The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-27 00:00:00

THE ARMY AND NAVY.

The Army and Navy Gazette says :—Major-General
H. Cooper would seem to be the most likely officer for the
colonelcy of the 46th Regiment; vacant by the death of
Lieutenant-General Napier.—Captain G. M. Cardew,
67th Regiment,. will succeed Captain R. T. Thompson,
as Brigade-Major of the Infantry Brigade at Dub-
lin. The new Flying Squadron which will leave
England about the second week in October, under the
command of Rear Admiral Beauchamp Seymour, C. 8.,
will consist of the Narcissus, the Glasgow, the Aurora,
the Volage, and, probably two. corvettes of the Jason
class.—Lieutenant - Colonel Clarke, R.E., C. 8., the
Director of Works to the Admiralty, has this week
visited Boulogne in order to confer with the French eng,i-
teem as to the best mode of improving the harbour
so as to facilitate the_ communication between the two
countries.—Admiral the_
will strike his flag at the
Nore on the 30th inst., when, as we have already stated,
he will be succeeded by
_Vice-Admiral the H.
C. J. B.
Elliot, C.B.—CaptainW. Bally, 33rd Regiment, has been
appointed aide-de-camp to Major-General W. Munro,
C. 8., the newly-appointed commandant of the troops in
the West Indies.

ME BENEFIT BUILDING SOCIETIES'
BILL.
At the Westminster Falace Hotel: a conference of dele-
gates, representing the majority of fhe large towns in the
north of England, was held in order to consider what steps
should be taken with reference to the measure now before
the House of COMMOII3 of consolidating and amending'
the law relating to Benefit Building Societies. Mr.
Gourley, M.P., occupied the chair; and Mr. Dodds, M.P.,
and Mr. Stevenson, I\LP., were amongst those present.
Mr. Dodds, who has given notice to refer the Bill to a Select
committee, explained that his reason for doing so was to
ensure effective legislation. He thought the Govern-
ment might be induced to appoint a Royal Conamission
to inquire into the operation of Friendly Societies gene-
rally. Borrowing powers ought, in his opinion, to be
conferred upon Building Societies, but they should not,
as proposed by the bill, be unlimited. He objected to the
admission of minors into such societies, for, if one were
admitted, a hundred must ; and it would prove dan-
gerous, especially if those persons possessed unlimited
borrowing powers. The difficulty in settling titles
to property might to some extent be prevented
by the adoption of a proper system of registration. The
bill did not make adequate provision for the prevention of
fraud by officers of the edcletk, and a select committee
might be able to supply the deficien6y:
Several of the delegates addressed the meeting,
and it
was generally believed that legislation on the question
ought to be immediate ; the law at the present tiiiie was
so anomalous in consequence of recent legal decisions that
delay might prove dangerous.
Mr. Dodds did not pledge himself to withdraw his
amendment.
Numerous, verbal alterations were suggested by the
delegates in the clauses of the bill as it now stands, and
the meeting then separated.

