The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-24 00:00:00

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

41M
1241%
124 k.
53?',
53U

The principal papers read during- the past session
were recapitulated and commented on, and the
following premiums were then presented :—Tel-
ford Medals —To Captain• Mark Huish, Colonel

Sam Colt, Messrs. Braitliwaite Poole, FrederiCk. Richard

Window, Charles Coles Adley, EugLe Bourdon (Paris),
Pierre Hippolyte Boutigny (d'Evreux), and George Fre-
derick White. Council Premiums of Books—To Messrs.
John Baldry Recl.ma--1 (for the third time), Wm. Thomas
Doyne, William Bindon Blood, George Donaldson,
Christopher Bagot Lane, and William Bridges Adams.
Many presents of books for the library were mentioned,
and two valuable donations from Mr. H. A. Hunt and
Mr. W. Radford, were particularly noticed. Attention
was directed to a portrait of the past president, Sir
John Rennie, painted for and presented to the institu-
tion, by Mr. Jan es Andrews ; and also to a bust by Mr.
E. H. Bally, R... 4., of Mr. Robert Stephenson, M.P.,
one of the vice-presidents ; a cordial vote of thanks was
offered to these artists for the truthful portraits of two
valuable and highly--esteemed members of the institu-
tion. The condition and progress of the institution
were described as most satisfactory, the expenses dimin-
ishing, so as to enable more volumes to be published,
and the new members increasing fast—the number of
members of all classes being now 746. Memoirs were
read of F.M. the Duke of Wellington, Major-Gen. Colby,
and John Geo. Children, honorary members ; Messrs.
John Barnes, David Bremner, Robert Brur On, William
Tierney Clark, Frank Forster, Thos. Grainger, and Wal-
ter Hunter, members ; Sir John Josiah Guest, Bart., M.P.,
John Sylvester, and Henry Vint, associates ; and Henry
Charles Rawnsley, graduate. The main characteristics
of the civil life of the duke were pointed out, and the
cordial assistance he had frequently afforded to engir ors
and their works was alluded to with feelings of warm
gratitude ; the valuable services of General Colby on the
trigonometrical survey were detailed, and the scientific
skill of Mr. Children recognised. The great tale-ats,
theoretical knowledge, and practical professional skill of
the other deceased members and associates were alluded
to with pride, and the untimely loss of Mr. Forster,
under peculiarly distressing circumstances, was feelingly
noticed. The resignation of lir. J. Miller from the
council, in consequence of long-continued
_illness, was
accepted with regret ; and at the ballot the following
members were declared to form the council for the ensu-
ing year :—James M. Rendel, president ; I. K. Brunel,
J. Locl.:e, M.P., J. Simpson, and R. Stephenson, M.P.,
vice-presidents ; G. P. Bidder, J. Cub'tt, J. E. Erring-
ton, J. Fowler. C. H. Gregory, J. Hawkshaw, J. R.
M'Clean, C. May, J. Penn, and J. S. Russell, mem-
bers ; and T. Brassey, and T. R. Crampton, associates.
Votes of thanks were unanimously offered to the presi-
dent, vice-presidents, members and associates of the
council, and to the secretary, and the meeting adjourned
until Tuesday, the 11th of January, 1853, when it was
announced that the following paper would be read :
"On the nature and properties of timber with de-
scriptive particular of several methods now in use, for
its preservation from decay," by Mr. H. P. Burt,
Assoc. Inst. C.E.

