The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-11 00:00:00

IRELAND.

(PROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, SUNDAY EVENING, DEC. 9.—This was
one of the most foggy days I have ever seen here.
It was far more like a day one might expect in the
fuliginous atmosphere of Manchester than in this
usually clear-aired city. I scarcely ever, even in
London, witnessed a fog so damp, palpable, and
oppressive. The weatherwise say it is the forerunner
of frost and snow, and agriculturists hope it may be so.
The provincial papers received to-day do not con-
tain any additional news of much novel import. The
Limerick and other western papers contain melan-
choly statements of the condition of some unions.

The following is their report :
STATE Or KILRUSH Umorr.—A crisis has taken
place at last in the Kilrush Union. Notwithstanding the
exertions of the local board and poor•law inspector, the
indoor paupers were obliged to go to bed without dinner
on Thursday night. The master brought the state of
the house, as regards want of provisions for that day,
before the board, when soup and chopped turnips grown
on the land was the only food available. The outdoor
paupers are in a desperate state, crowding the depots,
and following the relieving officers by thousands to town
to get into the workhouse: but one day's admissions
(SOO admitted) so crowded the auxiliary that admission
was impossible. Barley, the produce of the land about
the workhouse, has been ordered to be threshed; but are
2,600 paupers to be fed on the principle of " live horse
and you'll get grass?" It is fearful to think of the
state of the Kilrush Union—nothing but starving
creatures from the country to be seen pouring in to a
starving workhouse. The board meet every day; but
if we are to judge from the general confession of that
body, they are able to effect no good. The chairman, Col.
C. M. Vandeleur, took the ehair on Friday, and his pre •
sence was sufficient, it was thought, to get the " needful,"
but to no purpose—outdoor paupers and relieving officers
were sent home, and indoor paupers recommended to go
to bed. The coroner attended an inquest cn a man who
was found in a dying state on the side of the road near
Kilmurray. Mortality in the workhouse has been small,
but owing to the able-bodied on the out-door relief
being struck off, the deaths in that department are
every day increasing to a frightful extent. Relieving
offieers complain that they must bury their dead without
coffins. The board on Friday agreed to petition the
Poor-law Commissioners on the state of the union, and
said that the guardians would not be morally respon-
sible for the deaths that may occur through starvation.—
Limerick Chronicle.
Communications reached us at an advanced hour on
Saturday, stating that between six and seven hundred
people, who, in the hope of relief were brought into the
workhouse on Friday, from the districts of Kilmurray,
Kilkee, and Lilkofin, had to be sent back, not a particle
of food remaining in the workhouse.—Limerick Ex-
aminer.

Tunr UNlON.—Robert Bodkin, Esq., chairman of the
Tuam board of guardians, at the ordinary weekly meet-
ing of the board, on Wednesday, brought forward a
report of the financial state of the union, from which we
take the following extract:—" I regret to state my un-
qualified conviction, that the affairs of this union have
been greatly mismanaged; and although I am far from
attributing corrupt motives, as its cause, the
figures I shall submit to you will show
that the result has been equally disastrous to the
already overburdened ratepayers. Referring to the last
published report of the Poor-low Commissioners, we
find the expense of the Tuam Union for the year ending
the 29th of September, 1848, amounted to 18,663/. Os. 7d.,
and for the year ending the 29th of September, 1849,
the expenditure increased to the enormous sum of
32,4191. 193. 93., during a season when food
was more than twenty per cent. cheaper than
in the preceding one. I hare, in vain, looked for
any grounds for this immense outlay, and comparing the
expenses of the Galway Union for the same period, I
have ascertained that they did not exceed 36,7051. 175,81.
When we consider the acknowledged poverty of a very
large portion of that union—when we take into account
tint its population is larger by 13,997 (almost I.4th)
than that of 'ream—when we find the numbers in it re-

lieved so vary much greater—it cannot, I apprehend, be
denied that our funds have been, at least, most carelessly
disposed of. You may judge of the abuses which have
characterised the administration of your affairs from
the fact of the vice guardians having entered into con-
tracts for the supply of articles to the workhouse on
the very day previous to their removal; and amongst
them we find one for meat, for six months, at the
exorbitant price of 4id. per lb., the same being con-
tracted for, for a similar period, at the South Dublin
union, as lam informed, at the rate of 20. per lb. It
must be in the recollection of the board that, when it
was dissolved, the debts of the union amounted to
6,4011. 17s. 4d., and, I lament to say, they have bean
allowed to accumulate to the sum of 12,2651., though
our rates have been larger, and more promptly paid
than those of any of the neighbouring unions.'
Herald.
The Court of Appeal—a court modelled somewhat
on the principle of the Court of Cassation, in Paris—
held its first sitting here on Saturday. The following
is the report :
OOURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL.

