The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-04 00:00:00

THE MIDLAND OBSERVATORY.

At a special meeting of the town council, held in the
Nottingham Guildhall, on Saturday, it was unanimously
resolved that three acres of land on the Forest, or six
acres on Mapperley-plain, be presented to the Observa-
tory Committee, as a site whereon to erect the proposed
Midland Observatory, on condition that, should any
other site be preferred, the corporation be allowed to
purchase their land back again for the sum of 500/.
With this grant the amount required has now been
made up to within a little more than 1,0001. of the sum
required ; and, as the committee appointed to carry out
the undertaking are prepared to guarantee that the de-
ficiency shall be supplied, Messrs. Lowe, Bradley, and
Chapman have been deputed to wait upon Mr. Lawson,
at Bath—the munificent donor of the instruments and
1,000 guineas towards the erection of a suitable build-
ing—and upon the Lords of the Treasury, for the pur-
pose of making final arrangements. The council were
much gratified upon being informed that his Royal
Highness Prince Albert bad forwarded a donation of 100
guineas, and that the Lords of the Treasury are prepared
to grant their promised contribution of 2,0001. This
2,0001. is given on condition of the remaining 8,0001.
being raised by private subscription, and on the under-
standing that meteorology is to form the main and most
important object to be attained by the establishment.
Mapperley-plam, the site which it is generally believed
will be preferred, is situated at the northern extremity
of this borough, about a mile and a half from the town.
Being high, and remarkable for the dryness of its atmo-
sphere, as well as for the surpassing beauty of the land-
scape, it will, no doubt, in a few years, be one of the
_most attractive places in the midland counties. The
elevation is so great, and the air generally so clear, that
Belvoir Castle, and even Lincoln Minster, may be seen
thence with the naked eye.

