The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-16 00:00:00

—__„.,
THE RATING OF EXETER-HALL.
The question of rating Exeter-hall, which has been for
some months in dispute between the proprietors and trustees
of that building and the parochial authorities of St. Mart._
in-the-Fields, came on for argument before the bench of
magistrates, at the Strand special sessions, on Wednesday
last, upon an appeal against an assessment to the poor .rate
of 2,0001.
Mr. Edmund Antrobus presided, and among the magis-
trates present were Mr. Firnie, Mr. Stillwell, and other
gentlemen.
Mr. Holl, the barrister, appeared on behalf of the appel_
lants; Mr. C. Robertson Griffiths was in attendance on be-
, half of the respondents.
Mr. Cantwell, surveyor of the parish of St. Martin-in-the-
Fields, proved that the ordinary mode of assessing property
of this description was to impose 6 per cent. upon the cost
of the building, in the case of Exeter-hall estimated to
amount to about 30,0001. This sum, at 6 per cent., would
give 1,8007., in addition to which a ground rent of 488/. per
i
annum, would make the annual value of the great hall,
vaults, and offices, &c., 2,2881., which, in his opinion, might
be obtained for the premises from an ordinary tenant.
of
Mr. Payne, another surveyor, corroborated the evidence
Mr. Cantwell.
Mr. Alleroft, of Bond-street, and Mr. Goldsmith (of the
firm of Cramer, Addison, and Beale), stated that they were
respectively of opinion they would readily obtain a tenant at
a higher amount than the sum mentioned.
Mr. Hon, at great length, and in a speech of considerable
force, contended that the assessment was far too high, and,
in support of his argument, put in a statement of receipts and
expenditure for the year ending March, 1851, as follows
Receipts—gross income of the year, 3,459/. Expen,diture—
rates, taxes, salaries, gas, repairs, &c., 1,059/.-2,400/. De-
and for repairs 200/. ; leaving a net rate-
duct for depreciation, loss from diminution of inoome, bad
al&uce"o9f 1,2501.—The
501"
Learned Counsel called three sur-
edbebletsv,
veyors, who stated that they considered the annual value to
be
might from lamou,loo/.
nt to
to 1,30
1,504. and one gentleman, who thought
rebutted the statement put in, and
it 00/.
exMprressGedriffihtihss'oipn lyinreiopnihat the . receipts must have very
greatly exceeded the sum stated. The Learned. Gentleman
instanced the case of the Wednesday Concerts, a speculation
which had proved eminently successful, realising, for rent
alone, not less than 301. per night. The new musical socie-
ties which had been lately established mast also have added
a largely increased income to the property, and he eon_
sidered there could be no moral doubt of the justice of the
assessment which had been made.
The court having been cleared the magistrates remained
in deliberation for a considerable period. Oa strangers being
re-admitted,
The Chairman announced that the Bench was unanimously
of opinion that the rate of 2,000/. should be confirmed.
The case excited unusual interest, and the court was
densely crowded during the proceedings.

THE EMIGRATION moVEMENT.—A number of
clerks in the General Post-office and iu the Tithe-office,
Somerset House. hare resigned their situations to proceed to
Australia. Nine young men belonging to Blandford, in
Dorsetshire, embarked at Gravesend yesterday for the gold
diggings at Port Philip. These young men could all have
done well iu this country. Last week a ship called the
Exact sailed from Jersey, laden with emigrants from that
island for Port Philip. An immense crowd of persons from
all parts of the island assembled to witness the departure of
their relatives, friends, and acquaintances.
It is stated that Sir Richard Keane, Bart., brotbn
to Lord Keane, has been selected to take charge of and I )1,
ganize a police force to do duty in Australia, to be composed
of 2,000 of the Irish constabulary force.—Dublin Eve • sung
Mail.

