The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-05 00:00:00

ADDRESS.

THE pleasing duty again devolves upon us of
offering the formal but cordial greeting to our
numerous readers which the advent of a new
year imposes as a fitting and grateful obligation.
At a season when Christian sympathies and
benevolence move the hearts of men with more
than ordinary vigour and effect—when kindness
and generosity may look to be attended with
responsive and kindred feelings—it may well be
permitted to us to give expression to sentiments
of gratitude for the multiplied services conferred
upon us, during the past year, by what we are
proud to call a very considerable portion of the
county of Dorset.
The Dorset County Express has not yet arrived
at that stage of its existence, which allows of the
passing over in silence of that accumulating and
substantial testimony to the value of our humble
labours by which our stability and progress are
equally secured. In journals of older date this
duty may be dispensed with—their well-known
character and standing rendering such acknow-
ledgments as these in a manner superfluous; but
there is reason to believe that as respects some
boastfully-modernized pieces of antiquity, espe-
cially in the ease of a very near contemporary of
ours, the total absence of any return of public
thanks for encouragement and support is far
from being due to any of those dignified consi-
derations to which we have referred, it in the
former of the cases just alluded to.
There can be nothing out of place in stating,
in the year of grace 1858, that the singular
character of the Dorset Chroniole—its vagaries,
its platitudes, its curious sinuosities and multi-
farious defects, developed in 1855 and continued
to the present day—created a want in the public
mind of a new organ of local and general in.
The Dorset County Express in that
seine year, October 1855, put in a tender to
supply that want; and we only revert, as briefly
as possible, to those facts, to show the grounds
upon which we sought a place in the public esti-
mation, and the unqualified success which has
happily confirmed our impressions and justified
our undertaking.
In all this we owe much to the liberality
and diaoernment of the public, and would here
acquit ourselves of the genial task of heartily
acknowledging the fact, rather than dwell with
critical severity upon a contemporary who has
nothing to say on the score of a favourable
reception of " attractive novelties."

With incentives such as these to the exercise
of vigilance and perseverance in the discharge
of our duties, our many kind friends and
readers may feel assured that nothing else
remains "to prick the sides of our intent"—
to hold, with honour and advantage to ourselves,
and every possible benefit to our generous
patrons, that which we have won, and to
extend the value of a succpssful achievement
from year to year in the purtuit of an innocent
aggrandizement and an honoirable rivalry.
To one and all of our staSch and excellent
friends we heartily wish a "happy new year"—
happy in achieving and drving success in
all their undertakings—happy i the possession
of sound mental and bodily health—and in the
uninterrupted enjoyment of soduil and domestic
peace and felicity.

