The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-18 00:00:00

THE NEW BRONZE COINAGE.
The bronze coinage is now largely in circulation. At
the Mint, in London, very considerable quantities are
manufactured per day, and, as has been before stated,
Messrs. James Watt and Co., of the Soho Founrdy, are
seconding the efforts of the metropolitan Mint. We may
mention, however, that the Government have likewise
given large orders to Messrs. Ralph Heaton' and Sons, of
Icknield-street. The Messrs. Heaton were some months
since, applied to for a tender for about 1,700 tons of
coinage, the aggregate amount to be turned out during
the next two.years and a half being estimated at some-
what about 3,400 tons. Messrs. Heaton applied for
certain modifications in the form of supply, but were in-
formed that the toritratt Would requite td be executed
aecording tfi the conditions specified. One of these con-
ditions ibas that the first deliVerY of the Coin--'-abinit
fifty tons—shoUld take place tin the 6th November. The
tender of Messrs. Watt and Co.,' -ivad ehbegted iri pie:.
ference to that of Messrs. Heaton, but Messrs: Watt
although working night and day, made no delivery" up to
the 6th of December, and up to the sth instant-had deli-
vered only some five or six tons. In the meantime so
great was the pressure on the Mint that the master applied
to Messrs. Heaton for supplies to relieve it, and about
10 or I 1 tons of coin have already been struck at the
Icknield-street Works. On Wednesday 1 or 2 tons of this
amount were consigned to London. It will be borne in
mind that on the 4th of August, 1859, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer obtained a vote of £lO,OOO to re-coin
the old copper coinage, the whole value of which at that
time was estimated at £BOO,OOO, the aggregate amount
of copper being 3,530 tons. In order to ascertain the
state of the old coinage, a considerable quantity was ex-
amined in the large towns, and the result of'the investi-
gation in London, Birmingham, and other places, showed
that about one-third of the whole was below its legal state,
and ought to be withdrawn. A part of it was counter-
feit, another part foreign coins, and another part injured
and battered: and "inscribed" according to the Peculiar
fancy of individuals, who, when "turning an honest
penny," exercised their ingenuity in defacing it. The
result was that this one-third portion required renewal.
If the whole coinage had been renewed, the Chancellor
would have required a vote of £40,000. As,it is,
although many misgivings were expressed after the
parliamentary vote that the new coinage would not
make its appearance "for generations," the abominable
hotch-potch of ugly copper, represented by our ancient
pennies and halfpence, is gradually succumbing to the
large supplies of light, elegant, French-looking coppers,
which the government and the contractors are daily turn-
ing out. The calling in -of all the old ,stores of "bad
halfpence," of which our own town has been proverbially
prolific, will occupy, it may be, some generations ;
but the old coin in other cities is rapidly being-exchanged
for their bright and handy successors. One great ad-
vantage of the new coinage is its superior durability.
use of bronze was not new to the Mint, as the
• !--1 for coinage in Canada and Nova
metal has been tilt.,
1-1-• the small coinage
Scotia, and the new issue resemw,...
adopted in those countries.—Birlitingh.am .Tournca.

ALLEGED ROBBERY OF BANK NOTES. AT ROCRDALE4
—Mr. M'Kenzie, of Middleton, on Monday, sent an old
man to Messrs. Fenton's Bank, at Rochdale, with an
order to receive £5O, and instructions to pay it away.
The old man received the money, and in the course of
the day reported to the Rochdale police that he had
been robbed of it. He states that on leaving the bank,
as he was crossing the pig market, he met two men
who entered into conversation with him, and induced

him to show them the 124 steps leading to the parish
church ; that afterwards, they adjourned to a public-
house, where a show of gold by one of his companions
induced him to exhibit his notes; that, without releas-
.

[rig his hold of these, he returned them to his pocket;
hat the two men soon after left the house, and on the

old man proceeding to make the ordered payments, ho
found his Bank of England notes converted into those
of the " Bank of Elegance," On being questioned,
however; the old man varied his statement as to the
probable age of one of the men, and was also unable
with any degree of certainty to point out the house at
which the allqed rem:lCl:try exhibition took place.
HAVE TILE LOIVEIt ANI.IO4tB POIVER Or COUNT-
ING ?-A friend of M. Arigo's gives an account of a
curious experiment made by that philosopher With a
view to solve this question. A semi-domesticated magpie
was accustomed to be fed in a hut placed neat of free in
which she roosted. The meat was put into the hdt; and

