The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-02-25 00:00:00

BOROUGH POT/TO mAramr.

8017THWAIIK, Friday.—Dnring the past week the
arrivals both ooset-wise and by rail have been mash
greater than the demand, and a farther decline in most
sorts has been submitted to. Yorkshire flukes, 1301 to
150.; Yorkshire Regents, 110 e to 131 k; Lincolnshire
ditto, 1054 to 1155; Dunbar ditto, 130. to 140.; Perth,
Forfar, and Fife ditto. 90. to 130 s; Rocks, 80s to
100.; French whites, 75e to 80s per ton.

vacant places for Wakefield and Gloucester.
Having done penance, these boroughs are now
restored to the representation. They have both
obtained absolution for their past misdeeds, and
before long we shall have an opportunity of see-
ing what good the suspension of the franchise
has done them. Will the agents of Messrs.
Price and Monk, eharlesworth and Leatham, be
again made use of? Will the Gloucester coopeys
be ready to sell themselves once more to the
highest bidder? And will £5O notes be as plen-
tiful at Wakefield as blackberries in Autumn?
We are assured by members of Parliament, and
in the House itself, that there are 40 or 50 other
constituencies fully as bad as Gloucester and
Wakefield were in their worst days. How then
are these purchaseablo boroughs to be dealt with?
The evil is a crying one, and all attempts at
legislation to remedy it have been unsuccessful.
Probabl7 Parliament never honestly wished to
remedy it. It is to be desired that the Bill
which Sir George Grey promises to bring in on
the subject shortly, will put a stop to such
wholesale bribery as was resorted to at the last
general election, by punishing both the briber and
the bribed.

