The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-07 00:00:00

LIFEBOAT SERVICES.

SHIPWRECK OPP DUNDEE BAR.—DUNDEE, Jan. 5.
Yesterday morning, when blowing a gale of wind from
E.S.E., and a heavy sea, a small vessel, a ketch, named the
Nueha, belonging to Berwick-on-Tweed, bound from North
Shields, with a cargo of whiting, was entering the mouth of
the river Tay, and was driven on the Abertay Bank. After
drifting about over the bank for some distance, she made so
much water that she heeled over and sank. At the time
she first struck it was not daylight, and it was raining
heavily and the weather thick. The captain was unable to
distinguish the upper lights, and thus lost the channel.
After making all the efforts in their power to keep the
vessel from sinking, and finding them ineffectual, the crew,
when the water had reached the deck, put off in their boat,
and with considerable difficulty, on account of the roughness
of the sea, managed to make their escape from the wreck
about 10 o'clock. The signal gun was fired from the light.
house a little before 9 o'clock. The Buddonness lifeboat,
belonging to the National Lifeboat Institution, was soon
got afloat, manned by 15 men, and as they were nearing
the wreck they observed the crew in their own boat, which
was in a sinking state among the rollers. The lifeboat came
up just in time to save the three men from, probably, a
watery grave.

PORTMADOC, Monday Night.—Captain Mathew, hon.
secretary of the National Lifeboat Institution at Portmadoc,
reports that a Dutch vessel was wrecked, during a gale of
wind on the Sam Badrig Sands, on Friday night last. The
crew of six men and a woman took to the boats, and are re-
ported to have been picked up by a Fleetwood craft.
The late Mr. John Jolly, farmer, of Enstone, Oxford, has
left a legacy of 200 guineas to the National Lifeboat In..
stitution.

THE DERBYSHIRE MAGISTRATES AND THE NIGHT
POACHING BILL.—At the quarter sessions held at
Derby yesterday, Mr. T. 0. Bateman, according to pre-
vious notice, moved—" That petitions to both Houses of
Parliament respecting the game laws be adopted by the
court, and signed by such magistrates as may approve the
same, bearing in mind the declared intention of Sir Joseph
Paxton, M.P., a magistrate of the county, to move in the
next session for a committee of the House of Commons on
the above subject." Mr. Bateman, in the course of his
speech, alluded to the practice of calling upon the country
gentlemen for presents of game upon the occasion of a pull.
lic dinner; which game, he said, was consumed by alder.
men, town councillors, and editors, who quarrelled with
them for using their best endeavours to preserve it. A dis-
cussion took place, during which it soon became evident
that the greater number by far of the magistrates present
were in favour of more stringent means being adopted
against the poachers. Upon division, the numbers were-
-21 for Mr. Bateman's motion, and 5 against it. A petition
praying for a general consolidation of the various enact-
ments against poachers was then signed by nearly all the
magistrates present. Mr. T. W. Evans, M.P., voted
against the motion. Mr. Mundy, M.P,, who was present,
did not vote.

ATTEMPT TO UPSET A RAILWAY TRAIN.—A
few days ago a wicked attempt was made to upset
a train on the North British Railway, near Millerhill sta-
tion. A goods train from Carlisle had just passed along
the line early in the morning, and at that time the rails
were all right. Shortly afterwards, however, on the sur-
facemen making their usual inspection of the line before
the passenger trains for the day commenced to run, it was
found that the keys of one of the rails had been loosened
and the rail itself displaced, thus rendering it absolutely
certain that the first train attempting to pass would be
thrown off the rails, with what tragical result no one can
tell to a number of lives. lnvestigation is being made into
the matter, and it is sincerely hoped that the perpetrators
of this horrible crime will meet with the punishment they
so richly deserve. The occurrence is an example of the
great utility and necessity of the constant inspection of the
" metals ;" and it is a most fortunate circumstance that the
regular system of inspection pursued on this railroad led to
the timely discovery of the diabolical act,—.Edinburgh
Courant.

THE HOUSE OF CHARITY, SOHO.—The sister
related a touching story to me, as we stood before
the long dining-tables. A. poor Pole, who in his time had
occupied the position of a gentleman, had fallen into ter-
rible distress. He had six children and a servant. This
servant had been at the wife's death-bed, and the dying
woman had implored her to be a mother to her children.
The servant had promised, and she was true to her trust.
She was found with the starving family, and was brought
to this House of Charity. Not one of these eight unfortu-
nates could speak English. They sat week after week at
this table spread by charity, and the servant remained true
to her late nui4ress's children. They occupied a family
room- upstairs, in which the devoted creature performed,
without reward, all the duties of a nurse. The sister ap-
peared to be greatly touched by the story of their misfor-
tunes, and told me how they all remained in the house dur-
ing siN months, and were at last sent at the society's ex-
panse (amounting to £5O) to Queensland, where the fath r
might earn money in the vineyards. Had this house been
closed upon this hapless family of refugees they must have
peddled in the otreeta,--lliorning PQ