The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-22 00:00:00

PUBLIC WORKS (IRELAND) No. 4 BILL•

This Bill was read a third time and passed.
POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS. doe
Mr. WAKLEY presented a petition from a gen olciest
who had been chairman of the quarter sessions, and the.tye
magistrate in Berkshire, praying the House to dionLo
coa•
Poor-law Commissioners, and to impeach them for the.
duct with respect to the Andover Union.
PUBLIC WORKS (IRELAND) BILL.
LEASES (IRELAND) BILL.

These Bills were read a third time and passed.
The other orders of the day were then postponed.
GENERAL PO ST- OFFI CE. the
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE wished to call the attention
te
House to the petition of Thomas Mitchell, late sub-sere r
s ac•
the General Post-office, complaining that his dismissalf ooe,
Pests'
casioned by proving in evidence certain malversations ":„ietee
ruptions on behalf of his superior officers. He bad ests'
out a great many previous abuses in this large woo
blishment, and had been told that all his cfraP done
were ineffectual, and that nothing could °toted,
respecting them. An inquiry was, however, tc,s was
before the solicitor to the Post-office, who certainly is
person qualified to inquire into the matter, although of the
pointment did not give general satisfaction. ManY ies
abuses had been remedied, and in the course of the 010104
Thomas Mitchell was called before Mr. Peacock. Hess
an
for protection if he should speak the truth, a,n" ou
tfit
assurance that he should be protected he ninnee
statements with reference to the mal-practices fop
Kelly. Copies of those statements were furnished to Mr; was a
and shortly afterwards it was whispered that Mitcheitsbell,
marked man. On ano' her inquiry being instituted id be
was again called, and on a fresh assurance that he o°o of
protected, he gave information that 70,000 of the cireterebt
Mr. Kelly had been sent through the Post-office free, Pi: dare,
defrauding the revenue. He had become a marked mausiiitchell
without any complaint having be enmade against hira.." his
who was not in good health, was so fatigued after glve'ogiing
evidence, that he was compelled to go home, and on rd to the
his home he was so ill that he was compelled to sett Asti&
offize to state that he should be unable to attend to hi,"bstle..°
That was strictly within the rules of the establishmeetL, tbs;
received his dismissal very shortly after, the letter steTilotee_
the dismissal was in consequence of his baying tdsiecB
himself from duty without leave. Another ground Ins Rare
sequence taken up, and it was stated the man was dismissee ' ore
sequence of insolent conduct. These subterfuges.l.of6es
proofs of the weakness of the case of the P°B
authorities, and since this dismissal Alitchell hadrriers
ceivcd an appointment as a general lsetteprunigefiroot
stating that it was in mitigation of
If the man had neglected his duty he ought to be
gaged at all—( Hear, hear)—and if he had piev;degraded to the
reinstated in his original position, and It t s had since beet
rank of a letter-carrier. Other sub-sorte
declined to give ea
called before Mr. Peacock, and they
had of being treated
evidence against Mr. Kelly from fear
him
a petitt°
as Mr. Mitchell was. He had with
was quittheihu:fit be eir
treatment Mitchell had received, and expressing a fear oer,
from 195 employed in the establishment, complaining
ooff the
like treatment for themselves. The case was one which sof
tainly called for the severest investigation of the limiTo bor
he therefore moved that an humble address be presented
Majesty, praying her to appoint an inquiry into the mend
ment of the General Post-office, the particulars of °arise°
missal of Thomas Mitchell, and also with regard to oceto be
private speculation in that office, and whether it ought"
continued or not.
tbieft
Mr. PROTHEROE seconded the motion. He did nee dote
the man had been properly treated. A dismissal for oe fibs
absence, seeing that he had been ten years in the services: the
Post- office, was most harsh and unjust. Whatever 0,
nature of the charge, whether true or false, he did 11,°‘ for
the Post-office authorities had conducted the ineturY the
creditable manner. He would conclude by seconding
motion.

(LEFT SITTING.)

