The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-06 00:00:00

EXCISE REFORM.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN...
SIR,—You and many of your readers may recollect
that a distillery was fitted up at the public expense a
few years back in Browne's-lane, Spitalfields, for the
trial of an invention designed for reducing the Excise
establishment and preventing frauds in distilleries,
thereby bringing into the Exchequer the immense
sum admitted to be lost every year in consequence of
the costly and inefficient mode of collecting the spirit
duties in those establishments.

The project (although strongly recommended by
Professor Brand, Sir John Lubbock, and the lamented
Dr. Birkbeck, who were specially deputed to investi-
gate its merits by the Melbourne Administration)
was condemned by the lion. Commissioners of
Excise, who, it is manifest, could not have been its
unprejudiced or disinterested judges, and the Execu-
tive thought proper to abide by their decision.
Its unfortunate inventor, Captain Henry Rudkin
(formerly of Cornea house, county Carlow), having
embarked his all in the cause of science and retrench-
ment, went to the grave literally broken-hearted on
seeing the result of his many years' labour so unjustly
crushed, as he well knew, for the maintenance of
patronage.
I humbly beg to introduce myself to your notice,
and that of your readers, as the son of that gen-
tleman.

Now that I see every prospect of ultimate success,
it is my intention to leave nothing undone to convince
the public that the caws() of finance, honesty, and good
government imperiously demands the adoption of my
invention in every distillery, as a fair trial of its
merits under the care of scientific men unconnected
with the Excise, would prove that it is, in the first
place, calculated to free the distiller from all the im-
pediments and interference to which he is now sub-
jected in the prosecution of his business. Secondly,
to determine with the greatest nicety the precise
quantity of spirits distilled, with every requisite in-
formation respecting temperature and specific gravity ;
and, thirdly, to collect the spirit duties at one quarter
the cost of the existing system, with the security to
the revenue which that mode is designed to give, but
in which it is too often defective.

It is, Sir, my most ardent wish to see this country
freed from the galling fetters with which the Excise
laws have too long enslaved its science and its com-
merce.

Should this letter meet with your approbation, I
would solicit the honour of being pel witted to Ad-
dress you and your readers further on the subject, for
nothing but the support of the public press, and all
friends to financial reform, will save me and my pro-
ject from being overthrown by the opposition emanat-
ing from the Board of Excise and others deeply inte-
rested in the question at issue.
In conclusion, I beg to observe, that although some
of my statements may appear strange, they are never-
theless true, supported as they are by evidence which
cannot be controverted.

Humbly begging pardon for so long intruding,
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
J. B. RUDKIN.
34, Tabernacle-row, City road, Jan. 5, 1849.

METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS.--The
Commissioners of the Metropolitan Sewers held a general
meeting:on Thursday, at the court house in Greek-street,
Soho-square. The Hon. F. B)ng presided, and the otltyr
Commisioners present were viscount Ebrington, M.P.,
Mr. Edwin Chadwick, Dr. Southwood Smith, Mr. Lam-
bert Jones, Mr. Leslie, the Rev. William Stone, Mt..
Broderip, Mr. Bidwell, Mr. Buller, and Mr. Hutton.
The business transacted was little more than ordinary
routine, but among it was an application from the East
and West India Dock Railway Company to extend the
time for the payment of 1,000/., the last remaining un-
paid instalment of a sum of 3,0001. agreed to be contri-
buted by the company towards the construction of cer-
tain sowers in Islington. This application was seceded
to. In the course of the meeting a detailed return of
the exact number, dimension', and condition of the
sewers within the present boundaries of their jurisdic-
tion was laid before the Commissioners, who ordered it
to be printed. The proceedings then terminated.
PRESENTATION OF A TESTIMONIAL TO R. ONSLOW
ESQ., THE LATE DEPUTY CLERK OF THE PEACE FOR
THE COUNTY OF SURREY.—The magistrates of the

county of Surrey presented to the labovegentleMana
very handsome testimonial at the dinner on Tuesday
evening last, at the London Tavern. It consisted of a
massive salver and a purse of gold; and to show the esti-
mation in which the Learned Gentleman was held fifty
magistrates were in attendance, a greater number than
ever before assembled together. Alter dinner the Earl
of Lovelace (Lord-Lieutenant of the county) presented
the testimonial in a very complimentary manner, and the
four chairmen of the quarter sessions addressed Mr.
Onslow in flattering terms for the very upright and
proper manner in which he performed his duty to the
county for seven years, while acting as deputy clerk of
the peace during the illness of the late Mr. Lawson.
Mr. Onslow is much respected by all persons who have
had any business with him; and to show the esteem in
which the gentlemen of the bar held him, they presented
him with a magnificent present at the Michaelmas quarter
sessions.