Ws have to announce with extreme regret that
to the griefs and looses which society has sus-
tained by the hand of death—and which over-
shadow with unusual gloom this season of the
year—is to be added the demise of the Right
Hon. the Earl of houserss, which melancholy
event took place at Melbury House, at ten
minutes past seven o'clock on Sunday morning
last. The noble Earl was seized with what
unhappily proved to be a mortal sickness so
recently as Monday week. Much anxiety was
felt for his Lordship from the earliest manifes-
tations of his malady, and the best medical
assistance was speedily at hand, including the
able professional services of Dr. BENCE JONES,
of London, and Dr. COWDELL, of Dorchester.
As the week advanced, however, the fears
of his lordship's friends became more
and more intense; and, for many hours
previously to the closing scene, all hope of
a favourable issue seems to have fled. As a
politician, Lord ILCHESTER was steadily attached
to the old Whig party, was the personal friend of
the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, and co-operated
with the noble Marquis in all those measures
which brought out and testified to the well-
understood and broadly-marked character of the
Whigs. The deceased nobleman rarely, if ever,
spoke in the House of Lords, but was studiously
watchful of the progress of public affairs, and
WAS rarely absent from his place when the policy
of his party stood in need of vindication by the
votes and speeches of its adherents. The late
Eirl held very extensive possessions in this
county; and his country seats at Melbury
House, near Sherborne ; Redlynch, Somerset ;
and Abbotabury Castle, are well known to most
persons in the West of England. As a landlord,
his Lordship filled a high and most honourable
position. It is in this relation of life, in which
he was so worthily distinguished, that the pas-
sing tribute of our humble admiration of Lord
ILCHESTER'S high character is due, and may be
rendered with the utmost sincerity and truth.
' Our own personal knowledge of the sentiments
of many of his lordship's tenantry justifies us
in speaking with equal earnestness and gratifica-
tion on this point, and assures us of the hearty
and general concurrence "in speaking his praise
now" on the part of a very numerous body, who
only perhaps most loved and admired him because
they knew him best. Kind-hearted, considerate,
and just—affable, accessible, and condescending
—his Lordship has left behind him a memory
dear to many an honest heart, and an example
which may be followed by landowners of this and
other counties with a welcome addition to the
lustre of their reputation and the geniality and
usefulness of their career. Many local and
other institutions felt the benefit of his Lord-
ship's benevolent impulses, and our County
Hospital found in him a generous patron and a
munificent contributor to the revenues of that
charitable asylum. The deceased nobleman was
the third Earl of ILCHESTER, created 1756 ;
Baron ILCHESTER and STRANGEWAYS, 1741 ;
Baron ILCHESTER and STAVORDALE, 1747 ; %SOD
of REDLYNCH, 1747 ; Privy Councillor, 1837.
The family name of the late Earl was HENRY
STEPHEN Fox STRANGEWAYS, D. C. L. , SOH of the
second Earl by his first wife, daughter of STAND-;
NH GRADY, Esq. He was born in 1787, and was
therefore in the seventy-first year of his
age when he died. He married, in 1812,
the second daughter of Lord GEORGE MURRAY,
Bishop of St David's, niece of the fourth Duke
of Arnold., who died in 1818 ; and he succeeded
his father in 1802. He was appointed Lieut.-
Colonel Commandant of the Dorset Yeomanry
Cavalry in 1846, and was patron of 17 livings. ,
The heir presumptive to the wealth and honours
of the deceased Earl is the Hon. WILLIAM
THOMAS HORNER STRANGEWAYS, born 1795,
who, having held various distinguished ap-
pointments since 1820, filled the post of
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo-
tentiary at Frankfort from August 1840
to January 1849. The deceased nobleman, as
we have said, was widely and most deservedly
esteemed among us in this part of England ; and
in consequence of his lamented death several
festivities in which many leading county families
were prepared to take a part about this period,
have been necessarily postponed. In this
category are the County Ball, the great gather-
ing in our town in honour of J. J. FARQU-
HARSON, Esq. (on which occasion the noble Earl
was to have taken the chair), and the dinner of
the Melbury Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry. The
Earl had four children, two of whom are living,
namely Lady DIGBY, and Lady CAROLINE
KERRISON, married to Sir EDWARD KERRISON,
Bart. ; and two RODS, namely HENRY THOMAS,
and STEPHEN STAYORDALE, both of whom are
dead.

