The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-28 00:00:00

SAVINGS' BANKS.

The enclosed circular and form of return has just
been sent to the trustees of every savings' bank :
(Extract from the Act 7th and Bth Victoria, chap.
83.—Section 5. " And be it enacted that provision
shall be made in the rules of every savings' bank
that every depositor therein shall once in every
year, at least, cause his deposit book to be produced
at the office of the said institution, for the purpose
of being examined.")

(Circular.)
National Debt-office, Dec. 17.
Gentlemen,-1 am directed by the Commissioners
for the Reduction of the National Debt to call your
immediate attention to the provisions enacted in the
above section of the Act 7th and Bth Victoria, chap.
83, and to suggest to you the importance, now that
the 20th of November has passed, of appointing, by
advertisements, two or more specified days on which
the depositors should be required to bring in their
books to be examined with the ledgers of the savings'
bank under your management up to the 20th of
November, 1849 ; and two or more managers should
make arrangements so that they may themselves per-
sonally examine and compare the depositors' books
with the entries in the ledgers.
I am further directed to request that the result of
such examination may be transmitted to the Commis-
sioners drawn out on the enclosed form.

I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant,
S. Hmusm, Secretary.
[Here follows the form of return.]

PASSPORTS IN FRANCE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—After the able and effectual exertions you
have made to put down the passport nuisance, and
after the remarks made on you in the Galignani of
this day, and the National of yesterday, in which
papers some doubts are thrown out on the accuracy of
your statements relative to passports, I deem it but
justice to state the following facts On my arrival at Boulogne on Thursday last, I
was informed by a commissionaire that I must pay 3f.
for a passport. Doubting the accuracy of this state-
ment, I inquired, on arriving at the Hotel de Londres,
of the landlord whether such was the case, stating,
that from our newspapers it appeared the nuisance
was abolished. His answer to me was, that a pass-
port ought to be got, that the expense was only 31.,
and that measures would be taken in time to render
passports unnecessary, but as yet they were not
matured. Not quite satisfied with this explanation,
and feeling confident that the Times had good grounds
for its statement, I walked over to the railway station,
inquired for the chief of the police establishment,
and put the question to him, " Whether it was neces-
sary to have a passport ?" His answer was, " They
were quite unnecessary." This was confirmed by the
event. Our party—three persons and myself, with
four servants—were never, in any manner on our
route, troubled on the subject. After dinner thesame
day, at the Hotel de Londres, the commissionaire
came to us in the room, stating, " Gentlemen,—
I am come to inform you that 3f. for each passport
will be required." When informed by me that I had
seen the head of the police, the commissionaire
laughed, and acknowledged that he was aware that
no passports were required.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Paris, Dec. 25. M. P.

GREAT COATS ON FURLOUGH.—At this inclement
season of the year, the only one during which furloughs
aro granted to soldiers, it striae& us as a peculiar and
unnecessary hardship that they are not in many regi-
ments allowed to take their great coats with them. In
the protracted and tempestuous passages from different
parts of England and Ireland the soldier (generally a
deck passenger) is exposed in a thin red jacket to the
wintry blast and rain, a privation unknown to the
sailor, who is always well protected in a pea-coat. The
seeds of consumption and of other disorders are fre-
quently laid by this in the young soldier, and (to say
nothing of humanity) the trifling saving of the great
coat's wear and tear to the Ordnance; to whom it be-
longs, is more than counterbalanced by the loss to the
service in enlisting a recruit to replace the man, whose
health may have been ruined, as above stated. We
think, also, that in our humid climate, where, in the
Emerald Isle particularly, rain falls without cessation
for several days, the soldiers should be permitted, nay,
compelled, to wear their great coats when off duty and
out of barracks.—United Service Gazette.
THE DRAMA AT WINDSOR CASTLE.—The perform-
ances will take place at Windsor Castle prior to Easter.
Julius Casar is to be represented on the first occasion.