The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-04-17 00:00:00

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TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1,177.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

- - --
Scientific men have devoted a good deal of
attention to the problem of driving machinery
by the force of natural heat, and it appears that
an attempt is now to be made with the view of
accomplishing this object. Engines to be driven
by the sun's rays are said to be the talk of the
thy in Paris. M. Waddington, it is affirmed, in
• recent speech at the Sorbonne, loudly extoll4
a solar engine, which is the invention of M.
Mouchat ; and M. Foucault has invented an
ammonia engine, which is also to be driven by
the heat of the sun. Some further particulars
respecting these inventions will no doubt be
looked for with interest ; but it may be suggested
that for all practical purposes they will probably
be found most useful in the sunny climes of
the South. The idea of an engine to be driven
by the rays of the aim in Dorchester, for
example, would sound rather too much like a
joke to be received with anything but scepticism.

The clerics want to know when Lord Beaconsfield is
going to appoint him twin new bishops. One is wanted
for Swim. and Man, and one for Rochester. which will
he vacant by the the translation of Dr. elatighton to
St. Alban's. But the months go by and no one is
named. By the way, we doubt if any Prime Minister
of this century has had no few episonpal vacancies to
fill up as the present Premier has.

The papers Are telling a stranate story about an
aristocrat who died in anything but an aristocratic
position. It runs thus :—" In aged prisoner died
some days ago in the gaol at Woking, and the
authorities received an application for the body to be
riven to the widow for burial, she describing herself
at the Honourable Mrs. Cavendi4l. The prisoner,
who was about seventy yean of age, was not known to
the authorities as a Cavendish, he having been
convicted under an aiins. They refused to give tip the
body, and the widow then appealed to the Home
Secretary, who seems to have become aware of the
real facts of the case, anal he ordered the body to be
given up to the widow for private burial. The Aged
prisoner was Henry Cavendish, a son of the late Duke
of Devonshire ; and the funeral took place on
Saturday." There must be something wrong in this
statement The last Datike of Devonshire was •
cousin of the present Duke, and died unmarried, on
January 17th, 1868. Does the narrator of this story
mean that the person above mentioned was the
natural son of the late Duke? Fathers do not usually
give their names to their illegitimate off spring.

The American gunmakers have for some time past
been great 4 on the alert in expectation of war. The
representative of a large manufactory of firearms on
the other side of the Atlantic says that his firm,
which soli 150 000 stand of arms to the French during
the Franareverman war, have at this moment 50,000
stand ready packed for shipment to any part of the
world. Some time since the firm had an order
for 1,010 stand of arms and 20,000 rounds of ammuni-
tion ta be despatched from New York as early an
prewitle. The order was received in London on a
Saturday afternoon. Yet though the factory was
hundreds of miles inland, the arms and ammunition
were on board a vessel, and steaming away from New
York on Monday morning. This, however, was not
the result of any special effort, as the firm always has
a certain number f arms ready packed, and directly
an order is received they can be despatched by express
or special train as circumstances may require. My
informant is looking for large orders from Eastern
Europe.

---
The Paris correspondent of Trutle has this week a
most amusing description of an 'ex-Lord Mayor"
who visited the, French capital during Easter week.
He is thus described as he appeared st the opera:—"ln
his hand a hillycock hat ; on his little finger a massive
gold ring, and across his waistcoat a chain big enough
to hold in a Suffolk punch-horse. His coat was of
black velveteen ; his waistcoat of sealskin, with large
gold buttons; and his pantaloons of light grey fancy
mixture. An artificial tea rose was stuck in his breast.
The worthy alderman's hair, which is as white :uomow,
was curled for the tweasion." This distinguished and
Most eccentric stranger put up at the Louvre Hotel,
where he was lot exactly the admiration of the other
English there. He is the same city magnate who cut
so conspicuous 3 figure on horseback at Temple Bar
when the Prince of Wales went in state to St. Paul's.
But Ido not think he has L'°'l tie chair. He is only
a Knight and an ex-Sheriff.

The report of the Comptroller and Anditor-General
upon the I;rst master.Generars statement of receipts
awl expenditure in connection with the Postal
Telegraphs shows that lip to March 314,1876, the
receipts hsA been in,351,5.11, and the payments
£9t3M,8.13. So that there had been an excess of pay-
ments over receipts in six years of £6,022. This IS
tolerably doge, butit ig not very satisfactory, as it was
always thought that the purchase f the telegraphs
would prove a highly remunerative transaction.

The first quarter's receipts by our principal railway
companies were considerably discouraging. In spite
of the fact that the Easter holiday traffic fell within
the first quarter of 187fi. the receipts on the heavy lines
—North-Western. Millan,l, anil'Sorth-Eastern —have,
in 1e77, fallen off by nearly £30,000, though the mile-
age is greater. The holiday lines, the lines which lay
themselves out for pleasure traffic in the neighbour-
hoed f lsindon, such as the South-Western. Brighton,
ani Chatham and Ihn Cr, have considerably improved,
the last, no doubt, chiefly because of the landslip on
the South-Eastern, which stopped the traffic between
Dover and Folkestone. Of course the falling off in the
three first-mentioned lines is due mainly to the falling
if of the eoal traffic, which is itself due partly to the
cessation of manufacturing enterprise, partly to the
mildness of the weather. Fortunately the companies
have been able to work their lines much more cheaply
owing to the slimished cat of coal and iron.

A return of the persons sentenced to death for
murder in England and Wales in the years 1873-76, it
is evident capital punishment does not have much of
a deterrent effect. In 1873 18 persons were sentenced
to death and 11 were executed, two of whom were
women. In 1874 the number sentenced to death was
25, of whom 16 were executed, two of them being
women. In 1873 the capital sentences pronounced
were 33, and the number of persons executed 18, one
of whom was a woman. In 1876, 32 persons were
sentenced to death, and 22 executel. The total
number of persons sentenced to death in the four yiars
was 108, and the number executed 67, floe of whom
were

women.