunmanway the Cork and Bandon Rail way Company would be required to pay their sub scription of £20,000, as per agreement. The direc tors were of opinion that the consolidation of the Cork and Bandon, the Cork and Macroom, the Cork and Kinsale Junction, and the West Cork Railways into one uniform and reciprocal system of management would not only enhance the value of the several properties, but stimulate further exten sions westward to Clonakilty, Bantry, Crookhaven, and other places. They also looked forward with in creased confidence to the ultimate establishment of Crookhaven as a port of call for Transatlantic steamers. The capital account to the 30th of June showed that £306,656 had been expended, leaving a balance of £2,026. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said his confidence in the success of the undertaking was undiminished, and he believed that when the lime was completed and opened for traffic to Skibbereen further extensions west ward would be promoted, for the purpose of open.; ing up a large area of country hitherto undeveloped. Mr. J. W. HOLLAND seconded the motion for the adoption of the report, and it was agreed to. The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman. ILLINOIS CENTRAL, The financial statement of this company for the month of July shows that 7,144 acres of land had been sold during the month for $84,157. The cash col lected in July amounted to $106,347. In the rail way traffic department the total receipts for the month of July amounted to $531,996, and for the same month last year to $403,838, showing an in crease of $128,158, or 3F7 per cent. WEST LONDON WHARVES AND WAREHOUSES. The report of the directors states that the Royal assent was given on the sth of July last to the Act of Parliament which was approved by special general meeting, held on the 16th of June, and which con ferred considerable advantages upon the company. The directors had concluded an agreement with the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company for the absolute purchase of a slip of land, together with the parts included in their Parliamentarf powers, which enable the company to acquire a total extent of direct river frontage, exceeding 1,700 feet, which they could not otherwise have obtained. This pur chase would actually put the company in possession of a large extent of wharfage property already made, and the directors purposed at once placing cranes along the frontage, erecting warehouses in the im mediate vicinity, and laying down tramways to con nect them and the wharves with the adjoining rail ways, by which means they anticipated that the company would, in less than 12 months from this time, be in full working order, and trusted in receipt of a considerable revenue. Beyond this the com pany's land, which the directors believed to be of great value, remained intact, and, in lieu of being in any manner depreciated, would be considerably enhanced in value and available at any time, when the business carried on might require additional ac commodation. The directors trusted that those arrangements would receive the full approval and support of the shareholders. The 7 per cent. guaran teed interest on the capital called up would be paid on the 30th of September. The capital account showed that £86,327 had been expended, leaving a balance in hand of £23,137. Another Murder of a Sweetheart and Attempted Suicide. Wolverhampton has again been the scene of a very dreadful crime. The perpetrator of it is a mere lad of 18, named Charles Christopher Robinson, an orphan, whose father, a blacksmith and coal dealer, had left him a pro perty worth about £4,000. He lived with his guardian, Mr. Josiah Fisher. He had been apprenticed a few years ago to a cabinet-maker, but ho had shown no fondness for the business, and had not served out his time, justifying his conduct by saying that he should have money enough to keep him. He had latterly become engaged to a young woman named Harriet Seagar, a sister of Mrs. Isaiah Fisher, whose husband, a son of his guardian's, kept a public-house called the Queen's Arms. She was a few months older than her lover. There was no objection what ever to the connexion; on the contrary, Mr. Josiah Fisher had taken her into the house as a kind of servant, but she was treated as one of the family. On Saturday Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Fisher, with Mrs. Isaiah