TEE year 1857 will be long remembered not
only in England, but throughout the whole
civilized world. The disastrous history of the
Indian mutiny, the first tidings of which reached
us in the summer, has engrossed the minds of
men to the almost total exclusion of other and
grave matters of public importance. The minis-
terial defeat, the general election, the extraor-
dinary session—all seem to have come and gone
with a singular want of any very attractive condi-
tions. The strong feelings of grief and indigna-
tion arising from the atrocities committed in
India, and the painful anxiety felt as to the
ultimate safety of the European inhabitants,
have allowed but slender opportunities for any
very earnest consideration of other matters.
Not that the energies of our statesmen have
been altogether locked up in coping with those
momentous events; or that public spirit and the
progress of legislation, since the outbreak, have
at all suffered in their general character by the
perilous aspect of affairs in the East; but the
business of the State has, to the eyes of English-
men, moved more mechanically, as it were, owing
to those great events. It may not be amnia to
enumerate here, by way of summary, a few of
the leading political occurrences which have
taken place since the meeting of Parliament in
February. This is a course to which several of
the journals have committed themselves with
much care and ability, and to one or two of
which we are indebted for some of the following
facts which are historically rendered as belonging,
indeed, to the history of the past.
"Before the meeting of the regular session of
Parliament at the beginning of the year states-
men out of office were sanguine in their expecta-
tions of a change of Ministry. It was thought
that Lord PALMERSTON Owed his supremacy to
the war, and that he would be unwilling to con-
cede and unable to resist a vigorous demand for
sweeping financial reductions. The Persian War
might, perhaps, furnish a supplementary ground
of attack, and at the last moment the oollision
at Canton came as a godsend to an Opposition
already organized. Veteran politicians generally
anticipated the success of the Coalition; but
they underrated the adroitness of the Minister,
and they forgot to take into consideration the
disposition of the people." The tactics of the
Opposition upon the China question, and the
signal discomfiture which attended some of the
most conspicuous of the Minister's opponents,
is concisely and truthfully narrated in the Times,
which sets out by stating that "the complaint
that Parliament had not been consulted respect-
ing the Persian War proved to be an ineffective
weapon of attack. The Chinese dispute was
more formidable, on account of the facility
which it offered for a combination of all opposing
sections of the House. Lord JOHN RussaLL and
MS. GLADSTONE, Mr. DISRAELI and Mr. COBDEN,
were enabled to meet together on common
ground, and even to secure a majority, which
proved fatal to the, hopes of the Opposition.
Lord Pliatits.svotf seized the opportunity of
acquiring a firmer position as the recognized
leader of the Liberal party. No occasion could

