The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-11 00:00:00

THE BETTING-HOUSES.

Sir J. DUKE askedif the Government intended to
put a stop to the serious evils, to which he could bear his
personal testimony, arising from the extension of betting-
houses in the metropolis ?
Lord PALMERSTON—I am aware that the subject
is one which has excited considerable attention, and there
is great foundation probably for the opinion of the hon.
member that much evil has been produced by those
houses ; but at the same time he may be aware that the
subject is involved in very great difficulty, and after a
great deal of consideration I confess I have not yet
satisfied my own mind with respect to any practical
measure that would answer the purpose in view without
going beyond the object. At the same time, it is a sub.
ject to which I am still • giving my attention. (Hear,
hear.)
Sir J. GRAHAM brought up the navy estimates,
which were laid on the table.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.
Mr. BRIGHT inquired whether Government intended
to propose any measure this session for the reform,
or, what would be infinitely better, for the abolition of
the ecclesiastical courts ? He understood that some pro-
mise had been made to that effect.
Lord J. RUSSELL observed, that a commission had
been inquiring
into the system of these courts, and that
it would be desirable to obtain their report. Imme-
diately on obtaining that report the Government in-
tended to make a proposal with respect to those courts.
(Hear.)
, The SPEAKER informed the house that he had ro.
ceived an intimation that the petition against the return
in the Bradford election case would not be proceeded
with.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL gave notice that he
would move on Monday next for leave to bring in a bill
for regulating the office of Examiner in Chancery.
The house adjourned at ten minutes past six o'clock.

ITIGH PRIOR or NM-BOWL—At a public auction
on Thursday, Thomas Ryan and Son sold fifteen likely
negroes for 10,365 dollars, or an average of 691 dollars.
Three boys, aged about 17, brought the following
sums:-1,065 dollars, 1,035 dollars, 1,010 dollars, and
two 1,000 dollars ; making on an average of 1,022 dollars.
Capers and Heyward sold a gang Gf 109 negroes in fami-
lies. Two or three families averaged from 1,000 to 1,100
dollars for each individual; and the entire sale averaged
550 dollars. C. G. Whitney sold two likely female house
servants, one at 1;000 dollit4„the otb.erat 1,190 dblls.—
,
Charleston Courier, Jim, 22.

THE P.ROJEOTED CHANGES IN THE POST-
OFFICE SERVICE.

From intimations given for some time past • in
the Morning A bertiser, our readers are prepared to
learn that extensive changes in the administration of tho
Post-office, are about to be introduced into that impor-
tant department of the public service. The alterations
in question are cf a bold and comprehensive character,
perhaps more so than any similar ones have been since
the introduction of the " Penny Postage" scheme of
Mr. Rowland Hill in December, 1839 ; still it will be
seen that they are but a part of a grand ;whole, which
must eventually form the modus operandi necessary for
the full development of all the benefits to be realised
from the adoptiou of that most important measure of
social progress.
The contemplated alterations will embrace the whole
establishment. The London district, the general post,
the mail coach, the contractors, and the letter-carrying
departments will all be affected by them. Perhaps the
officers attached b the London district Post-office may,
at the commencement of the change, chiefly feel the al-
teration, and this is not to be wondered at, because
although for some inexplicable reason this office has
been considered to be the lowest in the official scale), it
singularly happens that while the officers are, as com-
pared with othe• portions of the establishment, "in
labours more abuidant," and the receipt of salary much
less, that the revenue arising from that department is
comparatively much more than that of any other branch
of the service. _ . _

