The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-15 00:00:00

MANSION-HOUSE.

John Macer, the master of a hatch-boat, called the
" Saucy Jack," belonging to Gravesend, appeared before
the Lord Mayor on Friday, the 7th inst., on a summons
issued at the instance of Mr. Bacley, of Barking, the
owner of a fishing smack called the " William and
Sarah," for not having delivered two bushels of soles
which were entrusted to him.by the master of the smack
to carry to Billingsgate. A postponement of the case
for a short time was in consequence of the absence of a
witness.

It appea re( 1 by the evidence of the master of the smack,
that the d ?fl.ndant having been engaged to carry his
cargo to Bi llingsgate, received, amongst other fish, seven-
teen bushel 3 of soles, of which he delievered only fifteen,
and on bein g asked what had become of the other two
bushels, rep lied that the master had sold them at Graves-
end to apc mon called Dutch Jack. The truth of this
statement was denied by the master of the smack and
one of the c re w, and Dutch Jack was sent for.
Mr. Goldlta,m, the Clerk of Billingsgate-market, at the
second heal* g of the case before Alderman Pixie, stated
that the pra ?lice of breaking bulk in the quantities of
fish intended. for the London market—a practice which
was illegal ar 11 punishable by severe penalties—on account
of the preji ad ice it did to the London dealers and consumers,
had been c arried on to a great extent in the vicinity of
Gravesend,. insomuch as that cod-fish, wheirat the price of
10s. each in ;the metropol;s, were to be had at Gravesend for
five shill;n gs each. The case before the Alderman was
one of tha t description, and in most instances the fish
were not o ely stolen by the hatch-boat men, but were
sold, as a mar:fitter of course, to the serious injury of the
honest de, tle r.

John Fie 'Terdt, who stated that he was a Dutchman,
and an ex .temive dealer in fish at Gravesend, appeared
to be exti .emely indignant at the cognomen of " Dutch
Jack," st ated that he went on board boats containing
fish, but 'lle denied that any of the soles alluded to had
been bought by him. He admitted that he had looked
at the soles in the William and Mary.

Mr. Gc.-Idham said that De Wet-At was in the habit of
employi y ; men to be on the look-out, in order to break
bulk in fishing-boats, although he knew perfectly well
that it i s against the law to buy any fish out of a vessel
before it reached Billingsgate.
De M'erdt said that if the sanction of the owner were
given„ tulk might be broken. He got his livelihood in as
honest a way as any man.
Th e defendant declared that he never counted the fish,
and t. .a,t he delivered at Billingsgate all he received.
The' complainant stated and proved that the fish hail
been regularly counted, and that the deficiency was to
the ex.-tc.nt described.

Alder man PIRIE said he was of opinion that the case
ought tc, be sent for decision to the Cent& Criminal
Court ; but after consulting Mr. Hobler, stated that
perhaps, under the existing circumstances, the exposure
of the system, and the assurance that in every. future de-
tected case prosecution at the Central Criminal Court
should ,follow, would be sufficient. He accordingly ad-
monished the defendant very seriously, and told him
that he was for that time at liberty.
The inquiry was conducted by Mr. Griffin, of Ilford,
on the part of the Barking. Fishing Association,who stated
that th ere were upwards of 150 fishing vessels belonging to
that pl ace, the owners of which had reason to believe
not on: ly that great quantities of fish were taken from
theirh atch-boats on their way from Gravesend to Billings-
gate, 1 that many of the masters and crews of the
smacl iu had been in the habit of secretly semng the fish
that gen) intended for the London market, to persons at
Gray ?send, to the injury of the owners and in direct
violat ion of the provisions of the several acts of Parlia-
ment for the regelation of the fishery ; and that the
owner 13 had determined, if possible, to put a stop to the
practice, and for that purpose had not only prohibited
their i t •asters and crews from selling any of their fish at
Grave 3, end, but had warned the buyers that if they were,
found d ealing with any of the masters and crews so pro-
hibited, they would render themselves liable to be pro-
secuted as receivers of stolen goods..
The Marine Society, whose duty it is to see that the
provisio as of the Acts of Parliament for the supply of
the Lcs idon market with fish are duly enforced,
have, m t the instance of the Barking Association.
dismiss tea their late inspector at Gravesend, and appointed
a new ; and they hop that this measure, with ths
assistai ice of so experienced and able an officer as Mr.
Goldha m, -will have the effect of completely checking the
evil.

VESS' MS SPOKEN WITH.-The Mary of Jersey, for Monte
Video, I Larch 23, lat. 2, N., long. 23. Path, Clyde to the
Cape of Good Hope, 24, lat. 3, long. 23. Gambia, River
Gambia to, London, lat. 31, long. 40, by the Columbia packet,
arrived, at Cork. Maria, Marseilles to Mauritius, 30th ult.
Lord Ogleby, Morris, Smyrna to Liverpool, 3d ult., off Ma-
laga ; Maria Louisa, America to Penzance, 2d inst., in the
Strait s of Gibraltar, by the British Queen, arrived in the
Creel James and Thomas, Hull to Bombay, 7th ult., lat. 6,
N., I ong. 2/ W. Eltheldred, London to Jamaica. 21st, lat.
27, bang. 40. Warrior, Leghorn to London, 24th, lot. 33'
long. 41 . Nymph, Cadiz to Newfoundland, sth inst., lat. 42,
long. 22 by the Alexander, arrived at Portsmouth. Hebe of
Swansa' 4th inst., lat. 50, long. 9, by the Andrew White, ar-
rived at Holy Loch. Clarissa of Nantes, from 51artinique,
20th in st., lat. 42, long. 87 ; Welcome of Jersey, 24th, lat.
45, lon g. 33 ; Streatham Castle, Clyde to New York, 3
lat. 52,, Jong. 15, by the Nina, arrived in the Clyde. 1\
thunan is, Newcastle to Quebec, lit, lot. 49, long. 17, by th,
Harvest Live-
rpool Home,
Kate., arrived in the Clyde. Endreyht. St. Übes to Baltimore,
out e ight .days, and supplied with Weed, Sze., 7th ult., lat. 39,
long. 57 ,; Tyne, Newcastle to Quebec, 18th ; Caroline,
Aber dean to ditto, 21st, lat 48, long. 38 ;
New4;astle to ditto, same (lay ; Powhsttan, from Liverpool,
27th, long. 54, by the Sterling, arrived in the Clyde.
Rinti ke ditto, to Newfoundland, 2(1, lat. 57 ; Ahsl
pool to, 'New York, 15th, lat. 35, long. 45, by the Halyards,
arrived in the Downs. William Nichol, Manilla to ham_
burgh, 4 tth, lat 41. long. 24, by the Duke of Bedford, arrived
in the I )owns. Falcon. Liverpool to Bonny, out thirty_eight
(lays, Ist .7, N., long. 17 W. ; John Brooks, of Liverpool, for
St. Th 3 mmass,lth ult., lat. 25, long. 34 ; Lady Seaton, 27th,
lat. 45 „Vong. 26 ; Urania of L olong. radon, 9th, lat. 50, 6
the V. gth'ia, arrived in the Downs.by

7.. he ci'tizens of Winchester are not backward ; a
rep
Asiti„ i g in course of signature to the Mayor, requestin
hir Ito conveys to petition the Legislature for a
re C.
peal of the '
leoran-mlaewest-i—ngWilts Independent.