The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-05 00:00:00

CROMART Y A HARBOUR OF

REFUGE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—Public attention being at present directed to
the formation of harbours of refuge for the protection
of our shipping, whilst our fleets should be maintain-
ing our naval superiority on the ocean, and it being
highly desirable, in the event of our being involved in
a war with the United States of America, that our
Government should put forth all its energies to bring
the contest to a speedy and honourable conclusion,
I beg to mention, through the medium of yonr
valuable paper, that the Bay of Cromarty, the Portus
Salutis of the Romans, and the point to which the
h)rdes of the Scandinavian race shaped their course
when meditating hostile incursions on the coast of Scot-
land, might easily, and at a comparatively small expense,
be made a most important position for the protection
of our mercantile marine, and a point from which we
could destroy the cruisers of the enemy acting against
our commerce ; and it would also, from its position
opposite to the Baltic, form an admirable station for
the establishing of dockyards for the building and re-
pairing of ships, and forming magazines of naval stores.
The entrance to the Bay of Cromarty is a narrow
channel of deep water, protected on each side by the
heights of the " Souters of Cromarty." Within this
channel hundreds of ships can ride at anchor in
safety from the severest storms ; and if the heights of
the Souters were fortified, and batteries placed on the
water's edge, the entrance to the Bay would be in-
accessible to an enemy, whilst we could, in less than
two hours, send frigates from it to the mouth of the
Caledonian canal, from whence they would, in less
than two days, find themselves on the coast of Ireland,
to meet our enemies in that quarter; or our fleets of
men-of-war and merchantmen could proceed in an op-

polite direction, and taking advantage of wind and tide,
pass through the Pentland Firth, in the direct course
to North America, in a shorter time than it would
take them to proceed to Ireland.
Jan. 1, 1845. A LOOKER-ON.

NAVIGATION COMMITTEE AND
THE WATERMAN'S STEAM-PACKET COM-
PANY.
TO TAE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sia,—ln the police
j report of proceedings at the Man-
sion-house in your journal of this day appears a letter
from Messrs. Clarke and Cooper, the respectable solicitors
of the Watermen's and Lightermen's Company, stating
that that Company was in no way connected with or
parties to the proceedings of the Waterman's Steam-
packet Company ; and my Lord Mayor is also reported
to have stated, with all the weight attached to his ma-
gisterial office—first, that he thought it right to let the
public know that the poor watermen, in whose behalf
numerous appeals had been made to their sympathies as
being connected with and deriving profit from the Wa-
terman's Steam-packet Company, had nothing to do
a ith that Company, and derived no advantage whatever
from it. Secondly, that nobody had any benefit from it
with the exception of the individuals who had been
able to purchase shares in the speculotion.
Without commenting on the serious charges involved
in these assertions, I beg to state, in answt r to the last
statement of his Lordship, that the Waterman's Steam-
packet Company gas established, in the first instance,
by free watermen at Woolwich, for the benefit of the
working watermen, assisted by the aid of philanthropic
parties, three of whom are still the trustees of. and
shareholders in, the Company, and members of the Court
of the Watermen's and Lightermen's Company, and that
one-half the present shareholders in the Waterman's
Steam-packet Company are members of the Watermen's
r and Lightermen's Company.
That the public may judge of the justice of his Lord-
ship's first assertion, and form its own opinion how far
his Lordship has been misled by information given to
him, I further beg to state that the Waterman's Steam-
packet Company has contributed towards the Water-
men's and Lightermen's Almshouses for decayed mem-
bers, of which Messrs. Clark and Cooper are secretaries,
the sum of 1571. 10s., by votes at annual meetings.
That since the recent period of the formation of the
Company it has paid to the free working watermen at
the several public stairs undermentioned, for the accom-
modation of landing and embarking at floating piers
belonging to these poor men, the following sums :
To the free watermen at Garden-stairs, Greenwich, in
five years, 4,7001.
At Bellwater-gate-stairs, Woolwich, in five years,
4,6001.
At Blackwall-stairs, in three years, 450/.
At Limehouse-hole-stairs, in two years, 5002
At Execution Dock. stairs,
Wapping, in one year, 4301.
At the stairs, Blackfriars.bridge, in two years, 800/.
At the Adelphi-stairs, in five years, 1,800/ ; end
At the stairs, Westminster-bridge, in two years,
5001., making together a total of 13,7891.
The Directors of the Waterman's Steam-packet Com-
pany are as anxious as any one that the Company should
not be identified with any Company under the authority
of the Corporation of London or the Navigation Com-
mittee. The title of the two Companies is entirely dis-
tinct, and the letter Messrs. Clarke and Cooper have
been instructed to write is uncalled for and ungenerous.
A crusade against the poor watermen at the various
public stairs for erecting floating piers has long existed,
and had these poor men been assisted b; the aid of the
Watermen's and Lightermen's Company in maintaining
their birthright of landing and embarking the public at
the ancient stairs, from the present improved mode of
conveyance on the river, it is apparent from the fore-
going facts that a revenue sufficient to maintain these
poor men would have been derived which would have
enabled them to live without resort to the workhouse or
appeals to the sympathy of the public, or at least would
materially have mitigated their present distress.
The erection of the Corporation Pier at Blackfriars-
bridge deprives the watermen at the public stairs of an
income of at lea -t 400.1. per annum from this Company
alone, and I trust the rights of these poor men will be
considered by her Majesty's Government in the next
session of Parliament.
Jan. 2, 1846. J. S. NEWBON, Secretary.

