The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-10 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

EDINBITRON. JAN. 7.
The Highland destitution board is again in deep
water. At a meeting of the Glasgow section held
yesterday, all the reports yet come to band from their
six inspectors represented that the destitution was
already fearful, and that immediate relief was neces-
sary. In addition to scanty crops, deficient employ-
ment, awl other ordinary cause., the wants of the
Highlanders have been considerably augmented :
First, by the parochial boards not doing their duty to
the poor ; second, by the deity shown by government
in advancing the money for drainage, by which pro-
prietors have been prevented from giving employment
to labourers ; third, by the apathy of proprietors in re-
gard to the poor on their estates; fourth, by the refu-
sal of proprietors to furnish labourers with tools even
when work was supplied by the board.
All these points were amply discussed. On the
first a letter was read from She chairman of the board
of supervision, which stated that it was the sheriffsand
not the board who could enforce aliment to paupers
when refused by parochial boards. The remedies of the
Poor-law Act are indeed singular; if a pauper gets
too much the heritors can complain to the civil court,
if a pauper gets too little he must go to the board of
supervision, if he gets nothing his remedy lies with
the sheriff : granting all this, the supreme board has
undoubted control over inspectors and other officers,
and if they were to suspend these gentlemen on all
occasions of neglect, some good would surely be done.
With retrard to proprietors, their conduct has been
highly discreditable. In some cases the people had to
work on roads with no more efficient tools than their
fingers, and in one Highland town in danger of fever
from extreme filth the authorities refused to supply
the mere implements for purification. In suggestion,
landlords are not indeed so poverty-atrickea—thus we
have the master of Strathallan modestly proposing
that the board should establish manufactories in his
district, an overture which the board had no hesi-
tation is rejecting. But if his lordship is really
in earnest for Highland regeneration, he should
rise in his place in the House of Peers
and move the abolition of the law of entail. But
besides the proprietors the people are often greatly to

blame. Dr. Buchanan, one of the ministers of
Glasgow, mentioned that in one instance a spirited
landowner could not get men to drain his property.
But whatever may be the exact amount of culpa-
bility attaching to landlords or people, or however
much to laws and customs, one thing is certain, that,
in time to come, no wail of Highland destitution,
were it so loud as to rend Glencoe by its echoes, will
ever cause the Lowland population to contribute
another destitution fund. " Donald" and his master
must learn to minister to their own wants by putting
their hands to the plough and spade, in the self-same
way that their benefactors do.
Various corporate bodies have been making
" moves in the right direction." The Earl of Airlie,
Lord Panmure, and other proprietors in Forfarshire,
have sent a requisition to the convener of the county
to call a meeting for the purpose of petitioning
for the repeal of the Bank Act of 1844. The
town council of Cupar, as will be seen below,
have done themselves the honour of petitioning
in favour of their townsman's (Mr. Pagan's) plan et
road reform. The Glasgow Council has petitioned
for a revision of the stamp duties, and particularly
for the abolition of inventory duty on estates of leap
value than 160/. During the incumbency of the
present treasurer of the Glasgow Infirmary,, 2,2301.
of legacy duty has been paid by him.
The Ayrshire Iron Company are not to carry on
business longer than may be necessary for the realisa-
tion of the property. For the payment of the first
instalment to creditors 101,5731. has been subscribed,
of which 30,3491. 3s. 11d. has been lodged in the
bank. On the kindred subject of exchange com-
panies, an " History and Defence " of them is an-
nounced for publication in Glasgow.
As the filthy state of churchyards even in rural
districts is a sanitary matter of great importance,
remedial facilities should be made known. From a
correspondence between the inspector of the poor in
the pariah of Brechin with Mr. Smythe, the secretary
of the board of supervision, it appears "that heritore
are bound to provide additional burying ground,
; where, from the circumstances of the parish, it has
become necessary. The ground, however, so pro-
. vided, must be paid for; and I sin of opinion." says
Mr. S., " that the money must be raised from, and
the expense borne by, the proprietors of lands and
k houses in the parish, in proportion to the real rents of
such lands and houses." Were the authorities
' to act upon this interpretation of the law, the nuisance
would soon be remedied.

