The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-16 00:00:00

POST 0 PielOß _ROBBERY AT BIRICE.NILEAD.

James Maule, a post-office clerk and assistant to the i

spector-general; received the letter produced, on Monday,
the 12th instant, from the inspector, with directions to take
it to Chester, and have it checked into the Birkenhead book,
and dispatched by the night mail of ithat date. At the
time the letter was given by me to Mr. Owen, it was
properly sealed and properly fastened. As the letter was
net delivered he went to the post-office, and paid to the
prisoner, there was a letter directed to Mr. Murray, which he
knew had been forwarded, had not been delivered. He said
there was a letter of that description, and it was a money
letter for the carrier to enter. He took the letter
and the book to the inspector. He also went wi4'
the police-officer to the prisoner's house,
he found the five-pound Bank of England note.
Robert Jackson, a letter-carrier in the Birkenhead post,
office, was on duty on the morning of the 13th. I was there
at twenty-five minutes to six. The prisoner is a clerk em-
ployed in that post-office, and was also on duty. I received
two bags, and the messenger the others, from the railway.
I opened the Chester bag. It was properly secured by a
string and sealed. I put the letters on a table in the post-
office. The prisoner was there and engaged in sorting the
letters. I did not see him leave the °See, as I went away
about half-past seven. Tito book produced I know well. I
did not see it on the desk when I wag at the office. It was
not near me. If it had been near me, in the ugnal place, I
must have seen it. The letter should have been delivered
on the 13th, and should have had the morning mark upon
it. That is an accident that might have occurred in the
hurry of business. The prisoner sorted the letters that
morning.
There weeo acrcial witnesses examined tor the purpose of
tracing the letter.
The inspector of police said, he went to the post-office at
the request of the inspector-general, and received the book
from the assistant. He searched the prisoner's house, and
found this letter. (The letter was directed to himself, and
written by himself, but was not allowed to be put in evi-
dence). Two five pound notes, and three receipts for regis-
ters, and a pawnticket for some plate.
Mr. Banning, solicitor, applied for a remand, on the
ground that there were so many defalcations in the postoffice,
that they required time to investigate them.
The magistrates wished to have the present case proceeded
with, before giving an opinion.
Mr. Brotherton addressed the bench for the accused, and
called.
Henry Worrell, brother to the prisoner, who stated that the
relatives of the prisoner's wife were in the shoe trade, at
Northampton, and had supplied them with goods and money,
as also had the prisoner's friends.
John Worrell, a clerk in the post-office, returned to the
office at ten minutes past eleven o'clock, where he saw the
book produced in the carrier's box. The prisoner was in the
office at the time.

where

The magistrate, considering the importance of the chargee,
and its being one of great suspicion, said he should not b
doing his duty if he did not commit him for trial.
The prisoner was therefore committed for trial, the
magistrate accepting bail of two sureties of £lOO, and him-
self in £2OO.

WORKING MEN'S READING AND REFRESHMENT Rooms,
PYE-STREET, WESTMINSTER. —This institution, which is
situated in one of the pooreflit arid most densely populated
districts of Westminster, is now opened. It is a neat and
commodious building, consisting of a lecture hail, capable of
holding some 400 or 500 persons ; a reading-room, supplied
with all the daily and weekly periodicals, the leading maga-
zines, &c. ; a coffee room, large enough to seat 150; washing
rooms,chess rooms, club rooms, &e. Working men bring-
ing their own refreshments will have them cooked at a
reasonable charge. Free admission is granted to purchaser*
and one halfpenny a visit, or 2d. a week, charged to those
who use the reading-rooms, &c. without calling for refresh-
ments. All the lectures will be on popular and scientific
subjects. The Rev. G. Malone, of St. Michael's, stands
first on the syllabus.
LIGHTHOUSF,...—A parliamentary return shows that the
corporation of Trinity-house,
,of Deptford Strond, received,
as tolls for lighthouses, &c., in the year ended the 31st of
December last, the net revenue of £169,781 18s. 6?d.
The, charge of maintenance was £88,683 Is. 61d. ; leaving
the surplus, £81,098 16 111 d. It appears that the duties
collected at the office of buoyage and beaconage were in net
£1'8,619 18s. 61d. On that account there was a snrplus of
£70,000 6s, lid., which has been applied in part liquida-
tion of the debt incurred in the purchase of the private
lights, pursuant to the act of the 6th and 7th William IV.,
c. 79, and also to the charitable and other use; purposes, and
interests for which the corporation_has_been established and
maintained_

