The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

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IHORRIBLE MURDER OF AN OLD WOMAN.

The Tehsildar, who in the Madras Presidency is also
head of the Talook police. accompanied by a number of
native underlings, stayed for some days in Rudravarum,
and, consequent upon fixing the actual amount to be
levied on the village crops, winnowing baskets were re-
quired by the Tehsildar's people. A number were
furnished by some of the ryots of the place, in the habit
of making up such articles for sale. No payment how-
ever was given for this first supply of baskets, and on a
further number being demanded, the price of those
already delivered was asked for. The ryots pleaded
inability to make them until their male relatives arrived
with the material, for which they had gone to the jungles,
and as it was a period of great scarcity, the deceased
asked for money in advance .o provide themselves with
food. which being considered an impertinent proceeding,
the first prisoner gave orders to strike, which the third
prisoner did, giving the deceased two blows on the
temple,and appears never to have
spol on whichenafterwardss,hweitfelhtlhe exception of one exclama-
tion ; as she did not rise, the second prisoner considered
she must have been shaming, and gave her a kick on the
abdomen, which he repeated, and the fourth prisoner
then took her by the arm to lift and remove her to the
pial close by, from which the first, second, third, and
fourth witnesses removed her gently to one a little f .r-
-ther off, but finding her unable to proceed, they left her
there and went to await the arrival of their male relatives.
The son of the deceased, the prosecutor, returning about
this time to the village, and hearing what had happened,
went immediately to the house of the landholder where
the Tehsildar was staying, and there accused the latter
of having caused his mother to be ill-treated. He was
" turned away "by the followers of the Tehsildar. The
next day the old woman died. Her body was taken by
her son, and laid before the door of the he use where the
injuries had been inflicted ; and from thence, in spite of
all that the 'Tehsildar and his myrmidons could do, the
exasperated relatives refused to remove it. One of them
in the mean time lodged a complaint before the Joint
Magistrate of Cuddapah, who gave orders that the
Tehsildar should report on the circumstances connected
with the old woman's death ; the accused holding an
inquest on the body of the woman he was charged with
having murdered ! The result of such a proceeding was
that " no marks of violence were visible on the body of
the deceased." The truth was, that the cloth which
covered the corpse had never been removed during the
examination, and thus, it being impossible to see the
marks it concealed from view, the village authorities
under the influence of fear or bribery, returned a verdict
implying a natural death, and forthwith ordered the
body to be disposed of, i.e , buried. The sub police
officer, however, next in rank to the Tehsildar, refused
to sign the inquest papers, as untruthful, and out of
this circumstance arose further investigations, which
ended in the committal of the Tehsildar and the three
worthies who had obeyed his orders and beaten the old
woman. But even in the Sessions Court, to obtain
redress was no easy matter. Notwithstanding that there
was the evidence of numerous bystanders, the prisoners
were well nigh acquitted. The nahornedan law officers
were for allowing them to escape, and discrepancies and
contradictions in the evidence for the prosecution were
found out, and declared such that a conviction could not
stand. Mr. Elliott, the Session Judge of Cuddapah,
however, thought differently. To his thinking the
discrepancies alluded to were trifling and unimportant,
He thought such a statement as that the Tehsildar was
"sitting in the house," perfectly reconcileable with one
which described him " sitting within the entrance to the
house," and did not, with the law officers, think that it
was impossible for an assailant using his right hand, to
strike the person he was attacking on the left temple,
The prisoners were therefore convicted, the man who
actually struck the woman to eight years' imprisonment.
the Tehsildar and another person to two years' similar
punishment, a fourth prisoner, who was the foremost
amongst the assailants, and who would probably have
also been awarded eight years' imprisonment, having
died in jail before his trial.—Calcutta _Englishman.

TRADE AND NAVIGATION -RETURNS OF
CANADA, 1855.