4

BR!, Byerlty-hall, Bradford ; 0. Armitage, Esq., Edgertce-
WU; fluddersßeld ; R. Milligan, Esq., Mayor of Bradford'
and J. E. Wilkinson, Esq., POttltrioll-110U60, Aberford.
Amnia the recent additions to the commission of the peace
are the names of tho following gentlemen, all residest in the
neigthourhocel of Huddersfield • C. Brooke, Esc;, Healey-
hones ; W. L. Brook, Esq., Mettham-hall ; J. Riley, Esq.,
Birkby, , and T. Firth, Esq., Toothill.

_ .
LANCASHIRE.
STOLEN DIAMONDS.—A man named James Lowe,
lately ladies footman in the family of Admiral Smith, at
Exeter, has been apprehended at Manchester, where he had
offered several diamonds of considerable value for sale at a
jeweller and silversmith's. The latter, who holds a retpeete-
tile position in the town, immediately suspecting that the
diathonds had been stolen, oommunicated with the police,
who found in the man's pocket a discharge from one of H.M.
ships at Plymouth, and it has since been discovered that he
till recently held the situation above named, but that t being
suspected of having stolen a cross or broochw
diamonds be was discharged. About 30 of the diamonds
were found upon him by the police, and he confesses that
they formed pert of the brooch. He also states that when
'whetted of the robbery before being discharged he was
seined and searched, when the officer making) he search was
Very near putting his hand on the missing vuables which
were concealed in his clothes at the time. He will be taken
to Exeter this day, for examination before the magistrates.
CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH
Rowisates.—The neighbourhood of the Manchester poet-
office has lately been infested with pickpockets; and on
Thursday last a gentleman named Cooke, who had gone to
post a letter, had 1001 in notes taken from his pocket and a
purse containing 101. in gold. He did not miss the money
tall he trot home, though he recollected then having been
bustled by a crowd of men and women near the post-office.
Ongoing to give notice at the policc-offiee next morning
of
robbery, the superintendent asked him to describe the
moths, observing that he had in his possession 751. in notes
which he suspected to have bees stolen. Mr. Cooks had
bat just received the now when he was robbed, had taken
tbes without examination, and to describe them was impos-
sible ;;however, he took the officer to the gentleman who had
paid him the notes of which he was robbed. This gentleman
had but recently changed a larger note for them, so that it
was a work of some difficulty to make out the
identity satisfactorily; but however, that was done
eventually at the branch Bank of Engla m nd, and
the notes were proved to be part of those stolen fro Mr.
Cooke. The circumstances under which the notes were reco-
vered, however, are the most carious part of the story. A
gentleman who had gone to the peat-office on Thursday
night at a later hour than Mr. Cooke was also beset with
pickpockets, and a 201. note was stolen from him. The
gentleman, however, mired the note immediately, and gave
chase to a man who ran from the knot of people war the
post-ofiee. After following this man through several sweets,
be was compelled to give up the pursuit, but had not passed
many yards on his return along P'all-mall before he p
up the 751. in notes which turn out to have bees part of the
robbery from Mr. Cooke, and these he took toe the policee
office. These facts may appear singular, but,strangr still, th
201. note stolen from the gentlemon list mentioned was next
morning found te have heen thrust between the door and
doorpost of a warehouse in Pall-mall. The thief has not
been apprehended.
ATTEMPT TO MU RD EIL—A butcher, named Wm.
Radcliffe, at Ashton, has been committed to Chester for
trial at the next arises, on a charge of attempting to murder
Ann Scrimmager, a woman with whom he had cohabited,
by putting her into the Peek Forest canal, on the 22d ult.
The prosecutris had met the prisoner and a female in a
lonely plantation, on one of the basks of the canal that day,
when he struck her in the fact, and afterwards put her into
the canal. Before she could get out of the water her limbs
became benumbed, owing to ita extreme coldness, and it was
probable that she would have perished, although the canal
was not very. deep there, but the captain of • boat passing
along, perceiving a bonnet floating. which the boat had car-
ried off her head, was led to look round, and, discovering
her, succeeded in dragging her out before life was extinct.
Radcliffe had previously expressed a determination to take
her life.
NEW Housgs AND WAREHOUSES IN LIVERPOOL.
—The following is a return, prepared by Mr. W. Rishton,
surveyor of buildings, of the number of houses and ware-
houses erected or in coarse of erection within the municipal
borough, from the Ist of Jan. to the 31st of Dec., 1847:
Houses under 12/ per annum, 59; from 121. to 251.,
from 251. to 351., 167 ; from 351. upwards, 89.— Total. 1,220.
Warehouses, 5. Comparative statement of the number of
houses erected in each year since 1838: 1838, 1,052 ; 1839,
997 ; 1840, 1,576; 1841, 1,761; 1842, 2,027: 1843, 1.390 ;
1844,2,4•£0 ; 1845, 3,728; 1846, 3,460; 1847, 1,220.—T0ta1,
19,661.
NOVEL MODE OP SWINDLING.—At the Court of
Quarter Sessions at Birmingham on Saturday, a man named
Isaac Jacobs was indicted for obtaining goods under false
retraces in the following meaner . Some time since he
called upon several of the jewellers and gold chain makers in
the town, and consequent on his representations that he had
funds in the bank of Spooner, Attwood, and Co. in London
to the amount of 1,3001., he succeeded in obtaining jewellery
of the value of about 1651. ; this he subsequently pledged at
Liverpool for about 1301., and, as it afterwards came out, the
fellow had, at the time he purchased the goods, only a few
shillings in the hands of the bankers; the tradesmen were
therefore duptd. li ratas convicted and sentenced to twelve
months' imprisonme;;;.,