DISCOVERY OF STOLEN WATCHES.—James Rossiter, was
brought up in the custody of Grisenthwaite, on the fol-
lowing, charge :—On the previous evening, Grisenthwaite
received information that Rossiter had in his possession two
watches. He made inquiry and found that he had left
them with a young woman, name Walsh, who keeps a beer-
house in Chisenhall-street. He then took him into custody,
on a charge of street robbery. Grisenthwaite afterwards
asked the young woman had she received the watches, and
she acknowledged that she had received the watches from
Rossiter, and she immediately handed them over to the offi-
cer. One of the watches was found to bear the following
inscription :—" To superior, barrack sergeant Read, on
leaving Belfast, by a number of his friends, April 6th,
1853." It appearing that some time since sergeant Read,
who is stationed in Chester, eras robbed in Liverpool of this
watch, a telegraphic dispatch was sent to him, and he ar-
rived in the course of a day. Having identified the watch,
and proved the circumstances under which the robbery
took
place, the prisoner was committed for trial at the
sessions.
HIGHLAND SOCIETY'S WINTER, Snow
exhibition of fat stock in connection with the Highland and
Agricultural Society of Scotland, took place on Monday in
the" Edinburgh Cattle Market. Similar in principle, and
With much the same objects as the Christmas
held
of the
Smithfield Club, the exhibition—the first :ears northr
the Tweed—reflected the highest credit on the breee of
agricidturists of. Scotland, and more than justified thesananti-
cipations formed of it. Considerable interests was manifes-
ted in the success of the experiment, and numerous parties
were present from almost every quarter of the country. The
exhibition was chiefly confined to fat stock, as distinguished
from breeding animals, the number of entries being, for
cattle, 91; sheep, 53 ; and pigs, 14. The stock generally
was of a high character, so excellent, indeed, that to decide
the comparative merits of some of the animals in the differ-
ent classes must have been extremely difficult. The polled
cattle from Angus and Forfar wore generally admired for
flesh, look, and condition. The show of West Highland
stock was also good, and attracted much :attention. The
stow was very successful.

Yesterday the bench of magistrates was engaged for seve-
ral hours in hearing a charge against one of the post-office
officials, vi h) had been apprehended during the preceding
week, under !the direction of J. Ramsey, Esq., the inspec-
tor-general of the post-office, in consequence of the nu-
merous complaints of the non-delivery of letters passing
through that post-office.
The prisoner, whose name is John Worrell, was a clerk
in :he Birkenhead, post-office, and also occupies a shoe-shop,
conducted by his wife, in Market-street.
The inspector-general, with whom was Mr. J. Banning,
conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Brotherton, solicitor,
appeared for the prisoner.
• The magistrates' clerk said the prisoner was charged
with secreting a posted letter, the property of the post-
master-general.
The inspector general, briefly referred to the 25th and 26th
section of the act of parliament, but Mr. Brotherton insisted
that the prosecution : should state whether the prisoner
was charged with " secreting, opening, delivering, or delay-
ing a letter."
The inspector-general said he should enter into the case as
one of embezzlement and secreting.
Mr. John Ramsey, inspector-general of the post-office,
London, said :—ln consequence of the numerous complaints
which had been made on the 12th inst., I wrote a letter in
which I enclosed the half of aXI Bank of Ireland note an Irish
token, a shilling, and five postage stamps. I put them in
an envelope and secured the seal. I placed a stamp upon it
and about noon I gave the letter to my assistant, Jones
Moule, with certain instructions. The letter I addressed
" Mr. Murray, Mrs. Hamilton's,;No. 6, Lord-street, Birken-
head, near Chester." This letter in the course of post
should have reached Birkenhead on the 13th, and been de-
livered on that morning between nine and ten o'clock.
Having received information that the letter had not reached
its destination in due course, I proceeded to the police-office
at Birkenhead and obtained a warrant to search the prisoner's
house. After that I went to the Birkenhead post-office
where I saw the prisoner. He was in the upstairs room.
I had the warrant with me at the post-office. I told the
prisoner whe I was, and informed him that a letter which
should have been delivered that morning, addressed to Mr.
Murray, &c., had not reached its destination, and that I
came to make inquiries about it. He said the letter was all
right and would be found in the office, and requested to ex-
plain why it had not been delivered. I said you had better
be careful what you say as it may appear against you here-
after. He then said, it is the practice in the office when
letters are discovered to contain coin to put them into a
book that their directions may be entered by the letter car-
riers, and that the letter I was inquiring after would be
found in the office in the proper letter-carriers box, that
when sorting the letters on that morning he had discovered
that the letter, the subject of the inquiry, had contained
coin, and put it into the book for the purpose of having it
entered. I gout my assistant into the office for the book,
and on opening the book I found the letter, which I now
produce, enclosed in the book. I took the letter in my
hand, and saw that it had been tampered with. The
witness described the appearance of the letter. I put the
letter in the book, saying this case is much too serious for
me to deal with, and it must go before the magistrates. The
prisoner was given into custody. The letter, when I saw it
before the magistrates, was not as I had left it in the book,
it was opened. The contents of the letter were safe. I
could .say that the contents were as I had put them.
Cross-examined : I have been connected with the post-
office for between 30 and 40 years. The letter was posted
as a plant, for the, purpose of testing the Birkenhead post-
office.