Fisher, left home at about three o'clock to go to Codsall. At that time Robinson was in the garden behind the house smoking, and Miss Seagar was engaged about her domestic duties. Excepting these two no one was left at the house. At about four o'clock a girl named Emma Sil leto, aged 15, and servant at the Queen's Arms, was near to the back door of the residence of Mr. Josiah Fisher, when she saw Miss Seagar crying, and Robineon was near her. The impression left on Silleto's mind was that they had been quarrelling. In about an hour afterwards Robinson went to the Queen's Arms, borrowed a knife-board for Miss Seagar's use, and with it took away half a pint of ale. Half an hour afterwards Silleto sent one of her master's children for the board, and the messenger, a boy, was told by Robinson that it was not done with, and that he must come again. Some time after five o'clock Silleto herself went for the beard. Miss Seagar stood using it in the back kitchen. She was still crying, and Robinson was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Miss Seagar threw out the board, andßobinson either kicked or threw it to Silleto, who went away with it. At a little before six Silleto heard a gun fired in Mr. Josiah Fisher's house, and in a few minutes one of Mr. Isaiah Fisher's children ran in from the garden which separates the two houses, and cried out that Charles had shot Harriet. Silleto ran across the garden and saw Robinson come down stairs and enter the back kitchen. On looking through the window of the back kitcheh she saw him standing without his coat, in front of a small mirror that was hanging against the walL Whilst looking into the mirror he held a razor in his right hand and cut, Silleto says, three gashes in his throat. She raised an alarm, and when neighbours came in they found him standing in a leaning posture outside the back kitchen, his eyes difficulty lt glaring, and hi s c l othes stained with bloo d t h at h a d been and w as s till flow i ng from wounds in h i s throat. An attempt some was made to secure him, but he became very violent and tried h ar d to tear open the wounds described. With fastened behind him. 11 ;r w h as ilst o t v h e i rp s o w w a e s re gti a n n g d ohni,snheaignhels bours had entered the back-kitchen,and found Miss Seagar lifeless on the in thethe floor.w hDeh,athpaheasdinbeg h e t u rO c u e g a h the si°n windpipe and all edby ahideous cut oat' which, right to th e sp i ne. She was sur e sur rounded with blood, and upon her head being raised, the last breath of life seemed to depart. Robinson's wounds were temporarily bandaged with the apron of a woman who came in, and he was led into an inner room. Here his injuries were attended to by Mr. Summers and Mr. Vincent Jackson, surgeons. After COUNTRY MARKETS NOT T INGHAM-SA.TURDAY. There was a fair amount of wheat offering at to-days market, which met a tolerable demand at an advance of 1s per qr. Barley met a fair inquiry at about last - week's rates. Small show of oats, and a slight advance in price. Not many beans at market, and prices in favour of sellers. Old white wheat, 48s to 55s ; old red, 448 to 50s ; new white, 40s to 55s ; new red, 43s to 49s per 36 stone. Bar ley, new malting, 278 to 36s per qr; old grinding, 26s to 29s'; new, 24s to: 29s per 30 stone. Oats, old, 26s to 31s ; new, 22s to 27s ; old foreign, 22s to 26s per stone. Beans, old, 43s to 46s ; new, 41s to 44s per 38 stone. NORWICH-SATURDAY. There was a fair supply of wheat at this market, and the trade for all good qualities must be considered is per qr. dearer than last week. A few samples of the new crop were offered rather soft in condition. The weather con tinued fine in many parts :of Norfolk until Wednesday, and some amount of both wheat and barley secured in fair condition. White wheat (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 48s to 52s ; red ditto (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 42s to 48s ; best malting barley (weighing• 551 b to 561 b), 30s to 336 ; runs ditto (weighing 541 b to 551 b), 286 to 36s ; distilling ditto (weigh ing 521 b to 531 b), 24s to 26s ; oats, 24s to 26s ; beans, 37s to 39s ; peas (maple), 36s to 38s per qr ; flour, 26s to 31$ 6d per sack. YORK—SATURDAY. There was a very small attendance at our market to-day, owing to the farmers being busy harvesting, and the few samples of grain which were offered at rather higher prices. New