The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-25 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

Tax "DAILY NEWS" ATLTIIE REPORTERS OP
MANCHESTEIL --" Manchester, Jan. 24.—Sir,—We beg
leave to intimate to you, that at a meeting held on Saturday
last, of reporters connected with all the newspapers of Man-
chester, with the exception of the Guardian, the subject of
the conduct of your Manchester correspondent, in relation
to the procuring of public documents for the Daily News
was considered, and that that conduct received the hearty
approbation of all present. In a few momenta afterwards
your paper of Saturday last came to hand, when the leading
article upon this subject wit- read, and received with much
approbation. A motion was thereupon unanimously carried,
to the effect that a Tote of thanks be presented to the editor
of the Daily News, for the prompt and kindly manner in
which be has supported its local correspondent in the
painful but necessary step which he took at the recent meet-
ing of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. We have
been deputed to convey to you this expression of opinion on
the part of the Manchester reporters, and, although much
grieved at being forced to take such a step, we feel it neces-
sary to do so, is justice to ourselves, and in support of that
principle of justice and fair dealing which, we think, ought
to prevail amongst the representatives of the public press.—
Signed by the Reporter for the Manchester Examiner and
the Reporter for the Manchester Courier.
'nu FARM OP THE CHOR.LTON UNION.—By the
official account of the produce and expenditure of the Work-
ing Farm at Tedford Mose, for the year 1847, it appears that
the number of men employed was 653; with their wives
(511) end children (1,505), depending on and living with
them, making a total of 2,569 individuals, maintained by
this means, at an average yearly cat per head (of the gross
number relieved) of 51. le. 3d. The followine exhibits some
of the statistics of the numbers offered work, and of those
employed during the year:
Yes. Females. Children.
Men Mewed erepionsent
Men reftising work on the farm
Discharged, or left voluntarily
Men accepting eneo2wment
Collective number of men employed .. 3,248
or a weekly average of 244 ; collective number of days em-
ployed 15,734, or 3,933 per quarter ; an average of 64 days
per quarter. The avenge cost per day for each man employed
ern Is. 41d.; the average cost per we, k per family for the year
was 81d. or 2d. per week for the gross number of persons.
The average amount of rely per quarter for the men
employed was 2661. 1.55. 10d., and the saving by 72 men re-
fusing employment, 1391. 18e. bd. On the whole, therefore,
it seems that the farm, whether regarded as a test of willing-
nese to work, or as a means of employment for able-bodied
man, has been a tolerably sat isfactc ry experiment during the
past year. Where it DUAL seems to fail is in the case of
paupers accustomed to manufacturing operations or handi-
crafts, but having no practical notion of agricultural labour.
We learn, however, that there exiqa amongst the guardians
some desire to discontinue the working of the farm, and to
set all the able-bodied paupers to oakum-picking in the
, workhouse. It is doubtful whether, either in a moral orp•-
o =Diary point of view, this will be any Improvement.

4

A FREE SCHOOL WHICH MIGHT BE USEFUL, but
which, it appears, is almost useless, exists at Illsekbern and
has, from tune to time, attracted the sttentioa of the re-
formers of that town. Hitherto, however, no efßcient refor-
mation of the institution has been obtained. The school w-
eaved a charter from Queen Elisabeth, whoa the present
town was " the village of Blackburn," and the present ar-
, rangentente Of the establishment seem to remain an their
sotbnitive inefficieticy instead of being adapted le the edam-
Hanel want* of the 70,000 busy people who sow Inhabit
the " village " named in the grant of Qtuesn Hew The
editor of the Bide:hum Standard says: "The useful-
ness sad character of the school hays been, as the
phase runs here, worsening; till at last, and, at pre-
sent, so far as the local purposes fur which the school was
founded are concerned, it might just as well have been
established in New Zealand ; or not have been esta-
blished at all. The expressed intention of the founders
has been completely defeated ; the law of the charter become
of non-effect; and an institution which should have been an
honour to the town, and of the utmost value to the inhabi-
tants, brought to so miserob'e a condition as to excite &DPW,
or laughter, or contempt, whenever it is referred to. Now
it is not our purpose, at present, to lay the blame of this con-
dition on any particular shoidders. The governors may have
done, at various timer, what they considered " the best " the
circumstances of the case would allow of; and the masters
may have acted conscientiously in every instance. The fault
on one side is said to have bean too loose an attention to the
power and object of the ,barter; and on the other too strict
a translation ef tome of the words composing it—the one
being guided by a vague cud indefinite precedent ; the other
refusing to he guided at all. To th.. disputed meaning of the
word "Grammer " in Queen Elisabeth's time, and the
hesitation of the governors to affix their interpretation to
the word, so as to make it applicable to existing wants,—
may, it is affirmed, be is a great measure attributed the
difficulties which have arisen be.ween those who should
govern, and those who should bo governed. But without
alluding further to the causes which have brought about
the present unfortunate state of affairs ; it is sufficient that
that state is unfortunate; and that so long as it continues
so, the inhabitants are altogether deprival of the benefit of
the "Frio Grammar School" in Blackburn. Now the
remedy for this evil is, we are glad to any, as easy of
attainment as it is clearly perceptible, if those who have
the authority will only avail themselves of the means.