WORK AND WORKHOUSES:— At the Tobias
borough police court, on Wedesday, an able-bodied
man, who gave his name as &rams Malcolm,
aged' 24, was charged with refusing to work at the
Totnes Workhouse. He stated to the Bench, who
sentenced him to fourteen days' hard labour, that he had
never worked in his life, and that he never intended to do
so. During the last five years he had been travel about,
and had visited nearly every workhouse in the country.
A. MONUMENT TO DICKENS.—The idea has been
started of a monument in our great park to Charles
Dickens. If his numerous friends and admirers desire it,
let them get it up. At the same time it has been
suggested to us that there ought to be a monument in the
park, embracing a group of the statesmen, soldiers, and
literary celebrities of the city and State of New York—
such as Hamilton, Clinton, Steuben, Cooper, Irving, &c.
—as a contribution from the city. This, too, is a good
idea, and the centre of the Mall would be the very place
for such a monument.—New York Herald.
LIFEBOAT SERVICE.—The schooner Enchantress,
of Belfast, coal laden, struck on Friday morning on the
Arklow Banks, which are some miles from the shore, and
immediately sank. On observing the signals of distress
the lifeboat of the National Institution, with the prompti-
tude which has ever characterized the services, and they
have been many, of the lifeboat on this station, was at
once launched and proceeded to the scene of danger. She
found the crew had taken to the rigging and the sea was
making a complete breach over the wreck. After some
difficulty the boat of mercy succeeded in taking off, to
their great joy, the whole of the crew, consisting of five
men, whom she afterwards safely landed at Arklow.
DESTRUCTION OF A HOSIERY FACTORY IN NOT-
TINGHAM BY FIRE.—Shortly before twelve o'clock on
Thursday a fire broke out inthe hosiery factory of Mr. W.
Bridgett, Woolpack-lane. The premises were four
storeys high and very old, having wooden floors and beams
throughout. The fire began about the centre of the
building, spread with great rapidity, and before even tne
hand fire-engine could be got to work the flames had burst
forth from the windows and the roof. Ere the flames
were got under the factory had been gutted from floor to
floor. Mr. Bridgett is partly insured. The damage is
estimated at from £lO,OOO to £20,000.
HEAVY DAMAGES AGAINST THE NORTH-EASTERN
RAILWAY COMPANY.—There has lately been a private
cause tried in the Sheriff's Court at Doncaster, in which
Mr. Makin Durham, of Thorne, sought to recover from
the North-Eastern Railway Company £22,000 damages
incurred to warping works by the intersection through
them of the defendants' railway from Doncaster to Hull.
The case was heard with closed doors, lasted three days,
and was tried before a special jury. It is said that the
jury, after being locked up for some hours, awarded the
plaintiff the sum of £16,500. Several eminent land
valuers and engineers were called on both sides. It is not
unlikely there will be an appeal to a superior court.
THE PARTY PROCESSIONS ACT.—MT. Johnston,
M.P., has addressed the following letter to the Belfast
Newsletter on the subject of the Processions Bill :
" London, June 21.—Sir, Yesterday, at half-past four, I
gave notice of my intention to move the rejection of the
Government Processions Bill, which I then characterised
as one of the worst bills ever laid before Parliament. I
confess that I have been misled as to the intentions of
Government. This bill must not pass. Let Ulster say
so at once, and let every commoner and peer learn the
wishes of those who love freedom. The second reading of
the bill is deferred till Monday next. Any Protestant
representative who will be indifferent or inactive in
opposing it will be, indeed, a ' traitor." The Northern
Whig commends the impartiality of the Government bill,
and condemns the Orange party.
THE IRISH "NATIONALISTS" (ND THEIR DEBTS.
—Bills have been issued by Mr. J. P. M`Donnell and the
Hyde Park Amnesty Committee, of which he was the
