The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-23 00:00:00

S Ny JANUARY 23, 1847.

the wreck, in the vast quantity of broken timber, floating
casks, bales, &c., about the shore under a ridge of high cliffs
a little to the west of the village of Ballycotton. The body
of a female has been washed ashore in a state of nudity ; it is
believed that she was a cabin passenger, and had been
drovined in her berth, but nothing certain is known on that
subject at present. About nearly the same moment' the
body was found , a fine athletic man was swept off the rocks
.and drowned. HP was stretching out with a pole for a shawl
that was floating, when a heavy snrge carried him away, and
the pabple on shore commenced a piercing cry, and desisted
from their labours for some time. The boats came to where
he was drowned, but his body was not found.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-)?O USE.

George Mills, a seaman, applied a few days ago for a sum-
mons against Mr. W. Phillips,lof George•yard, Lombard •
street, agent of the barque Wanderer, for having detained
his register ticket. •
The summons having-been granted upon the representa- -
tion of Mills, Mr. Phillips attended, and sail he was very
glad at being confronted with the accuser, as he should, in
all probability, have to change places with him, and appear
as a prosecutor. •
Mills having deposed that Mr. Phillips held his ticket, the
answer was that Mills was hired as steward on board the.
barque, to go to China; that he signed articles to that effect'
in the usual way, and that he deserted from the ship.
Under such circumstances the register ticket was detained.
The LORD MAYoa having asked Mills what answer he had
to make to that Accusation; said that he had, in consequence
of violent illness, absented himself from the ship, but that
he had by no means deserted.
Mr. Phillips said he had been given to understand that
Mills had received two sovereigns upon condition that he
would on the voyage pay attention to two Chinese, and that
upon being accused of having been guilty of a fraud in
taking that for which he never meant to give any value he
replied that it was no fraud, it was only a debt. The letter
of Captain Priest, the master of the Wanderer, stated as
follows I hereby certify that George Mills signed articles
on board the Wanderer, on the sth of January, to perform a
voyage to China,_ and back to any port in Great Britain,
absented himself without leaVe on the 6th 'of January, and
'has !not Once returned to the said barque Wanderer.—"
Barque Wanderer, 16th January, 1847.
The LORD MAYOR—Then, Mr. Phillips, do you charge
this man with the offence of having deserted?
Mr. Phillips—l do. I have not only the captain's autho-
rity, but I know Mills did not take his clothes on board

at all.
Mills—l admit I signed articles, but I was so ill I could
not get back in time.
The LORD MAYOR—This is a species of offence which
causes the greatest inconvenience to captains of ships, and I
shall as an example, send the defendant Mills to the House
of Correction for thirty days, and his register ticket shall be
annexed to his commitment.
Mr. Edward Lucas, of the firm of Lucas and Sons, corn-
factors, was brought before the Lord Mayor in the custody of
a policeman, under the following remarkable circumstances.
Mr. Edward Scott, of No. 7, Mount-place, flour-factor,
stated that about four months ago I had dealings with the
defendant. I bought of him about 148 quarters of peas, for
which he gave me a sale note, and an order for the removal
of the article. I bought them at 44s per quarter, and he was
to be allowed the regular market commission, ho reselling
the same, and if I sold them myself he was still to have the
commission. The pease was lying at Dondan's granary in
Horselydown. It was a time bargain, and a regular market
transaction, viz., a settlement at two months, which ex-
pired on the Gth January. About the 29th or 30th of De-
cember, I called at the defendant's office, No. 53, East Cheap,
and saw his father; and I wrote a note to Messrs. Lucas and
Son, expressive of my wish that they should sell the pease on
my account, or I would take them at 535., and allow them
their commission, to which application 1 received no reply.
I served a notice on the clerk to sell the pease, and he gave
it to the defendant's father, who, in my presence, gave it to
the defendant; and last Wednesday I went to the defendant's
stand in the Corn-market, and gave his father a bill of the
pease, the defendant's father standing by his side at the time
and looking at it. It left a balance of 491. 13s. 9d. in my
favour, having tharged them 535. for the pease, which
sum I had been offered for them. The father said 1 was a
bad man, and walked away. About ten minutes afterwards
the defendant and his father were standing by their stand.
I was beside them, and a gentleman came up, and I took
from my pocket the sale bill which I had received, and held
it in my hand for this gentleman to look at, and I asked him
if it was not a legal sale note of the market? Whilst the
gentleman was reading the paper, the defendant stretched
out his hand, tore it from mine, rent it in pieces, and
walked away. I requested the gentleman to give me his
card, The defendant- came back again, and I asked him
what he could say against me, and he said, if you don't
wish me to ruin you in the market, be still. I then had
no further conversation with the defendant, but I called
yesterday and saw him, and asked him to give me the sale
note, and lie said I had better be off, and if I annoyed him
any more, or mentioned it in the market, he would charge
the police with me ; and to• day I mentioned it to the police,
and gave him in charge. I coald have sold the note at a
good profit.
The Defendant—l sold the peas at 445. a quarter to the
complainant, and he was to refuse cr accept them by the
next market day. On that day he did not come, and I in-
ferred that he would keep them. On the following market
day he said ho would keep them, and I frequently asked him
for some money on account. He refused to give me any,
and I then said that I should consider the contract at an end.
I knew he had nothing but that contract, and I snatched it
from him, for I had actually sold half the peas at a loss. I
admit that I took it out of his hand, but I consider that I
was fully justified under the circumstances.
The LOAD MAYOR said he considered the conduct of the
defendant, in snatching the contract out of the. complainant's
hand, completely inexcusable, inasmuch as it was nothing
less than the destruction of the evidence against him. What-
ever the defendant might think of it, the appearance of such a
case in the newspaper would be likely to draw forth observa-
tions from commercial men, not by any means favourable to
the person accused. As for the indifferent opinion the de-
fendant or his friend might have entertained towards the
complainant, they certainly had had a commercial dealing
with him, and were bound to give him fair play, and it was
their own fault if they had transactions with individuals of
whom they disapproved. His Lordship thought it would be
to the advantage of the defendant to reconsider the course he
bad thought proper to pursue, and concluded by requiring
Mr. Lucas to enter into his own recognizances in the sum of
gannisz"a'nerceantyo
appear at the time specified.
clooll;itosjarieceahsarnitailtgeniittweilestiroeed'fcelrakdo oanghai?is!myr.ectoo

