The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-31 00:00:00

FAILURE IN THE IRON TRAM:
BIRMINGHAM, WEDNESDAY.—To-day a meeting of
the creditors of Messrs. Sharpe, Brown, Burgess, and
Morriss, who have been extensively engaged as manu-
facturers in the above trade, in Halifax, and in this
town, took place at the Union Inn. It appeared that
the debts of the house amount to about 31,0001., and
the assets to about 15,0001. One of the bankers at
Halifax claimed for 5,0001., exclusive of 3,0001. for
which they hold security. Messrs. Foster and
Bradley, iron masters, claim for 7,5001.; nearly 100
creditors share the loss of the residue. It was pro•
posed to pay Os. in the pound, at four instalments of
three, six, nine, and twelve months ; the two last
payments to be guaranteed. After a full investiga-
tion of the affairs it was agreed to accept the pro-
posal, but a further adjournment became necessary.
The proposed securities, who reside in Scotland,
had only agreed to guarantee one instalment, and the
adjournment took place to obtain their further con-
sent. Messrs. Brown and Co. have been only three
years engaged in business in this town. The prinei,
pal creditors reside in the neighbourhood of Stour-
bridge and Brierly Hll, and few in this town are
losers by their failure. In noticing this failure it may
be observed that the iron trade throughout the whole
district is in a most depressed state ; and other cases
of pecuniary embarrassment have recently been
settled. The men at some of the works have turned
out, and refused to submit to a reduction of their
wages, of which they have received notice. How far
they will succeed in prevailing upon the masters to
rescind their resolution is very doubtful, in the face
of the fact that a declaration of a reduction in the
price of iron to the amount of at least 30s. or V. will
be made at the forthcoming quarter-day. We do not
know that there has ever been so sudden and violent
a reaction in any branch of trade as that which has
taken place in the iron trade.

THE POST MAGAZINE ALMANACK FOR

1848.

As the proprietor of this Almanack justly observes,
what the public want is a correct almanack for 1844,
and not one published as early as possible in 18414
and by delaying the publication of the Post Ma-
gazine Almanach to the latter end of December,
he has been enabled to secure this correctness.
'This is the only almanack for 1848, which ws
have seen that records the changes consequent
upon the death of the late Archbishop of
York, and notices the recent appointments of
Colonial Governors, and the election of Mr. Sala.,
mons as Alderman, in the room of Mr. Thomas
Wood. Another great feature of this work is the
immense mass of information it contains respecting
the various Insurance Offices of the United Kingdom.
It also notices the new Postal arrangements which
have recently taken place. In fact, it is what it
professes to be, an almanack for 1848.

PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Yesterday the
500th anniversary of Pembroke College was celebrated
at Cambridge.
A burglary and robbery was committed by armed
men on the night of the 17th instant, at the house of
Mr. Haves, Simon's Wood, Ormskirk.
THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE NORTH MIDLAND
RAILWAY.—The adjourned inquest relative to the deaths
of Robert Leppington and Thomas Redshaw, cattle
jobbers, resulting from a morning mail train running into
a goods train at Brotherton, on the above line, was held
at York on Weit;eAay, when, after a lengthened and
ridiculous discussion between the foreman and the jury,
the foreman wishing to bring in a verdict of man•
slaughter against the whole company, a verdict of acci-
dental death was finally returned.
THE DEAD SEA.—There appears to be no antis•
factory evidence as to whether any fish are to be found
in the Dead S-a. Our guides said that some small black
fish had been seen there, but others deny this. A dead
fish had been found on the shore, near the spot where
the Jordan enters the lake ; but this might have been
cast up by the overflow of the river. It is said that
small birds do not fly over the lake, on account of the
deleterious nature of the atmosphere. About small
birds I cannot speak; I saw two or three vultures wing-
ing their way obliquely down it, however. The curious
lights which hung over the surface struck me as showing
an unusual state of the atmosphere—the purple murky
light resting on one part, and the line of silvery refrac-
tion on another. Though the sky was clear after the
morning clouds had passed away, the sunshine appeared
dim, and the heat was very oppressive. The gentlemen
of the party who stayed behind to bathe, declared on
rejoining us at lunch time, that they found the common
report of the buoyancy of the water of this sea not at
all exaggerated, an :f that it was indeed an easy matter to
float on it, and very difficult to sink. They also found
the hair and skin powdered with salt when dry; but they
could not admit the greasiness or stickiness which is said
to adhere to the skin after bathing in the Dead Bea.—
Miss Martineau.