she used to come down and take it when the person Who
placed it there was gone. One day two persons tea
the meat in and one returned, leaving his companion
behind. The magpie, perceiving that - two had
entered and but one come out, would not leave her
perch. Prom this it was concluded that she could
count two. The next time three persons entered and
two came out, and the magpie showed her power of
counting three by refusing to come down. The experi-
ment was repeated, one person being added each time;
until seven persons took in the meat and six returned,
when the magpie still refused to enter the hut. But
when eight entered and seven returned, she lost her,
power of distinguishing, and came down for the meat:
M. Arago therefore concluded that magpies have the
power of counting up to seven, but no further. - One-
experiment of this kind, however, is certainly not enough
to establish the principle.
THE PROSPECTS or TIM BRITISH PAPER • TRADE.
—The Stationer says, on this subject : --" It .will be
evident that the prospects of the British paper trade
are not, in our opinion, so mournful as those in
which our most prosperous manufattorers indulged
during the crisis of last year, submitted,, as that
appeared to be, to the malignant will, of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. The exports of paper to foreign
countries during 1860 will fairly bear coniparison
with those of any healthYpreceding year ; the total
production, and consequently home consumption, i 5
by no means alarming ; while rags, even foreign rags,
so far from showing an augmentation, offer themselves at
prices which will also favourably compare with those
which have ruled, on an average, during the-last ten years.
Even new materials are sought, found, and advantageonslk
used every day, by those who do not think there is nothing.
" like leather," or rags ; new experiments are constantly-
making as to the treatment of such, or the old, materials
for paper ; new machinery is being hourly invented, or
old machinery improved, with a view to facilitate its
production. All these things are being done by Eng=
lishmen, who make everything for all the world ; and
yet there are persons in this country who look with
apprehension to the paper trade, unless it shall be pro-,
tected from the rude breath of competition, which has
given strength to every other trade in the kingdom.
THE ROMANCE OP THE CHINESE KITCHEN. Let
me close with' a story or two, which I don't believe,
though a* grave travelled Chinaman is my authority.
He declares that the following cruel receipt makes a
favourite dish with the mandarins in some of the
northern provinces. (When a Chinaman, inyentS
marvel, he invariably places his scene of action in the
north.) Set butter in a frying-pan over a fire, harings
near at hand plenty of cayenne pepper, salt, soy, &.c,
Then take a fowl, duck, or goose, and. hold it alive ovet4
the frying-pan with its feet just touching it. The
excessive heat will cause the bird's feet to swell, and:-
will at the same time draw the blood into them. After
a minute or two, dip the feet alternately into the condi-
e and return talz.eeintertce,,ller frying-pan: gaZIP ntr bloodr repeating
eo:fttr;.'
ut.tuy Li/ 1411 1.0
of a couple of inches, and be finely spicect—'The feet are
intheient
the only part to be eaten. Another story of cooks in
the north. They build a low mud wall, enclosing a space
two or three feet across, and another wall ouside, forming
a circus of about 2ft. wide, in which they set pots contain-
ing wine, vinegar, soy, &c. In the inner space they light
a good fire, -and in the circus' thus. prepared put a
live lamb. The lamb naturally becomes thirsty emu,
the great heat of the fire, and-drinke what he finds tithe
runs backward and forward in search of means of escape.
When the drinks are all swallowed, and dried into "the
animal's flesh, the lamb becomes exhausted,-,fills down
dead, and in a very short time is completelyliroasted.
Turtle may be prepared, according to the same northern
authority, by placing it over the fire in a pot of water,
in the lid of which is a bole large enough to allow • the
turtle to put out his head. As the water becomes hot,.
the turtle naturally thrusts his head out to get at the•
cooler air, when he is fed with spiced wine and soy,
which he drinks readily as a relief from the heat. This
goes on as long as he has strength to keep his, head up,
and, as the turtle does not part with life easily, he
seldom fails to go on stuffing himself till he is cooked.
The first man who used this method was a priest, whoe
as it happened, lived next to a soy manufactory. His
house one .night. caught fire, and he, being tumble-tor
escape; was discovered at the point of death, drinking
greedily of the soy which was running from his neigh-
bour's house.--Dielcens's "All the Year Round?' r.
EXTRAORDINARY . CHARGE AGAINST- A NOILTILVII-.,
BERLAND EX-MAGISTRATE.—AII action for false, im-
prisonMent was brought at the last Northumberland
spring assizes, by a poor hind and his wife, named' '
Shiel, against Mr. William- Bewicke,,,of Threepwood-
ball, near Haydon Bridge, a magistrate, when they
obtained a verdict against him of £5O and costs, which,
were duly paid after writs offi.. fa. and ea. sa. had been:
issued against him by Mr. Taylor, of Ilexharu, the
plaintiff's attorney. The case' having been brought
before the judicial notice of the Lord Chancellor the
defendant was removed from the commission of the •
peace, and since that period he has conducted himself
with becoming propriety until last week, when a writ of
fa. was issued against him, at the suitof his solicitor, •
fbr hi costs. The writ was placed in the hands otthe
sheriff's officer -of Hexham, and some of his men went
to execute the process on Thursday last; but.on going
to Mr.. Bewicke's residence, at Threedwood-hall, they
finind he had his house in order, and strongly bar-'
ricaded it to prevent the sheriff's officers froth entering.
In the evening, as the two men, W. Hutchinson and J.
Daglish, of Hexham, were in Mr. Bewicke's cartshed,
waiting to get into the house, Mr. Bewicke spoke"out
of a small window, and inquired if there was any
person in the shed. One of the men having .replied in
the affirmative, Mr. Bewicke said, " Then I am going
to shoot," and forthwith discharged a fowling piecr,
loaded with ball, at Hutchinson and Daglish, but
without effect, as the ball whizzed past Hutchinson's
ear, and struck against a pillar of the shed. He then
fired four or five successive shots in less, than as many",
minutes from the same implenient of destruction, but
still without injuring either of the men. Information
of this outrage having been communicated to the police,
an efficient staff of officers proceeded to Threedwood
Hall, and there apprehended Berwicke, who made a
violent and vigorous resistance, and conveyed him to the
Hexham House of Correction, on Saturday. There he
continued until Monday, when he was brought before .
the sitting justices, who, after a long investigation,
committed the prisoner for trial at the next Northum-
berland Spring Assizes , for feloniously shooting at
Hutchinson and Daglish with a pistol loaded with
powder and ball. The pistol, or rather rifle, is a •
revolving one, with five or six barrels, and on being
produced, it was found to be an article of exquisite
workmanship, and calculated to do a great deal of mis-
chief. Bail, in the sum of £l,OOO, having been offered ° -
and accepted for the appearance of the accused at the
assizes, he was liberated from custody. At the same
time, he was bound over in the sum of £5OO to keep
the peace towards Mr. W.' Stainthorpe for twelve
months, as he had threatened to shoot hum—News:as
Chronicle. .

.MoesncM