AusnreALlAN- mLviivd INTELLIGENCE.

NEW DIGGINGS.—We have received our Turon corres-
pondent's letter. lie speaks of a general rush to new
diggings at the head of Oakey Creek, at which, up to tale
time of the discovery being promulgated, one party had
realised £2,880 worth of gold, and of a report that parties
were making 6to 10 ounces of gold per day. The Turon
he says is in consequence nearly deserted, from 400 to 500
diggers having settled down upon the new ground.—Sydney
Advocate.
TAMBAROORA.—Tambaroora has Suffered severely from
the rush to Burrandong, and is by no means the place it
once was ; but a return tide has, set in without, however,
benefiting to any material extent the old digging grounds.
Many of the return parties have commenced operations upon
the Pyramul where there is an immense extent of untried
country, over which, upon the various points upwards of a
hundred diggers are scattered. Amongst these are Bush
and Newman's party formerly of Dirt-hole Creek, where they
netted 70 and 80 ounces of gold a short time ago, in two
consecutive weeks, and a party of Germans, who have com-
menced sluicing with very fair success, the former being
provided with 300 yards of hose for the purpose. A local
celebrity, who answers to the cognomen of Frank the poet,
has added his physical and poetical strength to the former,
where his bones and sinews are likely to be of more service
than his brains.
Mr. Cole's company are gradually getting together the
material of a great quartz crushing establishment, and have
now about six tons of machinery on the ground. They
shortly expect to have their engine erected. At the British
Australian Mining Company's Coronation Vein, matters are
progressing steadily. A number of miners have been con-
tracted with to sink 90 feet, of which 30 are now employed
and in the course of their work several auriferous threads
have been cut in which the gold shows itself very encou-
ragingly.
At the Bald fills the diggers are doing an average
business, so also are those at work upon the lower pirt of
the Dirt-hole Creek, but at all the diggings much disap-
pointment is experienced at the manner in which the select
committee are dealing with the New Gold Fields' Manage-
ment Bill.—Bathurst Free Press.
BEAIDWOOD, August 30.—The main topic of interest dur-
ing the past week, has been the discovery of a nugget
weighing 5i ozs. on Major's Creek. Nothing larger than a
ew penny weights has previously been found in that locality.
This has been obtained by the party who have for a long
time been exceedingly unfortunate, and whose success it would
appear has only just begun. During the greater part of las:
week they had been work at a new hole, which they
bottomed, and obtained in two prospects on Friday about 4
ozs. On Saturday morning this glittering treasure was
brought to light, and during the same day they washed out
nearly 16 ozs. of superior coarse gold. In this were some
small pieces weighing a few iwts. It will be remembered
that at Little River, about 18 months ago, a piece of 7 ozs.
was found, but with that exception, this is by- far the
largest ever brought to light in the district. On Major's
Creek too, it was scarcely expected. The gold there has
generally been a fine dust, but it is quite evident that in this
vein which these luckly fellows have now touched, gold of a
coarser deF,ription may be expected. What agencies have
been at work here? What mysterious -operation has been
going on beyond human ken, and even now beyond all
human cognizance ? I was asked on Saturday if I could tell
' where it came from ?" my answer was, " who can i"
Other claims adjoining this on the same fiat are turning
out very rich, 10 and 12 ozs. being washed out in the day.
In another part of the same creek some men are working
very steadily, and with their long-tom are washing out, ac-
cording to their own account, enough to bring them in £1
a day. One apparently elderly man, is quietly at work by
himself, and without any great exertion, rocking out the
drift soil, and he told me he made about 4 or 5 dwts. a day.
At Spring Creek, Mr. Wallis' party of eight men still ave-
rage from 14 to 20 ozs. a week. Some are still doing ex-
ceedingly well. At Bell's Paddock one man has made
about
40 ea. in the last month. At Araluen they are still making;
very good wages. A report has been circulated relative eo
the discovery of a large nugget at the Mongarlow, but it has
not yet been confirmed. Gold has been selling at from 725.
6d. to 735. 6d.

GREAT YIELD AT BRAlDwooo.—Last night We received
information that a party at Major's Creek procured in one
day (August 31), 68 ounces out of one cut.—Gotaburn
Herald.

THE AUSTRALIAN MAILS.---The mail steam-packet
Victoria brought over the largest number of letters that
has been received for a considerable time, amounting to 140
bags.