The charter, which is remarkably simple in its
provisions, states that the school shall be " for
the education, institution, and instruction of boys
and young persona in grammar," and that it shall
"continue for ever of one master and one under-master"
(which latter imperative provision scene for some time put
to have been entirely overlooked). In Elisabeth's time a
"grammar school "—the props r signification of which term
is a school for the teaching of languages grammatically,—
was an establishment for the teaching of the chaired lan-
guages especially, these languages, from the very necessity
of the times, forming the best part of a boy's education:
that part which he was first, and most complt-tely, instructed
in. It was as necessary for him to be thoriughly acquainted
with the dead languages then, es it is for a boy to be
familiar with other and very different branches of learn•
ing now. But the times, the wants, and, in a great mu-
sure, the objects of youth are changed. That which was a
InercLecrxhrys, v
time, would be little a(teirtscitialneduaneallionn.
mambnince now. In a manufacturing and commercial
community this difference is particularfy. felt ; and in the
abeneas of any means of obtaining a practical general educa-
tion, suited alike to the tastes and necessities of the day,
under the parents' eye, children are, however reluctantly,
obliged to be sent a distance from home to acquire it ; an
obligation to which, in the case before us, they have no right
to be put ; and which there will be no Carus, for subjecting
them to in future. If it be true, as asserted, that the powers
granted by the present charter are too circumscribed for the
purposes to which it is declared they should be put, we say
reform it altogether—supersede the provisions of the charter
with others b ttcr suited to the requirements of the age—
that' is, improve. and extend the benefit which the founders
of the school undoubtedly meant to bestow, and the charter
as surely was granted to perpetuate the benefit of a sound
education, adapted to the wants of the time being. For such
a course we have law and precedent."
YORKSHIRE.
MORE DEATHS FROM OPIUM.—On Sunday nigbt
John William Ryan and Alfred Ryan, each aged about
three years and a half, the twin children of Mr. John Ryan,
a dyer, redding in Watson's-yet d, School-close, Leeds, died
from the effects of an overdose of opium, which had been
administered to them as a cure for worms. It is stated that
on Saturday night the father of the children called at a
druggiet's shop in the tows, and purchased a couple of worm-
powders, which he administered to the children at breakfast-
time on Sun -ay morning in a little tea. For a short time
the children played about as usual, when it was observed
that they staggered in their gait, and that their skins had
become discoloured, the glands of their necks becoming
swollen. Medical advice was sought; the children were
removed to the infirmary, where the stomach-pump was
applied, and a small quantity of liquid, smelling strongly of
opera, wee ejected; but both the infantsdied in the evening
of the same day. A post mcrtem examination was to be
made yesterday, and the coroner's inquest is appointed for
this afternoon.

THE MCRDER NEAR BRISTOL.—On Saturday two
of the county magistnees (the Feev. H. Mirehouse and J.