The object of Lord Westbury's Bill is to give
greater certainty of title to real estate. In
other words, its purpose is so to reform our law
that the possessor of a piece of land may know
that he really owns it, and that he can make
good his ownership against the world. Can.he
do so now? Suppose a man stands on a field
and says "I own this field," are you to believe
him? He is "in possession." Suppose he is
farming it, as he says, for himself, or receiving
the rent of it from another—is that a proof of
ownership? We all know it is not. A mere
casual intruder may occupy an estate for years,
and at every assizes there are many ejectment,
of wrongful possessors. We have to investigate
not only possession but the right to And
this is a very serious matter. Lancl:"?l:7sl;erm a-
nent thing; each generation deals with it in its
time, and by its continued endurance it survives
them all. To know that no other person has
a right to sell your land, you must
know that no other person has a valid
claim to it. Lord Westbury's bill provides
a registered owner with a complete power of
selling what he is registered to have. An abso-
lute owner of an estate can go through a certain
procedure, bar all other interests, place
his name on the "Book," and give
an indefeasible parliamentary title to any pur-
chaser; and certain specified owners, who have
not the entire fee simple, but who have yet a
, large interest, can do likewise. The register is
, conclusive. Any one who shall lose by an
erroneous registration, any neglected claimant or
, overlooked heir, is to be compensated out of the
I Consolidated Fund. The Bill also enables the
Court of Chancery, upon proper petitions, to
act as an Encumbered Estates Court, and to give
an indefeasible title to a purchaser. Sales under
the direction of the Court now only give a good 1
title if all parties are before it. An absent
infant may upset the whole. It likewise pro-
vides that registered deeds should be printed,
and those who know how much the fear of real
legibility has shortened Chancery proceedings,
will rejoice to see the same system extended.
There may be objections to some portions of the
Bill; ,for example, where land is subject to an
infinite number of minor interests. For the
sake of simplifying the transfer, it neglects to
ascertain who in right or equity should be the
transferring parties; to make sales easier, it
invents a convenient seller; to be able to give
a title at the risk of injustice, it creates a
title. But the subject is itself a complicated
one, and we question whether it would be
possible to pass any general act which would
mete out equal justice in every case. Some
portion of the scheme is undoubtedly very
excellent, and the dubious part is well worth the
most careful thought.
Another appalling colliery accident has oc-
curred. On Wednesday last an explosion took
place at the Gethin colliery, near Merthyr, when
fifty men and boys were killed. Two hundred
men and boys are employed in tbe mine, but
happily the works are so admirably arranged that
a catastrophe occurring in one portion of the pit
cannot seriously affect the rest. We have had
an unusual number of mining accillents of late,
following in quick succession upon the heels of
, each other. The Hartley coll iery tragedy
touched every heart from one end a the king-
dom to the other, and all classes of the people,
from the sovereign to the poorest of her subjects,
came forward with pecuniary aid, each according
to his means, to relieve the suffering survivors.
But hardly had we time to accustom our
thoughts and reconcile our minds to the awful
fate of so many human beings, than our feelings
were shocked by another and another, and still
another destruction of human life. On Tues-
day, the llth hut, an accident occurred in the
Bryn Gwiog Lead Mines, in Flintshire. The
water contained in a disused mine adjoining,
suddenly broke in, and drowned sixteen men
who were at work. Only one of those who were
in the mine at the time escaped, and the
manner in which he made his perilous ascent
from the scene of death is a terrible example of
what men can do in the desperate struggle for
life. The water being up to his chin, he seized
a rope which was hanging down from the mouth
of the pit. By means of this rope he reached
the top, passing through, several times, torrents
of water on his way. When nearly at the top
he became quite exhausted, and was only saved
by being dragged up by the hair.
On the following day two men were
killed whilst working in a mine called
"Tom Joy's Pit," at Kingswood. A shot
was fired for the purpose of removing coal, and
the concussion produced by the report caused a
mass of debris to fall, in which the unfortunate
men were buried alive. One of them left behind
a wife and child, the other a wife close upon
her confinement, and two children. One of them
named Thomas Isles, was not immediately killed.
During the night the poor fellow's voice was
heard by the workmen who were labouring to
relieve them, but it became fainter and fainter,
and at last ceased and was heard no mpre. The
question is, are these horrors to continue? Can
no means be adopted to arrest an epidemic—for
so it may figuratively be called—which bids
fair to depopulate our mining population. In
the present instance the accident is supposed to
have been caused by leaving open a door in the
workings during the dinner hour. But
if this be so, where was the miner's
tegis the safety lamp? So long as
the magic wire surrounds the light he carries
with him he is secure from any explosion short of
spontaneous combustion. The proper care and
custody of the lamp have very justly been
surrounded by the most stringent regulations;
but notwithstanding these prohibitions and
penalties, the miners will tamper with them,
and overmen will be careless. The Merthyr
:Tydvil accident will, we hope, cause renewed
inquiries into the ventilation of mines and the
use of proper precautions by the miners. If
proper regulations for ensuring the safety of the
men employed be not enforced by the masters.
the law should enable the national authority to
interfere. It, is no pleasant life, that of a
miner, to labdriowilt hew away at the walls of a
gallery from mormng till night, not only at an
immense distance from the surface, but, perhaps,
hundreds of yards away from the bottom of the
pit's mouth! There is no one to render him
assistance—no one, even, to hear his cry for
succour. In a moment he is wrapped in a sheet
of lurid flame; in a moment he, and scores—
nay, hundreds—of his companions may be
hurried unprepared and unahriven into eternity.
Men prate of the unsuffieient wages of soldiers,
tailors, and artizans, but who shall say that the
miner is adequately remunerated? What a
hard, and sorry, and slavish life is his! While
we are sitting round the blazing fires e hich they
have procured for us, how little do we know of
the sorrows, and privations, and hardships of
those mart men, toiling half naked in dark-
ness and in solitude in some savage coal pit of
the wild Welsh country; how seldom do we
bestow a thought on the sufferings of those who,
in spirit and in truth, earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow, and pass the best years of
their lives, if not prematurely cut off, in a Valley
of the Shadow of Death!

Her Majesty, with that sound sense and personal
abnegation which hays ever been her distinguished
characteristics, has stepped for a moment out of the
sacred circle of domestic grief, to intimate her wish
as to the disposal of the sums so readily and so
gratefully subseribed by the nation to create an
abiding national memorial of the late Prince
Consort. She has expressed her gratitude for the
universal sympathy which has been felt and expressed
for herself in the midst of her deep affliction, and her
deep gratitude consequent upon the universal recog-
nition of the noble qualities of heart and mind by
which the Prince Consort was distinguished. In
referring to the proposition of some great national
institution, as a fitting testimony of the national
appreciation of his worth, Her Majesty is of opinion,
and we think justly so, that it would be difficult to

