The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-12 00:00:00

TATION.

The following official letter from the office of the Se-
cretary of State has been forwarded to the visiting ma-
gistrates of the different gaols in the country .
"Gentlemen,-1 am directed by Secretary Sir George
Grey to acquaint you that in consequence of the sus-
pension of traneportatio❑ of male convicts to Van Die-
men's Land, it w ill be requisite to make immediate
provision for the confinement and employment, in this
country, of a great number of such offenders.
"In order to facilitate the measurei requisite for the
accomplishment of this object, it appears to Sir George
Grey that the temporary imprisonment in the county
and borough prisons of a proportion of male convicts
under sentence of transportation, may be necessary
where there is sufficient accommodation for their recep-
tion, and where appropriate arrangements exist for re-
formatory discipline. I am therefore to request that you
will state, for the information of Sir George Grey, what
number of prisoners can be conveniently lodged in the
prison under your superintendence, without interfering
with its discipline and good order, what has been the
greatest number of prisoners acually confined in the
prison at one time during the present year, and what
system of discipline is in force in the prison.
" Sir George Grey requests me to inform yeu, that a
vote having been taken in the last session of Parliament
for defraying the cost cf maintaining convict prisoners
in gaol, no additional expense will be imposed on the
counties and boroughs in respect of the maintenance of
prisoners who may be retained in or sent to any prison
n pursuance of the contemplated arrangement.
I um, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant,
" S. M. PHILLIPPS.

" Whitehall."

ADMINISTERING POPPY-WATER TO CHILDREN IN
EDMONTON UNION.—VOTE OF CENSURE ON TWO OF
TELE NURSES.—Mr. Higgs, the coroner for the Duchy
of Lancaster, held two inquests in Edmonton Union,
Chase-side, on Thursday, on the bodies of Foundling
Burke, aged nine months, and Eliza Cave, aged ten
months. Harriet Stolworthy said that about five weeks
ago Mary Ann Cave, the mother of one of the children,
was admitted with her illegitimate child, and the other
deceased. At that period the children appeared per-
fectly well, and they remained so until last Tuesday
week, when they seemed in a complete state of stupor.
From the symptoms witness thought they were suffer-
ing from the effects of some narcotic. She immediately
informed Mr. Burke, the master of the union, and a
surgeon was sent for, who attended the children until
their decease. One died on Sunday last, and the other
on Tuesday. Mary Ann Cave had told witness that
she had given one child some decoction of poppies.
The mother of the deceased child Cave, hav-
ing been cautioned by the coroner, said that
about a fortnight since she sent for a large
poppy-head, and put it into three pinta of water,
which she boiled until the liquid was reduced to one
pint. She gave two tea spoonsful to the child Burke on
several occasions to make him sleep, because she wished
to wean him, having to suckle both children. She gave
the mixture openly in the house, and was recommended
to do so by Catherine Bradshaw, one of the nurses. Mr.
John Vale Osbury, of Silver-street, Enfield, surgeon,
said the two children were brought under his notice on
the 22d of March last. He attended daily till they
died. He had opened their bodies, and found that Burke
had died from inflammation of the bronchial tubes and
lungs, anti Cave from inflammation of the pericardium.
lie could not say that death was occasioned by the opiate
taken. Verdict, in accordance with the medical testi-
mony, and the jury censured Catherine Bradshaw for
having advised, and Mary Ann Cave for having ad-
ministered the poppy-water ; and they expressed their
abhorrence of the practice of giving preparations of
opium to young children for the purpose of preventing
their being troublesome to the nurses.
EDINBURGH -QUEEN'S DRIVE.—The gigantic en •
terprise by which a carriage way is formed round Arthur
Seat and Salisbury Crags is now on the eve of comple-
tion. The lowest part of the drive, namely, from St.
Leonard's to Parson's-green, has been open for a consi-
derable time, and carriages pass daily, either for pleasure
or for the easy access which is thereby obtained to the
(_)lit town from Portobello road, and vice versa. The
higher p7tion, which extends from the further end of
It,, s-walk to Samson's Ribs, is in most places
quite finished, but
rock had
Very 1,,,h , the ascent from the walk is still in a
other places ha.d (.3
be displaced, while
',akin...
~?,
~,Alte. The great obstacles presented in
Ribs a.Vat.e:ar.uyrtoafronumntaebdo.veliDounddtelirroigusstomneassteos Sofamnasotinv'es
the road, altho te
be
parapet wall from twenty toy
abyss, is now filled with mounds
portion igreat chasms at
ugh „emingly a oun sof earth ; but
as safe as an terrace above a deep
of the drive. A
side, inclose% this part, and
wtl.lilly feet high on the out-
consequences which might ensueprfevent any dangerous
near the
.precipice. Immediatel from horses going too
the road is all excavated, and th!c*',3 aose Samson's Ribs
between it and the fine crescent round etin-
link formed
—Caledonian Mercury. Salisbury Crass,

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.--On Saturday morning,
the the 25th ult., at a few minutes past six o clock
asg,
young man, Peter Littlejohn, 24 years of age, a
of the parish of Birse, employed in one of the saw-mills
on the Inches, was in the act of stopping the circular
saw at which he wrought, he incautiously took hold of
the shaft, and part of his clothes becoming entangled,
dragged his head down on the saw, by which it was
almost cut in two. He has left a wife and two children.
—Eigin Courant.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD CIRCUIT.----Gloucester, April 10.

CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Mr. Justice MtULE and
Special Juries.)

CHRISTY AND OTHERS V. PONTELL, PIDGEON, AND OTHERS.

Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and Mr. Gray were Counsel for
the plaintiff; ; Mr. Whateley and Mr. Selfe for the de-
fendant Pidgeon.
The plaintiffs' as trustees of the London Joint-stock
Bank, recovered judgment for the sum of 2,0031. 2s. Bd.,
damages and costs, on the 25th of August, 1843, against
Walter Scott, the public officer of the Newcastle-upon-
Tyne Joint-stock Banking Company. In January, 1846,
that company suspended payment, and the present suit
was a proceeding by scare facias upon the judgment
against the defendants as shareholders in it. The test of
the writ of scare facias was the 6th November. Powell
allowed judgment to go by default. Pidgeon, who alone
appeared now by counsel to defend the action,
pleaded " that he was not, nor is he now, a member
of the company, in the manner and form as in the
declaration alleged." The plea of the other defendants
was to the same effect. The main question in the
cause was whether Pidgeon was a shareholder. On
behalf of the plaintiffs, a transfer of 250 shares in
the Newcastle Bank, in the month of September,
1843, to Pidgeon, by one Thomas Richardson, an original
shareholder, and vs hich transfer was signed and sealed by
him (Pidgeon), was given in evidence. Upon this trans-
fer the name of Pidgeon was entered and registered in
the books of the bank as shareholder ; and it was proved
that three dividends were actually paid on his written
authority. His name appeared in the register of share-
holders lodged at Somerset-house, under the 7 George
IV., cap. 46, and it still appeared on the books of the
bank as that of a shareholder. The deed constituting
the company was put in, and it contained the following
clause:—" That every person to whom shares shall be
transferred, and who shall not then be a member of the
company in respect of any other shares, shall, as to all
duties, obligations, claims, and demands upon or against
him in respect of such shares, be considered a member
of the company from the time of the same shares being
so transferred or so becoming vested in him ; but as to
all profits and rights, privileges and benefits to arise
from the same shares, such persons shall not be consi-
dered as a member until he shall have executed the deed
of settlement, or some other deed of accession thereto."
It appeared that Pidgeon had not executed the deed of
settlement, or any deed of settlement thereto.
On the close of the plaintiff's case,
WHITELEY submitted that as the defendant (Pid-
geon) had not executed the deed of settlement, and that
deed deprived all mere transferees who had not executed
it of all right to the profits of the company, and various
cases had decided that a community of profit was essen-
tial to constitute a partner, Pidgeon was not one, and
consequently the issue, member or not member, should
be found for him.

Mr. Justice MAULE said that this company was not a
corporation, or constituted under any Act of Parliament,
but in effect an ordinary partnership, and although con-
stituted by deed, there was nothing to prevent the com-
pany from coming to any new agreement they pleased,
by parole, to vary the terms of the partnership; and that
although the deed might have had the effect of prevent-
ing Mr. Pidgeon from having zny claim to receive a share
of the profits of the company as between the members
themselves, yet when the company dispensed in practice
with the effect of the deed, and allowed him to receive
his share of the profits, and to be registered both in
their own books, and in the public register at Somerset-
house, as a shareholder, it did not lie in the mouth of
Mr. Pidgeon, or of the company, as against the
public, or those persons who might give credit to the
company, to set up the terms of the deed, or to say
that he was not a shareholder. He felt not the smallest
doubt upon the subject, and he should direct the jury
accordingly.
His LORDSHIP then told the jury that the question for
them was whether, upon the evidence before them, they
were of opion that the defendants, or any of them, were
members of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Joint stock Bank-
ing Company.
Mr. ‘S.' HATELEY said he should except to this ruling, on
the ground that his Lordship should have told the jury
that, upon the evidence before them, they could not find
a verdict against Mr. Pidgeon. The question was one of
the greatest possible importance, and in reality involved
a Mil of upwards of 200,0001, and would be. if neces-
sary, brought before the highest court in the realm.
The jury then found for the plaintiffs against all the
defendants. The biil of exceptions is to be drawn up
hereafter.