The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-09 00:00:00

IMPORT DUTIES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR—The duties levied on sugar and molasses in 1840
appears, by a return recently published, to have been
four millions eight hundred thousand pounds sterling,.,
On spirits two millions six hundred thousand pound:.
On tobacco three millions and a half sterling. The prin-
cipal consumers of these articles are tha middle and
lower classes of society, a very large section of whom
are unrepresented in Parliament, myself among tiee
number. I would suggest that a strong and convincine,
demonstration of the impolicy of high duties may! be
conveyed to the minds of the new Ministry by the lower
and middle classes of society abstaining as much as pos-
sible (totally, if possible) from the use of these articles
until our legislators see fit to materially reduce the cost
of them to the consumers. When the revenue falls short
a few millions per annum more than at present a change
in taxation will be inevitable, and John Bull may perhaps
be able to purchase coffee at Bd. per lb., retail sugar at
4d., as at Hamburgh, and spirits, tobacco, and other
articles in proportion. Let all zealous reformers speak
through the revenue as well as through petitions and
public meetings on a large scale, and the result will be
a pretty considerable fall in the prices of many articles.
With regard to sugar I have began what I recommend—L
namely, to drink none in my tea and coffee, though I
use it with acid fruit. A few years ago we paid 6d. per
lb. retail for sugar, now nothing under 9d.
Your constant reader,
Torquay, Sept. 7, 1841. A FAMILY MAN.

FUNGUS VEGETATION IN WINE CELLARS.
—ln the wine vaults of the London Docks this kind of
vinous fungi hangs like dark woolly clouds from the
roof, completely shrouding the brick arches from obser-
vation. On a small piece being torn off, and applied to
the flame of a candle, it burns like a piece of tinder.
Should wine escape from a cask in a moist and ill-venti-
lated cellar, it will altogether resolve into fungi of a sub-
stantial kind. A circumstance of this kind once came
under the notice of Sir Joseph Banks. Having a cask
of wine rather too sweet for immediate use, he ordered
that it should be placed in a cellar to ripen. At the end
of three years he directed his butler to ascertain the state
of the wine ; when, on attempting to open the cellar-
door, he could not effect it, in consequence of some
powerful obstacle. The door was therefore cut down,
when the cellar was found to be completely filled with
a firm fungous vegetable production, so substantial as
to require an axe for its removal. This appeared to
have grown from, or to have been nourished by, the de-
composed particles of the wine ; the cask being empty,
and buoyed up to the ceiling, where it was supported by
the surface of the fungus.
FALLING OF TWO HOUSES—SERIOUS AC-
CIDENT AND MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.—On Tuesday after-
noon, about five o'clock, much excitement was occa-
c2ooasnegdu2el7 e a
nodf
it
occa-
sioned in Nelson-place, Circus-street, Marylebone, in
n the falling
reported
ling of two t h
at housestw o therein,ehildrenNhoads.
which report, however, happily proved to
It appears that the above place, which runs
hbeee tniolti.e killed, d ,
between Circus-street and Stingo-lane, is the property
the
of a gentleman named Findley, and consists of about 30
and occupied by very poor
pheorsusoenss,.le t
For
rt
sionme tenements,time
past
tottering condition. The house No.y have been in a very
20, had only recently
been empty, having been vacated by its occupants as
unsafe, and at the above hour it suddenly fell in with a
T washe
They
sometreur)k down
bricks,ow n
tremendous crash, carrying away part of O. 21, greatly
alarming an Irish labourerand his wife, who were in the
0 andodagainst-work
iiifnewhomille.y,
y had a very
narrow escape. A
tiles,lad,ofatthteeaw,
namedcarried to the Mar
parlour
andsipttarintg
Marylebone In-
firmary,by some bricks ;
he
was
found that his skull was
fractured,
where it was
severely injured.
and that he was otherwise

A We believe
that theW cEhSaTraAcltOerß
(.fL
aA
WNDestjmUoßreYlaillAjNu7yman is pretty
generally known, and although they do not rank
the very highest in the scale of excellence, there may
occasionally be found glimpses of originality and symp-
toms of independence of thought and action which would
far exceed the demure punctiliousness of more accom-
plished juries. The following is a case in point:—A
worthy farmer, whose crops were ready for housing,
after having been for some time exrosed to bad weather,
was most unwillingly obliged to leave all and attend at
Appleby to decide some momentous case or cases, and
by his verdict vindicate the righteousness of the law.
Many a time and oft did his racked ingenuity devise
liberating things for his devised absence from the wigs
and robes, white, black, and scarlet, of which he was so
uneasy a spectator. At length, grown desperate in his
impatience, he summoned courage and walked up to the
Judge—took hold of his bristly toppin and pulled it as
submissively and respectfully as he knew how, and got
himself deliveree:. of the following most humble request:—
" I say, sir, I've gitten me hay down, and I sud like et
gang yham, if ye'l excuse me, if ye pleas like." The
Learned Judge looked unutterable things at Johnny
Roe, but assured him if what he wanted was to leave
the Court and go home, he could not interfere, and he
must do his duty.—Kendahlfercury.