have suited him better for an appeal to the
country; his popularity was still fresh, while
many of his opponents were discredited by their
previous acts, and by their recent hostility to
the Government. The convictions of the ma-
jority on the Chinese question might, perhaps,
be sincere, but it was known that an attack on
the Ministry had been prepared before the dis-
turbances at Canton were heard of. The con-
stituencies thought more of Russia than of
China, and Lord PALMERSTON had, in the minds
1 both of friends and of enemies, been accepted as
the representative of a national and successful
policy. The general election accordingly re-
sulted in an unbroken succession of Ministerial
triumphs. Mr. COBDEN, Mr. BRIGHT, and Mr.
MILNER Giasom were temporarily excluded from
Parliament. Lord JOHN RUSSELL himself only
escaped a similar fate by a spirited display of
personal vigour and ability. The entrance into
public life of a hundred and fifty new members
materially changed the composition of the House
of Commons. Many party traditions became
obsolete on the benches which were most assi-
duously frequented by untried politicians, and
the Minister whose name had been the watch-
word during the contest at the hustings found
himself for the first time surrounded by adherents
who acknowledged no divided allegiance."
"The Election proved that the old Conserva-
tive party is gradually disappearing. For the
first time in twenty years the counties showed a
disposition to encourage Liberal candidates.
No previous contest had been altogether exempt
from the influence of the old Corn Law contro-
versy. Even in 1852 Free Trade was unpopular
with the farmer, and Lord DERBY was still the
champion of the agricultural interest. The
unprecedented prosperity of recent years has
dispelled many delusions, and the rural intellect
is too dull to appreciate the principles which
combine Lord STANLEY and Sir J. PAKINGTON
in the same party organization with Mr. NEWDE-
GATE and Mr. SPOONER. The Whig gentry
are not backward in perceiving their opportu-
nity, and at the next election they will probably
recover the share of the county representation
which they possessed down to the era of the
Reform BilL Their old opponents will never
again as a party become candidates for office,
but the strong Conservative element in English
society will, in some form, always continue to
exercise a powerful influence in politics."
"That the Minister had projected the Disso-
lution for the purpose of wasting a year was an
obvious taunt on the part of the Opposition,
but the Session, which commenced late in the
I spring, was by no means useless or barren. The
blow against the Ecclesiastical Courts, which had
long been menaced, was at last effectually dealt.
The whole of their Testamentary Jurisdiction
and the greater part of their control over the
Law of Marriage were transferred to a secular
tribunal; and there is reason to hope that
executors and legatees will be relieved from a
portion of the vexations to which they have
been habitually subjected. The establishment
of the new Court of Probate was not impeded
by any formidable opposition; but the change
in the Law of Divorce was debated in both
Houses with extraordinary spirit and pertinacity.
The social effect of the important measure
which was finally carried can only be tested by
experience, but the state of things which it has
superseded formed a startling anomaly even in
English jurisprudence. Henceforth divorces
will be awarded on the proof of certain facts before
a tribunal competent to conduct the whole
inquiry. Before the passing of the Act the
same remedy was obtainable by a process strictly
technical, and yet in part unknown to the law.
Two independent legal decisions formed the
indispensable condition of the final sentence,
and yet the House of Lords declined to notice
either the evidence in the action for damages or
the depositions on which the Ecclesiastical
judgment had been founded. Notwithstanding
the ingenious objections which were urged
against the Ministerial measure, Parliament
rightly thought that the principle of divorce
was already recognized, while the circuitous
method of obtaining relief stood self-condemned.
The vigour with which the Bill was carried
through the House at the very close of the
Session added to the credit which the Govern-
ment had acquired by other useful efforts in
legislation. The power of passing good
measures is with justice valued above the
utmost skill in devising and defending them."
The commercial distress naturally occupies a
large space in everything like an elaborate nar-
rative of the events of a most eventful year; but
the following recapitulation under this head will
suffice in this place. Our relations with America
have greatly affected domestic interests. In the
course of the summer it transpired that the rail-
roads in the United States were universally
embarrassed by the disproportionate magnitude
of their debenture debts. When the companies
began to suspend payment of their obligations
the overloaded fabric of commercial credit at
once tottered and gave way. Mercantile firms
of the highest reputation broke in rapid succes-
sion, and all remittances to foreign creditors
were simultaneously suspended. The Scotch
failures coinciding with a temporary Irish panic
produced a sudden demand for gold from London.
On the 12th of November the Government,
watching the alarming state of the Bank re-
serves, published the letter which suspended the
legal limitation on the issue of notes. The result
proved that the pressure was less imaginary than
in the corresponding crisis of 1847. The Bank
was compelled to take advantage of the license
which had been granted; and, although the
excess of notes was soon withdrawn from general
circulation, it has continued nearly up to the
present time to form an indispensable portion of
the Bank reserve. In the short Session which
was rendered necessary to sanction the suspen-
lion of the law, Parliament represented with
sufficient accuracy tho undecided state of general
1 opinion. The law will for the present remain
unchanged, but it is felt that the power of
Ministerial interference, which has now been
exercised for the second time, can no longer be
I regarded as exceptional. The social and econo-
mical consequences of the crisis are more
1 important than its legislative results. The in-
fluence of the calamity has already extended far
1 beyond the circle of capitalists and traders. The
1 winter will press heavily on the working popu-
lation of the towns through the general suspen-
sion of enterprise and stagnation of employment.
Agriculture alone, among the various branohes
of industry, continues in the enjoyment of a
prosperity which is already unprecedented in its
duration. After the Indian Mutiny, no event of
the year is so important as the commercial crisis.
No domestic occurrence of less engrossing
interest would have succeeded in arresting public
attention during the continuance of the heroic
struggle in the East.
Reverting to the scene of the rebellion, we can
never contemplate the capture of Delhi without
feelings of genuine pride and admiration. This
formidable stronghold was taken before the
arrival of any reinforcements from home, and it
was indeed a most brilliant military feat.
Whether so much heroism and bravery will be
attended with the solid political advantage which
ought in reason to flow from it, seems capable of
doubt. There are strong suspicious of a tempo-
rizing with the villainous old KING, which, if
true, can only be attended with the worst re-
sults. As to Lucknow, round which the interest
of the struggle has become chiefly concentrated,
the latest accounts represent affairs to be still,
notwithstanding recent successes, of a somewhat
critical nature. It is wonderful that a few
Europeans, encumbered with the care of women
and children, should have maintained themselves
in a hostile city of 300,000 inhabitants against a
beleaguering force estimated at 71,000 men. It
is stated on the authority of a correspondent of
one of the leading daily journals—who is repro-