Shorland, b.sq ) commenced an investigation into the cir-
cumstances of the, murder, and all the prisoners (the two
nephews, James and Benjamin Hazell, and the witness John
Hall) were placed before them in custody.—Mr. P. Mallard
was first examined, and deposed that he was son-in-law to
the deceased, Mr. Hazel', having married his only daughter.
On Monday night witness retired to bed as early as eight
o'clock, and was called up by a man named Venice, who in-
formed him that deceased was missing. lie dressed him-
self and went to 'hull's house, and joined several other
persona in making an active search. This witness deposed
to the search for the deceased is the stable, the. On crow-
examination ho said the deceased might have been
got through the hole in the corner of the well,
even if the frame-work had not been lifted.—lsaac
Stokes deposed that he was a harjobber living at
Northwick. On Monday last, about lour o'clock in
the afternoon, as he wee coming over Dundry Hill, he
maw the prisoner John Hall come from a garden adjoining
the Carpenters' Anna, cross a road leading to Mr. Hazell's
house, and get over a gate into a field, but he did not see him
come back again. At this point of the examination Dr.
Wieland, of Dundee, entered tte room, and said he had
thought it his duty to ride down, as, in consequence of some
examinations he had bees making, evidence had come to his
t' knowledge which he thought would prove of considerable
importance.—Mr. Mirehouse said the magistrates would
prefer, in the first place, that Dr. Morland should make a
confidential communication to them—A private conference
then took place between the parties, at the close of which,
the magistrates said they should not then proceed further
with the investigation. They then despatched two con-
stables on horseback to take po session of all the premises,
make a close &earth of the house, prevent all persons from
having access tr the stables and lifts, and to bring all the
parties connected with the farm before them on Monday.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
DEATH FROM SLIPPING ON A PIECE OF ORANGE
Pau.—An inquest was held on Tuesday, at the Bristol In-
firmary, on the body of Sophia Martin. Margaret Howard
deposed, dee, aced was an unmarried woman, 31 yeast of age,
• native of Thornbury, and lived by shoe-binding. On the
9th of Jan. she came to my door, earl showed her thumb,
and said it was broken, that she was at Clifton, and she
slipped down by treading on a piece of orange peel on the
pavement, and broke the bone of her thumb; it yas very
painful, and the pain increased, and she went to the infir-
mary, where she died.—Mr. More, house-surgeon to the in-
Sneezy, stated, deceased had at tint a compound dislocation
Odle thumb ; it went on favourably till Saturday, when
she was advised to come into the house, which she refused.
Next day she was brought there with lock jaw from the in-
jury, from which she died. She described the occident as
occasioned by falling down in the street Verdict, Died
from dill cated thumb and lock-jaw, from falling on a piece
of orange peel on the pavement.'
IN RE BRODIE'S BANKRUPTCY.—T. B. IL Ahem-
hall, Esq., one of the registrars of the Court of Bankruptcy,
sat on Friday and Saturday, at Salisbury, to receive proof o
debts in this bankruptcy, both jointly and separately. The
number of creditors who attended to prove fat exceeded what
were expected; the entrance to the room where the registrar
and the s ilteitors under the fiat eat, being densely crowded
each day till its close, manynot being able to gain admission
to prove th-ir debts, so that the learned registrar had to
appoint another day for that purpose. He fixed Saturday
next, the 29th inst., at the same time and place, White Hart,
Salisbury. The amount proved during these two days,
nearly all in small debts, was above 20,0001. Nearly as much
more yet remains to prove. More than 90,0001. was proved
in London, making a total amount of from 130,0001. to
140,0001. for dividends to be declared upon.
CHANNEL ISLANDS.
JERSEY LOYALTY.—The Chronigne de Jersey has
just reprinted a list of the " voluntary subscriptions of the
inhabitants of the island of Jersey, for the service of his
Majesty and the defence of his domininne, in consequence of
an act of the Matta of the 17th day of February, 1798," sad
which was originally printed by order of the States. The
total amount subscribed was about 6,6001., of which the
town parish contributed nearly one-half. Were • similar
urgent occasion to arise, there is little doubt, says the
Guernsey Star, that the island would now lay quadruple that
sum at the feet of tke British sovereign towards the mainte-
nance of British dominion.