The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-17 00:00:00

WILLS AND BEQUESTS

(From the Illustrated London News.)
The will of Sir F. Wm. Slade, Bart., Q.C., of
Maunsell Grange, North Petherton, Somerset, a
bencher of the Middle Temple, was proved in the
London Court on the 6th inst., by the executors,
Lord Vans of Harrowden (the testator's brother-in-
law), and Mr. Lucius Henry Fitzgerald, barrister-
at-law, the personalty being sworn under £16,000.
The will was executed in 1852. The testator was
the son of the late General Sir John Slade, Bart.,
G.C.H., and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1859, and
attained the ago of 60. Sir Frederic, after making
provision for his wife (who is the sister of Baron
Vaux), and securing to her ladyship an annuity for
her life, has directed his property to be divided
amongst all his children not otherwise provided for.
Sir Frederic was a magistrate and deputy-lieu-
tenant for Somerset, and lieutenant-colonel of the
West Somerset Yeomanry. The will of Mr. Richard
Owen, formerly of Wakefield Lodge, Northampton-
shire, but late of Leamington Priors,Warwiekshire,
was proved in the London Court on the 17th ult.
by Mr.Thos. S.Wright, solicitor,Leamington Priors,
the sole executor. The personal property was
sworn under £14,000. The testator died in July
last, having executed his will in 1856, and a codicil
in March, 1861. He has disposed of his property
almost entirely to charitable objects. After leaving
to a sister a life interest arising from £l,OOO, and to
each of the children and grandchildren of the
brothers and sisters of his mother a legacy of
£lOO, and to his executor £2OO, and a few other
legacies, he bequeaths the remainder •as fol -
lows :—To the London Society for Propagating the
Gospel, £4,000 ; Church Missionary Society, £3,500;
Pastoral Aid Society, £5OO ; London Orphan
Asylum, £1,500; London Fever Hospital, £500;
Welsh Charity School, £100; the District Schools
at Leamington, £100; and to the Brompton Con-
sumption Hospital, £l,OOO, this latter legacy being
a reversion falling due on the death of his sister.
The residue of his property he directs to be divided
into two equal parts, leaving one moiety to the
Leamington Hospital and the other moiety for the
relief of the poor of Leamington Priors.—The will
of Mr. Alfred Ricketts, of Lansdowne-place, Bath,
was proved in the London Probate Court under
£60,000 personalty, the executors nominated being
his relict, together with Mr. Alfred Hudson
Ricketts, the son ; Mr. Heberden Finden Emery,
of Banwell ; and Capt. W. Stocker, R.N. The will
bears date April, 1862. To his wife ho bequeaths a
life interest over £12,000, in addition to her mar.,
ridge settlement, and other bequests. To his son
Loftus he devises his freehold estate at Banwell,
Somerset. To each of his three sons and daughter
he leaves a legacy of £5,000 beyond any other pro-
vision or'settlement, appointing his sons Alfred and
Charles residuary legatees of the real and personal
estate. There are legacies left to some personal
friends, to his executors, and to his servants.

THE POST-OFFICE.—Sir Rowland Hill having
been compelled, by the:stato of his health, to obtain leave of
absence for six months, Mr. Tilley, the Senior Assistant
Secretary, will, by direction of the Postmaster-General,
perform the duties of Secretary of the Post-office, as Acting
Secretary, during Sir Rowland Hill's absence.
THE ALLEGED MURDER IN OLD STREET-
ROAD.—The adjourned inquiry into the circum
stances attending the death of Edward Neal was resumed
yesterday at the Princess Royal Tavern. At the sugges..
Con of the coroner, further time was given to the police to
follow up their inquirieu, before any final decision was
arrived at,

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THE QUEEN IN SCOTLAND.

BALMORAL, Oct. 15.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena
went out yesterday morning.
In the afternoon her Majesty, accompanied by
the Princesses Louise and Beatrice, and attended
by Lady Churchill, drove round by Glen Beg.
Princess Louise, attended by Lady Churchill,
went out riding in the morning.
The Crow❑ Prince and Princess of Prussia and
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse went to the
Caill.

The Prince and Princess of Wales.