white wheat, 48s to 50s ; new red, 46s to 48s per 86 stone. Barley, for malting, - sto —s per qr ; grinding, 28s to 29s per 30 stone. Oats, new, 23s to 27s per 24 stone. Beans, 43s to 44s per 40 stone. Malt, 58s ; rye, 28s per qr. Flour, 33s to —s per•sack of 2801 b. LEICESTER-SATIIILDAY. At this market to-day there was a fair supply of wheat, which met a tolerable demand at an advance of is per qr. Barley came tolerably to hand, and prices same as last week. A fair show of oats, at fully last week's currencies. Beans made extreme rates for good samples. Old white wheat, 47s to 50s ; old red, 44s to 478 ; new white, 46s to 49s ; new red, 40s to 43s per 36 stone. Bar ley, malting, 33s to 35s per qr. ; grinding, 26s to 29s per 30 stone. Oats, old, 29s to 33s ; new, 25s to 29s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 41s to 45s ; new, 39s to 42s per 38 stone. CORK-FRIDAY. The following were the quotationt this morning :--Red wheat, 8s 6d to 9s Od ; white, 8s 6d to 9s 8d ; barley, 6s 6d to Os Od ; oats, 7s od to 8s 2d ; black oats, 6s 6d to is Od ; bere, 6s Od to Gs 6d. DUBLIN.-FRIDAY. The appearance of settled fine weather made buyers cautious, and they only took for immediate wants. Foreign obtained former rates, also Indian corn. Only a few sam ples of new wheat appeared, which sold at full prices. Oats in good supply, but the condition poor, and sold at irregu lar prices. Flour met a moderate business, at full prices for all qualities. Currencies :—White wheat, 23s 6d to 25s 6d ; red do., 21s 6d to 23s Od ; grinding barley, 12s Od to 138 Od; malt ing do., 13s to 14s 6d ; white oats, lie to 12s; black d 0.,. 10s Od to lle Od. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton Sept. IS. Ditto, via Marseilles Sept. 13. Brazil and Cape Verde, by British pacxet Sept. 4. Ditto, by French packet . Sept. 2 2 2• Cape of Good Rope, Ascension, and St. Helena... .Sept. 21. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Sou. hampton..Sept. I. Ditto, via Marseilles Aug. 26 Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton.... Sept. 1. Ditto, via Morzeilles India (Bombay), via Southampton. Aug. 25. Ditto, via harseilles Sept. —• Mauritius, via Southampton Sept. 10. Ditto, via 3larseil e 3..... • Sept. 4. Newfoundland • . , Aug. 10. Portugal Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon.. United States and British North America, by Bri tish packet Ditto. by United States packet, via Southamp ton . Ditto, via Cork Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry Sept. 1. West Coast of Africa. Madeira, and Teneriffe Sept. 10. West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba, . _ and Mexico Aug. 28. Bahamas, via New York. . Sept, 13. Bermuda, ditto Aug. 30. Cuba and Mexico • ......Aug. £B. Births. HARVEY.—On the 25th inst., at 27, Park-crescent, Stock" well, the wife of Mr. Henry Harney, of a son. HORNE —On the 25th inst., at 92, Portsdown-road, the wile of Horace Horne, Esq., of a daughter. SYANHOPE.—On the 23d inst„ at 61, Harley-street, the wife of W. Spencer Stanhope, ley, of a daughter. Esq., of Cannon Hall, Barns" Marriages. FEILDEN—FEILDEN.—On the 24th inst., at Saint Mark's Witton, the R ev . G eorge Ramsay Feilden, rector 0 . Bebington, Cheshire, to Margaretta Priscill a , the thir d daughter of Joseph Feilden, Esq., M.P of Witton-P 3114 Lancashire. Ricxox—WATT.—On the 24th inst., at St. James's Cleric enwell, Abraham Rickon, Es q ., o f Goderich-place, 'Albeni r .: road, Camberwell, to Miss Ellen W a tt, o f Chepsto place, Notting -hill. Deaths. BISCOE.—On the 24th inst., a t H o lt on P ar k , O xon , Mil' F. L. Biseoe, aged 89. DESCH.—On the 22d inst. at Kinsale, Ireland, Commander Chas. T. bench, of the Royal Navy, aged 50. HARDIMAN.—On the 22d inst., Mrs. Mary Hardiman, ° f Kingsland-place, aged 75. KEEN.—On the 24th inst., at Newbury, Berks, Alfred 13 * Keen, aged 30. KING.—On the 23d inst., at Eltham, Dr. D. King, aged LARGE.—On the 24th inst., M r . William Large, of reCj'' ham. • OuvEn.—On the 26th inst., at 10, Crowhurst-road, Brig ' ton, Charles Thomas Oliver, Esq., aged 77 . WALLER.—On the 24th inst., suddenly, at Luton, Jare es Waller, Esq., aged 44. --- - London : Printed and Pnbliehed by WILLIAM ANDREWS' of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tna, SUN Office, No. 1 12 i, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, In the Count,' 0 litiddlesexe—Monday,Auguet 28,1586. I