sented as worthy of all credit, and in his
character by no means an alarmist—that " Luck-
" now has been relieved but uot taken possession
"of ;" and he describes in strong language the
intense and bitter hatred indulged by the war-
like and teeming population of Oxide against
British rule. IVe do not like to dwell upou the
Unwelcome picture which is to be drawn from
, the confident representations of this corres-
pondent of the Daily News ; at the same time it
is hardly to be doubted that the efforts of the
Times, in all their able and excellent reports of
the progress of the revolt, are specially directed
to the putting of everything in the most favour-
able light; and, actuated probably with a desire
to allay public apprehensions, that journal may
have created impressions not altogether borne
out by the facts, and raised hopes which are, if
not false, yet far from fulfilment. The corres-
pondent of the Daily News says :—" The
mutiny—the insurrection, call it what you will
—has been checked, but the day of its suppres-
sion may yet be far distant. Anarchy reigns
triumphant in Oude, and in the adjoining dis-
tricts of Rohilcund. It does not clearly appear
that the insurgents have any definite plan or
policy, but they are animated with an en-
venomed, stubborn detestation of British rule,
which inspires them with a determination to
resist—whether massed together or broken up
into straggling bands—to the last. There is
little prospect of a speedy termination of the
anarchy in Oude, and while it continues no
permanent tranquillity can be looked for in the
whole surrounding region." On the other hand
the Times, too sanguine, as it would appear,
regards the operations at Lucknow as the striking
of that "final blow" by which rebellion is to be
crushed and authority and order restored. We
should all have great cause for rejoicing in such
a result, indeed, but the facts seem to show this
conclusion to be somewhat too precipitate, of
which the Times itself in its issue of yesterday
seems to have become sensible.

DORCHESTER PITCHED CORN MARKET, Saturday.
—There was a fair attendance at Market to day, and
a moderate supply of wheat. Millers were more dis-
posed to go into stock than for some weeks past,
consequently a fair clearance was made, at prices in
favour of the seller. The same applies to barley and
oats.

QUEEN'S OtVN DORSETSHIRE YEOMANRY.—In
consequence of the alarming illness, which has since
terminated in the decease of the Earl of Ilchester,
the late Colonel, the dinner of the Melbury troop,
which was to have taken place on the 4th inst., has
been postponed.
MILITARY.—On Wednesday afternoon a further
detachment, consisting of the A troop, of the 11th
Hussars, arrived at our barracks from Hounslow, rid
Salisbury, bringing the horses belonging to the men
who preceded this troop. Capt. Miller is the com-
manding officer.

Nicw YEAR'S Eve. —A goodly congregation
assembled about 10 o'clock on Thursday, the hug
night of 1857, at Durngate-street Wesleyan Metho-
dist Chapel "to watch" the decease of the old and
the advent of the new year. Addresses were deli-
vered in an impressive manner by Messrs. C.
Bowles, Frederick Chinn, George Crocker, and the
Rev. J. Meadmore, the proceedings being varied by
the singing of hymns. Soon after midnight the
whole congregation sang together in an earnest
manner the hymn beginning, "Come, let us anew
our journey pursue," after Which they dispersed.