hon. secretary, calling on the Irish Nationalists of London
to meet on Sunday evening next to defray the expense of
the amnesty demonstration which was made in Hyde Park
on the 24th of last October. The Committee " remind their
countrymen that there is one serious drawback to the pride
and pleasure with which all Irishmen should look back to
that demonstration." " The expenses incurred," the bill
goes on to say, " have not been fully paid, owing chiefly
to the shameful conduct of persons to whom collecting
cards were entrusted, and who have not returned to the
committee a single penny of the subscriptions they re-
ceived, and to the fact that several local committees
which were supplied with collecting cards retained the
subscriptions for their local expenses, and did not sub-
scribe anything to the general expenses, which were
necessarily heavy." The expenses of the demonstration
were fourteen or sixteen pounds. The committee
threaten to publish the names of " dishonest persons."
MUSICAL ITEMS.—We extract the following from
the Musical Standard :—The history of the musical art in
England (justly. remarks Mr. Ella) affords a melancholy
instance of the instability of institutions dedicated to her
service. Opera managers and concert speculators have
constantly swollen the list of bankrupts, and not one
building in London erected for the avowed purpose of
promoting a taste for " the fine arts " in general and
music in particular, has proved to be a remunerative
speculation. All the late attempts to popularise music,
with an admixture of classical orchestral works, songs,
ballads, and dance music, have come to grief, not-
withstanding the unanimous support of the press to the
efforts of the late managers—Jullien and Mellon. In
Paris, too, the once popular concerts addressed to a mixed
audience are replaced by an annual series of some thirty
splendid orchestral performances—a hundred in the band
-- directed by Pasdeloup, kto which I have occasionally
listened with great delight. A benefactor to the young,
W. E. Hickson, author of the words of many school
songs that have become popular in America, died recently.
He has done much for the cause of popular musical
education, having taken a deep interest in juvenile music.
It was he who first put into the mouths of "babes and
sucklings " the musical expression of the motto " Try,
try, try again."
A LARGE AMOUNT OF DAMAGES.—Mr. Edward.
Macrory, barrister-at-law, has just made an award in a
case of the utmost importance to colliery proprietors—
" Gidlow v. the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Com-
pany "—which was referred to him at the Liverpool
Assizes, held in the spring of last year. The plaintiff, Mr.
Gidlow, of Bolton, is an extensive and wealthy coal pro-
prietor, owning pits containing valuable mines of some
supposed 30 million tons of cannel and Arley mine
coal yet to be gotten. These mines are located upon,
or in close proximity to the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway, as also are the Wigan Coal and Iron Company's'
the Moss Hall, the Ince Hall, and several other equally
large and important similar properties. For some years
anterior to 1865, it appears that the railway company had
been charging Mr. Gidlow, as the latter contended, a rate
for the carriage of his coal in excess of what their own acts of
Parliament permitted, in consequence of which Mr. Gidlow
and the company quarrelled, and it finally culminated in
cross actions being brought,—on the one hand by the
company to compel the payment of their claims, which
virtually had the effect of trying the validity of such
claims ; and by Mr. Gidlow, on the other hand, for over-
charges, falling to duly convey his coal traffic and delays,
and for having maliciously placed him under restrictions
of an arbitrary and ruinous character, contrary to their
duties as common carriers. The arbitrator has now found
under every head of complaint in favour of Mr. Gidlow,
the plaintiff, and has mulcted the railway company in
damages to the extent of £5,454 15s. sd. and costs.

