The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-12 00:00:00

ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.

The half•yearly general meeting of this society was
held yesterday at the rooms, 3, Trafalgar-square; Ben-
jamin Hawes, sen., Esq., in the chair. The minutes of
the last council were read and confirmed, as were also
the minutes of the several meetings of the Committee,
held since the last general court.
The weekly report of the superintendent at the re-
ceiving-house, Hyde-park, showed that there had been
in the course of the present season 192,450 bathers in
the Serpentine-50,091 in the mornings, and 142,359 in
the evenings; and that there were brought under medi-
cal superintendence in the receiving-house, 6; rescued
and landed, 8; drowned, 1; found drowned, 2.

qih.joined is a list of the cases referred to the
Genf,ral Court, in all of which a silver medal was
awarded:—

Henry L%ngbnin, a seaman; saved Captain E. Stan-
le‘y,R N., and assist,d in saving others upset in a boat.

Master Harcourt Carter; saved Thos. Regan and Wm.
Warren.

Mr. C. E. H. Parrant, mate, R.N.; saved a marine.
Lieut. S. Osborne, R.N.; saved a sailor.
John Dickerson; rescued two men from shipwreck.
Thomas Carne, a miner; saved nine persons who had
been upset in a boat. (In this last case it was deter-
mined, after some little discussion, that, in consideration
of the recipient's great heroism and comparative poverty,
he should be presented with 51. in addition to the silver
medal )
Lieut. 0. L. Jones, R N.; saved a seaman.
Martin F. G. Powell, a gentleman commoner of Win-
chester; saved his schooltellow.

Thomas Sangster, engine•guard; saved the master and
crew of the British vessel Thistle.

The next two cases were referred to the Brighton
Branch Society.
William Cheesman; saved the Rev. G. Powell and
M•Douell.

Wen. Wright; tried to save Mary Hill, and brought
up her body from the bottom of a well 130 feet deep.
s(lr. Wright has also received (about ten years ago) the
bronze meclitl of the society.
The report having been then read, and the medals
awarded, the thanks of the meeting were given to the
chairman, and the prr eeedings ended.

IRONMASTERS' QUARTERLY
MEETINGS.

WOLVERHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY.—The Midsummer
quarterly meetings of the ironmasters of South Stafford
shire comment.-d at Walsall yesterday, and to-day there
was an extremely numerous attendance of the trade at
the Swan Hotel, in this town.
The prelitni.dary meeting held at Handsworth a fort
night ego prepared the public for a reduction of price.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the nominal rut.
twreed upon at tkrse meetings is not invariably to be re
bed upon. It is frequently violated in the first fortnight.
Added to thi', many heavy contracts ate regulated b)
.pecial agreements. The toll in toe price of iron Iron
ne April mewing may, however, be fairly taken at be
weep 21. and 31 per toe, and the probability is, that ere
!ong, if net during the present quarterly meetings, there
gill be a stilt turther reduction. The fierce competition
in Wales, and the continuation of the Danish blockade
produce most destructive effects upon the iron trade or
South Sraffordshire. Prices, as far as can be obtained.
now range us follows:—Sheets, 71. to 71. 10s ; hoops, 61
to 61. 10'.; merchant braids, 51. 10s. to Cl. Some persons
wake the quotations a little higher, and others a trifle
lower, but the above may be taken upon good authority
as a fair average.
The very heavy reduction which has taken place does
not, according to accounts, materially increase orders.
Purchasers, with the hope of a further fall, hold back.
The home market is consequently extremely dull; and
it is needless to observe, that the state of Northern
Europe has for the present almost entirely suspended
our commercial intercourse with one of the largest and
best markets for our iron manufacture.

The workrwople in South Staffordshire bear the re-
duction of their wages with extreme good temper. They
are no longer the tools of interested demagogues, but
seem perf(ctly aware of the situation in which the iron.
masters are placed. The proprietors of ironstone and
coal have in consideration of the present condition of the
iron trade reduced their rates of charge for those essen-
tial materials, the agents of Lord Ward (the most ex-
tensive owner of ironstone in this district) having an•
nounced a fall of l 2 per cent.
The nail trade, a most important branch of manufac-
ture in this neighbourhood, although somewhat depressed.
Is comparately steady. It is infinitely better than two
or three years ago. Orders from Canada and the United
States are said to be in free circulation, and great hopes
are entertained of increasing prosperity.
The largest of the usual quarterly meetings of the
South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire iroumasters
will be held in Birmingham to-morrow, when it is pos-
sible that some further information with regard to the
condition and prospects of the trade may be disclosed.
rhe probability, however, is no alteration of prices,
other than that already announced, will be declared.

THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S FETE.—Yester-
day the last fete for the season was given by the
Horticultural Society, in the gardens at Chiswick. The
extreme fineness of the weather helped to bring a most
numerous assemblage of visitors, although there was the
eeuntereattra lion of the Thames Regatta to draw them
elsewhere. The dresses were remarkably beautiful, and
the array of fashion quite as striking as on the most
ieelliant of Ll:lest-fife-days As usual, the exhibition of
fl wers and fruits, although the ostensible object of the
gathering, was a secondary consideration with the gay
multitude to the pleasure of seeing and being seen, and
ot li-toning to the inspiring strains of the military
hands; but they, neverteeless, secured a very large
,hare of attention. The grounds of the Duke of Devon-
shire were, as usual on the third day of the flee, thrown
open to the visitors.
PARLIAMENTARY AND FINANCIAL REFORM.—Yes-
terday evening a pr, liwivary meeting of the lle'ormers
if Greeuwicn was held at the Lecture Hall in that
f
rdtb.wp
which
uhAlteheht, feht
sp, theriejerit.i
rt:nAp,
iutkdi rteaspp:osetAe,iiatositsf,i6,,n,tueoi
art, r:st ghom tyai.v b.. rci at
(i,nfuvacnishect societyiewir.sin.
,EiLo:uoy.
were ardeacr: s:dd
wtit
band
enthusiasmle explained tbhye
tohb: eacuts.
eh
nc:ne:i
ience, and were. followed by several • lemen con-
nected with he locality, who alt expressedg'fittheir convic-
,,tloaistsetlhsaotritrowttairsmo.nrlsy
thatbY the mutual
objects c rnew' 'h' lin 8 they be
teweideeesni all
red
could be
nucleus
uo I
branchs
yt e(et
association,hlvi
sasdat hy
)wfei kmli,da
tassewvt
seven
s
announced
tthhue obtained.otna
uATreic,
t
o'clock, a public borough meeting should be held, to
which the deputation should be again invited. The
meeting, which was entirely of a business character,
broke up about ten o'clock.
AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF
SIR JOHN FRANKLlN.—Adverting to a paragraph which
appeared in one of our contemporaries, stating that it
eas reported at Boston, when the Europa left, that the
expedition in search of Sir John Franklin had been
abandoned or postponed, we have great pleasure in
stating that, in a letter received from Washington, of a
date only a few days prior to the rumour, it is men-
tioned that active preparations fur the expedition were
then making, and that much generous emulation was
evinced by officers of the United States navy to take
part in this arduous service.—Herald.
Ledru Rollin, Martin Bernard, Etienne Arago,
and Sergeant Boichot arrived at the St. Katharine 's-
wharf yesterday afternoon, by the General Steam Nevi-
gation Company's steam-ship Sir Edward Banks, that
left Ostend in the morning.
CORONER'S INQUEST.—ROMANTIC STORY.—Last
night Mr. Payne went into an inquiry at St. John's,
Horselydown, on the body of Mary Metier, aged twenty-
eight, who came to her death under the following eir-
cumstances:—The deceased and her sister, Rebecca
Metier, were natives of Bretz, in Prussia, and neither
could speak a word of English. The former was about
to be married to a young man of her own village, but
be broke off the acquaintance and made proposals to
another. This had such an effect on the deceased, that
she induced her sister to enter into a plan to leave the
place for ever, and go to their brother, who is said to
be living at Birmingham. Accordingly they collected
what money they could, and took their passage by
waggon to Hamburgb, a distance of seventy-fax miles.
They then embarked on board the Wilberforce steamer
on Saturday morning at three o'clock. On the same
night Mary Metier was taken very ill. On Monday
she was nit better, and having walked the deck was
obliged to be taken below again, where she remained
until the arrival of the vessel in Loudon, when
she was seen by the assistant of Mr. Mishin, of Horsley-
down, who gave her brandy and other stimulants, but
she never rallied, and died the same night. The two
sisatersigth and had asup was
said,
oo
f
f a
broth,piec beyond
osalt herring
heayt
tlmbur
had no food for the voyage except a few oranges ; but
Mrs. Meeson, the stewardess, seeing the helpless state
of the teo poor foreigners, gave them some wine and
arrowroot, and the passengers made a subscription of
255., which the boatmen on the river had cheated the
surviving sister of, and she was left helpless and friend-
less in London. Mr. Hill, the assistant of Mr. Mishit),
did not attribute the death to cholera, but exhaustion,
arising from retching on an empty stomach occasioned
by sea sickness. The Coroner and jury observed it was
a very deplorable case, and they highly commended the
conduct of the stewardess. A verdict of " Died ft.=
Exhaustion," was then returned.
PRESERvED MEATS.—The vessel Louis Charles,
arrived iii the river from Galaiz, has breught an entire
coarrgaloolouf
ipuer:userer,ve:futmiesatss.ileuoprin:risiiig 34,170 tins of the
article. This preserved meat undergoes no preparation
and then hermeticelly sealed until le quired for one. It
is imported in considerable quantities tor the use of the
nr(Zarliyas will as a
pt(hmendins
weightrct n t boded in tin cannisters,
t under supply to time Admiralty on f''vt3hdee paaanr;ltimealeecaot!: raaltcttpwfroaers-
amb
et
aefinnrustfitaectcteruri considered dn
determined
red that the meats preserved in the man-
ner mentioned were chargeable with duty, but it has
du r
tthheart
thhaavui nt gheupnrdeesergaoantefunnobeptorroceeu2sseuof.
timed, they are admissible free.