THE DUKE DB LA VICTORIA.—After a sojourn in
this country of nearly four years and a half, the puke
de la Victoria left London yesterday, on his return to
Spain.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Edwin
Saunders, Esq., cf George-street, Hanover-square, to be
dentist in ordinary to her Majesty.
The British and North American Royal Mail
steam-ship Britannia, Capt. Harrison, passed Holyhead
yesterday, inward bound, at 3 o'clock rad. She will
bring papers from Boston to the 16th inst.
THE BIGAMY CASE AT • HUDDERSPIRLD.—This
case, in which Miss Nicol, of Glasgow. is the prosecu-
trix, and Mr. Hellawell, surgeon, of Hudderateld, the
n.p Party aorta. n whinh WaS rapr..-5 of
October 16 as having been heard before the Hudders-
field Bench of Magistrates on the Thursday previously,
came before the Grand Jury at York Assizes on Wed-
nesday, when, after a full investigation into the circum-
stances, the bill was ignored, and the case dismissed as
one of the most shameful extortion and conspiracy that
could possibly be trumped up.—Manchester Examiner.
COURT-MARTIAL AT DEVONPORT.—A Court-
martial took place at Devonport, on board the San
Josef, flag-ship of the Port Admiral, on Monday, to try
a seaman of the Columbia steam-vessel, for desertion,
arid entering on board an American merchant schooner.
The proceedings commenced at ten, and the case closed •
at two, when the prisoner was found guilty, and sen-
tenced to be imprisoned three calendar months, and for-
feit all arrears of pay.
THE NEW POSTAL CONVENTION DETWERN ENG-
LAND AND FRANCE.—This long-desired international
communication with England and France, which has
been looked forward to with great interest on both
sides of the Channel, will at last be fully carried out by
the establishing of two daily mails from London to Paris,
and vice versa. The facilities afforded by the South-
Eastern Railway to Folkestone and Dover, and the.
Boulogne Railway to Amiens and Paris (nearly com-
pleted), will open in a very short time a grand trunk
line from the northern to the southern extremity of
France, and whets the railway from Lyons to Marseilles
is finished, will cause a great development to the com-
mercial intercourse between the Mediterranean and this
country and our Indian empire, by a rapid correspon-
dence by steam and locomotion. According to the new
arrangement, the mail by way of Boulogne will leave
Paris daily at eight in the evening, and reach there the
next day at four in the morning, and London at half-
past ten in the morning. The mail from London by the
same route s ill be dispatched daily (Sunday excepted)
at eight in the evening. The mail will be delivered to
the post-office of Boulogne next day at half-past two in
the morning, and reach Paris at half-past ten in the
morning. The mail by way of Calais will leave Paris
daily at noon, and reach Calais at ten at night and Lon-
don at half-past four next morning. The mail from
London by the same route will be dispatched daily, at
eleven in the morning, and delivered the next morning
at Paris at half-past four. The French steam-packets
will convey the mails to and from Calais and Dover, and
the British packets to and from Boulogne and Dover.
NEW Fox TRAP.—We have frequently heard of
mice and rats, and such small game, being caught by
oysters, but the entrapment of a fox by a muscle is a
novelty which has been reserved for the especial wonder
of the present generation. For stalwart men, fiery
steeds, and fierce dogs to turn out with " whoop, and
shout, and wild hallo," to perform what can be achieved
by a solitary muscle on the banks of Loch Carron, will
hereafter, perhaps, be regarded as something ridiculous.
The Inverness Courier states that immense muscles, some
of which are almost as large as a man's shoe, are found
lat Ardinisgain, on Loch Carron. A few days since one
of these muscles was left uncovered by a spring ebb tide,
and was induced by the rays of the sun to open itself.
While thus open, it was observed by a prowling fox,
which thrust its tongue into the shell in the hope of
securing the fish; but the muscle instantly closed on the
tongue of the fox, which was retained a prisoner until
drowned by the rising tide.