The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-11 00:00:00

GROUP XLVI.

The Committee met at twelve o'clock, and after an address
from Mr. Whateley on behalf of the Edinburgh, Leith, and
Granton scheme, the Committee decided that the
EDINEURGH, LEITH, AND GRANTON
(UNION CANAL AND CALEDONIAN
YtAXLVTAY JUNCTION),
was not proved ; and that the

cAxamoNxAN (EDINDUR.GIE STATION and
BEANCHMS TO GR,A.NToN AND TO THE
EDxr:DunGlx AND GLASGOW ra 2X. 1,17 A 1 r),
was proved.

Tlie clauses of the Bill were then gone through and
agreed to.

COMMITTEE ON MERITS,
HOUSE OF LORDS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The Earl of Shaftesbury passed the following Bina :-
Heron's (Pensions) Estate Bill.
Mvine (or I..PNabb's) Estate.
Wyndham's Estate.
Payne's Patents Assignment.
Wakefield Bcrough Market.
Aberdeen harbour Improvement.
Glasgow and Shott's Road.
National Mercantile Life Assurance Society.
Edinburgh Markets and Customs.
Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—A false assumption and scandalous abuse of my
name having found its way to your columns in the Marl-
borough-street police reports of yesterday, and being the
only person bearing the title of the old and not undis-
tinguished family, which is to become extinct with me, I
hope you will be kind enough to insert this note in your
widely.circulating paper, as expressing my earliest and
unqualified contradiction of having any connexion with
the parties and statements referred to, so injurious to my
character and social position.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
MORITZ DAM YONDER PFORTE.
Tokenhouse-yard, June 9, 1847.

A splendid sample of barley in the ear, grown by
Wm. Laws, Esq., of Prudhoe Castle, was sent to our office
yesterday, along with a still finer specimen grown by Mr.
Isaac Johnson, of Oyinghaoa Boat-house. The latter mea-
sured four feet six inches in the straw, the grain was well
formed, and the plants altogether were in a most healthy
condition. A very few weeks of fine weather would render
the bulk fit for the sickle. —Newcastle Journal.
NEW WHEAT. We were, on Tuesday, shown an
ear of wheat, grown by William Jeffery Lockett, Esq., of
this town, on the Farnworth estate, near Runcorn. We
believe it is the first shot in this county. The seed was
Im-
ported from New Zealand in October last, and is a new
thing in this hemisphere. It already measures 4 feet 10
inches in the stem, and 7 inches in the ear. On a fair aver-
age of the field there are twenty-five stems to each seed,
and taking the stem shown to us as a basis for calcula-
tion, every seed should produce 1,650 grains of wheat,
an increase which we may venture to call most amazing.
It also gives us great pleasure to inform cur readers that
the potato and every other production of the soil are in
a most promising condition in the locality to which we
have alluded. We have also seen an ear of wheat, sown
at Holt-hill, Cheshire, in the beginning of November. It
stands four feet high, and presents a very promising ap-
pearance.—Liverpool Courier.
EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF DROWNING.—An in-
quest was held on the 7th inst., at iSures St. Mary, before
Harry Wayman, Gent., coroner, on the body of Francis
Hardy, aged about ten years, who, it appears, was bathing
with two other children about eight years old, named Philip
Hurrell and Robert Seymour; and Hardy and Hurrell, try-
ing which could go furthest into the river, got out of their
depth, when Hardy sunk, but Hurrell made a spring and
saved himself. The two boys, fearing punishment, sank the
clothes of the deceased with stones, and stayed fishing for an
hour before they gave information' of what had happened !
There being no marks of violence on the body, the jury found
a verdict of " Accidental Death," but, reprimanded the boys
for their conduct.—Bury Post.
THUNDER-STORM.—Manchester was yesterday
afternoon visited by a rather heavy thunder-storm, which
continued from about half-past four to a quarter past
five o'clock. About five there was a flash of light-
ning so vivid and brilliant, and followed so immedi-
ately by a sharp and rattling peal of thunder, as to
produce a general impression that the lightning must
have fallen somewhere near the centre of the town,
and this imprevion proved to be perfectly correct. It
struck the lofty chimney of the calender works of
Mr. Pollitt, adjoining Corporation-street, in which it has
left very obvious marks of its force, in the shape of a
ragged and irregular groove in the brickwork, ex-
tending from the roof of the building• to the summit of
the chimney, where a small portion of the stone coping
has been displaced. Between the roof of the calender
house and the earth the electric fluid has evidently
passed along an upright shaft of iron which extends
from the basement very nearly to the roof. As in almost
every case of damage by lightning which, has come
under our notice, there are evident marks of upward
action. The lead 'lashings affixed to the chimney at its
junction with the roof have been partly melted and
partly bent upwards. What seems rather curious is,
that in many places, the lightning has displaced the
mortar from between the bricks, through the entire
thickness of the brickwork; and the draught of the
chimney has consequently been considerably injured by
the air which flows in through the crevices thus created.
Apparently, however, the stability of the structure is
not at all affected, and the inconvenience just mentioned
will be easily obviated by pointing the brickwork with
mortar.—, anehester Guardian of Wednesday.
SEIZURE OF AN ILLICIT DISTILLERY.—The Excise
officers Messrs. Kay and Pargeter have effected the seizure
of another illicit distillery, at 39, Hare. street, Bethnal-
green. From informationreceived, they proceeded to the
premises kept by a man named Thomas Rebbeck, carrying
on the business of an oil and colourman, and also entered as
a retailer of tobacco. They went into the back parlour,
where they found a curiously-contrived trap-door, which
was concealed by the floor- cloth. On opening
it, by a lad-
der they descended to the cellar where the object of their
search soon presented itself. A ;till was fitted-up in brick-
work, with a fire under it, and running off strong spirits,
and a quantity of molasses wash was prepared for feeding
the same. The stock of spirits found was what is techni-
cally called " feints," and other spirits had been recently re-
moved for sale. The fittings and utensils were on the usual
scale, with a large number of barrels, &c. The trap-door
above mentioned was the only means of ingress to the cellar,
and might have defied the strictest search, but for the accu-
rate information received. The whole of the seizure was de-
posited in a van, and conveyed to the Excise warehouses in
Broad-street. The owner has at present escaped from the
officers.
CAUTION TO HOUSEKEEPERS.—On Sunday evening
last, between half-past six o'clock and eight, during the
absence of the family at chapel, the house of Mr.
William Hulme, rope manufacturer, Lodge-lane, Liver-
pool, was entered by thieves, and property to the amount
of 1001. in gold and notes was abstracted. The thieves
made their entrance at the back kitchen window, and
ransacked the house. They had laid out a quantity of
clothes, with which it is believed they intended to
decamp, but finding the money, they left everything else.