This Court, constituted under the provisions of the 1
11th and 12th Vic., c. 78, sat on Saturday at twelve
o'clock (for the first time in this country) in the matter
of Samuel Otway, who was convicted at the last Dublin.
Commission for having arms and ammunition in his.
custody without a licence, as required by the 11th Vie.,
chap. 2.
The Judges present were—the Lord Chief Justice, the'
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Judges
Perrin, Jackson, and Ball.
Mr. A. CURRAN, on behalf of the traverser, stated
that this was a case reserved by Judges Ball and
Crampton at the last commission, on the ground that
the Crown had failed in proof of the posting or
copies of the proclamation and abstract, as required
by the 2d section, and of the notices to deliver up arms,
as required by the 11th section, near all places of public
worship, and on every police station and barrack
within the district named in the proclamation, in order
to give information to all persons likely to be affected
thereby—such posting being, as counsel contended,
indispensable and necessary before any offence could
be committed under the provisions of this Act. He
argued that the words were mandatory and not'directory, 4
as alleged by the Attorney-General ; and further,
that having averred the posting as an essential in- I
gredient in the charging part of the indictment, in both
counts, they were bound to prove in the aifiirmative a. /t.
full compliance with the conditions precedent as by law
required. The Learned Counsel then read and collated.
the several sections of the Act, and cited several cases in
support of his view of the case. Mr. Curran having
concluded his clear and able argument,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in reply, stated that he
only intended to support the second count, which was for
having arms elsewhere than in his dwelling-house„
which did not require the posting of the notice, as re-
quired by the 11th section—the second count having:
been framed under the 9th section only, and not under
the 12th, which did not allude to the posting. He said.
that, in his opinion, the 2d section was only directory, at
least so far as the offence charged in the second count.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL followed, and cited several?
oases to show that the 'portion of the averment as to
posting might be rejected as surplusage.
Mr. CURRAN having replied,
After a long consultation, the CHIEF JUSTICE an..
nounced that the Court would deliver judgment out
Monday, at three o'clock.
Counsel for the Crown—The Attorney-General, the
Solicitor -General, Mr. Baldwin, Q.C., and Mr. Smyly ;
agent, Mr. Kemmis.
Counsel for the traverser, John A. Curran ; agent,
Mr. C. Fitzgerald.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE.

A meeting of the inhabitants of Newcastle•under-
Lyme was held on Thursday at Newcastle, in com.
plisnce with a requisition to the Mayor, who presided
en the occasion, for the adoption of measures to insure
the speedy completion of the Newcastle branch of the
North Staffordshire Railway. The meeting was con-
vened in consequence of the North Staffordshire
Company having given notice of application to Pars
liament for powers to abandon that branch, together
with two other branches, and also to repeal a clause
in the company's Act, whieh provides that, unless the
Newcastle branch be completed within twelve months
after the opening of the N orth Staffordshire line from
Macclesfield to Colwick, it shall not be lawful for the
company to declare any dividend until the Newcastle
branch shall have been completed. After some dis-
cussion on the propriety of compelling the company
to construct the line, and the necessity of opposing
the proposed application to Parliament, resolutions
were passed to the effect that the meeting was of
opinion that the extension of the railway was of
vital importance to the prosperity of the district,
and viewed with great dissatisfaction the proceed.
ings of the directors, having for their object the aban-
donment of the branch, in violation of an agreement,
and approving of the prompt and energetic proceed-
ings of the town•council in protesting against the
proposed abandonment of the branch ; that the mem-
bers for the borough and the members for the county
be requested to oppose the Bill in Parliament by
every means in their power; and that the Duke of
Sutherland and other Peers he solicited to give their
earnest opposition to the Bill in the House of Lords.
A committee. was appointed to carry the resolutions
into Deflect, consisting of Messrs. Turner, Cooper,
Beardmore, Tilsby, Phillips, Mason, Crew, Cart-
wright, Spark, and Slaney.

SUREWSBURY AND CHESTER.
It appears that the London and North-Western
Company have recently commenced an active op-
position to the above company by running two omni-
buses twice a day to Wrexham and Ruabon, at about
half the usual fare charged by the Shrewsbury and.
Chester Company, owing to the latter having carried
on similar operations on the Liverpool road in op-
position to the railways of the other company. It is
believed that this omnibus opposition, commenced, in.
the first instance, by the Shrewsbury and Chester
parties, and which has been going on for some time,
is nothing more than a scheme of the directors to.
alarm the shareholders, and bring about an amalga-
mation of the two companies.

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE-
It appears that considerable dissatisfaction exists
among certain merchants, traders, and others, in
consequence of the manner in which the goods traffic
on this line is conducted, and the unequal charges
per mile on certain portions of the railway. It is