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL EN
GINEERS.
onfttleecihnasitriiution was held on
19eth met., and at the ballot for the
Tuesday evening, thelSlrieJaonhnnußalegnenniee,raplremsideetniiti,gi
.
officers for the ensuing year
rte:idfeonll t o.wi\iNi7g.
cguetititlet,m
Je.n
Fielre
elected :
Sir John Rennie, p
nd J. Simpson, vice-presidents; J. F. Bate-
I. I‘l. Ren"-r',3 1, J. Locke, Sir J. Mackneill, J. Miller, W.
man, L H. Stephenson, G. P. Bidder, and J.
Captain Coddington and C. Holtzap-
fiPsnft:heTtaeliinteCdlouncil was very satisfactory, as it an-
'council.
ifiCC,e'ujlbr t)esi is,
rnoemecKp; members, mr;
associates,
;So- e,
an-
nounced the institution to be in a most prosperous state in
every respect, and induced a full conviction that the recently
improved premises would be advantageously occupied for the
members and the profession generally.
Telford medals were presented to Messrs. Barlow, Snell,
Harding, IVilliams, Parkes, West, and P.itterbandt ; and
premiums of books to Messrs. Turnbull, Heppe', and Ro-
bertson.
Council premium4consisting*.of collections of books, of con-
siderable value, were presented to Messrs. Barlow, Snell, and
Harding, in addition to the Telford medals.
It was announced in the annual report of last year that
the council intended establishing these premiums, and from
their value, and the stimulus they offer to the competitors,
it is hoped they will produce good communications for the
meetings.
Succint memoirs were given of the deceased members,
Messrs. Crane, Deville, Handly, and Winsland.
The report entered fully into a description of the altera-
tions of the building sturing the recess. It appeared that in
consequence of the resolutions of a general meeting Mr. T.
H. Wyatt, architect, was requested to make certain altera-
tions, and Mr. Grissell undertook their execution. Within
the short space of four months these have been completed,
and all parts are occupied except the theatre, which is yet
too damp. The principal works appeared to be the re-
modelling of the casement story; putting an entirely new
foundation beneath, and partly rebuilding the front wall,
which has been cased with Caen stone, and decorated in
the Italian style, with a portico at the entrance, and
balconies to the first and second floors. The ground floor
rooms are thrown together, and decorated with oak pan-
nelling. The rooms on the first and seeond floors are
made to communicate with each other by folding doors,
forming suites of rooms for libraries, the whole very
appropriately decorated in a style perfectly in accordance
with the destination of the rooms, and the simplicity that
should be adopted in public buildings of such a character.
The new theatre is so much enlarged, as to contain nearly
one hundred persons more than the old one ; it is now 22
feet high, well lighted both by day and night.
The thanks of the meeting were unanimously given to Mr.
T. H. Wyatt, the architect, Mr. Grissell, the builder, and
Mr. Manby, the secretary, who superintended the execution
of the works.