TOBACCO.
The Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury
having had under their consideration a memorial from
an eminent house, importers of tobacco, praying that all
leaf tobacco, or tobacco in an unmanufactured state, may
be allowed to be imported from the United States of
America into this country, in packages of the same
weight in which the same description can be legally im-
ported from the place of its growth; the Commissioners
of the Customs have received a letter from Mr. Card.
well, one of the secretaries to the Lords of the Treasury,
stating that he has been commanded by their Lordships
to authorise the Board to give directions for a oomph-
ance with the request, and that he was further authorised
to direct that the requisite alteration may be made in the
law in the next Customs' Amendment Act, for allowing
tobacco, the produce of Mexico, South America, or the
islands of St. Domingo and Cuba, to be imported into
the United Kingdom in bales containing SOlbs. weight
each from any place from which it may be legally im-
ported for home use. He was likewise further desired
to authorise them, pending the alteration of the law, to
give directions for the admission of the said u bacco, in
packages of the size proposed, as recommended by them.
Their Lordships having also had under their considera-
tion a memorial from another party interested in the
growth of tobacco at Trinidad, praying that tobacco, the
produce of that island, may be allowed to be imported
into this country in packages of the same size as thost,
sanctioned for tobacco the produce of South America and
St. Domingo, a further communication has been re-
ceived from Mr. Cardwell, stating that he has been com-
manded by their Lordships to authorise the Board to
give directions for a compliance with the request in this
matter as in the other alluded to. These several privi-
leges, which have been repeatedly prayed for and
granted in special instances, in regard to the importation
of tobacco, in anticipation of the alteration of the law,
have been made general and communicated to the re-
venue officers of the various departments in London, and
at the outports throughout the kingdom, for their infor-
mation and future government in the matter. The strict
provisions of the law with respect to the importation of
tobacco, except in packages of large size and weight, is
in order to prevent the smuggling of the article, to which
considerable likelihood attaches, owing to the heavy rate
of duty leviable thereon. Tobacco could not hitherto be
legally imported, being the produce of the islands men-
tioned, in South America, except in packages of a certain
description, as well as weight, and it is deemed necessary
to relax the strict provisions of the law in that particular
in consequence of the difficulty of removing the tobacco
from the place of growth to the port of shipment, unless
in packages of a proportionably light-weighted and pli-
able description, it having to be carried on the backs of
camels and other beasts of burden across an extensive
tract of desert inlend country to the port of embarkation
for shipment to its destination.

