The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-03 00:00:00

PARKHURST PRISON.

The following is a copy of a letter which has been re-
cently received by the Court of Quarter Sessions for the
county of Middlesex, relative to the sending of prisoners
to Parkhurst Prison :

" Whitehall, Nov. 14, 1845.
" Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir James Graham,
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th of
August last, in which, after adverting to Sir James
Graham's opinion in his letter of the 16th of that month,
that it is inexpedient to pass sentence of transportation
on children for offences not of an aggravated character,
merely for the purpose of obtaining their admission to
Parkhurst Prison,' you observe that the Court of Quarter
Sessions over which you preside will be placed in some
difficulty unless it obtains a clear understanding of the
nature of the cases which are considered proper for ad-
mission to that prison ; and you further observe, that if
the tiiness of the prisoner is to be judged by the cha-
racter of the offence of which he is convicted, the prison
will become a dead letter, so far as the county of Mid-
dlesex is concerned.

"Sir James Graham directs me to inform you, in the
first place, that it is no part of the design of the esta-
blishment at Parkhurst to relieve counties from the
charge and the maintenance of juvenile offenders, and he
cannot, therefore, take notice of that consideration.
" lam also to inform you, Sir James Graham is of
opinion that prisoners who have been guilty of offences,
not of a serious description, for which they would be
more properly punished by imprisonment, and not by
transportation, are not fit subjects for admission into
Parkhurst prison. All prisoners admitted there are to
be finally sent abroad, and before they are sent, are to
be subjected to a long and very strict discipline ; this is
the rule that has been uniformly acted upon by Sir James
Graham ; and it appears to him to be manifestly unjust
that offenders should be so punished in cases where, if
no such establishment as that at Parkhurst had existed,
they would have received no higher punishment than
imprisonment in this country.
" Some limitation and selection have been found by
experience to be necessary with regard to the age and
size of prisoners, as all prisoners admitted into Pat k-
hur t are ultimately destined to work in the colonies.
The fittest age for admission is considered to be about
fourteen, and the size or stature should be proportionate.
" Sir James Graham requests that this information
may be communicated to the magistrates of the county,
and that in making recommendations for admission of
prisoners into Parkhurst prison, the principles above-
mentioned should for the future be observed.—l am, &c.
(Signed) " S. M. PHILLIPS.
" Mr. Sergeant Adams. &c."

SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN ST. MARYLEBONE WORK-
HOUSE.—Thursday morning, between three and four o'clock,
a &Timis accident occurred in St. Marylebone workhouse,
which, it is feared, will prove of fatal consequences. George
age .1 18, an inmate of the workhouse, had by some
means got out of his sleeping-room on to the roof of the build-
ing, and passed over the roofs until he zit-rived at the women's
side of the building, where the disorderly young females are
confined in a separate building, known as the round tower.
In attempting to descend into the yard by a rope, he fell on
to the paving-stones, a height of 30 feet. The groans of the
tnifortunate sufferer being heard, assistance was rendered,
and he was immediately removed to the infirmary, where he
lies without hope of recovery.
FATAL COLLISION ON THE TYNE.—An inquest
was held at the river police station, in North Shields, on
Tuesday, before Mr. Reed, the Coroner, on view of the body
of William Souter, of Arbroath, who was drowned under the
following circumstances :—lt appeared that on the 6th of
November, about 3 o'clock in the morning, the deceased, with
four other persons, was proceeding in a sculler bat on the
river, near the ferry landing at North Shields, towards a
ship lying in one of the tiers, when the steam ferry-boat was
crossing the water from the south to the north aide, the
boat was struck by the starboard bow of the Ferry, and
capsized, the crew being precipitated into the river.
Their shouts were heard from the shore, and a number
of boats put off to their assistance, and succeeded in res-
cuing four of the persons, but the deceased was carried
away by the tide and drowned. His body was
not found till Monday, when it was seen floating
some distance from where the accident occurred. Several
witnesses went examined, including the boatman, who stated
that he hailed the Ferry before the collision took place, and
attributed the accident to a want of due caution on the part
of those on bolod the Ferry. The crew of the Ferry proved
that a light was exhibited as usual at the masthead, that
two of them were stationed to " look out," that they did not
hear any one hail them, ar.d that the sculler boat came out
at the bead of a tier of vessels just as the Ferry was turning
in to make the landing, and was then directly under the
Ferry's bow, so that the collision was unavoidable. The jury
having consulted some time, returned a verdict of "Acci-
dental death," with a deodand of 301. on the Ferry, at the
same time intimating that they had found some difficulty in
agreeing upon their verdict, owing to the contradictory state-
ments of the witnesses. This is the first accident of the kind
which has occurred with the Ferry, which has now been
fifteen 3 ears in operation.
The fdlowing notice was posted at the General Post-
office yesterday :—" General Post-office, January, 1846.
Her Majesty's Government having ascertained that a charge
for postage has been re-imposed by the Brazilian. Post-office
upon newspapers from the United Kingdom delivered by the
post in Brazil, British newspapers addressed to that country
will hereafter be liable to a charge of 2d. each, which must
be paid in advance; newspapers received from Brazil will be
also chargeable with a rate of 2d. on their delivery in the
United Kingdom."
CONSUMPTION AND ASTHMA.—Dr. Cronin has re-
moved from 6, Craven.street, Strand, to 14, Leicester-place,
Leicester square, where he may be daily consulted on the
use of Anaspasia in the successful treatment of Asthma, Con-
sumption, Bronchitis, and other affections of the chest. Dr.
Cronin's treatise on Anaspasia, Third Edition, price 35., may
be had of Wutheim's, Paternoster-row, or at the author's
address above.—" Were Dr. Cronin's facts less conclusive
than they are, the importance of the subject (the cure of
consumption) would render apath3, on the part of the afflicted
wholly unpardonable."--dorning Chronicle.
THE SALMON FISHERIES.—With the last day, of
the year terminates the close season tor salmon in the river
Severn and its tributaries, and on New Year's-day it will be.
again lawful to take seasonable salmon. We use the word
seasonable, because at the very early period of which, by
the pi esent law the season commences, there
present are
high so many
spawning fish in the river; fortunately the
Hoods will bring down the spawn fish before the netting
begins, and consequently a vast number will be saved for
next year's supply—the late high waters have been most
favourable for the spawning season. We caution all persons
that they will incur a penalty of not less than 51. for taking
or having in their possession an unseasonable salmon. The
Severn Fisheries Association intend putting the law in this
respect strictly in force, as also those against using nets for
taking fish during the night time or on Sundays. We un-
derstand that the new Bill, to be introduced by Sir T. Win-
nington, will be vigorously pushed forward in the next ses-
sion, and we sincerely hope that, it will become the law of
the land, and that one uniform fence time, suitable to the
habits of the salmon, may be fixed
England and Wal upon in all the rivers of
es. We shall give an abstract of the Bill
in our next.— Worcester Chronicle.

__—
FATAL ACCIDENT.—One of the most melancholy
events which it has been our province to chronicle oc-
cured on Tuesday last, at Bishop's ;Hull. It appears
that on the afternoon Of that day the son of Lieutenant-
Colonel Cullis, a youth about fifteen years of age, ac-
companied the son of J. Walters, Esq., a gentleman
residing in the same vicinity, on a shooting excursion.
It was getting towards dark, and the parties were about
to return home, when a rabbit came in view. Mr.
Walters fired, and wounded the rabbit, which rolled on
the ground, unable to escape, and whilst he had raised
the gun and taken aim to effectually destroy the animal,
the unfortunate young gentleman rushed forward to
secure it, when he received the contents of the discharge
in his head—his brains being blown out, presenting a
horrid and sickening spectacle.—Somerset County
Gazette.

WEATIIER.—FARMING AFFAIRS, &C.—Owing to
the very boisterous and wet weather comparatively little
wheat sowing has yet been done in this district. It is
fully three weeks later than last year. A good many
potatoes are still in drill ; but the very wet weather has
rather hastened their decay—at least this is the ex-
perience of some. Of those in pits, some are keeping
better than was expected, but others, thought to be
keeping well, have fallen in. Additional starch mills,
on a large soale, have been put in operation, and farmers
who have no mills are freely giving the diseased potatoes
to pigs, and their cattle, without any bad effect.—Ayr
Observer.
TREA.T TO FACTORY OPERATIVES.-011 Christmas-
eve, the mill-owners in Lancaster gave a treat to their
workpeople, by assembling them together at a tea-party,
t,4'ter which dancing commenced and was kept up to an
early hour. Such meetings cannot be too highly com-
mended, as showing the good feeling existing between
employers and the employed.—Preston Gucrd=an•