RAILWAY AND MINING COMPANIES.—A bill is to be
ntrodueed in the ensuing session to give more extended
powers to the constituencies of railway and mining com-
panies in relation to the acts of their directors.
THE FORTIFICATIONS AT DEAL.—The works at No.
1 Battery are progressing favourably. The founda-
tions of the sea wal are completely laid, and enclose
the whole of the battery. The foundation is laid 15
feet below the surface of the ground, and the wall
is to be varied to a height of 15 feet about the surface.
It is to be composed of solid brick-work, four feet thick,
and laid in cement. Another wall, 20 feet high, is to
be erected within this, and the centre is to be filled up
with concrete ; and upon the summit of the latter are
to be fixed 68-lb. cannons, which from their position
will command a full sweep of the Downs.
THUNDERSTORMS.—On Saturday heavy showers of
rain and hail fell at Manchester from an early hour, and
in the afternoon several heavy peals of thunder were
heard here. The rains were continuous during the
greater part of the night, and frequent and heavy
showers fell on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon there
was a second thunderstorm, accompanied by a heavy
fall of large hailstones. The sun shone out for a short
time during the day with considerable power between
the showers. In the evening the temperature fell very
considerably, and during the night frost set in. On
Monday morning a hour frost had left its impress upon
the fields and hedges, and in some places water was
covered with ice.
SHIPMENTS or SPECIE.—The shipments of specie by
the Peninsular and Oriental steamer Euxine amount to
501,7501., of which 30,0001. is gold for Malta, Alexan-
dria, Ceylon, Hong-Kong, and. Canton, and 471,7501. is
silver for Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Penang, Singa-
pore, Hong Kong, and Canton. The amount of specie
brought by the West India packet is not so large as had
been anticipated, but is still very considerable, being
about 540,0001. From New York the sum is 50,000/.
ALLIANCE CLUB OARS RACE.—The members of the
Alliance Club rowed a four-oared race yesterday, for a
number of valuable prizes, consisting of oars and rudders,
and sets of valuable gold studs. The course extended
from Messrs. Searle's to Nine-elms. After contesting
the preliminary heats very warmly, the following took
their places for the grand heat :—Messrs. Jones, Barrett,
Tenant, Sore, and Holland (coxswain), pink ; Turner,
Hopkins, Wing, Hotz, Bennett (coxswain), green ; Con-
stable, Greenland, Loveday, Potter, and Fawcett (cox-
swain), yellow ; Chapman, Cooper, Dawson, Sibley, and
Tubbs (coxswain), red. They effected a capital start,
and were oar and oar a considerable distance ;
pink then drew slightly, but were closely waited upon
throughout the race by green, who were only beaten by
little more than a clear length.
THE RECENT SUICIDE IN FRENCH-STREET, DUBLIN.--
At length a clue to the identification of the wretched
man who shot himself recently in a disreputable house
in the above street has been obtained. Some time ago
(on the 25th of August it is stated) a clerk of the Messrs.
Mein, wool merchants ofJedburgh, in the South of Scot-
land, committed two forgeries upon one of the banks
there, and absconded with the proceeds, amounting to
7181. He had not since been heard f, although the
usual search after him had been made. The persons
whom he robbed in Jedburgh having learned through
the papers the particulars of the suicide here, and read
the description of the deceased, suspected that he might
be the culprit ; and one of the directors of the Jedburgh
bank, who is also a magistrate of that borough, but
whose name we could not ascertain, arrived in Dublin of
Saturday, and having seen the miniature of the suicide,
at once pronounced it to be that of the absconding clerk.
He also recognised the deceased's handwriting in the
memorandum book, and states that there can be no
doubt whatever as to the identity. One of the Messrs.
Mein is to arrive in Dublin to-day, when the body will
be again exhumed for identification. We are informed
that the unfortunate man, MacFarlane, as he now may
be called, was married, and has left a wife and one
child.—Daily Express.
THE COMING BREVET.—The difficulties which stand
r_ald
in the way of a brevet are many more and greater than
our our readers in general suppose. If credence i
given to the "quid num:" at the clubs, the great gr
diffi-
culty experienced is to obtain the consent of the
eTrcaeasptauinrYs
to the disbursement of 2s. a day for each of .
Its _
now
said
to be promoted to brevet majorities. It
the captains
that a compromise will be made, and that
only whose commissions are dated
In
018ti402 will n
be
eluidne-
eluded in the promotion. The prorePgsirot to learn, been
all the captains of 1843 has,m
of the Exchequer ;
positively rejected by the Chancellor
Lord Hardinge has found
great difficulty in obtaining
and it is generallybeliedthe
brevet even for those of
1842. The necessity forthbep,7Bm4o6, was
tionofsotlsieeifceovliodneenits
down to the 9th of November,
was offered at the T
ein err-easury •
and,
that hardly any opposition
as promotion to be colonels and lieutenant-colonel;
costs not one penny, the extent in each of those ranks
e believe, left
he in
bre vet will Lord Hardinge's and Mr.
Sidney
Iwlaesrbowrt's bands. T probsbly be gazetted
in November, but efforts we know are used by interested
Mi
parties
litary Gazette. to have it postponed another year.—Nava/ and
IMPORTANT AMERICAN CONTENTION.—Among the
thousand conventions held in the United States of
doubtful utility, one has just closed that promises some
good ; and another still
more important is to assemble
in Washington in October. The first was a meeting of
the librarians and bibliopolists of America, Nearly all
the public libraries of the country were represented ; vast deal of information was elicited ; and some mea-
sures of practical concern to all scholars devised, which
premise substantial improvements in the modes of col-
lecting, binding, arranging, indexing, cataloguing, and
preserving books, &c. The second is to be a national
gathering of the presidents and directors of railways, to
adopt a uniform code of laws for their management, to
devise measures for the prevention of accidents, and to
establish a system of careful vigilance throughout the
nation. Everybody feels the necessity of this move-
ment, and it promiees the meat benign reoulto.