VACCINATION IN THE EAST.—From the 111173Ual
report of the National Vaccine Establishment, just published
by command of her Majesty, it appears that a large supply
of vaccine lymph, having been sent out by the Board of
Health at Alexandria, has been found eminently successful,
as, in a statement received through Lord Palmerston from
Ibrahim Bey, it appears that in the cities and provinces of
Lower Egypt 45,642 persons had been vaccinated in one
year, and during the last five months only as many as 29,303
had undergone the operation. The same report states that
during the past year 218,632 charges of lymph had been sup-
plied by the National Board, being an excess of 39,262 be-
yond those of the previous year. In consequence of the
failure of the lymph sent out in glass tubes to the various
stations on the African coast and to the province of Angola,
the boardis now engaged in preparing a packet of lymph in
a drieSate,
beconcarefullysigned to some responsible officer rather
the casualties of the mail bag.
THE ELECTION port CillnittTßAM.—We yesterday
Government boroughs,
which had been pnt in
ferred to the extraordinary
to ensare
requisition in most of the
. we particularly
and
in which corrupt
the return of the Derby canctidarpesfaenctae
specified Chatham as one of the
agencies had been most liberally employed. Among the
°
facts which will be elicited by a Committee of the House of
Commons in connexion with the Chatham election, will be
the very ugly one, that Sir Frederick Smith went about
through the borough, saying to the electors, " Vote for me.
I have all the patronage of the borough in my pocket. The
Duke of Northumberland has placed everything at my dia..
posal." Strong must have been the integrity of the poor
voter who could have remained unaffected by such an appeal,
—Morning Advertiser.

SCRRW.STEAMERS. GRIFFITH'S PROPELLERS:—
We noticed some time since the trial of the Weaver, a small
screw-steamer, built by Mr. Laird for the Bridgewater Trust,
fitted by Fawcett and Co. with a pair of 10-horse engines,
pointing out, at the same time, the change it might effect
in river navigation by means of screw-vessels, the difficulty
hitherto having been to obtain speed with a light draught.
The dimensions of the Weaver are limited to 66 feet long, 14
feet beam, and 3 feet 6 inches draught of water, in order to
pass the locks of the river—a great disadvantage, as it pre-
vented the builders giving as fine lines as were desirable to
ensure speed The Weaver has since been fitted with
Griffith's patent screw-propeller, and the result of some
trials since made shows an increase of speed, with
25 per cent. less speed of engine—a most im-
portant point, which must lead to the introduction of
Griffith's plan, more particularly in long voyages, where
saving of fuel is essential. The runs were made from
Woodside-pier to Easthatn-pier, a distance of 5i miles.
With the common propeller the engine made 83 revolu-
tions, and the screw 332 revolutions, while the speed equalled
11 40 statute miles per hour. With Griffith's patent pro-
peller the revolutions of the engine were only 65, affil those of
the screw 260, while the speed was equal to 12:28 statute
miles per hour. The per-centsge the ship bears to the whole
speed of the screw is, with the common propeller, 32, and
with the patent only 8. Last month a run, with the patent
propeller set at 5 feet 2 inches pitch, was made in the
Mersey, from the Duke's Dock, at Liverpool, up to Weston
Point; the distance by the direct course, which can only be
taken at high water, is fourteen miles, but by the navigable
channel followed by the Weaver it is sixteen miles. The tide
was in favour of the vessel, estimated at about three miles per
hour, and the distance was accomplished in 55 minutes.
Average pressure of steam 101 b.; vacuum, 28 inches ; revo-
lutions of engine, 62.

By the Tay, Brazilian mail steamer, advices have
been received from the Queen of the South. She performed
her voyage to St. Vincent's, from Plymouth, in nine days,
16 hours, the fastest passage yet made, being at the rate of
236 miles per day, or 10 knots an hour. The Sir Robert Peel
screw-steamer, on her way to Cape Town, to take up the
African coast mail service from Cape Town, to Natal and the
intermediate ports, reached St. Vincent's from Plymouth in
13 days, 10 hours, and sailed for the Cape on the 30th June.
RETIRING PENSIONS TO COUNTY COURT JUDGES.—
rhere is a clause in the County Courts Further Extension
Act (15th and It Victoria, cap. h 4), under which, on a
petition to the Lord Chancellor, retiring pensions to County
Court Judges, to two-thirds of their salaries, may be granted
on account of personal infirmity disenabling a judge from the
dueexecution of his office.