We have received the trade and navigation returns of
the province of Canada for the year 1855, of which the
following will be found a general summary. Taking them
in the order in which they are presented in the official
returns, the first principal feature is the traffic of the
canals. They are the Welland, the St. Lawrence, the
Chambly, and Burlington Bay (including the St. Our's
Lock), and the St. Ann's Locks. Through these canals
20,900 vessels and steamers passed during the year 1855,
having an aggregate capacity of 2.358,014 tons, being
17,447 British, with 1,765,175 tons burden, and 3,462
Foreign, with 592,839 tons burden. The total amount of
tolls paid was £8,348 7s 91. The average annual increase
of the movement of property over these canals in 1856
over 1854 is 8,9 per cent, whilst the annual average in-
crease of 1855 over 1852 is 18,4 per cent. The increase
per cent of 1855 over 1852 on the Welland Canal is 14.3;
on the Chambly, 34.2 ; on the Burlington Bay, 63, and on
the St. Ann's Lock, 27.5; and on the St. Lawrence, 9.8.
The increase per cent of 1855 over 1854 on the Welland, is
6.53 ; on the Chambly, 41.1 ; on the Burlington Bay, 31„
fr',4,814;
and on the St. Ann's Lock, 5.2; whilst on the St. Law.
rence, there is a decrease per cent of 18.4. The gross
receipt of tolls for the last six years has £65,772; 1851, £76,216; 185 £84,602 ; 1853,
1854,
£82,765; and 1856, £81,172, tb 1- t year'
g the fines, the gross receipt." 48
ear
los. The exPenses £58,221, are £84,570
including 419,737 for
salaries, Sco., and 437,945 for r .pairs, leaving a net
revenue of £26,289 lls 4d. Thee next head is that
in
articles entered for consumption. the value of which, in
1855, was £9,022,542, against £10,132,331 in 1854, being a decrease of 41,110,789. The amount of duties collected
in 1855 was 4881,445, being 4343,306 loss than in 1854.
This result is partly to be attributed to the effect of the
Reciprocity Treaty with the United States ; for the value
of the free goods has risen in 1855 to 42,596,383 from
4703,435 in 1854. The imports by sea, via the St.
Lawrence, amounted in 1854 to £5.292,938; in 1855 they
were but 42,873,507, showing a decrease of £2,419,431 or
nearly one-half. The imports from the United States
amounted in 1854 to 43,883,274; and in 1855 to 45,207,1694
showing an increase of £1.323,895, or about one third.
The imports from the United States of free gebas
under the reciprocity treaty were valued, in 1855, at
€1,931,393. The total exports from Canada amounted, in
1854, to £5,754,797; in 1855 they 'were 47,047,115;
showing an increase of .€1,292,318. The export of wheat
was, in 1854, 1.442,677 bushels, valued at £524,534; and
in 1855, 3,193,748 bushels, valued at £1,482,216; showing
an increase in quantity of 1,751,071 bush., and of 4957,682
in value. The export of flour, shows a decrease of
7,464 brls, accompanied by an increase in the value of
£251,306. The total produce of the mines, exported dur..,.
ing 1855, was 431,458; of the .na, 4114,980; of t.te forest„
41,986,980 ; animals and their products, 4398,796 ; agri-
culture, 43,257,599,; manufactures, 4119,019 ; other
articles, 417,140; making the total exports, exclusive of
shipping manufactures, 45,956,975. The shipping being
valued at 4304,886, gives the aggregate exports at
£6,230,861, against an import trade of 49,021,542.
During the year 1855, Canada exported 3,193,748
bushels of wheat, and 543,936 barrels of flour, against
1,442,677 bushels of wheat, and 651,400 barrels of
flour in 1854. In comparing the value of exports and
imports at each port for 1854 and 1855, we find some sin-
gular results. The exports at Quebec have fallen off
£923,065; the imports, 41,021,773. At Montreal, the
exports have declined 496.865; the imports, 4752,021.
At Hamilton; the exports have increased ll'om 4148.121 to,
4454,586, nr .006,465; the imports have decreased to the
extent of 4:35,342. At Toronto, the exports have increased, from 4273,049, to £404,105, or €131,056 ; the imports have.
increased from €1,362,706 to 1,401,453, or €38,747. That
it appears that Toronto is the only important port which,
shows an increase in '1853 on both exports and imports.,
The decrease in duties collected at Hamilton is 42,8,19 k
and at Toronto 419,991.