The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-12 00:00:00

The New Act on Partnership.

Yesterday the new Act to amend the law of part-
nership was printed. It provides that the advance
of money by way of loan to a person engaged, or
about to engage, in trade or any undertaking, upon
a contract in writing with such person that the
lender shall receive a rate of interest varying with
the profits, or shall receive a share of the profits
arising from carrying on such trade or undertaking,
shall not of itself constitute the lender a partner
with the person or persons oarrying on such trade
or undertaking, or render himself responsible as
such. No person being a widow or child of the de-
ceased partner of a trader, and receiving by way of
annuity a portion of the profits made by any such
trader in his business, shall by reason only of such
receipt be deemed to be a partner of, or to b
subject to any liabilities incurred by, such
trader. No person receiving, by way of
annuity or otherwise, a portion of the profits
of any business, in consideration of the sale by
auction of the goodwill of such business, shall, by
reason only of such receipt, be deemed to be a part-
ner of, or be subject to the liabilities of, the person
carrying on such business. In the event of a trader,
as stated, being adjudged a bankrupt, or taking the
benefit of any Insolvent Debtors' Act, or entering
into an arrangement to pay his creditors less than
20s. in the pound, or dying in insolvent circum-
stances, the lender of any such loan shall not be
entitled to record any portion of his principal, or
of the profits or interest payable in respect of such
loan, nor shall any such vendor of a goodwill be
entitled to record any such profits, until the claims '
of the other creditors of the trader for valuable
consideration in money, or money's worth, have
been satisfied._ The word " person" is to include a
partnership firm, a joint-stock company, and a
corporation.
_ _ •
Naval and Military Intelligence.

The iron-cased cupola ship Scorpion, 4, at Devon-
port, has been commissioned by Capt. John E.
Cominerell, V.C., with a complement of 150 officers
and men.

The new No. 11, or North Inlet dock, at Ports-
mouth dockyard was successfully opened yesterday
by the entrance of the iron-frigate Minotaur at high
water. The dock will in future be known as the
Minotaur dock, being named after the first ship it
received on its blocks.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Sub-Lieut. Edward Seale to
the Gladiator ; Walter F. Sterling, midshipman, to
the Edgar ; William P. Chapman, midshipman, to
the Duncan ; John 11. Smale, chief engineer, to the
Scorpion ; Robert Widdecombe and William Thos.
Bray, first-class assistant-engineers, to the Scor-
pion ; William N. Thomas, clerk, to the Scorpion ;
William Thorne, clerk, to the Frederick William ;
and Thomas Guard, assistant-clerk, to the Royal
Adelaide.

THE THAMES AND ITS BRIDGES.—Look at the
bridges, striding and blocking up the river. London-
bridge was, as we have said, the only one that spanned the
stream within the limits of the metropolis, until about the
middle of the last century. How this old bridge was
patched up from time to time it would be quite a history to
tell ; but we need only say that it obstructed the Thames
in a sad way, with its bulky piers and small arches. At
length in the time of William the Fourth the present
beautiful bridge was built, the forerunner of a vast series
of improvements in the city. The next bridge was West-
minster, opened in 1750. After requiring and receiving
an immense amount of mending and strengthening, it was
at length finally condemned, and has now made way for
a much finer structure. Then came Blackfriars-bridge,
constructed by Mylne in 1769 ; like its neighbour,
it was coddled up to make it last its time, and is
now being pulled down to yield place to a better. The
Thames had then a respite for a great number of years ;
until at length came in succession the ugly old wooden
bridge at Battersea ; Vauxhall Bridge (1816) ; the une-
qualled Waterloo Bridge (1817) ; the massive and bold iron
Southwark Bridge (1819), recently thrown open toll-free
by way of experiment ; the once elegant Hungerford Sus-
pension Bridge (now replaced by a more solid structure) ;
the very cheap but superlatively ugly Lambeth Bridge,
from Horseferry-road to Lambeth-stairs ; and Mr. Page's
pretty bridge at Chelsea. All these nine bridges, and
another higher up at Fulham, burthen the Thames with
piers, columns abutments, and such like; but as they
afford indispensable means of maintaining communication
between the two sides of the pier, it would be ingratitude
to find fault with them.—Once a Week.

THE HARVEST— CRE W KERNE. —Reaping com-
menced in this neighbourhood yesterday (Monday), when
a splendid piece of oats belonging to W. C. Lambert, Esq.,
of Misterton, and situated close to the ere wkerne Railway
station, was mowed in a style and with a rapidity which
speaks volumes for the way in which the labourers on Mr.
Lambert's estates are treatedaud remunerated. Haymaking
is nearly over, the few fields still unearned having been
kept back partly by the late rain, but primarily by the
scarcity of labour. These rains have had a very obvious
effect upon the green crops and upon vegetation generally.
—Pulman's Weekly New 3.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S.—We are pleased to find
that Madame Tussaud's popular exhibition, in
Baker-street, continues to be unprecedentedly well attended
by the public generally. Amongst the most attractive ad-
ditions, we would call special attention to the truly ele-
gant Court dresses (ancient and modern), which have been
renewed in the most costly style, and which are well
worth the inspection of the fair sex. Our country friends
visiting the metropolis will, we feel assured, be highly
delighted in beholding the many interesting objects which
everywhere meet the eye in Madame Tussaud's Historical