It is understood to be the intention of the autho-
rities at present to increase the number of London
district deliveries, the main object being to acce-
lerate the collections and the transit of the correspon-
dence before it reaches the hands of the letter-carriers.
Consequently, in order to effect this object, it will be
found necessary to make collections from the urban and
suburban post receiving-houses in the evening two hours
or more later than formerly. Bags, therefore, will be
brought to the General Post-office in St. Martin's-le-
Grand by hand and by mail-carts, up to nearly eleven
o'clock at night. This will give to the public, both in
and out of the metropolis, a most valuable boon, inas-
much as they will be able, doubtless, when the subse-
quent regulations are made, to post letters, books, news-
papers, &c., two aours at least later than they now can
do. n order to work off this anticipated amount of
" duty " (as it is cfficially called) at the London district
office, it is proposed to engage a certain number of the
employes, who are to receive a trifle extra for the addi-
tional service they may thus be called. upon to perform.
These officers will have to continue until the whole of
the letters, &c., collected as above, may have been as-
sorted. Mr. Hill, it is stated, calculates that this will
be done by half-past twelve o'clock, at the latest, but,
of course, that is more conjectural than otherwise, no
opportunity haviag been at present afforded of testing
the quantity of correspondence which may be forwarded
'at such a late hoar. After a trial of the proposition,
arrangements will be made so to increase the number of
men (sorters, messengers, &c.) on the Saturday evening,
as to prevent any of that night's work encroaching upon
the Sabbath-day. In addition to that which has been
stated, it may be said, that the authorities have
also decided upon sending letter-sorters from the
district office to Rugby, so that on their way to
town they may arrange the London letters in such
a manner in tht railway post-office during the up-
journey, that, upon their arrival in town, it will only,
be necessary to hand them over to the carriers for de-
livery.
In consequence of these changes, it has been found
necessary to alter the time of arrival of the Eastern,
South-Eastern, and the Western collections brought in
by the mail carts. The 7h. 45 min, a.m. collection
will be done away with, and one at. 9 a.m. will be
substituted. The morning dispatches will also be ac-
celerated considerably, so that not only will the inha-
bitants of the metropolis, residing within the limits of
the " three-mile, circle" from the Post-office derive
advantage, but an especial benefit will be conferred
upon all parties resident for many miles beyond its
environs.

Steps are also to be taken, as soon as is practicable
after the Ist of March next—the day upon which the
foregoing alterations will come into operation—to ac-
celerate the general post morning and evening mails, but
at present nothing definite has been determined upon,
at least upon a large scale. Notwithstanding this,
however, the work of improvement in the detail of
the working of the establishment, and increasing the
facilities for the transmission of correspondence both
through the United Kingdom and the world at large,
are quietly proceeding, caution and care of the public
interests being the primary consideration of the autho-
rities in carrying out the various complicated, and in
many cases very difficult, propositions which they are
called upon to cotsider.
It is to be regretted, however, while improvements
of the kind alluded to are being carried out with so
much alacrity on the part of the heads of departments,
that in such a vast national establishment as the
General Post-office' where the labour of the really
working man is by no means light, and the responsi-
bilities indisputably very great, so little regard is paid
to an equitable remuneration of the parties employed.
Some of the most, able writers upon political economy
have held the opinion, that the Post-office ought not
lyeesmsaribution of letters in the
to be regarded as a source of revenue only; but that
for-
ward,d
maocsmsturpc,
hl
of administration
el
Ipeooaii
satonefpopdmpi
hutfmntuaeeolt
hue
rlidcshetmasateeti! 9e
rhnnhe,oii
ewoos,soes,cto,
any surplus which might arise should be carried
facilities, and enlarge the amount of convenience
or,vedbyretcheentryttbeyr-aw:,irtiitnegr
Post-officebtsoe admits in many
ent," and he goes on to say
opinion
h regard
public
still
111 thisleo pa
ry departmentprofits
atssurplus, ;
an
lhhadboer
eo
otruleuhproperly
betterorf
toof
pt
those
at
;hero
esybsbniutupt.
wsa
steadilyti
‘hi
nhdioe, easrrsefi
niii ri
Martin's-le-Grand,
reign
itself."
e.at the
objecttGt hperformerevTa shouldenh
tet
hno e seei
Treasury,
orbu er doubtless,tauahtgtnhyaedet.
should be so ; but more than this, it ought to be the
ry
Experienced officers in such an establishment are incal-
culably valuable ; nor should they be neglected, either
in the office, or in the decline of life, But this is so.
Notwithstanding all the increase of duty, and the altered
state of things since the Postmaster-Generalship of the
nattfohsrni
material
sbdobveieanjreiveyvcohetceea
nongisnn:ai
de
tel
be
conveyance
ecamteareattnboenpntlpdw,
rode,
oeoettwrfddistribution
the authorities to increase its
Duke of Richmond, the salary of the letter-carriers in
the hard-worked district department remains the same,
and despite the loss of emoluments which then were ac-
knowledged as part of the men's income, the insufficient
pittance of nine shillings per week is all that is allowed
to a worn-out man, even after 50 years' service. So it is
with the guards. Seven shillings and sixpence per week
is all they receive as pension, after ever so long a ser-
vice, except as Mr. Trelawny once said, "in very spe-
cial cases." Increase of business in the office is of course
bringing on increased work for all parties in the service ;
the guards have received orders within the last few days
in some " special cases," of which a correspondent
has heard from others of their body, to travel some-
thing less than double distances for the same stipend,
and with the same prospects of eventual destitution
more
fees being
labouringpr foroper the
properly abolished).
sum, and,
ed).Sortertshowiugllh have
orelast,
not least, the contractor for the conveyance of the mail-
bags for the district post will have to furnish addi
tional horse-flesh, to employ his men more hours per
day, for which, of course, he will be expected to pay
them, and without any additional remuneration. The
public do not desire such parsimony as this. It is the
pride of an honest Englishman to give as well as to re-
ceive a fair day's wages for a fair day's work. Let
this national example be imitated by the heads of de-
partments in the public service. There can be no ex-
cuse for its not being so. The business of the office is
increasing ; the labour, and also the responsibility of
the officers, are becoming greater daily ; the revenue is
rising, so that no excuse remains. As it is most plea-
surable to record the progress of the facilities given to
the public in this important department, so it is painful
to say one word calculated to mar that pleasure; but
the truth must be told, however it may tingle the ears
of the advocates of " class interests," interfere with the
projects of "patronage," or with the tender feelings of
the proteges of both.