SANDRINGHAM, Oct. 16.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his
royal relatives have already commenced shooting.
This morning the Prince of Wales, Prince Christian,
and Prince Frederick, with several gentlemen of
their suites, used their guns with great effect. The
weather has been very fine, and strongly in contrast
to that of yesterday. Their ruel highnesses found
plenty of game and entered into the sport with
great zeal.

The Princess of Wales, Princess Christian, and
Princess Dagmar walked in the grounds in the
morning, and afterwards drove out.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge is
expected at Sandringham on Monday next to join
the royal party.

THE RETURN OF HER MAJESTY TO WINDSOR...—.
Her Majesty, accompanied by the members of the Royal
family, is expected to return to Windsor Castle on or about
Tuesday, the 27th instant. In anticipation the private
apartments which are occupied by the Queen are being pre-
pared, as are also those intended for the use of their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales and their
suites in the York and Round Towers. The apartments
in the York Tower are being fitted up in a very magnificent
manner.

Prince Frederick of Denmark, eldest son of Prince
Christian, will shortly proceed to Oxford, and will prose-
cute his studies at the university for about a year.
The Duke and Duchess of Manchester have been
visiting the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at Dunrobin
Castle, N.B. The noble duke was to leave Dunrobin Castle
yesterday for Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire.
The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland's party at
Dunrobin Castle was to separate to-day. The noble duke
and duchess leave Dunrobin the week after next for Tarbet
House, the duchess's seat, near Cromarty.
The Marquis of Hartington, M.P., who has been
staying with the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at Dun-
robin Castle, Sutherlandshire, was to leave there yesterday
for the south.

The Earl and Countess of Strafford and Ladies
Byng are staying at Savernake Lodge, near Marlborough,
Wilts, where Viscount and Viscountess Enfield and a select
party had met for the marriage of the Hon. Colonel Byng
and Countess Henrietta Danneskiold.

The Earl and Countess of Wilton intend to leave
town for Heaton Hall, Cheshire.

Count Victor Haniskorif has left the Brunswick,
Jermyn-street, for Paris. The Marquis d'Alterre has also
left the same establishment.

Colont3l the Hon. Percy and Lady Mary Herbert
left town yesterday, for Powis Castle, near Welshpool.
The Hon. Leopold A. Ellis, M.P., has arrived in
town from visiting the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at
Dunrobin Castle.

LORD BROUGHAM.—The noble and learned lord,
after ten days of physical and mental labour sufficient to
have more than "half-killed" many men bearing only a
third of his years, left Edinburgh yesterday morning for
Brougham Hall, by the ten o'clock train on the Caledonian
line.

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON HI. is living quietly
at the Tuileries with the Prince Imperial, visiting
daily either the works in progress in the various quarters
of the town, or the Exposition des Beaux Atts at the Palais
d'lndustrie of the Champs Etysees ; or, as he did a few
days ago, comforting by his presence and the kind words he
knows so well how to bestow, the last hours of one of
Napoleon's faithful servants, the General Count d'Ornano,
late Governor of the Invalides. His Majesty was walking
the other day along tha lake of the Bois de Boulogne, for
some considerable time, after which he drove about in his
coupe till nearly six o'clock.

THE EMPRESS EUGENIE is prolonging her ex-
cursion in the Iberia❑ Peninsula. She has visited
Lisbon, Seville, Cadiz, on all occasions adopting a strict
incognito, and wearing, when out sight-seeing, the ordi-
nary Spanish costume, a long full black dress with em-
broidered bodice, and black lace Mantilla fastened over a
high comb with two large-headed gold pins. No doubt her
gracious and graceful Majesty is enjoying this unrestrained
ramble and costumed toilette, so suited to her tastes. To-
day she is to be received by her former liege Sovereign, but
now royal sister of Spain, at Madrid, where, we are told,
the Empress's mother, Madame de Montijo, has also gone
to meet her daughter.
DEATH OF LADY HAWSE.—On the 11th instant
Lady Hawke died at Clavering-place, in her 98th year.
DEATH OF LADY KATHERINE STEWART.—SeveraI
noble families are placed in mourning by the de-
mise of the above lady, who expired yesterday at her resi-
dence in Bryanston-square. The late Lady Katherine
Stewart was the only surviving daughter of Francis, Lord
Elcho, eldest son of the sixth Earl of Wemyss, brother of
the late Earl of Wemyss and March. She married, Nov. 19,
1805, the Hon, Edward Richard Stewart, son of John,
seventh Earl of Galloway, by whom (who died in August,
1851) her ladyship had a large family, including Jane
Duchess of Marlborough.

The Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne's removal
from Rome to London, in place of the Baron Gros,
as the new Imperial Ambassador from France to the Court
of St. James's, has caused some sensation in political
circles, as showing clearly that Count Walewaki refuses to
be mixed up in foreign affairs until the termination of the
Polish question, in which he naturally takes so great an
interest. The prince is a devoted supporter of the interests
of the Pope, and is a staunch Roman Catholic. Such an
appointment can only be made to show tha pacific disposi.
tions of the Emperor of the French.

THE LATE KING OF GREECE.—The Ost. Deutsche
Post states that a part of the effects of Otho, the
late King of Greece, and of Queen Amelia, have arrived at
Venice fr3m Athens. The most precious objects, and espe-
cially the Queen's jewellery, the private library of .the King,
ic., are still at the palace at Athens.

A GRATIFYING INSTANCEOF THE GRO WING
CORDIALITY between man and man, which Young
Men's Christian Associations, the Volunteer Movement,
and other institutions are supposed to be calculated to ensure
between class and class, individual and individual—An en-
thusiast in the pit of Covent Garden on the first night of
Wallace's new opera, finding his has impeded him in his
struggles to maintain a precarious foothold upon a side of
that precipice which terminates in an abyss just by the
centre of the dregs-circle, took it off, and placing it upon
the flat edge of the dress-circle, said to his neighbour
therein, before whom he had laid it, " Will that be in your
way, Sir F" to which his neighbour answered, with great
distinctness of enunciation, " Very much indeed ;" where-
upon the enthusiast uttered the driest "Oh I" I ever
heard. donned his hat, and, adds the reporter of the inci-
dent, I don't think enjoyed the remainder of the opera'.
TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE.—REPORTED Loss OF
FORTY LIVES BY AN AVALANCHE.—Rumnurs of
a very painful character reached town last evening, to the
effect that a great loss of life had been occasioned on a branch
of the Dunstan diggings, by the sudden fall of an immense
mass of accumulated snow. On instituting inquiries to
ascertain the truth or otherwise of this report, we were
favoured by Mr. Branigan, the chief commis-
sioner of police, with a copy of the following official
communication, which we are permitted to use :—llalf-
way House, 16th August, 1863.—Duncan Escort.—
Sir,—l regret to report that when at the Deep Creek,
on the 15th instant, I was informed by a party of nine
miners, whose names appear in the margin (Jo.hn Tip-
pings, T. Blair, C. Clerk, S. Harriss, G. Bonham, --
James, It. Bligh, J. Abercrombie), that an accidel at of a
fearful and most melancholy nature took place at the head
of the Serpentine Gully, situated ten miles from the Black
Ball Hotel, the particulars of which are as follows:—.John
Tippings and his mates, together with some 40 miners,
were working in a small gully at the head of the Serpentine .
Their tents were pitched immediately under a huge cliff sr
bank. On the morning of the 14th inst. an immense snow
drift, which had formed on the top of the cliff, fell upon
the tents, completely covering them all, Tippings' tent
being situated further from the cliff than the others, be
and his mates, after great difficulty, managed to effect
their escape. After several vain attempts to rescue the
unfortunate inmates of the other tents, who, they state, are
covered with some 40 or 50 feet of snow, they were obliged
to desist. When they arrived at the Deep Creek, some
seven miles from the Serpentine, two of their number were
terribly prostrated. I have also to report that I left Con-
stable Finnigan at the Upper Taieri Station, with instruc-
tions to proceed without delay to the scene of the accident,
and if he found the statements of the miners eorrect, upon
finding any of the bodies, to communicate immediately
with Mr. Bailey. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed),
Gilbert F. Percy, Sub-Inspector.—St. John Barnigan,
Esq., Commissioner of Police, Dunedan,—Otago Dguly
Times, 41ngust 18.