In his address, Sir JOHN RENNIE, after alluding to the sti

mulus the profession had receivedd from the number of public
works recently undertaken, and thetile high position
institution had obtained labours whicho the
its
various members, impressed on the meeting the necessity of
still further exertions, in order to support the scientific cha-
racter they had earned. Far from being satisfied with what
they had done, this feeling should only act as incentive to
greater efforts ; but by continuing in the same course, they
might arrive at a point as much in advance of the pre-
sent day as they were now beyond what had been done
in the time of Smeaton. He then reviewed the progress
that had been made in railway travelling and steam na-
vigation, and made some valuable remarks upon the
formation of bar harbours, the drainage of extensive dis-
tricts of marsh lands, &c.; and after glancing at the im-
provements whick had taken place in various branches
of science, ho observed that the present position of civil
engineers in Great Britain had been brought about
entirely by the wants of the community-, without the en-
couragement or fostering hand of Royal or Government
patronage. The president then remarked upon the appoint-
ment of civil engineers by Government to investigate ante
the merits of various projects, which had been submitted to
the Health of Towns Commisslon, and which he characte-
rised as a step in the right direction, and observed that if the
same system had been pursued with regard to railways, and
other important works, so as to have enabled the Legislature
to arrive at correct conclusions respecting many of the pro-
jects, the public would have derived infinitely greater advan-
tages from them than they were likely to do in their pre-
sent system, as the naval and military officers who had
been appointed on these commissions, however talented in
their own profession, and highly honourable and well in-
tentioned, must, after all, derive their info'rmation from
civil engineers, who alone would be competent judges.
Neither could he approve of the plan of interfering too much
with private enterprise. The public understood their own
interests much better than have so
and although
the present system might have some defects, it had hitherto
worked well. Competition had produced talent and employ-
ment for it, and the result had been eminently satisfactory.
. They had only to coroparo uIaDY Of the estaliehmehts of Go-

PRICE SD.

verement with those of private individuals to find that the
latter were preferable, whether as regarded celerity, quan-
tity, or economy of manufacture ; but the moment the con-
tinental system was followed, and a rirything rendered
subservient to Government. the general energy would be
cramped and the public works of this country would dwindle.
into comparative insignificanCe. Civil engineers were
bound to give every assistance in their power to the Legis-
lature, in order that public works should be established on the
best principles, and the profession should make their services
indispensable by their superior knowledge, and ft! e
liberality with which they offered them. The Government'
and the public would then necessarily apply. to them, and
they would then receive the due reward of their exertions.
Unanimous votes of thanks were given to the president,
vice-presidents, and other members of council, and to the
secretary, for their attention to the interests of the instil it •
tion, and the meetiag was adjurned to Tuesday evening,
February 2, when (lie following paper was announced to be
read :—" An Account of the method employed in laying the
permanent way 'of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway,
United States," by W. E. Newton.

CORN IMPORTATION. .
A BILL TO SUSPEND, FOR A TIME TO BE LIMITED,
THE DUTIES ON THE IMPORTATION OF CORN.
Whereas by an 'Act passed in the session of Parliament
holden in the ninth and 'tenth years of the reign of her pre-
sent Majesty, intitUled, "An Act to amend the Laws re-
lating to the Importation of Corn," it is enacted, that there
shall be levied and Odd unto her Majesty,'her heirs and suc-
cessors, on all corn, grain, meal, and flour imported into the
United Kingdom or the Isle of Man, from parts beyond the
seas, and entered for home' consumption, until the first day
of February, which will be in the year of our Lord one thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-nine, certain duties set forth in
the schedule to the said Act annexed :
And whereas, by reason of the partial failure of certain
crops usually forming part of the subsistence of the people of
these islands, it is expedient that, for a time to be limited, no
duties should be levied upon the entry for consumption of the
said articles or any of them ; Be it therefore enacted, by the
Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons,
in tliis present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of HI same, That no duties" of Customs shall be chargeable
upon any corn, grain, meal, or flour already imported or
hereafter to be imported into the United Kingdom or the
Isle of Man, from parts beyond the seas, and entered for
home consumption, after the passing of this Act, and before
the first day of September in this present year.
And whereas, by a certain other Act passed in the same
session of Parliament, intitulod, " An Act to alter certain
Duties of Customs," the several duties therein mentioned are
imposed upon the following articles; (that is to say), buck-
wheat meal, maize or Indian corn, Indian corn meal, and
rice; Now be it in like manner enacted, That no duties of
Customs shall be chargeable upon any of the aforesaid arti-
cles already imported or hereafter to be imported into the
United Kingdom, and entered for home consumption, after
the passing of this Act, and before the said first day of Sep-
tember in the present year.