£415 LOST AND FOUND.—On Tuesday, the represen-
%five of a Leeds house, who was attending the Hudders-
field market, lost a small brown paper parcel, about twelve
o'clock, between Northgate and John William-street, con.
taining 4151. in 201. and 51. Bank of England notes. On
discovering his loss, he immediately repaired to the police-
office, and informed the officers of the circumstance. The
bellman was sent round, and bills immediately posted
stating that the finder of the parcel would be handsomely
rewarded on taking it to Superintendent Thomas. Winin
ten minutes of the bills being posted, Joseph Beaumont,
cart driver to Mr. Joseph Preston, dyer, Holmfirth, pre-
sented the parcel of notes at the police office, and was re-
warded with 101. for his honesty and trouble. He had
found them coon after they had been lost, and on hearing
where the owner could be,met with, proceeded with them
as directed in the bills. The gentleman, on recovering his
notes, complimented Messrs. Thomas and Townend, the
police-officers, for their activity in aiding him to recover
his property.
A NEW ENGLISH PRIMA DONNA.— A young English
lady, who. has lately appeared on the continent under the
name of Mdlle. Normani, promises to be one of the great-
est celebrities of the day. From accounts which we have
received from Stockholm, where she now is, we learn that
she is creating an extraordinary sensation in the arduous
character of Fides, in the " Prophete," of Meyerbeer,
which she had performed to excessively crowded houses ten
nights successively, without any diminution of its attrac-
tion. She has enabled herself to act and sing in Swedish,
having acquired a perfect command of the language. Her
first opera sung in Swedish was Mercadante's 4Giure.
mento ;" and she has also appeared in Flotow's opera, "Die
gross° Furstinn," and inVerdi's " Macbeth," in all of which
(as well as in the " Prophete ") she has had the most bril-
liant success. Mdlle, Normani is described as possessing a
voice of great power and beauty, a pure Italian style, and
all the qualities, mental and physical, of an accomplished
actress

PREVENTION OF FORGERY.—A new act has just been
printed to amend a former act for the further prevention
of forging bank notes. In consequence of doubts which
have arisen, it is now enacted that the signatures of the
cashiers of the Bank of England may be impressed on all
notes, Bank post bills, and Bank bilk, and Bank bills of
exchange, by machinery instead of being written, and they
shall be good and valid as if they had been subscribed in
the proper handwriting of the cashier., and shall be deemed
and taken to be Bank notes, &c., within the meaning of all
laws, and may be so describd in all indictments and
other criminal proceedings whatsoever, any law, statute,
or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.
A CHANGE POR THE BETTER.—TWO young men went
out to Australia in the Penisular Company's steamer Chusan
last May—one a Clerk in the South-Western Steam Packet
Company, and the other a letter-stamper, named Whetcher,
in the Southampton Post-office. The latter was a carpenter
by trade. His Post-office salary was 15i. a week, for which
he worked nearly the whole of the night. Both these young
men settled in Melbourne. A letter was received in South-
...

ampton yesterday from the steam packet clerk, stating that
Whetcher had constant work in Melbonrne as a carpenter
at four guineas a week, and that he paid 30s a week for his
board and lodging. The packet clerk wrote word that he
was just going to the gold diggings.

At the annual general meeting, on Tuesday, Decem-
ber 21, James Rendel, Esq., President, in the chair,
for the election of president, vice-president, and other
members of council for the ensuing year, and for re-
ceiving the annual report of the retiring council, the
medals and premiums, which had been awarded, were
presented. The report attributed the present extraor-
dinary activity in public works and private enterprises,
in a great degree, to the discovery of those auriferous
deposits of the other hemisphere, which had been, appa-
rently, beneficently designed to bring into 'active utility
the humbler, but more permanently useful, minerals of
the parent country. It alluded to the general demand
for the improvement of the sanitary condition of towns,
the completion of the branch lines of railways, the ex-
tension of the electric telegraph to the Continent and to
India, and the vast revolution it was producing in com-
mercial and social relations. The augmented size of
steam-vessels, and the creations of docks of proportions
to receive them ; the rapid accomplishment of the rail-
way across the isthmus of Panama, with the recent sur-
vey for a projected ship canal, in the same region ; and
the numerous other works, in all parts of the world,
confided to the skilful conduct of English civil engineers,
were briefly alluded to ' • and the good wishes of the pro-
fession were demanded for the re-establishment of the
building, in which the specimens of the world's wealth
had first been exhibited, and which was now to
be devoted to the recreation and instruction of that
valuable portion of society, the productive classes.