Captain Henry John King, of the 3d Foot (the Buffs),
has been appointed aide-de-camp, and Lieut. William T.
F. Wallace, of the Grenadier Guards, assistant military
secretary, to Major-General Sir Robert Nickle, K.H.,
recently appointed to the staff of New South Wales, to
relieve Lieut.-General Wynyard, C. 8., who is to return
home.

A SILVER MINE IN INVERNESS-SHlRE.—There is a tra-
dition in this part of the country, handed down from sire
to son, that theie lived in Easter Moy, on the Seaforth
property, some two or three generations back, a black-
smith, named Ferguson, who was never known to run
' short of a supply of silver. It is said that he found the
' metal in abundance below and above the rocks of Moy,
and, to escape detection, always went in search of it in
the dusk, or through the nighttime, on account of which
some of his more superstitious neighbours had him con-
victed of holding communion with the banshee. On
one occasion, some of his newly-coined shillings fell into
the hands of his superior, Mackenzie of Fairburn, at a
market held in Contin. This part of the Seaforth pro-
the re
tlya t ewas Lord i)
maker, and he it is said, threatened him with the simple
osseafsesesrtedwsbytimteh,ewhlaoiredesenoftraFeaiedrbuerunt
tthille
but sure punishment of hanging if he would see any
more of his new shillings in circulation. In these good
old times it was customary to hang at the bidding of the
laird, and to escape this Ferguson discontinued his
diggings. Subsequent to the time in which Ferguson
lived a number of his coins were found in a pit at the
foot of the rocks by people employed in planting. It
was supposed that they were hidden by him when he
was threatened by the laird. Immediately below these
racks, in the pools of the Conon, are found pearls
of considerable value, which are of two
so keli
tnl
kiv i
rshnse dhioeursbat bdns t 8
awrii
ialtgovki
avhw neeye
wasent-rss ,
and white. These pools are visited annually by a blind
man and his better half, whose occupation is that of
fishing for pearls, by which means they manoragedmoeuutnboetreifaatrnae
a livelihood. This blind pearl-fisher says that, without
doubt, there is a silver and a gold mine below these
pearl beds ; and, strange to relate, he will know the shell
poht hurira
cate t
ot cihf:
aohtnhel taeg
tie,
rn.
oi
ovsl theuoergih.l
se t pearlTew fbei This so
epswoet inot
ihfneaoxgrupetl
aoolr rlre o openingtbthhou eerit,ssaoetehr e
n bytbe greatl a
i lard
would
eogualrdd ibneg
found
u Ferguson'sud
in
sufficient
quantitiesT her t
There
bmoourre taheanmutohbe laaebokuorp, t wbhimen Fin crag
n comfortablee
Iratmieb,aleleso
ema
jadnatbgaedt
Fteorgufienodn of it,
employed withouto
to dig a sufficient quantity of the metal, which was a the time converted into plate for the family of Fairburn
t
rn
It is worthy of remark that Ferguson's great grandson, is a mechanical genius, living in this vicinity.—lnverness.
A civertiocr.

THE MARQUIS OF LANDSDOWNE AND MR.

CHRISTOPHER.