ammo anything like agreement as to the nature of
the institution which should bear his honoured name,
and that it would be inexpressibly painful to the
Queen for any controversy to arise on the subject.
Nothing, certainly, would be more repulsive to any
right.feeling mind that for controversy, which might
easily degenerate into acrimony upon inch a subject,
and tending to cause only pain and regret, instead of
giving consolation to those who survive him only to
lament his loss. We can easily believe that Her
Majesty would fain have been spared of expressing
any decided wish upon the matter, but the very fact
that a committee exists for the disposal of the sub-
scriptions implies a variety of opinion as to the
most appropriate method. Her Majesty suggests—
and no doubt her suggestion will be adopted—that
an obelisk should be erected on the site of the Great
Exhibition of 1851, or on some spot immediately
adjoining, and such a work as the Memorial Com-
mittee will have the means of providing, will be ar.
preprinte and striking. It is suggested that a
monument of this nature would have the advantage
of affording an opportunity to several of the most
eminent artistes of the day taking part in its execu-
tion, as at its base there would be room enough for
various groups of statuary, each of which might be
entrusted to a different artist.

There seems to be no doubt that the Burn-
side expedition has at length achieved a suc-
cess at Roanoke Island, where a severe
engagement is said to have taken place, ending
in the defeat of the Confederates, and the
destruction not only of their fleet—probably
consisting only of a few gunboats—but of Eli
&bath City. The fight is represented as having
been a protracted and severe one in which
there were a thousand wounded and killed on
each aide. The Sontliern journals considered
the loss of this position as very serious. The
only obstacle to the advance of the Federals on
Norfolk now are, says the Philadelphia Invirer,
"swamps, marshes, and sickness," al formidable
trio in themselves. The Federal' are rejoicing
in the almost total destruction of Charleston
harbour. The vessels lately sunk have so
effectually done the work that Commander
Dupont states that the only entrance to
Charleston now practicable is through S wash
Channel and a portion of Maffit's Channel.
There are, of course, great rejoicings at Wash-
ington and New York.

DORCHESTER.—Pircrucn CORN Melncur, Feb.
22.—The attendance at the Corn Exchange to-day
was not large, and the weather being wet, the con-
dition of the samples, which were numerous, was not
so good as last week. The general state of the
trade abort the same, but certainly not lower than
of late; malting barley being about the only article
not in request. In the seed trade the competition
gets greater every year, and the profits consequently
being lessened, prices generally range lower than
they did a few years since, and the only thing whioh
in the end militates against the farmer, it the credit
which the trade allows. We cannot but think that
if cash payments were insisted upon, the buyer
would benefit as well as the seller, and seeds would
be obtainable at a alight profit on the cost of pro.
duction.

MMUS. BAKER AND ENISOR'S RIPOSITORY SALL
Saturday; February 22.—We were much pleased
with the line show of stock on offer, and cannot but
congratulate the auctioneers upon their continued
success, the result of perseverance and well-directed
efforts to please both buyer and seller. Beef sold
high, and we should say that grazing pays a profit
this year. Mutton was also in request, and the
best downs fetched long price*. Calves a steady
trade at late rates.

DORCHESTER POST OYFICE.— Letters may be
posted at this office to the undermentioned places as
follows :
Without With Ad- Letters
Extra ditional Registered
Stamp. Stamp. until
Landon (South:imp-
ton) Day Mail B2O s.w. 825 A.M. 750 A.M.
•
Yeovil, Bath, Bristol I
(North Mail)
Weymouth 10 15 a.m. 9 46 •.u.
Ditto
Bath, West of Eng.
land, and Groat} 545 P.M. 550 P.m. .518 P.m.
Western Line
London and South 930 P.M. 955 r.m. 9 0 P.M.
Western Line
Y.*** //a". Brid' 10 0 rat.
port & Weymouth

DELIVIMY.

Delivery by Delivery to
Letter Car. Callers

rises begins been*
London, BoutinunPke, WeP 1 730 A.m. 750 A.M.
mouth, and Bridirt .......
loslancluthrth Mull—Walek B°3l4"d' 111 0 A.M. 11 0 A.M.
and Yeovil
London (Day Mail. 1486ara and P. 11.: 4 30 P.M.
floutipEastern Counties

Doncimaxa Rout CORPS.—We are glad to find
that several smart recruits have lately joined this
ranks of this corps, and that the members are so
heartily sticking to drill—the weekly parade for
drill since Christmas having been exceedingly well
attended. Recruit drill is also vigorously carried on
two or three times in each week. This promises
well for the coming summer. The balance against
the corps in the statement of last year's account
has nearly been liquidated through the liberality of
Charles Porcher, FN., who, in addition to his annual
subscription of £lO, has again been • donor to the
corps of £25, and Robert Williams, Beg., who has
also forwarded a donation of £25, in addition t• his
annual subscription as an honorary member. John
Galpin, Esq., Mayor, has likewise given a donation
of £5 to the Band Fund of the corps, as a commence-
ment of a list of donations, to liquidate the debt on
this fluid.

