The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-18 00:00:00

LIGHT DUTIES.

The Corporation of Trinity House have not reduced
their light duties since the report of the Select Committee
of the Honourable the House of Commons on Light-
houses of 1845. The subject has, nevertheless, received
due attention on their part ; anti although they are per-
suaded that the expectation that relief would be afforded
to the shipowner by the reduction of those dues would
not be realised, the Elder Brethren admit the principle,
that it is desirable that the charges on shipping should
not be unnecessarily large; and they trust that the state
of the Corporation's finances will justify them in submit-
ting propositions for the reduction or modification of their
light and buoyage dues, for the sanction of her Majesty
in Council, in the course of the present year.
J. HERBERT, Secretary.
Trinity House, London, Jan. 26, 1847.

RECRUITING IN GLASGOW.
A FEMALE RECRUIT.

Last Saturday the East India Company's recruiting-
sergeant, stationed here, was applied to by a splendid
looking young fellow to be admitted as a recruit. Con-
gratulating himself on his good luck, the sergeant led
the way to the rendezvous, where the recruit was found
to be 5 ft. 51 in. in height. The chest and legs were
examined as usual, though the worthy sergeant con-
sidered this proceeding quite unnecessary in this instance,
and performed this part of his duty very cursorily. A
bystand-r's eyes were, however, sharper than the
deluded sergeant's, for he saw, while the chest was being
looked at, that the would-be recruit was—a female! To
avoid a closer examination, she at once confessed her
sex, while the disappointed sergeant stood by in gaping
astonishment. She said her name was Anne M‘Lean,
IS years of age ; was a native of Ireland, though of
Scotch parents, who were poor, and that after their death
she had found it difficult to obtain a livelihood. Being
stout and hardy, thought she might pass for a boy : came
to Cork, engaged as a sailor, and went two voyages to
the West Indies. On her return, in November last, got
employment for three weeks in a factory in Glasgow,
but did not like the confinement. Subsequently was
employed about the Broomielaw as a coal porter, and
also at Pollokshaws in field labour. Having a brother in
the East India Company's service. thought she would go
there also, and was much disappointed when discovered.
She bus cousins in Glasgow. and generally passed her-
self off as her younger brother, an. was never even sus-
pected before. She has altogether a manly look ; and
dreysed out in corduroy jacket, moleskin trowers, blue
bonnet, striped shirt, and hob nailed shoes, the masculine
gentler could not be doubted. To avoid suspicion, she
smokes, and can take her glass of whisky or porter like
her would be fellows. Her voice is rather shrill, and is
the only weak point in her assumed character. She left
the soldier., saying she would endeavour to get work on
the railways as a " navvie!" This true tale serves to
confirm the old adage "that truth is sometimes stranger
than fiction."—Scotch Reformers' Gazette.