WRECK. OF A. SCHOONER.—Very early on Satur-
day morning last, or some time during the night of Friday
preceding, the wind then blowing a gale from the W.N.W.,
a schooner drove on shore at Norcot Mouth, about two mile,
north of Bude, called the Anne, of St. Ives, Thomas, masters
laden with copper ore for.: Swansea, from Devoran. There
were five hands on board besides the captain, one of whom,
wac, however, on the preceding day, thrown from the yard-
arm on the deck and killed on the spot ; and another man
is now lying in a dangerous state at the Falcon Hotel, Bode,
through having been dangerously crushed between the boat
and masts of the vessel. All the rest of the crew were saved,
and the cargo is being discharged under the direction of Mr.
John Hockin, merchant, of Bude.— West Briton.
THE SCOTCH LOBSTER FISHING.—We have fre-
quently alluded to the rise and progress of the lobster
fishing in and around the Western Highland Isles, and
noticed with pleasure the annual increase in this de-
partment of our fisheries. As this species of shell fish
has been now well ascertained to be found in abundance
on the coast
oarntdaethHisebyareidr es, many of the Celtic fisher-
men have betaken themselves to this precarious branch
of industry ;
has added a vast number to
those who have been formerly engaged in the lobster
fishing. For some time past the produce exported to
Liverpool has been immense, frequ:ntly from 40 to 50
boxes, of four dozen per box, weekly.
IHE `FELLS IN TRAFALGAR-SQUARE.—The mains
have been laid down from the engine-house and cisterns
in Orange-street, to Buckingham Palace, the last pipes
of which were laid down on Friday. Two fresh pumps,
of eighteen inches diameter, have arrived at the works,
to be used in consequence of the greater supply which
will now be required, and one of which will furnish
twice the present quantity. Since they have been first
opened, the water has risen in the wells to an additional
height of about five feet.
INVISIBLE WRITING.—The plan of writing with
rice water, to be rendered visible by the application of
iodine, was practised with great success in the corre-
spondence with Jellalabad. The first letter of this kind
received from thence was concealed in a quill. On
opening it a small paper was unfolded, on which appeared
only a single word " iodine." The magic liquid was
applied, and an interesting dispatch from Sir Robert Sale
stood forth.—United Service Magazine.
While a gentleman was looking at the salmon
essayit'r to pass Powick weir the other day, his dog (a bitch
of the Newfoundland breed) discovered a very curious
magazine. She began scratching violently at a rat-hole
situate under a beam at the extremity of the weir, and
some couple of yards from the water, Guessing there
was something extraordinary there, it was examined,
when it was found to contain nineteen lampreys, all
alive and in good order, which some fishermen insisted
had been stored there by the rats. As the water had
not reached the spot for a long time previous, the lam-
preys c!early had been carried there by some means, and
the fishermen say that the rats are continually in the
habit of robbing their putcheons.—Hereford Journal
IN VISIBLE WRITING.—The plan of writing withrice water, to be rendered visible by the application of iodine,
•
was practised with great success in the correspondence with
Jellalabad. The first letter of this kind received from thence
was concealed in a quill. On opening it a small p‘aper was?
unfolded, on which appeared only a single word
The magic liquid was applied, and an interesting dispatch
from Sir Robert Sale stood forth.—United Sert ice Magazine.
" DEAD DRUNK."--Air. Wakley, M.P., held an
inquest yesterday in the Marylebone workhouse, on the body
of Anne Pettyfor, aged forty- four, the wife of a sweep. Mr.
Boyd, house surgeon to the infirmary, stated, that last Mon-
day she was brought in " dead drunk" from the stables of
the Green Man, Edgware-road, where she had been, from the
preceding evening, in a state of drunkenness. She was cold,
insensible, and very rapidly sinking. Everything was done
to restore her, but in vain, as she expired next day. lie ex-
amined the body after death. The brain and lungs were
congested, and the stomach was spotted like a leopard's skin.
Death ensued from excessive drinking. Deceased's husband
said that his wife had been an inveterate gin-drinker, and
that she was drunk for two successive days before her death.
Verdict--" Death from drunkenness."