MR. WOOD'S'S ENTERTAINMENT. —This thiented
personifier of human life and character gave one of
his popular entertainments at the Townhall on
Wednesday evening to a large and respectable
audience. The varied characters Rammed by Mr.
Woodin were so truthfully and humourously pour-
trayed, and the rapidity shown in changing from
one to the other was so very remarkable, that the
enconiums of the public press fail to convey to the
mind any idea of the versatility of genius of this
remarkable man; whose performances must
be seen to be fully appreciated. Under the
heads of " Spring and its Rambles ;" "Summer and
its Excursionists ;" "Autumn and its Tourists;"
and "Winter and its Entertainers ;" the audience
I were kept in a constant state of delightful surprise,
as each character was assumed in rapid succession.
Where all is so excellent it is somewhat difficult to
particularize, but we may especially notice the happy
manlier in which the "Chairman," " The Toast-
master," and "Mr. Winelese, who has been drink-
ing the health of the Ladies" at a public dinner, are
hit off: "Thomas Gublins, the ostler," a character
which no doubt some of our readers may have met
with, who had such a dog—that is a dog," was
given as only one fully conversant with human life,
under all its phases, . could pourtray. English,
Welsh, Scotch, and Irish characters were assumed I
with equally happy effect. Mr. Woodin concluded
his performance with a sectional view of a London
dining-room, taking the characters of " Mr. Raffles
and Mr. Shrink,"--one a rough, authoritative
person, and the other a meek, unassuming indi-
vidual, both of which he acted to perfection: The
whole of the performances were deservedly cheered
throughout, and whenever Mr. Woodin may visit
Dorchester again we feel sure he will receive a warm
and enthusiastic reception.
NEWSPAPERS TO FRANCE. —We have, on more
than easooessionjoad.to complain that the copies of
the Dorset Comity Ikeprese, posted to Franoe, had
been seized by the authorities there. It would
appear, however, that the French Government is
growing more liberal in this respect; or at any rate
less afraid of allowing free scope to public opinion,
even when it may happen to take a tone of adverse
criticism. Count de Fersigny has just issued an
order that all English papers, with one or two spool-
fled exceptions, are henceforth to be distributed at
once, without undergoing any delay or examination.
The journals that remain subject to the former regu-
lations are described as being scarcely known in France
and possessing little credit or influence in England;
journals, in short, "of scandal and not of discussion."
This measure, a fitting corollary to the abolition of
passports, is not only a great boon be English rein-
dente and travellers in France, but a real guarantee
that the Government has no objection to the free
circulation of ideas between the two nations.

Tan Mem:a—The following is a list of prieoners
for trial at the Lent Assize at Dorebeater :—Luke
Saville, abominable crime at Weymouth; Edward
Henry Winchester, bigamy at Allington ; Richard
Tompkins, rape at Pucknowle ; Isaac Wareham,
arson at Colehill ; Charles Critohell and William
Harris, night poaching, armed, at Pidcllitown; James
Johnson and Thome' Parry, stealing from the
person at Dorchester; Charles Hart, stealinii gold
watch at Weymouth; John Harris and Edward
Hawkins, obtaining money by false pretences at
Affpuddle ; Thomas Symes, Edward Budge, and
James Galpin, stealing 9 fowls at Toiler Porcorum ;
Henry Fry, housebreaking at Howe; George
Wareham, embezzlement at Stourpaine ; Louisa
Morris, deserting her child at Moreton; George
Ashweod, obtaining barley-meal by false pretences
at Iwerne Minster; Samuel Gillett, stealing wearing
apparel at Dorchester; James Staple, entering
dwelling-house with intent to steal at Whit.
church Canonicornm.—On Bail :—George White,
throwing turnip* on the railway at Frampton;
Samuel Cobb, Samuel Charles Cobb, Eli Cobb and,
John House, stealing, barley and oats at Bare
Regis; Joseph Herring and Eliza Webber, stealing
potatoes and cheese at Wormbrook.