THE GANG OF CORN STEALERS IN KENT.—At the
Rochester Quarter Sessions, held on Saturday, before James
Espinasse, Esq., Recorder. Mathew Burgess and Charles
Smith. two of the men implicated in the extensive robberies
which have been recently committed in various parts of the
Western Division of Kent, were brought to trial, together
with Robert Jenkins, charged with being an accessory after
the tact. The trial occupied the greater part of the day.
Mr. Rose and Mr. Russell appeared for the prosecution ; Mr.
Addison defended the prisoner Smith and Burgess, and Mr,
T. Hills attended on behalf of the prisoner Jenkins. Barns
and granaries around the neighbourhood of Rochester had re-
cently been robbed to a considerable extent, access to which
had been obtained by means of skeleton keys, 24 of which
were found in the possession of one of the prisoners, and an
inquiry being set on foot, it was found that small quantities
of cornl.Bd at various times been sold to Stephen Charlton,
a corn factor, at Strood, by William Gilbert, who has ab-
sconded. The case was clearly proved against the prisoners
Smith and Burgess, and they were sentenced to seven years'
transportation. Jenkins, through whose instrumentality the
principal offender, Gilbert, has for the present escaped, was
sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour.
We regret to have to announce the death of the
Baroness Frederica, wife of George Traherne Thomas, Esq
and only daughter of the late Baron de Hildprant, of
Blattna and Slabez, in the kingdom of Bohemia, who died at
Prague on the Ist instant, three days after giving birth to a
daughter.
The Great Western Railway has made a very good
regulation in respect to passengers' luggage. In addition to
the label showing the destination of the luggage, a ticket
with the initial letter of the passenger's name is also pasted
on it, and the luggage is sorted alphabetically, so that when
a passenger goes to Paddington, supposing his name is
Brown, he has only to go to a bin marked B, and find his
luggage at once.
ROMANTIC ADVENTURE OF A CHILD—John Dun-
can, the son of a respectable working man in Liverpool,
having been in Scotland for a few weeks last summer,
with his mother and the rest of the family. con-
tracted a strong attachment for the locality and the friends
with whom he resided. Upon his return home he fre-
quently requested his parents to consent to his return,
and latterly became so importunate, that he had to be
chastised in order to drive the notion from his mind of going
to Scotland. Within the last few weeks, unknown to his
family, he had accumulated a small stock of bread and
money ; and on Monday last he might have been seen with
two companions, directing their course towards the Cla-
rence Dock, inquiring in the language of our hero for
the " Stot-land boat." Upon their arrival at the place of
emb irkation all the glowing pictures of the land of cakes
failed to induce his less courageous companions to go on
board, but undaunted, the child went alone, without companion
or guardian, a child seven years of age, with the Commodore,
bound for Glasgow and Greenock. From the last-men-
tioned port he had a further sea voyage to perform of twenty
miles. In a lonely and mountainous district in the Island
of Bute, upwards of 250 miles from the gas-lighted streets of
his native Liverpool, our little voyageur in the grey of even-
ing approached the object of all his longings. a small farm-
house, the inmates of which were gathering round the
cheerful fireside, when a knock was heard at the door.
When opened, they found, to their astonishment, their little
Saxon favourite of the previous summer, cold, wearied, and
hungry; he received a truly Highland welcome, and soon
forgot the toils and dangers of his perilous journey. He
breakfasted on the banks of the Mersey on Monday morn-
ing, and on Tuesday night he slumbered in the land of the
Celt. Such is the romance of steam. Liverpool Journal.
THE SOUTH DEVON LINE.—ATMOSPHERIC TRAC

Tiow.—During the last few days various trials have been
made on the South Devon line, to test the capabilitiest of the
a atmospheric mode of traction, and in every ins
result has been most satisfactory. These
experiments
the
have aroused much curiosity—indeed, the " Atmospheric"'cr't
presents rather a novel appearance; and in the minds of
msny who have been unable to think of a train unless
accompanied by a locomotive engine, with the curling
mass of steam and smoke marking its progress, it has excited
no little wonder and surprise. To the spectator it seems to
glide on without any apparent motive power; and the speed
to which it attains is already very considerable, more than
a mile having been done, in some instances, in one minute.
It must be recollected, however, that these experi-
ments are now only preparatory, and no criterion as
' to what will be achieved when the
conditio extensive
It im as
chinery is brought into good working n.
generally thought by scientific me that
is when the Atmo-
spheric is carried below Newton (where iunderstood the
pipes will be larger) a speed will be obtained, averaging
eighty miles per hour. The determined perseverance of the
board of directors merits approbation for thus endeavouring
to carry out, in spite of every difficulty, a system which in
truth seems at present to comprehend what the public re-
Tb body
motherso f
quires—a mode of travelling Which combines economy with
velocity and safety.—Devonport Independent.
of another chinilda
wraSpUpSedPEuCpTED INFANTICIDES.—On Wednesday morn-
ing,strt e thet. a male child was found in Brooks-street,
wasb u n
discoveredl , a
haven and
on the
tituh ase
as;
et
trei
vi)mye
b in
een
morning, the
0,
dtgvhseewr
dba
to.ed_ry.
Liverpool