PRICE 1d
STAMPED 2d.

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT,

SATURDAY.

The first glimpse of the House of Commons yesterday
shewed that Mr. Glyn meant business. On the previous
midnight Mr. Gladstone had consented to an adjournment,
because the House was half empty. Yesterday was the
day fixed for the Queen's party at Windsor ; but there was
no gaiety for her Majesty's Ministers. Mr. Disraeli being
in the happy position of leader of an Opposition which did not
mean to oppose was absent, preferring doubtless the
glitter of plate and fine dresses whereon " Lothair " is se
eloqi ent, to swelling the triumph of his rivals in the lobby.
Mr. Hardy's rine upright figure, too, was missing, and he
and silky-haired Sir Stafford Northcote, I presume, were
with their chief. Nevertheless, though so many of the
principal men were absent, there were, no empty
benches. Every seat was taken. In the galleries upstairs
members sat two rows deep. In the gallery over the clock
the peers and distingdiehed visitors had to find room,
for M.P.'s who could not get a place below, the Solicitor..
General for Ireland and Dr. Playfair among them. In
truth it was an impressive spectacle. The debate was not
so lively as it might have been. Lasting about four hours
and a-half, only five members spoke, so that the
epeech,':s were too long. Mr. Mundella, the van-
quisher of Mr. Roebuck, at Sheffield, led off
and damned the bill with faint praise, but still
let it be known that he meant to support it. He, toge-
ther with Mr. Smith, the vanquisher of Mr. Mill at West-
minster, and Mr. Walter, of the Times, minority member
for Berkshire, occupied the first three hours. At a quarter
pad four a crowd of members rose, but the Speaker
called Oa Mr. Horsman, and he made a speech of more
than an hour's length. Towards the end of it mem-
bers got very' impatient. They knew that the debate
must close at a quarter to seven. Many of them were
burning to have their say, and so they kept calling out
Time " and "'vide." At each 'manifestation of dis-
satisfaction the Radicals supported Mr. Horsman by '
shout of approving cheers, a facts by the way, worthy of
notice by the Conservatives of Liskeard to whom he
owes his seat. Mr. Horsman has been more bitter and
malicious before, and yesterday he really seemed to have
lost hie ancient acridness. The strongest point of his
speech was -When he quoted some vehement language
against the denominational system at its establishment in
1839—then some equally vehement language in favour of
it in 1870, and announced that the speaker in both cases
was Lord Shaftesbury. Of course this was ants to the
secularists, and gave force to Mr. Horsman's denuncia-
tion of " cries," which meant indeed that something was
in danger ; yet not the thing mentioned—not the
Church, as tutu said in 1829 with regard to Catholic
Emancipation ; not Protestantism, as was said in 1845 _
with regard to the Maynooth Grant ; not Christianity,
as was said in 1858 when the Jews were allowed to sit in
Parliament; not the Bible, as is said now; but bigotry,
ignorance, and intolerance. Even more telling, perhaps,
was his denunciation of the time-table conscience clause,
under which the children instructed in religion would
mourn for so much playtime lost, so much school hours
added, and look with envious eyes upon their schoolfellows
who were so happy as to be allowed to turn their backs
upon the Bible.
It was eighteen minutes past five when Mr. Horsman
sat down, and though other members arose the Speaker,
amid the cheers of the House, called upon:Mr. Gladstone.
There was quite a shout of cheers when he said he thought
that the House desired a division to be taken that afternoon
Very telling was his statement that when the Government
came to examine into the condition of education they
found a vast machinery in action, the voluntary schools
and if, as was the case, it should turn out that these
schools owed their existence to religious zeal, they learnt
what a mighty force they had at their disposal—a force
which they could not dream of neglecting. The Conser-
vative cheers were loud and long when, having described
the concessions made by the Government to the Noncon-
formists, Mr. Gladstone asked what concessions the Non-
conformists had been called upon to make. Very delighted
were the Conservatives when the Premier denounced the
idea that concessions from the Opposition were to be
held of no account, but considered merely as a starting
point for further demands. He had a strong case when
dealing with the criticisms upon the Government measure,
for he had only to ask what other measure was forthcom-
ing which would please as many persons. Had not Mr.
Richard proposed one plan, and had not Mr. Harcourt,
another severe critic of the bill, denounced Mr.
Richard's suggestion as both sectarian and secular ? The
last part of the speech shewed more tact than any other
which Mr. Gladstone has delivered. He shewed why he
could not consent to any further material alterations,
why he was not open to the charge of con-
tumaciously rejecting the representations of his
own followers if he did not give way to them any
more. He praised the Nonconformists for the sincerity
which prompted their opposition, and the clerg,y for the zeal
which they had shewn in the cause of education. He
gave the House to understand, amid great cheering, that
every effort would be made to pass the bill, and send it to
the House of Lords in time for them to consider it. He
sat down amid much applause at a few minutes after the
half-hour.
All this time Mr. Richard had been taking notes, as
though he meant to reply ; but there was no time to do
that. So he sat still and the Speaker put the question that
the words which Mr. Richard proposed to omit stand
part of the clause. The ayes did not sound so numerous
as the division list shewed them to be. Probably the
Conservatives did not care to shout much for
a Ministerial proposal. If the Ayes had mad
a proportionally equal noise to that which the Noes
made they would have nearly blown the ceiling off. The
Speaker of course said, " The Ayes have it," and equally
"The Noes have it. general laughter, Mr. Fawcett said,
of amidand course," There never had been any thought,
of withdrawing the amendment, and certainly Mr. Glyn
who had been trotting in and out all the afternoon with
beaming face, had no reason to fear a division. It took
twelve minutes. Mr. Crawford was the first member to
re-enter the House. Then followed a crowd of
Ministerialists, while from behind the Speaker's
chair dribbled slowly the scanty minority, with Mr.
J. D. Lewis at their head. At about ten minutes before
seven there was a cry of " Clear the bar," and the tellers
with great difficulty forced their way through the dense
throng of M.P.'s who blocked the door. Mr. Glyn and
Captain Greville were the Ministerial tellers ; Mr.
Richard and Sir Charles Dilke were the tellers .for the
amendment. It was in a loud but agitated voice that Mr.
Glyn read the numbers-421 and 60. Thereat up rose a
shout of laughter, and M.P.'s rushed out of the House and
caught the 7-9 train on the underground railway, Mr.
Lowe, the young Marquis of Lorne, and a crowd of others
travelling together and discussing " the good working
majority."

