The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-04 00:00:00

Convict Life at Portland.

It has just been discovered that the convicts at
the establishment at Portland surreptitiously com-
municate with their friends outside •through. the
agency of persons on the island. In certain places
the convicts deposit letters, &c., which are fetched
by those who act with them, and thus news and
money are transmitted. On Saturday last, July
1, a labourer, named Israel Pavey, employed on
the works, was brought up before the county
magistrates, under the instructions of the Attorney-
General, on a charge of trafficking with the
prisoners. On June 21 a warder discovered under
some stones in Weycroft quarries several letters.
These were given to a convict, and arrangements
made with him to signal to the warder. Two days
later the expected intimation was given. Paveywas
watched, and in the course of the day a warder and
a constable went to him and charged him with the
offence now preferred. After some fencing Pavey
gave up a packet containing half-a-crown and two
letters. The first was dated June 17, 1865, and ran
thus :—" My dear brother,—.l want you to send me

i got the last quitTiria e, ant the other before that,
and it benefited me a good deal. I cannot see my
old friend now that sent before, so you must send
it to the address you receive with this (E. Sayers,
32, Osborne-street, Hove, Brighton, Sussex), and I
shall get it quite safe. Send me a letter with it, as be-
fore. Directly I have received the money I will
write to you through the prison, for I am due to
write now. . . . Tell me all about home. My
time is wearing away now. I hope I shall be at
liberty in ten months more. I have to work like a
slave. It is worse than slavery under a mask, but
I must iet through it as well as I can. You have
not the slightest idea what I have to put up with,
and I dread another winter. . . Let me beg of
you to send at once. . . I will repay you all for
what you have done for me, please God I am spared.
From your affectionate brother, W. SAYERS." The
second letter was not dated :—" Dear Mother and
Sister,—l have got a friend to send this for me. I
want you to send £2 to his address for me, as I am
very badly off. Jim knows how lam here. If I
had money I could get plenty to eat. . . Don't
put anything about money in the letter to the pri-
son. I will send you word by this friend when I get
the £2 all right. Yours affectionate, W. S.—To
Mary Stanley, 134, Wool-street, Toxteth-park,
Liverpool." Pavey was taken into custody. The
rules of the convict prison were produced. Mr.
Weston, for the defendant, argued that no case was
made out against the prisoner. The Bench dismissed
the case. Mr. Symonds said he was instructed by
the Attorney-General to ask for a case, a conviction
not being obtained. Mr. Weston objected, as the
question at issue was a matter of fact, and not a
point of law. The Bench refused a case. Mr.
Symonds said, then they should have to apply to the
Court of Queen's Bench for a rule.

Working Men's Club and Institute Union.

- ♦ -.

The annual meeting of this institution was held yester-
day in the Lower-hall, Exeter-hall—Lord Brougham in.
the chair. The report, which was read by the secretary,
Mr. Solly stated that 41 new clubs and institutes had
been established during the past year under the impulse
and guidance of the union, which, added to the number
previously established, made a total of 116 clubs formed
by the union during about two years and a half of Aetive
operation. From a return which had been received from
about half of the clubs in the kingdom it appeared that they
numbered 14,677 ordinary members and 938 hon. members
—the average number of members to each club being 223
ordinary and about 13 hon. members. Therefore if the
remaining 70 or 80 societies who had not sent in returns
contained about the same number, there would be a total
of about 30,000 ordinary and nearly 2,000 hon. members
in the clubs and institutes in Great Britain. Throughout
the country and in the metropolis new clubs were being
organised, but in South London and Bethnal-green,
where they were pre-eminently needed, greater difficulty
and delay in forming them had been experienced
than in almost any part of the country, mainly owing to
tho want of local rcesident gentry. It was precisely
under such circuti:Lstance,
where a number of earnest
working men "Tore most desirous of having a club, but
could not, lAmided, establish it, and where local assistance
whe not forthcoming, that this union might render legiti-
mate and very valuable help were it in a position to make
f,',/rants or loans sufficient to launch the undertaking. That
help they had afforded in two or three cases to a small ex-
tent, but it was greatly to be regretted that the funds had
not enabled them to do it to a larger extent. The financial
statement showed the receipts, including a balance of £92,
11
and donations £1,125, to amount to £1,609, and the expen-
diture to £1,470, leaving a balance of £139 in hand. The
meeting was addressed by Lord Lyttelton, Lord EburyT
Mr. Layard, M.P., Dr. Bowkett, Mr. Bainbridge, Mr ,
Vyse, Mr. Marriott, and others, and resolutions were passed
adopting the report, re-electing the officers, acknowledging
the importance of the operations of the union, and appeal-
ing for increased and more regular support.
At the conclusion of the business, Lord BROUGHAM said
that the object of this important movement was to give to
the working man an opportunity of combining amusement
with his work, and spending one or two of his spare hours
in the evening in a manner, whilst harmless, which would
prove highly profitable to himself. A working man, by the
establishment of these clubs, was relieved from the neces-
sity, which in many cases was a most disagreeable one, of
having company at his own home, where he could ill ac-
commodate a friend for an hour, as he could now, without
the slightest inconvenience, enjoy the conversation of his
fellow-workmen and the amusements which were there
provided for him. A friend of the noble lord's from Car-
lisle had stated that the working men's club at that place
had proved a failure, but he (the noble lord) had dis-
covered that that failure was consequent upon the club
taking simply the form of a reading-room. A reading-
' room was undoubtedly an excellent thing, but the other
characteristics of a club must be joined with it to render it
successful. It had been said that there was a slowness on
the part of working men to join the clubs, but that, he
thought, must arise from the fact that they had not had
their operations and advantages sufficiently explained. He
was certain that if that were clearly and properly done,
the working men would not be slow to take advantage of
the suggestions offered to them. A great change hadtaken
place during late years, beginning at Rochdale and extend-
ing over Lancashire and Yorkshire ; in fact, over the greater
part of the north of England—he meant the system of co-
operation, which was now becoming such a great power in
this country. The co-operative system was most important
to the working man, inasmuch as it tended to better his po-
sition in every respect, and he had no reason to suppose
that the working classes themselves would not look upon
it in that light, and that the clubs and institutes which had
been established would be warmly supported by them.
A vote of thanks having been accorded to the noble lord,
the proceedings terminated.

EnTglßanEdEaLnEdoWnaolNesS.
Tuesday next (this day week), and none will be later than
t—helnnommionsattioonfs twhiell boroughsplace
oonf
the day following. In the Ciry of London the nomination
may take place as early as Monday, as the writ in its case
reaches the returning officer in such a manner that the day
of issue may be reckoned as one of the four days fixed by
the statute.
LIFEBOAT SERVICES. -BUDE HAVEN, CORNWALL,
July 1.---About 9 o'clock yesterday evening a.
schooner was seen making for this port, the sea running
very heavily, and the tide being about four hours' flood. In
attempting to enter the harbour she struck on the north
shore, the sea making a clean breach over her. The crew
were thereupon obliged to take to the 'rigging to prevent
being washed overboard. The Bude Haven lifeboat of the
National Lifeboat Institution was promptly manned and
launched, succeeded in being pulled through a very heavy
surf, and in reaching the vessel. The crew of the schooner,
four in number, were taken off from the bowsprit of the
wreck, and safely brought on shore. The vessel proved to
be the Johnson of Exeter, Jones master, coal laden. She
is likely to become a total wreck. The master spoke highly
of the promptness of the aid rendered him by the lifeboat.
The whole expense of this valuable lifeboat station,
amounting to £6OO, was defrayed by a benevolent gentle.
man in memory of his late mother.

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