The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-22 00:00:00

ÜBE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1876.7

LAW AND POLICE.

THE WAR,

A HYPOCRITICAL FATTIER DESERTING HIS CHILDREN.—
Joseph Henry Falconer, a seaman, late boatswain of a
ship, was. charged, at the Thames Police-court, with
deserting his two children, and leaving them chargeable
to the Hamlet of Mile End Old Town. The case was
proved by Mr. Slight, the "relieving-officer, of Mile End,
who said the prisoner's two children were chargeable
to the Hamlet for more than a year. The prisoner,
since he had deserted them, had received large sums for
wages, and had not contributed one farthing for their
maintenance. He was taken at the gate of the House of
Correction on Saturday week, after a month's imprison-
ment. He now cried and howled, and was laughed at.
He talked about his inability to support his dear little
ones. Mr. Paget said if the prisoner had any affection
for his dear little ones, as he termed them, he would have
contributed something for their support. He committed
him for a month, and to hard labour, in the House of
Correction.

THE SMOKE NUISANCE.—Henry Rafael, gold and silver
refiner, in Thomas-street , Limehouse, was summoned, at
the above Court, for having furnaces on his premises so
constructed as not to consume their own smoke. Mr.
Sandison, Government Inspector, said the defendant
worked several furnaces, and two of them had no
apparatus for the consumption of smoke. Witnesses
proved that smoke in dense volumes bad frequently issued
from the defendant's chimney shaft. A young gentleman,
on behalf of the defendant, said that every precaution had
been taken, and every means resorted to, to prevent the
chimney from smoking. Mr. Paget lined the defendant
405., and £l.6s. 3d. costs.
THE IMPERIAL LAND COMPANY OF MARSEILLES.—Vice-
Chancellor Malins had before him the case of the Imperial
Land Company of Marseilles, in which the decision of the
court was sought on the question whether the holders of
£2O debentures whichhad been issued bythe company to an
amount exceeding £400,000; are entitled to prove against
the company (now in course of liquidation) for the full
amount of the debentures, together with £6 per cent.
interest, or whether they hold the debenture subject to
any equities as between the company and the persons to
whom the debentures were originally issued. His
Honour observed that these debentures, which were
issued for the purpose of paying Mr. Masterman
and others 23,200,000 for land at Marseilles,
which it was saki had been bought by Mr.
Masterman and his associates at an amount less by
£600,000 or £700,000 than they charged the Company for
it, were made payable to the original holder or to "the
bearer hereof." They were sold in the open Stock Ex-
change. In his opinion they were virtually promissory
notes, and the bearers held them, therefore, irrespective
of any equities as between the Company and the parties
to whom they were originally issued.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BANKING COMPANIES.—The
Master of the Rolls delivered judgment in a suit instituted
by Mr. William Johnson against the United Service Com-
pany, which is now in liquidation, for damages sustained
through the misconduct of its members, The company,
in addition to an army agency, carried on a banking
business, and the claimant deposited stock certificates for
safe custody. The manager, Mr. Hudson, retaining the
key of the safe by permission of the directors,
took possession of the shares, forged the name
of Mr. Johnson, and absconded with the purchase money.
His lordship held that the directors were not bailees gra-
tuitously, but for reward, and the claimant could prove
against the company for damages, though he was not en-
titled to priority. The directors had been guilty of gross
negligence in allowing the manager to elude their vigilance
by robbing them to the extent of £3,000 for private ex-
penses, and not having their suspicion excited by their
knowledge of the fact that he kept a house in magnificent
style, as well as two carriages and several horses, upon a
comparatively small salary.

SERIOUS MERCANTILE FAILURE.—A public examination
sitting was held in London under the heavy failure of
William Harbord, trading as a merchant in Gracechurch-
street, under the firm of Harbord, Wilkinson, and Co.,
and at Bombay as Harbord and Co. It appeared that the
total debts and liabilities of the bankrupt were £580,000,
and his accounts shewed a loss of above £86,000 upon
shipments to Bombay and other items. The total de-
ficiency was £94,000, and all that at present had been
received was about £5O for office furniture. An adjourn-
ment for four months was granted to enable the trustees
to obtain proper information from Bombay.
THE QUESTION OF FLAGS ON CABS.—The vexed ques-
tion of flags on the metropolitan cabs has been settled by
the Court of Common Pleas, the dispute being as to
whether it was a proper and legitimate thing for the Home
Secretary to order cabmen to exhibit metal flags having*
the fares stated thereon. A police inspector had
summoned a cabman for disregarding the order, and the
magistrate dismissed the summons, but grantd a special
case for the opinion of the Court upon the point of law.
The Court held that the order made by the Secretary of
State was valid, and the magistrate ought to have con-
victed on the information laid before him. This decision
will cause great commotion among the " cabbies," who
have generally disregarded the order since the magistrate
dismissed the summons.
OPENING SHOPS ON SUNDAY.—At Hammersmith
Police-court, the Rev. Bee Wright, secretary of a society
for the suppression of Sunday trading, attended with Mr.
Jackson to support a number of summonses against to-
bacconists and other shopkeepers for exercising their
callings on the Lord's Day. In the case of Mr. Thomas
Painter, a tobacconist, of High-street, Nottinghill, Mr.
Dayman thought it was not worth the while of the defen-
dant to allow himself to be summoned so frequently.
The defendant made no reply, and he was fined ss. and
2s. costs. John Mann, of Arundell-place, Portobello-
road, said he sold milk, but Mr. Wright proved that
lozenges were sold in the shop. Mr. Dayman said milk
was one of the articles exempted by the Act during
certain hours on the Sunday. It was not allowed to be
sold after four o'clock. The defendant wished to know
how sick persons were to obtain milk, but the magistrate
declined to answer the question, and fined him ss. and 2s.
costs.