ROBBERY YROW THR SOUTH.WZBTIRE RAILWAY.
—On Monday two men, named Job Tutt and Guy
Penny, the latter an old offender, were brought
before A. D. Haney, req., at the office of the

NEM

County Magistrates, Salisbury, charged with stealing
about 7011,5. weight of iron, the property of the
South-Western Railway Company. It appears that
the prisoners were seen by Superintendent Caldow
going along the Canal, Tutt carrying with him a
sack with something apparently heavy in it, and
having a suspicion that all was not right he directed
Frampton, s police constable, to follow them.
Penny remained at the corner of Brown-street, but
Tutt went on to the shop of Air. Tylee, marine
store dealer, in Gigant-stteet, and had just put the
contents of the sack—iron, subsequently identified
by Mr. Davis, the company's superintendent at
Milford—into a scale to be weighed, when the
policeman entered and took him into_nustody.
Penny was also taken. After being duly cautioned,
Teat amounted for the possession of the iron by
stating that be dug it up on the railway where he
had been working. Penny denied all knowledge of
the matter, and that he had only just met Tutt on
the Canal. To this the latter replied, "What's the
use of your telling lie.? You were at work on the
line with me, and came off with me." Evidence
was given to show that the prisoners had previously
offered the iron for sale at the shop of Messrs. Still
and Co., who refused to have anything to do with it.
The prisoners were both committed to the assizes for
trial on the charge.
THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD.—It is very strange
that in the third quarter of the 19th century, and
after so much talk about education, one cannot
walk in the back streets of Dqrcheater without
being struck with such window advertismenta as
" Mangleen done hire," "Table beer sold hear," and
so on ; and we have heard visitors remark upon the
little learning exhibited even in the principal streets.
The mandates of the good old town from time im-
memorial have not troubled themselves to alter any
error of this kind, but have lately ventured larther
than in times gone by, as they have actually painted
our walls with such meaningless apellations as
"High East Street, die, which, of course should be
East High Street, or what would be still better,
High Street—East. Some people may laugh at this
and say—

" Tie strange such difference should be
Twist tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee."

We like to see things dons properly, so that
strangers may not laugh at our Dorset," and
have occasion tomtit us.—"what does it mean?" and
then remind us that • direction _post in Devonshire
is sometimes called A " spy-poet", and sometime. a
" guide-atupe."

Icarmaic—On Saturday, a carter named Thomas
Voss, residing near the mill at Fordington, met
with a serions'accident. He was in the employ of
Mrs. Legg, and on taking a cart load of corn to the
South Western Railway Station, in trying to take
out the tail-board of the cart for the purpose of
unloading, his hand in some manner became jammed,
and he fainted. In falling one of his legs doubled
under him, and it was broken in two places. On
reviving, he supposed that his leg was only prained,
and therefore refused to be taken to the hospital,
and he was consequently taken home on horseback.
At the time of going to press he was in a very sad
state. He has a wife and several children.

ALLEGKD ATTEMPTED MURDEB.—At the county
magistrates' office at Guildford on Tuesday a young
map, named Alfred Edward Stevens, was charged with
shooting at Eliza Dewsbury with intent to do her bodily
harm, under the following circumstances :—lt appears
that a short time since a gun loaded with lead, was fired
into the drawing room of Mr. Lake, proprietor of the
dining-rooms in Cheapside, who has a country residence
at Chobham,and that the charge, narrowly missing Mr.
Lake's head, extinguished the lamp, and struck against
the wall. In consequence of certain circumstances
which transpired, suspicion then fell upon the prisoner,
who is the son of a plumber and glazier at Chobham ;
but although it was ascertained that the fellow had for
some time persisted in forcing his attentions upon Eliza
Dewsbury, Mr Lake's housemaid, and that those
attentions were most distateful to the girl, there was
not sufficient evidence to lead to his apprehens,e
Shortly after this occurrence the girl left Mr Lake's
service, and went to reside with her mother at Sutton,
in the parish of Woking. Hither her evil genius seems
to have followed her, for on Tuesday night last • gun,
loaded with two bullets, was fired into a room in the
mother's house, but, fortunately, without inflicting any
injury upon any person. These fats having been ehcited
in evidence, and Stevens having been proved to bays
been in the neighbourhood on the night in question, he
was fully committed for trial.