THE SCHOOL FRIGATE CONWAY.—The annual
distribution of prizes to boys on board the school frigate
Conway, which is moored in the Mersey, off Liverpool,
took place on Friday. In Mr. Shaw Lefevre's absence,
the duty of presenting the prizes was undertaken,
on very brief notice, by. Mr. Ralph Brocklebank. The
visitors were conveyed to the frigate in steamers
from the Prince's landing stage, and on board the
Conway every arrangement had been made for their re-
ception. The upper deck, from the main to the mizen-
mast, was covered with a gaily-draped awning, with
raised seats for the ladies on either side, and at one
end a platform for the speakers, while the boys in
uniform were seated on forms in the centre. The
Mayor of Liverpoo“Mr. Alderman Hubback) presided.
The Mayor, in his 'opening remarks, said the school
frigate Conway was established in 1859, and the object of
the promoters was to train up young men to be proper
seamen in every sense of the word. Since the institution
was opened, not fewer than 776 boys had been received on
board, and at the present time 554 had been sent into the
merchant service, and 35 had gone into the royal navy.
The prizes were then distributed. The gold medal, pre-
sented by the Queen, was gained by Walter Glenthore
Lennie, and S. H. Carden, was awarded an Admiralty
nomination to a naval cadetship and her Majesty's second
prize, consisting of a binocular glass and £35. The
gold medal of the Mercantile Marine Service Association
was gained by Arthur Nevins, who, from an unfortunate
circumstance, was unable to be present in person
to receive his prize. On Friday, last week, he fell
from the foreyard to the deck, and was severely injured,
his wrist being dislocated and his jaw broken. Fortunately,
however, he is now recovering. The other prizes consisted
of nautical instruments and books. Mr. F. A. Clint
, moved, and Mr. J. A. Picton seconded a vote of thanks
to Mr. Brocklebank.

ROYAL MUSIC HALL, HOLBORN.
Proprietor, Mr. J. S. SWEASEY. •
The Press have unanimously praised and acknowledged the
entertainment provided at the above Hall for the Whitsun
holidays to be the best in London. The Brothers Voltaire,
the Champion Gymnasts, in their surprising performances,
particularly their aerial leaps, extending the whole length
of the Hall (nearly 100 feet), engaged to appear solely at
this establishment ; Mr. H. Collard (Le Petit Sims Reeves),
the miniature man, the smallest and sweetest tenor
singer in the world, can be heard at this hall only ; Messrs.
St. Albyn, P. Corri, and Miss Barrie have made an immense
hit with their operatic selections ; Miss Georgina Smith-
son has returned to meet with fresh admirers ; Mr. Baldwin
has supplemented the brilliant encomiums he has already
received from the provincial press ; Miss Louie Sherring-
ton is received nightly with uproarious applause ; Mr. J.
H. Milburn is an old favourite ; the Great Vance is not to be,
heard elsewhere, excepting at his concerts : Mr. J. H. Ryley, and
Madame Barnam, as comic duettists, have met with decided,
success; the acknowledged largest and best band in London. Bal-
cony, 6d.; stalls, ls.; private boxes, 10s. 6d.