The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-28 00:00:00

WILLS AND BEQUESTS.

The will of the Right Hon. Henry William Cavendish
Scott Bentinck, known as Lord Henry Bentinck, for-
merly M. P. for North Nottingham, and heir presumptive
to the dukedom of Portland, was proved in the London
Court on the 19th instant, and the personal property
sworn under £500,000. The executors appointed are his
cousin, George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck,
Esq., formerly M.P. for Taunton, who alone took the
grant, power being reserved to the Hon. C. A. Ellis, the
other executor, to prove hereafter. The will is dated July,
1868, with three codicils 1869-70, His lordship recites
certain deeds of settlement by which estates held by him
will devolve to his relatives, members of the family of
Lord Howard de Walden. His lordship has left a life in-
terest, chargeable on his landed estates, to his sister, Lady
Howard de Walden. He directs that his horses, pointers
fox and deer hounds shall be sold. He appoints his said
cousin, George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck,
Esq., residuarylegatee of both his real and personal estate.
—The will of Madeline, Countess Blucher de Wahlstatt,
relict of Gustave, Count Blucher de Wahlstatt, of Baden-
Baden, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in the kingdom of
Prussia, but late of Capernwray Hall, Lancaster, was
proved in London, on the 13th inst., under £lB,OOO per-
sonalty in England, by her nephew, George Blucher
Heneage Marton, Esq., and her sister, Mrs. Lucy Marton.
She leaves to her said nephew a legacy of £l,OOO ;
and to her sister her diamonds and other
jewellery, and all money at her banker's. To
her nieces, Eliza Flower and Adelaide Mowbray,
each a legacy of £l,OOO. She bequeaths he property and
estates in Germany to her nephew, Count Gustave
Blucher. The residue of her property in England she
leaves to the children of her late sister, Catherine H.
Passy, and Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund W. W. Passy,
equally amongst them.—The will of George Smythe,
Esq., was proved under £160,000; that of Samuel Johns,
Esq., under £60,000; and that of Henry Oakley, Esq.,
merchant, of Monmouth, under £2s,ooo.—lllustrated
London News.

RETIREMENT OF PROFESSIONAL COUNTY CRICKET
PLAYERS. —Four well-known county professionals will re-
tire from the cricket field during the next season. Edgar
Willsher, the great bowler, of Kent; John Lillywhite, of
Sussex ; H. H. Stephenson, of Surrey ; and Roger Iddi-
son, of Yorkshire, will severally have benefits and take
their farewell from the cricket field. Daft, the celebrated
Nottingham batsman, who sustained an accident while
playing cricket last season, has sufficiently recovered to
ensure his reappearance in the field in the approaching
season. Oxford University has elected C. B. Tylecoat as
Captain of the Dark Blues, and Cambridge University
will be represented by W. Yardley, Esq., as Captain of
the Cantabs. The split between the Oxonians and Surrey
County Eleven will preclude a match between them being
played next season.
RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES.—The
American Railroad Journal states that as many as 5,574
miles of new railroad were opened for traffic in the United
States last year, which brought the total up to 54,435
miles. The average cost of the new road was over forty
thousand dollars per mile. The greatest increase may be
noticed in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, where subscrip-
tions in the form of bonds have greatly stimulated rail-
way construction. The companies building railroads in
Alabama and Georgia have been ercouraged by State
subsidies. North Carolina could not profit by these sub-
sidies, on account of the breaking out of the Euro-
pean war, which closed foreign markets against American
bonds, and interfered with the progress of companies.
Had peace continued, it is probable that ten thousand
miles of railroad would have been ,completed during 1870.
The great overland lines cost more than a hundred thou-
sand dollars per mile ; .but the average cost of railroads in
the United. States is under forty-eight thousand dollars
per mile. In the South the • cost of railroad building has
not exceeded twenty-five thousand dollars per mile. One
half of the present total has been constructed since 1870,
and the total is equal to the railroads of all other parts
of the world. It is larger than the circumference of the
earth.