The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-12 00:00:00

SHIPPING ENTERPRISE.

We observe that the Munster, one of a line of
steamers built by Messrs. John Laird and Sons for the
more speedy conveyance of the mails between Holyhead
and. Kingstown, is rapidly approaching completion.
The engines and boilers have been all fitted in, and the
workmen are now chiefly engaged in finishing the
machinery connected with the funnels, steam-pipes,
and paddle-wheels. The saloons and 't.ween-decks are
being fitted up in a style thoroughly in keeping with
the determination of the,owners to make the Munster
a model craft, and in point -13 f .accommodation she *ill
vie with anything the Thames, the Mersey, or the_ Clyde
has yet produced. The principal matter to be consi-
dered, however, is the extraordinary speed she is likely
to attain. This has been mainly aimed at in the course
of her construction, and the means used certainly justify
the anticipation. One cannot help being struck with
the immense size of her paddle-wheels, which tower
considerably above those of the Cunard liner Cambria.
Her model, also, is one of the most approved
extant, and the general symmetry of the vessel
will challenge competition anywhere. The voyage
from Holyhead to Kingstown is generally accom-
plished in from three and a half to four hours, the
distance being sixty-five miles, but the Munster is
expected to make the passage in three hours, thus equal-
ing the extraordinary run made lately by the new
steamer Giraffe, which accomplished the distance be-
tween Greenock and Belfast (about a hundred miles) in
five hours. The work is so far advanced that we under-
stand the Munster will probably have steam up on
Wednesday or Thursday. In the same dock, and close
to the Munster, a body of workmen are also engaged in
fitting out the Gumna, a flat.bottomed vessel, specially
constructed for navigating the shallow waters of the
rivers of India. She was intended as consort to the ill-
fated Ganges, which foundered a short time ago off the
coast of Teneriffe. Her boilers and engines are nearly
shipped, and it is expected that within a month she will
be in readiness to start far the East. It is to be hoped
she will accomplish the voyage in safety, notwithstand-
ing the prediction of an old " salt," who said she would
be " worked out of sight in an instant."

LIVERPOOL POLICE COURT.---YEsTFRDAv.

(Before Mr. RAFFLES.)
A FIGHT IN BEN JONSON-STREET.
James Whitfield, a carter living in Ben Jonsoa-street, was
charged with having violently assaulted a powerful young
woman, named Mary Cunliff. Mr. Cobb defended. Both the

prisoner and complainant had their heads bandaged up, and
had a good deal of blood about them, and both had evidently
suffered considerably. The prosecutrix said she went to the
prisoner's house the previous evening, when she found him
beating his wife ; he had her on the floor, with his foot on her
throat, and a penknife in his hand, sweating he would kill
her. She interfered to prevent him, when he turned on her,
knocked her down, and kicked her desperately in the back.
She got away, but came back again, when he attacked her a
second time, knocked her down, and kicked her in the heal
and face, inflicting severe izkiuries on her. Mr. Cobb cross-
examined the witness, with the view of showing that she and

the prisoner's wife had been away in the country with two men
for some days past ; but the girl denied that she was avay,
but could not tell if his wife had been away. She did not
break his head with a brick before he assaulted her. Mr. Cobb
said the real facts of the case were these : The prisoner's wife
and the prosecutrii went away with two men, cad stopped in
the country for same days. They had just returned, and the

prisoner, being exasperated, commsnced chastising his wife
for her conduct, when the prisoner came in and struck- him on

the head With a brick, inflicting d7s.tirioul woutia.;
wife and proecutrix then attacked the prisoner,, and would
have killed him had he not acted in his own defence. Mr,
Cobb admitted that the girl was severely injured. but from the
manner in which she and the prisoner's wife had acted, the
prisoner was almost justified in striking as be did. Ile called
a witness named Sixsmith, who partly corroborated the state-
ment, and the prisoner was remanded to this day, in order to
produce witnesses on both shies.