The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-08 00:00:00

DROUGHT AND WA TERIVORKS AT IT )01 B A Y.

The Englishman who complains of the climate of his
own country cannot, like Charles IL, have been doomed
to gain experience in any other. One of these grumblers
should have visited a city, not unknown or recently dis-
covered, or under wild barbarian rule, about the end of
la,t May or the beginning of June, and he would have
found a population of half a million or more, on an
i,,land less than 20 square miles in area, with the public
wells and reservoirs dry, and a rainless sky above. So
it was then at Bombay. A. month or more had yet to
elapse before the heavy rains of the monsoon would com-
mence ; and there thousands of families found that the
great grief of their daily life was intolerable thirst, the
intolerable thirst of the Tropics. Everybody felt that
something must be done, and Bombay "made an effort."
Water was brought by steam-boats from the yet unex-
hauited sources in the islands of the harbour, and by
railway—itself a modern invention—from a distance of
some 30 miles. Subscriptions were commenced for con-
tinuing this imported supply ; and under the general
pressure fortunate wealthy persons who had private
stores of water laid them open for public use. Still, how-
ever the relief was glaringly insufficient ; 20,000, or at
moat 30,000 persons, out of 500,000, got water by these
means. Disease set in, and afforded in a form capable of
statistical expression some index of the indefinite niiseries
which the people were enduring. Yet this was but an
ordinary contingency in Bombay, one of almost cal-
culable recurrence. There will be failing monsoons and
over-hot seasons, as everybody in Bombay knows ; and
a population which increases so rapidly that every
census is a surprise is sure to want increasing quantities
of water. It was just as certain 7or 8 years ago that a
day of distress for water would come, if nothing were
done to prevent it, as it is now that the day had come
and that its horrors have been endured. A few persons
did, indeed, at that day descry the evil from afar, and
among them was the governor. Anxieties were ex-
pressed, and plans were talked of; but the suffering was
not a present " emergency," and there was much else to
do. Besides, any such design as one for waterworks in
India has to run the gauntlet through a file of offices,
and is at last to be decided by gentlemen who never
knew what it was to turn in vain the cock that supplied
them from Chelsea or the New River—supplies them,
perhaps, with water at which they turn up their noses,
but which would have been precious in Bombay, at that
sea ck with
son si thiTst. But what were the wealthy na-
tives of Bombay doing ? What was done by the thriving
house-owners of that increasing town, by the enterpris-
ing shipowners of that swarming port, by the capitalist-
employers of the people whose strength is dried up, and
whose courage is palsied more or less in every year by
the arid months of their waterless city ? These men,
sagacious and quick enough in all private affairs, and
of late given to right good constitutional grumbling
in public matters, surely they set about the mat-
ter for themselves, and only gave it up when they
found ?—No. The usual spell was
upon
slept soundly enough to the
them,-and
e ruimpracticable
.a nd they
burden of the old droning tune —‘. Government
should do it." And so came 1854 with its
drought and deaths. Lord Elphinstone—all honour to
him--has taken up the plan proposed in the days of Sir
George Arthur, if not before, for bringing water from a
distance of 14 or 15 miles. We do not discuss the plan
or the objections to it ; we only say that it has been ap-
proved, and that the site of the reservoir was there, the
rains were there, the plans for utilising
.both were
known, the necessity was patent. and was neither more
nor less urgent then (that is seven or 10 years ago) than
it is now. Nothing is proposed now which was not
equally needed, equally proposed, and equally practic-
ab!e then. But we might venture to calculate that if
the monsoon which just now relieves Bombay should
prove abundant, awl any other subject should urgently
occupy the Government Bombay will find itself just as
rbeafdolrymporfepitasreodwa: it is now for its next year of consum-
ing drought. The only reform 'which can save it is a
aalythnac;de
of public mark. NraVeenm—igwhet rmeecaknonnautpivoenstohfe delay
the less for the subscription, if ever it be realised, with
which the justices of Bombay' have proposed to ease by
one-half the pressure of these strictly local works on the
general taxation of India. Among the efforts for relief
under the recent distress, one deserves especial notice.
Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, whose extraordinary charities
tPhoisonka kind
have won for him a British title and cosmopolitan fame,
has at different periods devoted large sums of money
iann and
boths oine
those of the
cities
are
to works for the supply of water, both at Bombay and
po
hisr providing.
t an t
Touf
these he has now added an extemporised effort for
the present occasion. In the height of the dronght he
y
caused large but shallow wells to be sunk in the ditch of
the fort. The su lof water proved excellent in qua-
lity, and was most encouraging in quantity, although
the works were only in progress when the last accounts
came away • hundreds of families were thus relieved.
o important
It is not the
first time by many that important public
wants have been met or mitigated by this remarkable
man, when the British Government in India or his own ,
countrymen could not or would not do it.—Spectator.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF LORDS-AuG.

