The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-12 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S TWELFTHCAKE.

The royal twelfthcake, which was served on a dish of
gold, in the drawing-room, after her Majesty's dinner, on
the 6th, weighed about thirty pounds, and its decorations
afforded the royal confectioner a favourable opportunity
of displaying his taste and skill in this department.
Around the base are four divisions of Chinese drawings,
and between each division are some beautiful medallions,
on a deep blue ground, with enamelled border, figures, and
flowers. The top of the cake represents a scene in
the late war, where the colonel of the Zouayes, atter
receiving a mortal wound, is &upported by the surgeon
of the regiment, and telling the Vivandiere to " bear this
cross to my mother, with my last breath." At the back
of the dying Zonave stands a private of the regiment,
holding the rein of the colonel's steed, apparently affrighted
at the explosion of a shell ; and about the figures , are
lying broken muskets, swords, balls, and other emblems
indicative of the horrors of a battle field. The design,
colouring, and figures are by M. J. Le Bond, who had the
honour o being highly complimented by her Majesty and
his Royal Highness Prince Albert on his skill and inge-
nuity. ,„

THE DIVIDENDS—There is a strong feeling with some
shareholders that the companies having had so good a run
of traffic, should not divide up close, but carry good
balances over for possible defaults or fallings off of traffic
during the present half. We know no reason for any
defect of traffic for the current half; but if there was, we
fear the law is against any reservation oat of the past half
for it, The earnings of any one half year are the property
of the shareholders for that half, and cannot be carried for-
ward for the benefit of others.—llerapath.
A Wires REVENGE.—A few days ago, the following
occurrence took place near Eastwood good husband
(who shall be nameless) returning 'from his'occupation as
a labourer, found his beloved wife quite " groggy," lying
on the sofa asleep. Asking her if she had his tea ready,
she aroused herself and answered that she had set the
kettle on the fire. To the husband's deep surprise, he
observed that it was the metal teapot, and that the spout
and handle lay on the hearthrug, the pot itself having
melted down. Taking a rope end, he at once administered
a sound thrashing, which thoroughly restored her to a
state of consciousness. But now mark the wife's revenge.
The next day she took his dinner, as usual, to his place of
employment, and he, expecting to find a beefsteak pie, or
something of the kind, on removing the top, to his amaze.
ment discerned the identical piece of rope he had used the
previous day • and, on returning home, and rebuking her
perverse conduct, the cool reply he received was simply
this, that if the rope was good for her, it could not be bad
for him.—Nottingham Revicul:
SINGULAR CASE.—An inquest was held last week, at the
Calcutta inn, Cheltenham, before Mr. J. Lovegrove,
respecting the death of a young woman named Mary Ann
Gilkes, and of a male child, of which she had been delivered ,
a short time before her death. The peculiarity of the case
is that the birth of the child was not discovered until
after the burial of the mother. A *Medical gentleman
who attended the young woman gave a certificate that she
died from epilepsy produced by exhaustion, and the
coroner, in the exercise of his discretion, had refused to
hold an inquest until after the discovery of the body of
the child. That circumstance, however, led to the
exhumation of the body of the mother, and, after a long
enquiry, the jury returned a verdict that Mary Ann
Brunsley Gilkes had died from epilepsy, arising from
exhaustion through loss of blood and neglect in her
confinement, and that the child had died through the
wilful design or neglect of the mother, who was therefore
guilty of " Wilful murder." After some remarks from
the coroner, the foreman of the jury stated that they
wished to make the following addition to the verdict :--
" We, the jurymen empanneled to enquire into the cause
of death of M. A. B. Gilkes, being ratepayers of the
county of Glocester, having noticed the discussions which
have of late taken place in the court of quarter sessions
with regard to the holding of inquests, express our 'anent •
mous opinion that the tendency of the interference of the
magistrates in controlling the discretion of the coroners,
and which, in this instance, nearly .caused a miscarriage
of the course of justice, is' calculated to diminish the
safeguard which the full discharge of the duties of the
ancient office of coroner had thrown around the lives of
the people of this country."
THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY STATION, PADDINGTON.
—At this station a very large amount of bail :ing is in, pro.
gress (in the way of additions to the enormous establish-
-1 ment), from the designs of Mr. Brunel, the eminent
engineer. Among the most prominent of them is a new
goods Station, the platform portion of which is 520 feet in
length, with an average width of about 80 feet. The roof
is of corrugated iron, and supported by iron columns, from
which spring segmental archon, roofed in with glass and
slate. •At the eastern end of this large platform is a ware-
house of irregular plan, the length of which is 150 feet, and
its greatest width 90;feet. This warehouse has a height of
four stories, the ground floor being 17 feet in height, the
first 11 feet, and the second and third floors 9 feet each.
These floors are constructed of wood, some of the beams
of which are of three, and others, of two thicknesses,
bolted together, the whole being supported vertically by a
series of '3B iron stannebions of great strength, which
traverse the whole of the floors from the basement to
the roof. The floors are composed of boards 1t "inch in
thickness, and tied together by what are technic illy called
"iron tongues." The ground floor, and also those of the
platform, are composed of 2i inch battens, resting on very
strong foisting, saturated in c:eosote for effectual preserva-
tion. The roof of the warehouse is composed of iron, and
is light and even elegant in design. At its northern end is
a large wafer tank, 44 feet in length and 33 feet wide at
one end and 20 feet at the other, and eight feet deep,
containing an enormous body of water for the supply of
tie establishment, including the hydraulic cranes, of which
there are 36 in all on the outer platform and interior
of the warehouse, besides two lifts in the interior of the
structure worked by the same means. The whole of
the windows have iron lintels, sashes, &c., and everything
about the building is constructed with the greatest regard
to strength and durability, Some very large workshops are
also now nearly completed, extending to a length of 300
feet; the upper one to be used as 'a carriage trimming shop,
being 34 feet 6 inches wide, and the lower one, which is
appropriated to repairing and painting carriages, being 81
feet 6 inches in width. These lower shops are 400 feet in
length. In addition to these, there is also the gleen's car-
riage shed, which is 42 feet long by 32 feet 6 inches wide ;
this shed is finished in a somewhat superior manner, beine.
roofed with iron girders, ached between and plastered,'
and heated with Perkins's hot water apparatu, with the
view to the preservation of its contents, as a'preventive
of damp. In this portion of the vast area occupied by
the company, new clerks' offices, and stores • hate been
erected, together with cirpenters' shops. Adjoining to
these a very large range of offices has also been built, on'the
ground floor of which are strong rooms, constructed on the
most substantial principles, and fireproof ticket printing
and stamping offices, police office, and also offices for the
resident engineers and their assistants; over these is a
spacious board room, 77 feet long 'and 36 feet wide, which
has temporary cross partitions attached to it, so that it may
be divided into three rooms when not used for general
meetings, which require large space. Mr. John Jay, the
builder, of Macclesfield street north, City road, has the
contract for the works now in progress, and Mr. Robert
Rowell is the clerk of the works, Mr. Bertram being the
resident engineer, the whole being under the general
supervision of Mr. Brunel, the chief engineer of the com-
pany.—Building News.