DETERMINED SUICIDE.—On Thursday, an inquest
was held at Camberwell, on view of the body of a
middle-aged man of respectable appearance. Mr.
Wright, landlord of the Bull's Head, said that on Tues-
day evening, about four o'clock, the deceased came into
his house, and asked if he could bo accommodated with
a bed for the night. He was answered in the affirma-
tive, and he then went into the parlour, where he re-
mained until eleven o'clock, when he retired to bed.
On the following morning, Mr. Wright having had oc-
casion to go into the room to take away some article
required for immediate use, found the deceased lying on
the bed with his throat cut in a shocking manner, and
a bloody razor firmly clenched in:his right hand. He
was quite cold at this time, so that he must have in•
flitted the fatal wound some [hours before. A piece of
paper was
xtfoyunadddinretshse,
jdoechenayseodr'sjepyo,
Bristol."cket,o Witnessnwhichwas
written, ,
said that a communication had been made to the super-
intendent. The jury returned a verdict—" That the
deceased died from the effects of a wound in his throat,
inflicted by himself with a razor, but what his state of
mind was at the time of inflicting such wound, there was
no evidence before them to show." The deceased ap-
peared to be about fifty years of age, and was respect-
ably dressed. his body will remain for a few days at
the house of Mr. Wild, the undertaker, Camberwell-
grcen, where it can be seen,
ADJOURNMENT OF THE GLASGOW WINTER CIR-
CUIT.—The Winter Circuit Court, which was to have
been opened here on Tuesday by Lords Moncrieff and
Medwyn, has been adjourned by the Court of Justiciary,
according to the following announcement:—" Edinburgh,
Dec. 30, 1848. My Lord,—l have the honour to inform
your Lordship, that in consequence of a communication
from Mr. Alison, the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, relative to
the state of cholera in Glasgow, the Court of Justiciary
have this day, on mature consideration, passed an Act of
Adjournal, discharging the previous order appointing
the Circuit Court to be held in Glasgow on Tuesday
next, the 3d January, 1849. Another day for holding
this winter circuit will be appointed, as soon as the
authority of the Queen in Council can be obtained. In
the meantime, a certified copy of the Act of Adjournal
will be sent to your Lordship by the Clerk of Justiciary,
for your guidance.—l have the honour to be, my Lord,
your Lordship's most obedient servant, JAMBS W. MON-
ERIEFF.—The Lord Provost of Glasgow."—Glasgow
Chronicle.
DEATH or B. TUEQUAND, ESQ.—It is with deep
regret that we announce the sudden decease, on Saturday
last, of Mr. Turquand, late Deputy-Receiver-General.
Ho was a man universally and deservedly respected,
courteous and obliging in the performance of his official
duties, and, in private life, an amiable and exemplary
member of society. Mr. Turquand had, we believe,
been upwards of thirty years in the public service, and
to him was justly due the merit of the admirable system
now practised in the important department of which he
was the non-political head. He leaves a widow and
family, with whose irreparable loss all who knew him
will warmly sympathise.—Montreal Herald, Dec. 12.
LIBERALITY OF THE EARL OF ABERDEEN.—We
learn from the Scotch journals that the Earl of Aber-
deen has given orders for a first-rate barometer, to be
placed in a solid block of granite, and to be fixed in a
conspicuous and accessible spot on the coast, near Aber-
deen, for the sole use and advantage of the fishermen or
that neighbourhood. "We have no doubt," says the
paper from which we quote, " that this very appropriate
and handsome present of the Earl of Aberdeen will be
duly valued by his Lordship's tenantry; and we are sure
that the hardy and fearless race of fishermen will not
fail to evince their gratitude to the Noble Earl by
strictly attending to the indications of the barometer,
and thus save their property and their lives from de-
struction, and their wives and families from destitution."
BISHOP HAMPDEN AND THE DEAN OF HEREFORD.
—Another serious difference has occurred between
Bishop Hampden and Dr. Merewether, which has al-
ready given rise to " a protest " on the part of the Dean,
and much angry recrimination. The circumstances are
as follow:—Some weeks since, the prebendal stall of
Moreton and VVhaddon, in the Cathedral Church of
Hereford, became vacant by the death of the Rev. R. N.
Pemberton. This, and the other prebendal stalls, are
merely honorary canonries, which entitle the holders to no
benefits in connexion with the Cathedral, and were not
even supposed to confer the power of voting in capitular
assemblies until the recent election of Dr. Hampden to
the see; but upon that occasion the honorary Pre..
bendaries voted under the protest of the Dean and
one of the Canons residentiary (Huntingford). All the
prebendal stalls (at least so it is stated) have, up to the
present time, been conferred on clergymen beneficed
within the diocese of Hereford, the honorary prebend
having been founded to enable the Bishop to reward de-
serving clergymen under bis own ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion. Dr. Hampden has (according to the Dean's
statement) disregarded this ancient custom, and has pre-
sented the canonry to clergymen from a distant county,
the Bishop's nominee being the Rev. George Clark,
M.A., Vicar of Cantles, Yorkshire, who has also been
nominated Bishop Hampden's chaplain. The Dean of
Hereford has protested against the appointment, en the
grounds stated, and the Bishop, to whom the sole right
of nomination belongs, seems resolved to stand to his
nomination. The matter will, in all probability, be re-
ferred to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his opinion.
THE "BAN" OF CROATIA.—The title of "Pan"
was given to the ruler of Croatia in the time of Con
stantiue Porphyrogenitus, and the Austrian Governor of
that province is still called " Ban."—Sir Gardner
Wil-
hinson's Dalmatia.