ORR AND OTHERS V. THE UNION BANK-JUDGMENT.
This case was argued some time since, and their lord-
ships postponed their decision, It was an appeal from
the Court of Session, in a suit where the appellants were
the pursuers, and the two respondents the defenders.
The appellants were Messrs. William Orr and Alfred
Barber, merchants in Liverpool ; Mr. John Tassie
merchant in Glasgow ; and Mr. Charles Campbel% also
a merchant in Glasgow ; whilst the respondents were the
directors and managers of the Union Bank of Scotland.
It appeared that a merchant in Glasgow, of the name of
John Gordon Campbell, was accustomed to have business
transactions with the firm of Orr and Barber in Liver-
pool, and that, in the course of such transactions, he be.
came indebted to that house in the sum of 460/. 93 ;
whereupon, on the 22d of October, 1844, he paid into
the Union Bank of Glasgow the sum of 460/. 95., to he
paid to Messrs. Orr and Barber, in Liverpool, and at the
same time, filled up the usual printed bank slip in the
following terms

" No. 583. Union Bank of Scotland, Oct. 22, 1344.
" Wanted credit on Liverpool for 4601. 95,, payable to
Messrs. Orr and Barber."
In return for his money Mr. C4,mpbell received from ;he
bank a letter of credit in the following terms :
" Union Bank of Scotland, Glasgow,
" No. 15,583, A. A. Oct. 22, 1544.
" Please to honour the draught of Messrs. Orr and Bar-
ber to the extent of 4601. 95., which charge to the bank.
"I am your obedient servant,
J. WATSON, Cashier.

" 460/. Os.
" Entered, AI. G. H.
" To the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank,
Liverpool—Not transferable."
The Union Bank did not write to the Liverpool District
B ink that this letter of credit had been panted, as they
ought to have done; but the very day on which it was
ranted Mr. Campbell transmitted it by post, under co-
ver, to Orr & Barber at Liverpool. It so happened that
when the letter reached, or should have reached Liver-
pool, both Mr. Orr and Barber were absent. Mr. Bar-
ber conducted the business of the company at Buenos
Ayres, and had for many years been resident abroad.
Mr. Orr, whose department was to conduct the businesa
at home, was absent in Ireland. 'He went there on the
.18th, and returned on the 31st of October, 1844, having
been absent for 12 days. Orr and Barber had only one
clerk in the counting-house in Liverpool, Mr. F. R.
Smith, who was course left in charge of the office in
Mr. Orr's absence. It further appeared that the letter
enclosing the letter of credit had reached Liverpool in
due course, and on the 25th of October, 1844, Smith ad-
vised Mr. Campbell of its receipt. Mr. Orr returned to
Liverpool on the 31st, within a week of the arrival of the
letter. On going into the counting-house he found Mr.
Campbell's letter advising the remittance, but the letter
of credit was gone. Upon its being discovered that
Smith had absconded with certain moneys belonging to
his employers, it at once occurred to the minds of the
latter that this draught had been paid to him; but on in-
quiring for him he was not to be found. The appellants
thereupon demanded payment from the respondents, who
refusing, an act ion was commenced to enforce payment,
upon the ground that the Union Bank had failed to
perform what they had undertaken, namely, to esta-
blish a credit at the Liverpool Bank for the
SUM of 4601. 9s. in favour of the appellants : and
further, that they had not accepted or fulfilled the man-
date contained in the letter of credit, that they had not
honoured the draught, and had refused to give credit to
the Liverpool bank for the sum in question, as having
been paid to their account. It was then averred that
they had still in their hands the particular sum which
had been paid to them by the late Mr. John Gordon
Campbell. The respondents, however, in the court be-
low, maintained that the letter of credit having been
duly delivered at the place of business of the appellants,
in accordance with the arrangement made, the claim
upon them had been duly satisfied, and therefore, that
as they had no further claim on him, he had no right to
sue : that Campbell's debt to the appellants having been
thus discharged, they had no claim on the respondents,
in consequence of the non-implement of the terms of the
letter, inasmuch as that there was no privity of contract
between Cae appellants and the respondents. The court
below held in favour of the respondents, intimating that
the liability, if any, attached to the bank at Liverpool :
and the present appeal was against that decision.
Their Lordships now decided that the judgment of
the court below was erroneous, and must be reversed ;
and the appeal was allowed.
COMMITTEE FOR PRIVILEGES.
Their Lordships, later in the day, resolved themselves
into a committee of privileges.
The Marquis of Londonderry's claim to vote for re-
presentative peers for Ireland was allowed.
VISCOUNT MOUNTGARRETT'S CLAM.
The claim of Viscount Mountgarrett to vote for repre-
sentative peers for Ireland was heard on a former occasion
and evidence given; but the further consi. eration of the
claim was adjourned, pending a suit involving the legiti-
macy of the present possessor of the title. That case has
been recently tried at the Kilkenny assizes, and a verdict
having been returned which declared the present viscous t
to be illegitinjate, and not legally possessed of the title,
of course the claim to vote fer representative peers fell
to the ground, and was not prosecuted to-day.
THE SOUTRESK PEERAGE.
This was a claim to a dormant Scotch peerage. The
case was heard before their lordships, and a portion of
the evidence given on a former occasion. It appeared
that in 1616 Sir David Carnegie, the claimant's ancestor,
the head and representative of the family of Carnegie, of
Carnegie and Kinnaird, in the county of Forfar, was by
patent of King James VI. created a baron and lord
of Parliament by the title of Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird,
with a limitation to him and his heirs male bearing the
surname and arms of Carnegie. He was afterwards, in
1633, by patent of King Charles 1., raised to the dignity
of an earl by the title of Earl of Southesk, Lord Carnegie
of Kinnaird and Leuchars, with a limitation to him and
his heirs male for ever. James the fifth Earl of
Southesk, having taken part in the rebellion of 1715 on
behalf of the family of Stuart, was by the Act of Par-
liament 1 George 1., cap. 42, attainted of high treason.
The claimant proposed to show that this attainder, how-
ever it might affect Earl James's issue male, had no
effect upon his heirs male or collateral.
Sir F. Kelly now appeared for the claimant and stated
that the principle question in the pedigree of the claimant
related to the point whether the third earl died leaving
not more than one son, which he was prepared to prove
by showing the fact that a certain William Carnegie,
his second son, was killed in a duel in France, at the
age of 19, without leaving any issue. The learned coun-
sel having stated the evidence he proposed to give, in-
cluding indirect evidence of registries of births and mar-
riages, without producing the documents themselves.
Their lordships interposed and said that it was not the
practice of the house to admit indirect evidence of regis-
tries of this kind, unless it was shown that the docu-
ments themselves could not be found. They therefore
directed the case to be postponed t,ll next session, and
that all the registries which were to be found should be
produced.