_
Lustsn.osuim,
VALUE OF LAND.—The entire village of Thornton,
consisting of 2,500 acres of well cultivated lend, with the
fuss and cottage buildings, was recently offered for sale by
Alderman Farebrother, to eight lots, at the George Inn,
Barton. Five of the lots found purchasers in gentlemen re-
'ent in the neighbourhood, at prices varying from 451. to
661. per acre, including the buildings. The remaining lots,
although bought in, were not likely to remain unsold. The
Louth Marsh Chapel estate was also recently offered for
sale, in 34 lots, at Louth. After the conditions of the sale
had been read by Mr. Freshfield, the London solicitor, the
auction commenced in • spirited manner, and Mr. Hollis,
the auctioneer, succeeded in `knocking down the first twenty
lots in the shortest apace of time perhaps ever known. Se-
veral ether lots were disposed of by the hammer, and the
remainder were, immediately after the sale, sold by Mr.
Vessey, by private contract, realising in the whole upwards
of 35 years' purchase on the present rental
NORMAMPTONSHIBE.
THE SHOOTING CASE NEAR WEEDON. The
adjourned inquest on the body of James Tibbs, the person
who died from the effects of a gun-shot wound, has been
brought to a termination.—Thomu Herbert said be was a
son of John Herbert, a farmer, living at. Castle Dykes, near
Farthingstone. On Monday fortnight the dee, aged, J he
wasTibbs, wat his father's house, and also a person named
Manning. They had been drinking together. Witness went
to-bed at half-past seven o'clock, and at one the a-
morn-
ing he was awoke by hearing the discharge of fire-arms. He
got up, and found the deceased bleeding in the passage, near
the brewhouse. He asked what was the matter ? when his
father said, "Oh ! I've shot the man !" His father st that
time had a gun in his hand. lie told witness he had threat-
ened to shoot the deceased, but it was only said in a joke.—
Mr. Jones, surgeon, said that when he was called in to see
the deceased he found an extensive wound in the
shoulder. The whole of the blood-vessels bad com-
pletely emptied themselves. He told deceased that
he was dying, and asked him who had done it ? He
said " John Herbert." This was denied by Herbert,when the
deceased replied, " You did shoot me, John, you know you
did ; and you know you threatened me as I was leaving."—
J. P. Borman said that he had heard the deceased tell the
accused, that he supposed it was because he owed hies 71.
that he had shot hirn.—Henry Goddard, chief constable,
reduced the dying declaration of the deceased, which was as
knows :—" I was yesterday afternoon at Dodford Wood, at
•a place called Castle Dykes. About two o'clock I accidentally
went into the house of John Herbert, near the wood. Mr.
Herbert and another man or two sat down to take some
IeftitUZICIAS. We had gin and ale mixed, but not enough
to make one tipsy. The other nun went away before it was
dark, but I and Herbert kept on drinking ; neither of us
in ,
however, were drank. I got up to go home, and whilst
the passage Herbert said he would shoot me. He was be-
hind me at the time, and the shot entered my shoulder,
