Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-27 00:00:00

THE NEW OATHS BILL.

Lord John Russell's Bill for amending the
statute law relative to the administration of oaths
was issued on Saturday. It is entitled " A Bill to
amend the Act Ist and 2nd Victoria, c. 105, intituled
An Act for Removing Doubts as to the Validity
of certain Oaths.'" The bill is as follows
:
Whereas in all cases in which the sanction of an oath
is ri quired, the oath ought, by the cornmoa law, to be
administered in such manner as will render it most
effective and binding on the conscience of the person to be
sworn ; but doubts have arisen whether such rule' of the
common law be applicable to eases in which a special form
of abjuration or special words of asserveration are. pre-
scribed by statute: for the removal of such doubts, be it
declared and enacted by the Queens most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present
parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same
1. That, notwithstanding any statute or usage to
the contrary, whenever any person to whom an oath
is tendered shall object to its administration in the pre-
scribed or accustomed form, or in the prescribed words •of
asseveration, and the same shall be administered to him in
such form of words and with such solemnities as be shall
declare to be biadiug on his conscience, the oath wino so
administered shall be deemed to have been lawfully ad-
ministered and taken ; and every person so taking the oath
shall, if guilty of false swearing, be liable to conviction for.
perjury, and shall be subject to every other couscquence
and entitled to every benefit to which he would have been
subject or entitled if the oath had been administered in the
prescribed or accustomed form, and wi'h the prescribed
words of asseveration, and the prescribed or accus eruct
solemnities.

BARNUM SURPASSED.—At the Shoreditch County court,
on Tuesday, a person professing to be a plaintiff brought an
action against Mr. Anderson, the " Wiz trd of the North?,
for having damaged a new hat lent to the conjuror to make
a hot currant pudding in. The nominal plaintiff exhibited
the damaged hat, which he then handed to Mr. Anderson,
who covered it with a silk handkerchief, and restored it to
the man in a perfect state. The trick having thus been
successmul, and the hat made new again, the plaintiff had
nothing to complain of, and was of course nonsuited, and
Mr. Anderson ingeniously puffed_
COCKFIGHTING ESTRAORDINARY.--At the late petty
sessions at Crumlin, on Monday last, Constable Charles
Porter prosecuted no fewer than forty-six persons for
having been present aiding and abetting at a cock-fight
near Gregory's Lone Ends, in the parish of Killead, on
Monday, the 22ad of June last. Mr. Young and Mr.
Gibson appeared on behalf of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals; and Mr. Williamson, of Antrim,
defended the accused. The cockfight seems to have been
on a scale larger than has been heard of in this district for
some years. It was deposed by some of the witnesses that
there were not fewer than 500 persons present. In twenty-
seven cases fines, varying from £3 to 7s. 6d., were imposed,
and the other cases were dismissed.—Be/fast News-Letter.

CAN AND DEED BoxEs.—The next important thing to the posses-
Mon of cash is, how (when you have got it) to keep it safely, either in
the cotmting-house or at home. The same remarks apply to deeds
and other valuable documents. We have seen a large and varied
stock of both these thairable articles, manufactured expressly for Mr.
E. T. Hall, of South John-street, that challenge attention. These
boxes are made on new and admired principles, and possess patent
locks, which defy the ingenuity of any "pick-lock" in the world to
open, except with the legitimate key. To merchants, solicitors, and
others, these new safes, on a small scale, must prove valuable ndeed
--Northern Daily Times, 2181 May. 1857.

G- RAND TRUNK RAILWAY OF CANADA.

ert
It is impossible for any one conversant with
the traffic of this country, and the requirements
ex. of railways, to rise from the perusal of the report
4-,3 of the engineer, Mr. A. M. Ross, addressed to the
ete President of the Canadian Board of Directors, and
by him laid before the Canadian Legislature,
without coming to the conclusion that the mis-
takes that have been made are almost entirely
owing to the interference of the Committee of the
Legislature, whose sole object appears to have been
arc to push the main line along from end to end,
iece . totally regardless of the necessity of providing
75 rolling stock or station accommodation. Sidings
were restricted to three per cent , and rolling stock
•
to only X 750 per mile, hence the impossibility of
developing the goods traffic. Another glaring
omission of Directorial management is to be found
in the fact, that although wharfage accommodation
at Quebec is only secondary in importance to the
erection of the Victoria bridge, nothing has
been done to provide it, while a vast
expenditure has been incurred at Montreal for the
accommodation of sea-going ships, according to
Mr. Ross. Surely the English shareholders will
demand some explanation on this point. A per-
sistanee of favouritism to Montreal and Toronto
will be mast disastrous to the shareholders, as the
want of terminal accommodation at Quebec makes
all the difference between making 168 miles of
railway profitable br otherwise. Emigrant ships do
not go beyond Quebec. Timber ships, with out-
ward cargoes, cannot proceed to Montreal for want
of water. The ccean steamers now stop at Quebec,
Montreal being in fact only fitted for small river
and lake vessels. No doubt all that has been done
at Montreal will be required, but no time should be
lost, this fall, in erecting the necessary wharves and
warehouses at Quebec. if the Grand Trunk is to
draw the Western traffic from Boston and New
York ; for it must be apparent, that as Quebec
always furnishes a return cargo of Timber, Flour,
ashes, ,at higher rates than can be obtained from
Boston or New York, it follows that British ships
can carry emigrants and outward freight cheaper
to Quebec, if facilities for discharging are afforded.
—Quebec Correspondence.