The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-05-04 00:00:00

Somersetzbire.

Ysovib.—Board qf Guardiane.—At the meeting
of the new Board, on Tuesday last, T. Hoskins,
Esq., tendered his resignation as chairman, after
having presided over the Board for 22 years, during
which period, by his assiduous attention to the
duties of the office, and his courteous and gentle-
manly demeanour, he has won the respect and
confidence of his brother guardians. The Rev, R.
Huyshe was elected to fill the vacant office; and the
Rev. W. B. Leach, of Chilthorne, and Mr. Trask,
of Montacute, were appointed vice-chairmen.

Wmcawrox.—Union. —At the weekly meeting
of the board on Wednesday last, Charles Barton,
Esq., was unanimously re-elected chairman, and
Captain Phelips vice-chairman for the current year.
Canroxrxx.—The Bath papers contain an adver-
tisement addressed to the charitable and humane by
a person who is described as a respectable chairman,
who, while wheeling a lady in his chair in the Bath-
irk on the 23rd ult., caught his foot in another
lady's crinoline, and met with an accident which hes
prevented him from since following his employment.
CHARD.—New Church—The old and dilapidated
church of the romantic little parish of Chaffcombe,
near this town, is shortly to be pulled down and re-
built, at a cost from £7OO to £BOO, of which Earl
Poulett (the noble lord of the manor) has generously
subscribed £3OO. The Rev. Dr. Foamy, the in-
cumbent, also gives £5O, and there is to be a grant
from the Church Building Society of, we apprehend,
about £75. The greater portion of the residue will
be supplied by rate, the parishioners, in vestry last
week, having most creditably come forward to tax
themselves for the purpose.

BRIDOWATRR. Charge of Indecent Assault
against a Sue geon. —On Thursday, a case which
excited considerable interest in the neighbourhood
was heard before the Rev. A. F. Luttrell and H.
N. Seeley, Esq., at the Rose and Crown Inn, Nether
Stowey. Keziah Durston, wife of Abel Durston,
charged Mr. Orlando Haviland, surgeon, with in-
decently assaulting her at Stogursey, on the 28th of
March last Mr. Lovibond appeared for the
defendant.—The summons was dismissed.
REVERSAL OF THE CONVICTION Or MRS. SAMUEL
Sierrii.—ln the Court of Criminal Appeal on Satur-
last, before the lord Chief Baron, Justices Wight.
man, Willes and Byles and Mr. Baron Bramwell, the
case of the Queen v Samuel and Sarah Smith was
heard. The prisoners—Samuel Smith, clergyman,
of Clifton, and Sarah, his wife—were indicted at the
late Gloucester assizes for maliciously cutting and
wounding John Leach, with intent to murder him,
on the 3rd of February last. It will be recollected
that the motive for the crime on the part of the male
prisoner was jealousy of Leach, between whom and
Mrs. Smith an improper intimacy had existed before
her marriage, and which was subsequently carried
on. The prisoners were both found guilty of cutting
and woun lug with intent to do grievous bodily harm,
but the jury added that the female prisoner had com-
mitted no act of violence, and had acted under the
coercion of her husband. Mr. Baron Channel sen-
tenced the male prisoner to four years penal servitude
and reserved the point in favour of the female pri-
soner. Counsel did not now appear on either side.
The Lord Chief Baron said the conviction of Sarah
Smith must be reversed. The jury had disposed of
the case by finding that the female prisoner was
monied, that she acted under the control of her hus-
band, and that she herself committed no act of vio-
lence. The conviction, as regards Sarah Smith, was
accordingly quashed.
.• Thu ROYAL Be.me."—This vessel made a trip
in the Bristol Channel, leaving Bristol on Monday
morning, to try her engines of 70-horse power, made
by Messrs. Stephenson and Elder, of Glasgow.
There was a large party of soientilio men on board,
including Captain Claxton, R.N., Admiralty marine
surveyor; Mr. Elder, of Glasgow; Mr. Patterson,
builder of the Great Britain iteamship ; Mr. Croome,
consulting engineer, London; Mr. j. M. Hyde, the
builder; and Messrs. John and E. Miles, of the
firm of Messrs. Miles and Kington, of Bristol and
Melbourne, the owners. The Royal Bride proceeded
as far as Lundy, and the result of the trial was, that
under steam, a dead weight of 1,000 tons was
propelled at a rata of five knots an hour with a con-
sumption of 500 lb. of coal for the same period, a
result which was said never to have been before anoom-
plished by any ship. The screw was 18 inches; out
of water, which involved abs. of power, and it was
BA opinion of the scientific men that if the ship was
deeper in the water and the pitch of the screw altered
she would with the mane oonsumption of opals attain
• much higher speed. There was no wind to try her
under sail, but from ber fine proportions she will,
no double, prove • clipper under canvas.

Tint REV. SAMUEL Sstrvis.—We nnderstand that
br. Evans has officially certified to the authorities
that Mr. Smith's state of health unfits him for hard
work. His lungs, it is stated, have been partially
destroyed by consumption. Mr. Smith relfueated
that his labour should be digging, ot any work which
would give him muscular ekercise, but we believe
that he has bet put to shoe.making.—Bath
C'keefsielr.
Ckaereownurty. The men in the employ of
Messrs. Rigby, contractors, commenced their work
on Monday week, at the bottom of Northloadetreet,
in this town, with the new line from here to Wells.