The Cornwall Gazette states that an official visitor
to the Wolf Rock Lighthouse had a narrow escape a few
days ago. He was on the landing steps, and about to hail
a vessel in the offing to send in the surf boat, when a
sudden wave swept him from the steps. He owes his
life to a rope, which he caught, and held on by it until
the boat came in and rescued him. He could not regain
the Rock.

The London General Omnibus Company was sued
in the Bail Court in an action for damages. The fact that
the plaintiff, a journeyman carpenter, was knocked down
and seriously injured was not disputed, but the conten-
tion of the company was that the case had been got up
by an attorney, and that the plaintiff had contributed to
the accident by his own negligence. The jury found for
the defendants.

The dignity of knighthood is, it is said, about
to be conferred on Mr. Llewellyn Turner, who has finally
resigned the office of Mayor of Carnarvon, which he has
held for eleven years in succession, during which ho has
rendered valuable services in connection with _ the itn-

provement of the borough. In 1860 he received the
thanks of the Admiralty for his exertions in raising and
keeping together a fine body of the Naval Reserve within
his district.

NAVAL RESERVES.—If we should be called upon
to commission any fresh ships, we have at our immediate
disposal 3,800 Caastgua,rd-men, all picked sailors, and for
the most part practised gunners. We have, in addition,
4,000 pensioners not yet past the prime of life, and all
physically able to embark at once. Then we can fall back
upon the Royal Naval Reserve, in which we have en-
rolled more than 16,000 men. These of course, are not all
at home, but a few thousands are at hand, and each day,
by fresh arrivals from abroad, would add to the number.

—Army and Navy Gazette.
RUSSIAN IRONCLADS.—It is stated on good autho-
rity that the Russians have already fifty iron-clad
monitors at Nikolaieff, drawing not more than eighteen
feet of water. Nikolaieff, the Portsmouth of Russia, is
situated on the river Dnieper, which flows through the
basin called Dnieper Liman, into the Black Sea. For
some years past every difficulty has been thrown in the
way of Nikolaieff being visited by foreigners, and it is a
significant fact that Russia has refused permission to have
any English naval officers attached to the British Embassy,
at St. Petersburg. We are also informed that the forts of
Kertch and Jeniikale, at the entrance of the Sea of Azof,
have been fortified in such a manner as to be practically
mpregnable.—Observer.

A. MASKED BATTERY.—A gunsmith in Twenty-
third-street, New York, having had his shop robbed several
times, placed a loaded Springfield musket, in connection
with certain wires so arranged as to give a warm reception
to a burglar. One morning in October, on opening the
shop, the gunsmith found a young man in it lying dead,
with half his head blown off ; and by his side were house-
breaking implements, which told his story. The Coroner
held the gunsmith to bail, to await the action of the
grand jury, but Recorder Hackett discharged the recog-
nizance, stating that no offence had been committed. It
was urged that gun so placed might have a killed a fire-
man or policeman, bursting open the window in the dis-
charge of his duty. The Recorder said it was sufficient
to observe that that was not the event which had
happened. Such a case must be governed by its cir-
cumstances.

INSTRUCTION IN SCIENCE AND ART FOR WOMEN.

—ln his last lecture at the Keusing;ton. Museum, in
course of instruction in science and art for women, Pro-
fessor Huxley illustrated his previous subject of the
Thames by shewing the effects of pluvial and marine de-
nudation in the river's estuary ; as the shape of the gene-
ral surface of the basin of the Thames is the result of the
operation of fresh water, there is reason to believe that
the shape of the coast is the result of the operation of the
great mass of sea water acting upon that coast. The con-
stant. vibration to be seen in the estuary of the Thames
instances a similar vibration in the waters of
the ocean round all islands. The sea acts
upon the land as a sort of rotating chisel and
cuts it down to a depth of 100 fathoms below the surface.
Cliffs and beaches are the results of marine denudation. if
the rain and rivers reduced the land of Great Britain to
the sea level, there would be instead of land, sea, 100
fathoms deep. In describing the manner by which marine
denudation is brought about, the lecturer shewed the
great amount of mechanical force which is brought to bear
against the cliffs. On some coasts a storm-wave- is equal
to two or three tons weight. When pieces of rock have
fallen into the hands of the tempest the work of destruc-
tion proceeds with great rapidity. The sea strikes against
the coast with such mechanical force that it breaks and
crushes it, and having got the pieces down makes use of
them as so ninny sledge-hammers for furthering the work
of destruction.