The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-05 00:00:00

MR. PIPS HIS DIARY.

MONDAY, Ocr. 1, 18-W.—Up mighty betimes, and
to Brushwood for a Day's Shooting, by Invitation
from Hr. Tibbitts, whose Father, the rich Furrier,
did die the other Day, and leave him a Fortune, and
now he hath rented Brushwood Manor to shoot over
for the season. But Lack, what a set of young
Rogues I found there of Tibbitts his Acquaintance,
a-smoking of Cigars and short Pipes, and a-
drinking of Ale and bottled Stout at 10 o'clock
of the Morning ! Mighty ashamed of, though
diverted with, my Company, to hear their loose and
idle Conversation, and how none of them could pro-
nounce the letter H, and to think what an unlettered
vulgar Fellow Tibbitts is, and that I should demean
myself to associate with such a Companion only
because of his Riches, and Wine, and Dinners. One
of the Party, Wiggyns, did tell me we should have
a prime Lark, which, this being the first day of
Pheasant Shooting, I did think droll ; but divers
Larks, indeed, were shot before the Day was
over. So we into the Fields, and a Keeper
following us with the Dogs, and whenever I did
look over my Shoulder, did catch him grinning
and making Faces behind our Backs. But strange
to see how much better the Rogues did shoot than
I expected, though the firing at Tom-Tits, or any-
thing almost, and do understand that they got this
Skill at the Red House, Battersea, through popping
at Pigeons and Sparrows let loose. from a Trap ;
which do seem but a cruel and barbarous kind of
Sport. But little Birds were not all they shot, for
one Higgs aiming at a Hare did miss, and in-
stead of the Hare hit one of the Dogges, and sent
him yelping and limping Home. But good Luck,
to see how careless the Fellows with their
Fire-Arms, carrying their Guns, full cocked,
pointing right in one another's Faces, and one, drag-
ging his Piece through a Hedge after him, it went
off, but finding it had only carried off the Skirt of his
Shooting coat, we had a good Laugh of it. Another,
with a double barrelled Gun, having shot off one
barrel at a Blackbird, I did see, reloading ; the other
Barrel being still loaded and at full Cock. He,
forcing down the Ramrod with all his might, I did
catch him by the Elbow, and point to the Cock
of the Gun, and methinks I did never see a Man
on a Sudden tremble so terribly, or grow so pale.
Getting beyond Brushwood, into a Field hard by,
Mr. Wiggyns did let fly at some Ducks, for one of
those Larks he had been talking of, which did bring
down upon us the Farmer, with his Bull-Dog, and
cause us to raake off with all the Speed we could.
in
in mighty Dread of being seized as an Accomplice in
shooting the Duck, fearing the Farmer, who is hor-
ribly enraged with the Game-Preserving at Brush-
wood, for that the Game do eat up his Crops; and,
truly, the Game Laws are a great Nuisance. Home
from our Shooting, with our Bag, carried by Tibbitts
his Tiger-Boy, very full, with a brace or two of
Pheasants and Partridges, but many more Brace of
Chaffinches, and Yellow-Hammers, and Robin Red-
breasts, and so to Dinner, where all very merry, and
so to Bed.—Punch.

WATER FOR LONDON.
TO TILE EDITOR OF THE SUN:

SlR,—With your usual impartiality, I am sure you
will not object to my stating, through the medium of
your journal, that there has been for some time past
another plan before the public, suggested by Mr. H.
H. Fulton and the promoters, which, if carried out,
would afford a pure and ample supply of water to the
metropolis.

It is proposed to take the supply from the Thames
(the only sufficient source) immediately above Staines,
the water to be conveyed from thence in a close con-
duit to Hampstead, so as to afford perpetual high ser-
vice to every portion of the metropolis.
From experiments which have been made it is
ascertained that the quality of the water at Staines is
exceedingly good.
Staines by the course of the river is thirty-seven
miles from London-bridge, and two:A.7 . 6,tlE'
miles above Richmond, and the tidal influence, conse-
quently, above that point ; no part of this length of
204 miles is affected by the. London sewage.
At the same time it is considered to be just the
highest point in the navigation where the abstraction
of so large a quantity of water can be made at all
seasons, for the proper supply of London without
injury to the interests of the navigation and mill-
owners. It must be observed that, between Henley
Reach and Staines several tributary streams empty
themselves into the Thames, and it is calculated that
the aggregate amount of water afforded by these
streams at ordinary times would supply a quantity
amounting to 100 million gallons, the estimated
amount for the proper daily supply of London.
Owing to the use of the close conduit no impuri-
ties could be imparted to the water in its conveyance
to the consumers, and no expenses for purchaso or
land or severance would be incurred by this plan,
which expense has been found by the railway corn.
panies to be one of the largest items, and to have ex-
ceeded the Parliamentary estimates to a greater
extent than any other. The ordinary level of the
water at Staines is fifty-four feet above low•water
market at London bridge.

