The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-26 00:00:00

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.—Ian. 24.

WALK ER V. SLEIGH —Mr. Edwin James moved for a rule
to show cause why a judge's order made in this case, should not
be set aside, and why the plaintiff,should not go to trial at the
sittings after term. It was an action brought by Major Walker
against Colonel Sleigh', for having misrepresented the value of
a publication called the Briqeh Army Despatch, which he had
sold to the plaintiff. Upon the cause .being called on, the
defendant's counsel made a proposal to give the plaintiff
an undertaking for the payment of £SOG for debt and costs.
The plaintiff acceded to this proposition, and the defendant
consented to give a judge's order for the amount, payable
by instalments. Thera was a distinct understanding that
the defendant should not in the meantime do anything
to prejudice the plaintiff's right to his remedy, and that
if default should be made in payment of the instal-
ments, the plaintiff might enter up judgment for £9OO.
The defendant undertook that there was not then any bill of
sale existing, and that he could not execute one, so that the
plaintiff's debt might be prejudiced. On the 15th January,
the first instalment became due, and was not paid. Execution
was issued and placed in the hands of the officer, who met him
while he was engaged on his canvass for Greenwich, but the
defendant produced a protection which he had obtained from
the Court of Bankruptcy. The petition ltd been 61,e1 after
the defendant had given the undertaking before referred to.
The plaintiff might therefore be deprived of his remedy. This
Vrl.9 in direct violation of the agreement, and was a gross breach
of frith. Ho (the learned counsel) therefore applied that the
plaintiff might go for his original claim of £1,200. The
petiodical the defendant had sold to the plaintiff turned out to
be worth nothing. Rule granted.

FORGERY AND _EMBEZZLEMENT BY AN
ATTORNEY'S CLERK.

At the Bow street Police court, on Friday, a lengthened
investigation took place into a series of charges of for-
gery and embezzlement preferred by Mr. Edward Kelly
Harris, a respectable solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields,
against James Barber, his clerk. Mr. Wontner appeared
for the prosecution, and laid before his Worship the
evidence on three distinct cases. The first was a charge
of embezzling £5, which had been entrusted to him under
the following circumstances :—Mr. Er Arris was solicitor
to the British Exchequer Life Assurance Association,
who had recently purchased the premises, 156 and
157, Cheapside, for their offices. These premises were
the property of the St. Thomas's Hospital, and the
assigkanent was drawn by Messrs. Cookson and Clayton,
solicitors to that institution. The prisoner was instructed
to pay over to Messrs. Cookson and Co. two cheques, one
for 14s , for the charges of the assignment, and the
other £3, being the amount of fine for alienatian: He
paid over the larger cheque, but kept back that for £5,
making the excuse that he had not received a sufficient
number of signatures. Mr. Jardine committed him
for trial on this charge. He was next charged with
stealing a£s Bank of England note. The note
in question was forwarded, on the sth of December,
to Mr. Harris, by a client, Mr. John Hennings, a spirit
m-rch int in the Borough, in order to make a tender
to a person having a disputed claim against him. The
prisoner was sent to make a tender, but it was refused
and the prisoner's duty then would have been to return
the note to his employer. lie, however, kept it back on
the pretence that he had mislaid it. After he had put
Mr. Hennings and Hr. Harris off with this excuse, the
latter gave a cheque for the amount to Mr. Hennings, at
the same time directing the prisoner to make inquiries at
the bank and stop Cle note. This the prisoner pretended to
have done, and from time to time he'stated he had called
again at the bank, but the note had not been pre-
sented. At length Hr. Harris began to have suspicions,
and made enquiries, from which it appeared that the
note had been paid in on the 13th December, and no
one had made any inquiries or stopped the note. By
means of endorsements on the back of the note, it was
traced back to a Mrs. Locke, a grocer and cheesemonger
at Walworth, to whom the prisoner had paid it, in
discharge of a bill of £1 17s 6,1 for provisions. He was
committed on this charge also. The next case was
of a more complicated character. Mr. Harris was
solicitor to the National and Provincial Insurance Com-
pany, since amalgamated with another office, the Bank of
London. The National and Provincial had advanced
a loan of £l5O to a person named Flanagan, and
proceedings had been taken for the recovery of a balance
due upon that loan. A compromise having been pro,
posed, the prisoner was instructed by Mr. Harris to go
into the country to see Flanagan's surety, and arrange
the matter. The :prisoner effected a compromise with
the surety, who paid £3O for a release, which money the
prisoner never handed over to his employer. He was then
instructed to effect a compromise for the remaining
balance with Flanagan himself, and this also he effected.
In order to get possession of the money in the latter case,
he drew np a deed of release, to which, he forged the names
of three of the directors, and handed it over to Flanagan's
solicitor, Mr. Meckeson, of Lincoln's inn-fields, who gave
him a cheque for the amount agreed upon (£4O), on the
Dudley and West Bromwich Bank. The prisoner sent
this cheque to the bank in question, desiring them to
credit Mr Harris to the amount with their London
agents, 'Williams, Deacon and Co. This was done, and,
the prisoner drew on that house, signing " E. K Harris.'
and received the money, which he appropriated. On
this double charge of forgery he was also committed. In
each case be fully admitted hia guilt.