GREAT WESTERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAIL-
WAYS' ComPrriTioN,—We have been given to under-
stand that the competition between these companies
for the Weymouth traffic, including, of course, that
of the Channel Islands, results in a loss to the latter
company of something like £2OO a week, or at the
rate of £lO,OOO a year, and to the former company
of £4OO a week, or at the rate of £20,000 a year.
Have the companies no mutual friends who can step
in between them and put an end to so costly a game?
—Herapath.

CART ACCIDENT.—Two horses whilst drawing a
wagon on Monday evening last bblonging to Mr.
Ffooks, of Bradford, started off near the Great
Western station, and despite the efforts of the car-
ter to hold them in, they scampered through the
town, overturning in their course an empty cart
near the bottom of Wood and Stone-lane, where
the animals at length stopped. The carter, Edward
Brown, was thrown down and both his thighs were
considerably injured. He was subsequently taken
to the County Hospital, where he is going on very
well.

PEDESTRIANISM. —A man, named Charles Elson,
aged 26, commenced a walking feat yesterday (Mon-
day) morning between Dorchester and Blandford for
a subsctiption purse. He is to walk the distance,
rid Milborne St. Andrew and Whitchurch from the
Chequers Inn, Dorchester, to the King's Arms Inn,
Blandforcl, 17 miles, thrice daily for 6 days-306
miles a week. He is to sleep ut Blandfortl, Mon.
day, Wednesday, and Friday nights.

DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.-OR
Thursday afternoon the annual meeting of the sub-
scribers of the Dorset County Museum and Library
was held in the Reading-room, Back South-street.
F. Comm, Esq.' occupied the chair, and he opened
the business by calling upon the Rev. C. W. Bing-
ham, one of the honorary secretaries, to read the
annual report. The Rey. C. W. Bingham then read
the following report of the council :

The Council has little to report in respect to the pro-
ceedings of the past year. It has been found absolutely
necessary to expend a considerable sum in the external
repairs of the premises, although every effort was used
to reduce this amount to the smallest possible limits. The
consequence is that there has been no portion of
the ordinary income available for the purposes of the
Museum; and it will be seen that there is a balance
against us in the treasurer's books of about £5. The
Council, however, is happy to report that private dona-
tions have been received for the special purpose of
naming and arranging the valuable collection of fossils,
amounting to £33 3s. Of this sum there remains a
balance in hand of £4 1. 4d.; and a further sum of
£2O will be required to complete this most desirable
work. Mr. Bailey, of the National Geological Society,
is prepared to commence his labours in April next if the
means can be found of defraying the expense. Amongst
the donations of the year the Council have to renew
their thanks to the Right Hon. the Earl of Rohe/ter—
who has always proved himself • warm and liberal
patron of the Museum and Library—for • most interest-
ing collection of British Mammalia and birds, of pecu-
liar local value as derived from the county of Dorset ;
the Hon. William Strangeways has also sent a consider-
able number of books; and T. Coombs, Esq., of Dor-
chester, has kindly handed over • set of prints and his-
torical and statistical works connected with our own
daughter town of Dorchester, in the United States of
America, together with the copy of • correspondence
between himself as Mayor of the town in 1856, and the
members of the Antiquarian and Historical Society of
Dorchester, Maas. Captain Dawson Darner, M.P., has
also forwarded to the Museum some Russian trophies
from the Crimea. The amounts showed a betimes' in
hand from last year of 19s. 3d.; subscriptions,
£126 165. 9d.; sale of papers, £9 6s. 2d.; total
receipts—Cl36 2s. 11d. The expenditure was—rent,
£3O; taxes, .23 19s. ; books and periodicals, LH 8.. 10d.;
printing, £2 Si. ; coal, gas, cleaning, El 10a. 9d. ;
Wellspring for repairs, £l9 10a. ; White for painting,
£4 I.ls. 6d.; sundries, £24 16s. 136.; total—
£l4l Is. 11d.