THE TRACY PEERAGE.

Counsel—Messrs. Glasse, .111‘Nahten, and Webb.
In this case Mr. Glasse, Q.C., said that the house had
decided against the title of one claimant to this dormant
peerage, and he now appeared for a different claimant,
and he applied that in order to cave expense the evi-
dence which had already been laid before the house and
printed should be taken as evidence for the present
claimant as was done in the Roscommon case.

bind
ved, but them-
selvestheTM claimanthre L
. Gthl:mairstd
isgethhst
eabi said Chancellorva-ti ati ycsdence Nlykotetoudh would
dy coffweabrs iuttirha.eactne itt should be
used de bene ease, and that he should be allowed to refer
to it as evidence in the case. He also wished that the
claimaint should be allowed to inspect a picture of one
William Tracy, which was locked up in a box, and was
in the custody of the officers of the house, together with
a tombstone which was alleged to have been fraudulently
concocted. The object was to assist in the identification
of William the third peer.

Lord Redesdale said there would probably be no ob-
jection to allow the inspection, but there would be
plenty of time to do so mien the witnesses were called
hereafter.

WESTMINSTER COUNTY COURT.
NATHAN V. CALTHORPE-THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR'S
BALL.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, costumie?,
of Castle-street, Leicester-square, against the defendant,
the Hon. Augustus Calthorpe, son of Lord Calthorpe,
to recover the sum of 131. 18s. Mr. De la Mare, solici-
tor, attended on behalf of the plaintiff. The defendant
not appearing, and the summons served at his residence
being returned, inscribed—in Turkey.
Mr. De la Mare having stated that he was in a posi-
tion to prove that such could not be the fact, was allowed
to proceed with the case in the hon. defendant's ab-
sence.
It appeared from the evidence of the plaintiff and his
witnesses that, prior to the bat costume being given
by his Excellency the French Ambassador, at
Albert-
gate, Hyde-park, defendant called upon plaintiff, and as
one of the intended visitors to the fete, requested to be
furnished with a dress, the costume of Oliver Cromwell,
for the hire of which for that night only he would give
121., and should he not return it within three days,
should be happy to pay any further demand. It was
not returned till some time afterwards, when plaintiff,
seeing that it had been nearly "used up," made the
claim sought for, which being refused, the present pro-
ceedings were instituted.
In answer to Mr. De la Mare, plaintiff said he kept
Pall-
o (L
the best London-made Oliver Cromwells, and amongst
fr.
the aristocracy they were always sought and well paidaughter. He himself was a Conservative-0
-
creased laughter)
—but ever ready to oblige that party
of liberals. (Laughter.)
A servant of plaintiff's said that, in contradiction of
the defendant being in Turkey, he met
himneus.tll-
have
Mali last Thursday week, before which
h
)
} deigned
to notice.
for some days been in the receipt of a requeestm
not dfor his
dla
at-
tending that court, which invitation he had

. --•
Itl
Cos: Honour judgment for plaintiff, with all

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