The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-05 00:00:00

11l PEHIAL PA RLIAMENT

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(THIS DAY.)
The SPE A KER took the chair at 12 o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The followirg bills wel a read a third time and passed :
—The Litman v Ra-lway and Dock (No. 2), South Devon
and Tavistock' Ralvay, and South Staffordshire Rail-
way.

The reports upon the following bills were considered
and agreed :—TheCotham's Estate, Moore's (Brown's
Trustees) Estate, anC Chard Railway.

PETITIONS.

Mr. MIALL presented petitions from Rochdale, Old-
ham, and other places, in favour of the limitation of
factory labour to ten hours.

Mr: BROTHERTON presented a petition from a
medical society in Lancashire, in favour of medical
reform.

Mr. BROCKLEHURST presented a petition against
the Reg"stra.,:ion of Assurances Bill from a bank at
Macclesfield, and gave notice that he would move that
it be referred to the select committee. He also pre-
sented a petition from that town, praying that intoxicat-
ing liquors should not be sold on the Sabbath.
Sir J. WALMSLEY presented a petition from
Loughborough praying that Parliamentary representa-
tion be given to that town.
Several petitions were presented against the Registra-
tion of Assurances Bill.

Sir J. WALMSLEY presented two petitions from
Lancashire in favour of the People's charter.
NEW WRIT.
On the motion of Mr. HAYTER a new writ was
issued for North Derbyshire, in the room of Mr. Wm.
Evans, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds.
MERCHANT SHIPPING BILL.
The house then went into committee upon this bill.
Clauses up to 28 inclusive were agreed to after several
desultory discussions.

On clause 29, which provides that British vessels may
be navigated wholly by foreigners,
Captain SCOBELL moved the omission of the claire.
This, he said, was a national question, and s'si‘uck
at the root of our maritime power. The right honour-
able gentleman the President of the Board of Trade
might tell them that this clause was the summit of
free tralc, but he denied that this had anything
to do with the question of free trade at at all. The
repeal of the Navigation Laws was said to be the summit
of free trade, but when that was passed the Government
did not propose the repeal of these manning clauses.
If this clause passed, and it it were declared allowable
for the master, mates, and men of a British vessel to be
foreigners, he should propose another clause that every
morning the crew of every vessel should sing " Rule
Britannia," and that the captain should accompany
them on the French horn, and the mate on the German
flute. (Laughter.)

(LEFT BITTING.)

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
(THIS DAY.)

OLD COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
Thwtas Com:11, 27, baker, was indicted for stealing
horse and chaise, value 201., the property of Richard
Skelton.

It appeared that the pros-.iuter, who is a veterinary
surgeon, on the 25th of June last was driving a pony
chaise, and t'•at he fast med up the horse near a gentle-
man's house at Forest-gat?, and left it for about a quar:;er
of an hour, and on his return he found that both the an'mal
and vehicle had O'sapp?ared. He gave ir formation of
his loss to the police, and a short time afterwards the
prisoner was overtaken on tie Leystone-road with the
pony and chaise, diving at a furious rate, and he was
tlken into custody
The pri over was undefended.

Mr. M..Sfordc, the surgeon of the p.:son, said he bad
attended the accosod s;tlce his admission, and he thought
he was a twin of fligh.:y disrosition, and in an unsettled
sh,te of mind, but he onsiaered he was capable of dis-
tingu',,hing right and wrong.
The pfsoner, on heir; on for his defence, said
on the morning in question he bad just come out of
gaol, and he took a walk in the for t, and seeing the
pony and chaise he took a fancy to it, and had a ride
along the road, until he was stopped by a policeman and
conveyed to prison.

The- R baying summed up,
The Ji—y acquitted the pi:soner.
BETTING-HOUSES.

IT'ocduwd, 31, clerk, withdrew his former
plea of not g,uilty, and pleaded guilty to stealing a bank
note value 1006., and Other property, belonging to Robert
Bell and others, his masters.