ARCHDEACON DENISON'S CASE.-It was expected that
the argument on the rule nisi, obtained last week by the
counsel of the Archdeacon of Taunton, would have been
heard in the Court of Queen's Bench on Friday ; but we
learn on the highest authority, that the hearing will not
come on until the end of the present week. Sir Fitzroy
Kelly will act as counsel for the prosecution ; but it is not
known whether the Dean of the Arches Court will appear
by counsel on the same side. It is also affirmed that, in
the event of the rule being dischargel, it is doubtful
whether the Archdeacon will be able to carry his appeal to
the Court of Privy Council.

THB MILITIA.—The militia will be out for training in
the mouth of April. We hear good accounts of the Progress
of the recruiting', which argues well for the popularity of
the service Whether it be merely intended to drill the
men in their several counties, or brigade them with other
regiments of militia and the line, we do not know. If the
latter measure be in contemplation, we suspect that a new
act of parliammt, mobilising the several corps, will be
necessary. The last act was passed in a time of war, when
only, and in case of threatened invasion, it is competent to
move the militia out of their several localities If it be in
contemplation simply to muster the corps separately, and
keep them at work for twenty eight days, no fresh act will
he requisite, an-1 very little good will be accomelished
The offic,irs will' be pot to an expense which their Pay will
not cover, and the men removed from work to the injury of
their several callings—and for what ? Far better would it
be to c it out the militia for fifty six days, keeping them
within their own counties and alone for one half the time,
and associating them for the remaining half with well dis-
ciplined brigades under good generals. They would thus
preserve a knowledge of their duties, and be found
thoroughly efficient in times of great emergency.— United
Service Gazette.

CUNNINGHAM'S PATENT MODE OF REEFING TOPSAILS
FLVM THE DECK.—These is no one who possesses the least
acquaintance with the duties of the mariners at sea but is
aware that the operation of reefing topsails is one of the
most important on board a ship, upon the promptitude and
completeness with which the operation is performed, not
only do the safety of ship and cargo, but the very lives of
commander and crew, delynd. If we were to make a
careful analysis of all the mishaps to life and property
which this important operation has caused, the result would
be a somewhat fearful one. Under these circumstances the
advantage of an efficient plan of reefing sails, without
sending men aloft, is well deserving of consideration. The
invention already named appears to be one of sinzular merit,
and completely adapted for all the purposes contemplated.
Its main feature is the reefing of topsails, top-gallant sails,
See., without sending any one aloft, and that, too, with
extraordinary speed and few men. The watch on deck can
always reef the three topsails of a 1,000 ton ship in a few
minutes, and the reefs ca❑ always be shaken out with the
same facility. Indeed, from among the many letters and
testimonials presented to the patentee, we learn that the
invention has other and important advantages. The
captain and officers of the Peninsular and Oriental
steamship Iberia stase, that by using it " the sail
is less worn, and altogether in a better condition
than a sail on the ordinary plan would
nave been, after the frequent heavy weather which the sail
has been exposed to. An equally flattering testimony is
borne to the merits of Mr. Cunningham's invention by the
captain of the Jupiter, one of the same company's steamers.
He concludes by saying that "it only requires a trial to
remove prejudice in order to secare its general adoption."
The captain of the brig Speck writes " I only wish you
had began 20 years ago, for the amount of life, property,
time, and fatigue of mind and body that we have been
saved, it is impossible to imagine," The captain of a Dutch
East Indiasnan thus expresses himself : " My yards and
sails worked so easily that I was able to reef and unreef in
a moment, with very fe N hands. I do not doubt but that
the plan will, in a short time, be used on board all our
merchant vessels, for the sake of quickness and sure reefing,
as well as for the advantage of the sails lasting a longer
time than topsails on the old plan." It would be easy to
multiply these eulogistic testimonies to almost any extent.
We trust we have said enough to satisfy all concerned to
give the matter their best consideration, and examine th►
principles on which hir. Cunningham founds his invon&i,
/O.