when I fell down bleeding, and became iseensible. There
had been no dispute nor ill-words between Herbert and me.
He owed to me 71. for lime and coals, but we had
quarrelled about it."—The jury having consulted. they re-
turned a verdict of " Wilful murder against John Herbert."
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
CiteitcwitarEs.—At the Bucks quarter sessions,
held on Thursday, Sir T. D. Aubrey, Bart., in the chair,
John Simonds, draper, of Mursley, was brought up in cue-
tody
to sumer an indictment charging him with refusing to
obey a certain order, signed by two justices of the peace, for
the payment of fivepence, being the amount
the def en of a churant
ch-
rate. The proceedings created great interest, d
having been kept in confinement for more than a month
past. Mr. J. W. Simonds, churchwarden for Mursley (no
relative of the defendant), said there wall a vestry meeting
held in July last for the purpose of making a churchresided-rate.
The proper not;ces were put up. The defendant in
the pariah, and was rated as a proprietor and ode ccupisr.
w lie
called upon the defendant for the payment of rate,
replied that he had nothing to do with A
it
su,
mand
monsw objecteasd on
religious grounds to pay the money. served
on the defendant, and he appeared before the magistrate on
the 28th Oct. The magistrate made an order for the payment
of the amount, and he delivered it into the hands of the de-
fendant. lie looked at it, and said he should not take any
notice of it. The notice was served at his own house, on
the 28th of Oct. On the 9th of Dec. he again attended be-
fore the magistrate. Defendant bad not then paid the rate,
and sidle would not, for the reason before stated.—Mr. D.
J. Willis, clerk to the magistrates of the Winslow division,
corroborated the statement of the previous witness as to the
refusal of the defendant, when before the magistrates, to pay
the rate on religious grounds. He likewise refused to put
in bail. He was then sent to Aylesbury gaol. He believed
the defendanr was a baptist.—The jury returned a verdict of
Guifty —The Chairman pronounced judgment. The court
took into consideration that the defendant had already been
imprisoned one month, and they therefore sentenced him to
one week's further imprisonment, as for a misdemeanor.
—He was removed to the county gaol.
PRISON DISCIPLINE.—The magistrates of Essex
have just completed the alterations in the county gaol, which
amount, in fact, to a reconstruction of it, exactly on the plan
of the Pentonville prison, for carrying out the separate sys-
tem of discipline. The prison inspectors, it will be remem-
bered, several times reported unfavourably u to the state of
the Essex gaol, and the newspapers called attention to the
matter, in consequence of which the government pressed the
necessity of improvement upon the magistracy. Three hun-
dred prisoners have been provided for on the separate sys-
tem, and the cost of the improvement about 40,0001.
GIGANTIC RAILWAY 1211EDERS.—Within the last
some interest has been excited at Witham by the
---..atnarr-sised cast-iron girders, for two

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few alt