The report was received and ordered to be printed
and circulated under the direction of the secretaries.
The retiring officers were—the Rev. Henry Moule,
George Curme, Esq., the Rev. a Fisher, and Wil-
liam Thompson, Esq. These were re-elected, with
the exception of the Rev. O. Fisher, whose place
was filled by the Rev. Octavius Ciunbridge, whose
election was moved by the Rev. C. W. Bingham and
seconded by John Garland, Esq. The Chairman
pmposed—That the Rev. 0. Fisher, F. 0.8., be ap•
pointed Vice. President. The Rev. C. W. Bingham
having seconded this, it was agreed to. Votes of
thanks were then given to the various officers and
the meeting broke up, after thanks had been passed
to the Chairman.

ADDITIONAL MONZY ORDZR OFITOE/L—On the
lit of January money order offices were opened at
Broadwinsor, Dorset, and Combo Down, Somerset.

REDUCTION OF THE SHIP LETTER RATE Or PONT.
ACE.—On the Ist of January and thenceforward the
British rate of postage upon letters despatched from
any port of the United Kingdom by a private ship,
whether steamer or sailing vessel, 111 reduced to ed.
the half-ounce, in all cases where it before exceeded
that sum. The charge upon letters above half an
ounce in weight will increase according to the scale
for charging inland letters. Letters, however, con.
veyed by private ship from this country to France or
Belgium will continue liable to a combined British
and foreign rate of 4d. the quarter ounce in
the case of France, and of 4d. the half ounce in the
case of Belgium; and letters conveyed by private
ship to Holland, Hamburg, or Bremen, will still be
charged with a combined British and foreign rate of
Bd. the half-ounce as heretofore.
THE QUARTER SESSIONEL—To-day (Tuesday), the
Epiphany Quarter Sessions of the Peace for this
county commence, when motions involving an
expenditure of between £20,000 and £30,000 will be
brought forward. The trial of prisoners begins to-
morrow, Wednesday. The calendar already con-
tains the following 88 names
'Thomas Stanley, stealing silver watch at Rampisham ;
Thomas Walbridge, Ellen Walbridge, and Anna Maria
Clark, housebreaking at Netherbury • Charles Donnigan
and Charles Brown, stealing cake at Dorchester ; James
Wilkinson and Thomas Frampton, stealing oats, &c., at
13eaminster ; James Ellsworth and John Elsworth, steal-
ing fowls at Wolland ; James Edwards, stealing a watch
at Maiden Newton; William Chalker, assault with in-
tent, &c., at West Knighton; James Bailey, assault
with intent, itc., at Osmington ; Mary Bumption, steal-
ing wearing apparel at Colyton ; George FAstment,
assault with intent, &0., at Piddletrenthide ; Melina