Mr. Ballantine said it was by his advice that the
prisoner had retracted hie former plea. He was a young
wan who had been in the service of the National Pro-
vincial Banking Company (who were now obliged, un-
winingly, to prosecute him) for six or seven years,
during which time he had conducted himself irreproach-
ably, and his hon -sty had remained entirely unim-
peached until the occurrence which formed the subject
of the present indictment. Previously to entering the
bank he had been in the employ of the Parcels Delivery
Company for nine or ten years, and though he held an
office of considerable trust, there was a person from that
company present who would state that he did not
know a better or more hon-"t servant. He had unfor-
to-yately got among that gang of robbers and swindlers
who were allow' d to infest the me'..ropolis and keep what
were called betting-offices. He was led on step by step
to commit the crime to which he had just pleaded guilty;
and it appeared that on the day before he committed it
he pawned his hat or his handkerchief in order to raise
a shi'ling, the whole of the money he had purloined be-
ing swallowed up by the people to whom he allueed.
He was sure his lordship must feel the lamentable con-
sequences which ensued :rom such establishments, for,
encouraged to the extent they were, they opened the
door of rain to persons in the situation f the prisoner. He
hoped an end would some time or other be put to this
growing et:l, for he could state that one or two out of
every three cases of robbery in which he was engaged,
were :o he titt.ibu:a... to the temptation held out by bet-
Cng-officer, and those who became their victims were
geneerl'y peiJors of respectability.
Mr. Bodkin, who appeared on behalf of the company,
sa'd the dit.ctor.-, bad found that they could not, con-
e'stent with their duty, avoid instituting this pros nition;
but he was init.-. acted by them to say, that they had no
reason to believe that the prisoner had ever committed
himself in a simila7 way until he became connected with
those dens of in my, for he could call them nothing else,
which existed in diTerent parts of the metropolis. He
world only say, that when suspicion attached to the
prisoner, al, offi..:er was appointed to watch him, in order
to see whether there was anything in his conduct to jus-
tify that suspicion, and he was traced, on an evening
shortly the commission of the offence, to no fewer
than four bett:trg-offices. It was impossible to repre-
sent too stron2•ly to the public authorities the mischief
which such pia- is created, for there were great numbers
of young men whose ruin could be clearly traced to them.
It was .ight he should state that the 1001. which the
prisoner was e7-nrged with stealing, was taken out of a
remittance to fie bank of 2001. It was the duty of the
prisoner to open the enclosure, and he contrived to ab-
stract fram it note; to the amount of 1001. At first, it
was considered ta be a mistake on the part of the ma-
nagers of a blanch bank, but on inquiry it was found
that the money hqd been purloined. Suspicion then fell
on the employes in the post-office, but they were now
cornuietely excue,ated by the confession of the prisoner.
Lie -..order—Did the prisoner make any false entry
Mr. Bodkin replied in the negative.
The Pecorder said it was impossible for any person
baying experience in that court not to concur in all the
ob-et va,ons nr de by the learned counsel, with respect
to the system of betting-houses. He believed that the
attention of those whose duty it was to watch over the
morals and good of the people was directed to the sub-
ject; and every one who knew anything about it were
aware of the extreme difficulty of devising a remedy
which would be really effective ; and their anxiety was
not to take any false step, but still he hoped some mea-
sure would soon be passed to check the evil.
Mr. W. C. Scott, manager of the Parcels Delivery
Company, gave the prisoner an excellent character, and
intimated that it was thrbugh one of the directors of
tit company, who expressed a high opinion of his
honesty, that he obtained a situation in the bank.

The Recorder said he would defer passing sentence.
The prisoner was then removed.

NEW COURT.
(Before the Common Sergeant.)
Ann Howard, a shabby genteel-looking young woman,
was indicted for passing base coin.
Mr Bodkin and Mr. Poland prosecuted.

It was proved that, on the night of the 11th of June,
the prisoner went into the shop of a milliner in the
Noi Lhern-road, at Shepherd's Bush, and in payment for
some triflng things she had bought tendered a bad crown-
piece. The prosecutrix, a Mrs. Ayshford, not having
c:lange, sent :re- coasin over to a neighbour for it, and
she brought bi.3k t'sre crowa-piece, and said it was a bad
one. She then, it appearcd, tried to pass the same bad
coin at a-10;ler trade man's in the neighbourhood ; and
later in the evening, she tendered a bad half-sovereign,
which being detected, she was given in custody, when
she gave an address at a place thatilid not exist.

Tile prisoner, whose manners and language bespoke
her behig far above the usual class of persons who ap-
pear here charged with this class of offence, said that
she had lec awed the money in payment for some needle-
work which she had done for a lady who had gone
abroad.

The jury found her guilty.
Not being known as a previous offender, she was sen-
tenced to s=e months' imprisonment and hard labour.
These are 18 pt/Boners for trial for this class of offence,
and the cases will occupy the whole day.
George Beth %.r,/ton, whose case appeared in our im-
pre.Tsion of yer.terday, was, a,7ler a long investigation,
found gulty, and sentenced to 12 months' imprison-
ment and hard 1--hour.

BANKRUPTCY COURT.-(THIS DAY.)