REFORMS IN THE COMMON LAW COURTS.—TWO
Acts were passed on the 30th ult. by virtue of which some
extensive alterations will be made in the common law courts.
Bo' h Acts were :rained in accordance with the recommenda-
tions of the Common Law Commissioners. The first Act (15
and 16 Victoria, cap. 73) relates to the Nisi Prius officers,
and to the payment of judges' clerks by salaries. Several
offices are abolished, and the present fees reduced. Some
fees and gratuities are abolished, and the parties are to be
paid by salaries. The Treasury will, with the sanction of the
chiefs of the three courts, fix the salaries to be paid, and a
new table of fees for the superior courts and the judges'
chambers is to be framed. Among the fees abolished is one
of 6s. Bd. paid on circuit " for the use of the judge." The
other Act is called the Common Law Procedure Act (cap.
76). This Act contains as many as 236 clauses, and its
object is to render more simple and speedy the process, prac-
tice,pleading in
got rid
law courts. A
and mode of
expensive and more expeditious than
great many technicalities are.go _of by this.4.ct, and
less
se
superior courts. Both Acts will take
,the end of
Coof n
counselrisEL .7 willF r
noton bteh
required
q 2o
it
et 24th
to
effect from the 24th of the long vacation.
etlicteiyotnhsavweilbleebnein
THE SIGNATtI
itl3 ° r
October next the signature
any pleading in the superior common law courts.
ExEcoT
imq AFTER TRIAL.—It is provided by the
Law Procedure Act, 15th and 16th of Victoria,
Common
at a plaintiff or defendant, having obtained a ver-
cap. 76' th use tried out of term, shall be entitled to issue
diet in a c.a
• ain fourteen days, unless the judge who tries the
execution
r„c ,or some other judge, or the court, shall order omen-
ii,,i:o issue at an earlier or later period, with or without terms.
Anticart COTTON.—SmaII parcels of cotton con-
tinue to arrive from the western coast of Africa. We have
been favoured with samples from a lot of five small
bales,
containing 1,0261 b., consigned to a gentleman '
in this town,
and now on their way from the coast. The cotton seems
exceedingly clean and well got
up, the colour good, the
staple of good length, but not very strong.
however, exceedingly useful for s innin
would
be,
P
equal in value to fair bowed. We h g weft, and is probably
ear, also, of another parcel
of about the same amount,
purchased on the coast with funds
sent out for that purpose by Lady Buxton. The important
question of the price at which African cotton can be im-
ported remains yet undetermined ; but we see no
reason for
supposing that the labour which is employed during
one portion of the year in collecting palm oil, and
at others in the cultivatien of ground nuts, cannot
be profitably turned to the growth of cotton, for which, if
we may judge from the natural produce of the wild plant, the
soil and climate of Western Africa are peculiarly adapted—
much more so, indeed, than those of any of the countries
from which we now receive our supplies of that material.
It is only by a judicious selection of seed, and by careful
cultivation, that the quality of American cotton is kept on an
equality, or something near an equality, with the unaided
produce of the wild plant of Africa ; and hence there is rea-
son to suppose that, with some moderate amount of skill
and care in the cultivation of the latter, it would produce
t
cotton more abundantly, and of better quality, than the
American plant; while the great regularity of the seasons
and the invariable absence of frost would preserve it from
those vicissitudes which always threaten the produce of the
United States, and frequently diminish its quantity and
injure its quality to a very serious extent.—Manchester
Guardian.
MONEY MARKET.—The quotation of gold at Paris
is about 4 per mills prem. (according t_osthlecondew tariff ), which,
at the English Mint price of 31. 7
1 of. 25.27 per
ounce for
standard gold, gives an exchange
short being ; and the ex-
change at Paris on London at 25.35, it follows
o.32per cent. dearer in London than ' that gold is about
H b
rein Ham burgh the •
Paris. By advices f price of gold
is about 4281 per mark, which, at the _ English Mint price of
31. 17e. 100. per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange
exchange at H
of 13.6 i ; and the. that amburgh on London at
follows
13.7 i, it gold is about 0.46 per cont.
short being
dearer in London '
than in riamburgh. The course of ex-
change at New fork on London for bills at 60 days' sight is
ht., and the par of exchange between England
lloi per ce
bin 109 AAn
and America e $
ii 2-' per cent., it follows that the
exchange is nominally 0.92 per cent. in favour of England. .
And, after making allowance for charges of transport. the
„resent rate leaves a mail profit on the importation of gold
tom tile Unitod State&