The cost of raising and transmitting water to the
necessary elevation by steam power is, I understand,
so small in proportion to the quantity of water re-
quired that there is no excuse for the public refusing
to avail themselves of this pure and copious source, in
preference to any proposed higher up the river, as all
injury to mill property and the navigation would
thereby be obviated. It would be sixteen miles less
distant from London than Henley Reach, and conse-
quently save the expense of that extra length of
conduit.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
M. SMART.

27, Mount-street.

THE PIG-IRON TRADE OF SCOTLAND.
(From the North British Mail, Oct. 2 )
We have been requested to give insertion to the
following letter, addressed to the iron-masters, dealers,
and others interested in the pig-iron trade of Scot-
' land :
Gentlemen,—The trade with which you are con-
nected has, within the last ten or fifteen years, so
rapidly developed itself, and assumed so important a
position in the mercantile interest of Glasgow, and
the great fluctuations in the value of iron, and the
vastness of the operations in the article, have attracted
the attention of those having the means and disposed
to invest in the article, as well as the public
generally, to the working of the trade, the ex-
traordinary system that you have latterly adopted for
facilitating the transferance of pig-iron, or its repre-
sentative, excites the greatest surprise and distrust
amongst most well-informed mercantile men, and
prevents them, when they see a favourable opportu-
nity, from investing in the article ; and hence, I think,
the present great depression in the value of pig iron,
when most other trades are in a healthy state, may be
attributed. I would, therefore, offer the following
remarks on the trade, and, I think, will readily show
that if a more sound mercantile principle were adopted,
it would be for the interest of all concerned :
The apparent advantages of the present system
are, first, to the ironmasters : that at any time when
they require money, and are in good credit, even
though they have no stock, they may sell almost any
quantity of scrip, and get paid for it at once,
and this scrip to them has this advantage of not
being a legal document, and though in honour bound
by it at once to deliver the iron on demand, if they
find it not convenient to do so, they can delay de-
livery from time to time, and the dealer has no re-
course but by a common action at law. They also
have no interest to pay, or other charge, for nego-
tiating the loan. Second, for the dealer, that the iron-
master charges nothing (nor, in fact, could though he
wished, as the iron when sold is seldom made) for
keeping the iron till the dealer finds it convenient to
take deivery, and delivers it free of expense.
The disadvantages are to the master, that the
wealthy masters never require to resort to the selling
of scrip for the purpose of raising money, and therefore ,
they never issue scrip, but for pig-iron on hand, and the
value of their iron is depressed by their less fortunate
neighbours, frequently entering the market and sell-
ing scrip at 2s. to 3.4. per ton below the market
value; and this in a dull market has a most injuri-
OU3 effect, as the dealers act then with great caution,
from the fear that the market may be inundated
with scrip, and a rapid decline the consequence; and
in a rising market, so soon as a large maker is known
AS a seller, the dealers immediately become timid, as

they know ha could at once depress the market by
continuing a sellzr to an almost unlimited extent.
Second, to the dealers, although the stock of pi -
iron were not 50,000 tong, anl they think the whole
is purchased from filo makers the maker can at any
time defeat the most just calculation of supply and
demand by placing 100,000 tons or more of scrip on
the market, for which there may not be one ton of
iron in existence.

Now, I would suggest that an understanding
should be come to, that no iron should be sold till it
is made, or could be handed over to the dealers when
paid for as his property legally ; anti were this the
case, I am confident in a very short time the trade
would be better for all concerned ; and, in
order to accomplish this objoct, I think the makers
should come to an understanding amongst them-
selves, to establish public depo'.s at the Broomie-
law and Port Dundas, where they could send
in their iron, as made, and in selling the iron,
grant an or,ler on the storekeeper for the iron,
who could grant a warrant for it, and relieve
the masters from all further trouble at delivery; the
dealers and storekeepers could arrange the charges us
to store rent and shipping the iron, which I think
would not on an average exceed ls. to is. 3.1. per
ton. This would give dealers and investors more
confidence, as they would then know whit extent of
iron was in the market, and they would he removed
from the fear of a large additional quantity being
thrown on it, and it would also prevent forced sales
by needy makers, and give the dealers also the
security that it was iron they were buying, and not
paper, representing minerals yet in the bowels of the
earth. AN IRON MERCHANT.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
WOR,SHIP- STREET.

A tall muscular man, named Charles Baines, a
labourer in the docks, was charged with having
cruelly maltreated Mary Ann Maye, a woman with
whom he cohabited, and thereby caused her death.
The prisoner, who made no attempt to deny the
charge, and declined cross-examining the witnesses,
was remanded for a week for the completion of the
evidence against him. _ _

William— Harris, clerk in the office of highly re-
spectable solicitors in the City, who stood charged
with having uttered numerous forged 51. Bank of
England notes to various unfortunate women whom
he casually met in the streets, was placed at the bar
for final examination.

A gentleman from the office of Mr. Freshfield, the
Bank solicitor, attended, as before, to conduct the pro-
secution, and the prisoner was defended by Mr.
Vann.

The prisoner, who by the advice of his solicitor re-
served his defence, was fully committed to Newgate
for trial upon five charges, the magistrate imperatively
refusing to accept bail for his future appearance,
which was tendered to any amount that might be
required.