The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-29 00:00:00

SHALE MINES.

Sir ROBERT ANSTRUTHER asked the Secretary of State
for the Home Department whether, having regard to the
recent accidents in shale mines he would make arrange-
ments for including those mines within the provisions of
the Mines Regulation and Inspection Bill.
Mr. BRUCE said that he had determined to embrace
these mines in the measure referred to.
BOROUGH POLICE.

Major CARTWRIGHT asked whether it was the intention
of the Government to bring in a bill relating to County
and Borough Police Superannuation during the present
session.

Mr. BRUCE said a bill on the subject had been prepared,
but it would depend upon the state of public business
whether it passed during the present session.
THE MURDERS BY GREEK BRIGANDS.

In reply to Mr. Cartwright,
Mr. OrrwAr said that the noble earl, the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, had lost no time in sending for
information other than that which had been published
relative to the recent murders in Greece by brigands, which
had caused so much sympathy and indignation, A telegram
had been received from Mr. Erskine, dated Athens, this
morning, in which he stated that he had sent a list of the
brigands to Mr. Barron, chargd d'affairres at Constanti-
nople, that five hundred troops were in pursuit,
and that nothing would be left undone to secure
the murderers. That seven of them had been killed,
and their heads exposed, and that five others, he (Mr.
Otway) presumed brigands, were about to be examined,
and if convicted they would be executed. A telegram had
also been received' from Mr. Barron at Constantinople
to the effect that orders had been issued to
arrest all brigands taken on Turkish territory,
and to deliver them up to the Greek Govern-

ment. A telegram had also been received from
Mr. Erskine stating that the Antelope had sailed that
morning for Malta with the bodies of the persons mur-

dered,

Sir J. ELPHINSTONE inquired what force was in the
Greek waters at the time of the murder.
Mr. CHILDERS said he believed it was limited to the
Cockatrice and the Antelope ; the Caledonia had been
there previously, but she sailed to join the Mediteranean
fleet on the 9th.

SUN, LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 29, 1870.

BETTING HAUNTS

The recent raids of the police upon the betting houses
have driven the lower grades of the fraternity to ex-
pedients. Disturbed from their previous haunts, a
" commission exchange " has been set up. Tattersall's
was preserved from injury by the theory that
it was a club; therefore the low betting
men established their club. The argument that a
subscription club is to all intents and purposes a
private house was scoffed at in many a tavern parlour,
until some genius more practical than his fellows saw how
it might be turned to account, by the institution of this
" exchange." It is situated in the Dickens-famed region
of Little Saffron-hill. The Daily .Yews correspondent,
who described the den, says that ingress may be obtained
on payment of a subscription of five shillings. The inte-
rior is thus depicted :—Supposing the stranger to
have paid this, or to have been made temporarily
free -of the place, he finds himself in a large enclosed
yard, with a covered shed all round it for the wet
weather, and the names and addresses of the list-keepers
over their accustomed stands. "From the Commission
Exchange " is a kind of reference apparently, for we saw
it above the stand of a list-keeper who was doing by far
the best business at the Hackney-Wick foot-races on
Good Friday ; and all the most substantial looking
men at the Bow Running Grounds on the same day
carried a similar advertisement on their pouches, or on
a broad belt round their hats. The day of our visit
to the Saffron-hill establishment was one of the
dtalest of the season, and the proceedings were compara-
tively tame ; but it was impo-ssible not to be struck with
the business air with which bets were booked and notes
compared. " Only five shillings subscription, and you
may bet here as much as you like," repeated an illustrious
member of "the Exchange." And the whole story
of police suppression seemed told in these simple
words. " Concerning snakes in Iceland, there are
no snakes," wrote the historian ; and concerning the
putting-down of street-betting, it is not put down, if the
payment of a crown entitles anyone to indulge in it. The
venue is changed ; but the aspect and demeanour of the
people offering and taking odds—" on commission,"
we presume— carried one back to old experiences.
There were the sharp eyes, the cunning faces, the
expressions out of which a physiognomist would evolve
a life-history which it would be impossible to write.
It would be interesting to know the conditions under
which this exchange is carried on, and how its members
'are affiliated. Is spotless integrity an essential qualifica-
tion ? Are all men excluded from it who have once been
defaulters on the turf ? Are the rules by which it is go-
verned more or less elastic than thOse of a betting club?
In all externals it is a subscription yard, kept up
by men with a common purpose ' • but that " dog
does not eat dog" is a proverb of wide acceptance,
and we should be pleased to know more of the raison
d'être of the Saffron-hill Commission Exchange than
appears on the surface. Not the least curious thing
about it is that its very existence is doubted or ignored
by many authorities, who confound it with the old meet-
ing place, the Ruins, and declare it to have been
put down. Assuming the questions we have
put to be answered satisfactorily, another and
scarcely less important one remains behind. How
far does the existence of this semi-public gam-
bling ground accord with the spirit and in-
tentions of the Legislature ? That it is a cheap and
successful parody upon another place which is frequented
by members of the aristocracy does not meet the point
and while P.P. betting, or the reverse, is receiving careful
attention at the hands of would-be reformers of the turf,
it may be well to ask how far we, the public outside the
Jockey Club, have improved upon betting shops and
street obstructions, while public gaming is winked at or
encouraged by the police, if the gamblers agree among
th2inselves to pay to and for each other five shillings a
year'