Coward, stealing from the person at Gillingham ; Alfred
Martin, stealing barley at Winterborne Kingstone ; Ann
Smith, stealing wearing apparel at Sturiniuster Mar-
shall ; Samuel Everett, atesling pickaxe at Henstridge ;
c 11;;
JsHoweb.ntbDryeyikaTz.,..tertv:iiinii,nea:,
gelacnnibberybfaaliiietenapimiatnt7aitin:Dte.orare;tlH;Healter.rwriket;chAlf7.o,
stealing table covers, &G., at Weyinouth ; George bl-
kington and William. Heavens, stealing dreams, silk
mantle, ke., at Blandford ; Wiliinm Woolfreya
eni
Jesay3 Phelps, stealing 9 fowls at Turnspuddle;
George Snooks, stealing tortoiseshell comb at Slier-
borne; Nathaniel Clarke, Henry Harlstune, John
Phillips, Robert. Mitchell, mid Elward Dollen, assaulting
constable at Piddletrenthide. On Bail.—Sterhen
stealing paving stones and bricks at Lytchett Minster;
Thomas Mabey, stealing knives at Netherbury ; James
Tavender, stealing oats, 5;c., at Beßnlinater
Shugar, stealing barley and pollard at J3eaminster ;
James Pope, stealing bricks at Shaftesbury.
COUNTY MAGISTRATES' OFFICE, Shireliall, Saturday,
January 2.--4 Before H. Williams and W. L Henning,
Esqrs.)—Edword While, a pumper employed at the
Portland Breakwater works, was brought up on remand
from Weymouth charged with stealing an end of a tim-
ber pile, the property of Mr. Leather, the contractor for
the Portland Breakwater works. Mr. R. X. Howard,
of Weymouth, defended the prisoner. On Thursday
evening about half-past seven o'clock, Gill, the police-
man stationed at the works, met the prisoner when near
the Castle Inn, bearing the piece of timber in question "
on his shoulder. There was a piece of rope hanging
from the wood. After a short altercation White asked
where he should take the block, and the officer requested
it to be taken to the Breakwater lodge, to which the
prisoner at once turned telling the policeman he had
picked the wood out of the sea. A carpenter, named
Henry Toleman, employed on the Breakwater works,
produced a piece of pile corresponding with the portion
alleged to be stolen, and stated that it was customary
for the workmen to saw the piles off to a regular height,
allowing the ends to float into the lesser harbour where
usually a boat was stationed to tow the pieces ashore.
But many of the pieces floated away to sea and were
lost. Mr. Smith, the overlooker, explained that 12 piles
" had been cut down to a particular level, and the piece
' found in the prisoner's possession was one of the heads
that had been cut from those twelve pieces of timber,
and that batch of piles were situated at an adjunct to the
Breakwater for the purpose of landing goods. Prisoner
had been seen to leave work at four o'clock and had
been employed some quarter of a mile from where the
cut piles were ; from that time till apprehended he
had been, he said, in his boat fishing, and seeing the log
float past him he lashed his boat's painter around it and
towed it to where he usually moored his boat. The pri-
soner, who is an elderly man and has a wife and family
pleaded guilty, and was, after being suitably admon-
ished, sentenced to three days' impriaonment with hard
labour, The Chairman remarked that he thought due
caution had not been used by the contractor for the
preservation of his property. White was to be liberated
yesterday (Monday.)—Arthur Cousins, a carpenter at
tabe
Piddlehinton, was charged with assaulting P.C. James
w he
Complainantti in
etl
yexecutionin (I,iede t
thatoi
ef h
he
asebtotwty of no
in
defendant
urur
at
Piddlehinton with his face smutted, very much intoxi-
cated, and using abusive language. There was a crowd
around him. The officer told him he had better go
oh . whereuponporso the defendant
On Smith
takingdeclar ed h lie
im would otul nocol-
lar the defendant struck at the policeman several times,
and said that if he went to Dorchester he would blow
Smith's brains out when he came back. Defendant said it
was a " Christmas lark," and he had his top lip only
darkened. The officer said defendant was drunk on
Sunday, and had abased his parents ; but he thought
the threat was the result of too much drink. It was
stated that defendant was harmless when sober but
violent when drunk, that he broke a window at the
policeman's lodgings at Piddlehinton, and was obliged to
Se brought to Dorchester in a cart. Ordered to pay
Its. 6d., including costs, and a week allowed to pay it
in. Defendant had been looked up for nearly four days.
BOROUGH POLICE COURT, Townhall, Monday, Jan,
4, 1858. (Before W. Manfield, Eeq., Mayor, and J.
Galpin, Esq.)—Mary Ann Curtis, a common girl, of
Fordington, and William Symmuis, porter at the King's
Arms Hotel, were summoned by P.C. Vatcher for using
obscene language at midnight on the 30th, on the pub-
lic way from Swan bridge to Mill-street, and insulting
the officer. Each defendant was fined Is., and the costs
cause to 7s. 2d.
gohB afternoon n
o afternoon. ter