FRANCE,—MINES AND ST—VA
POWER. s t°.
The Journul des Debuts, in recent numbers, haggis
lisped lished two remarkable articles on the mineral r oof
and steam power of France, probably from the f!hich
M. Michel Chevalier, some of the chief details of wri the
are here extracted. The statistics are founded .°ropart"
year 1844. France, it is said, in the order of thas
ante in coal-mining wealth takes the third rani, oo•
is, comes after England and Belgium. In ir°ll.o eolr
mines the second place. The absolute and relative it IS
sumption of iron and coal in those states in whit'
officially known is thus stated :
iron.
Coal. 00
England 23
.1,90°," ,500,000 -
France
Belgium 3,200,000 120,00
Zollverein
These figures give the consumption per head3s,o:os
England, a* B7O kilog. 4O kilos.
Belgium BOO „
France 154 „ l3 ~ vexing
In In 1844 France reckoneldo742's' m..i.ries-o Ifoeoll"l,criv7e3rirl
about 450,000 hectares ; 252 were in work,e°l42 mines,
rosined still in inactivity. The working of twelve
the greater part of which were distributed 5(151
principal basins, employed in 1844, "' coal, 580,00?:
and produced 3,055,000 metrical tons of
ombUStnie
anthracite, and 141,000 of lignite ; total of eOg 000,00 v•
material,3,7B3,ooo tons, or in kilograrnmes,3,7°'' 4 pig'
This was about the seventh of the production
land, arid a little less than the total Belgian extra
otiti
For, it must be noted, that, in addition to the quti rtea
worhineol
consumed at home, as before stated, Belgium exP° rot
in that year 1,300,000 tons. Since 1839 the nerafe, 0,
the mines worked in France had increased only as Co
ro'
but the extraction advanced from 28 to 30 per cant' nap'
duction, however, was still so much in arrear of conef6oo
tion as to require from Belgium and England 1,75.„"'5a5
tons more. It is as yc sterday only, so to say, that steawoji
been employed as a moving power, and yet it 00
• alre
furnishes the globe with a force estimated at moretol
10,000,000 of horses, or 60,000,000 of men. Thettied:-.-
effective of steam engines in France is thus ste'eviog
For purposes of industry the number is 3,645, sesent-
-4,214 establishments and Manufactories, and rePLugbs
ing 45,781 steam horse-power, or, at three ul since
horses per steam-horse, 137,340 draught horses. ,e pro'
1839 this mechanical material had increased latPo eft'
portion of 45 to 50 per cent. The steam-011;0,23:
ployed in navigation form a total of 382, apPlie horse"
vessels, with a collective force of 12,789 steatirmss, has
The increase under this special head, in six Y%tirher
only been from 25 to 30 per cent. The -seal?:
of passengers transported in 1844 bY 14,0d15`
vessels was 3,287,000, and of n3ert,i'" first
1,082,000 tons. The number of the and
compared with 1843 was about stationarYtiliol*
for the latter in decrease. The competition of rat hives account for the fact. The locomotive met rail'
gave, in 1844, a total of 292, serving 16 lines %toe
way. Of this number 168 were of French w°l.,-,
faro
ship, and 124 of foreign origin. This was an
of 46 machines upon 1843, and of 88 upon 1g42. of
total, France possessed, in 1844, 4,319 steam 04;2,90'
all sorts, of the collective steam-horse force of
00,5
or of 188,847 draught horses ; or, at the rate e' Su&
six men to one draught horse, of 1,321,929 men: hes to
is the industrial army which steam now furniliinerjr;
France, and, whatever may be written against in3eioiefis
we do not find that the employment of this LUcence the
power has yet left the people bereft of work. Sin hives
last four or five years, the number of steam wesei te,
augments rapidly in France, and yet, it is neeerapicP
say, it represents scarcely the twelfth of the wee
power employed in England.

ACT,,'.

SINGULAR CASE UNDER THE SMALL DEBTS licaiioll
wOarl,„Fmrildut-,toatdtihscehrairsginegaofptehresoPn anlaaiscneeed,ourt,
Samuel an stigsaP?iv, :tea°,
had been some days in Horsemonge••-lane Gaol as .7 ofie
Shaw. It appeared that the Prisoner
as defendant in an action, Shaw," unue.rd 011
Small Debts Act, which summons heedid not attend, a" dr)
Tuesday last he was taken into f dand committeA ffl-
vh.ad been llinini the
cusx y
fried. ~-.
Horsemonger-lane Gaol, w}
,ere he had since remained' s
davits were read, showing that e the person in custody- W 8 010
father of the debtor,
and he had stated that he was not
nes_
person against whom the action had been brought. .14' quads
tion arose whether an aplication should not have been -that,
to a Judge at Chambers, but it urged by Mr. Locke be
was
Court, hey uld
as he was committed for to be
contempt of the Cour
discharged. The • Court eventually ordered the Part
discharged from •
prison. , „„ftern IMPORTATION or PLoER.—On Thursday sof
the Victoria arrived in the St. Katherine Dock from g
York, with 3,114 barrels also 600 quarrels,
of flour on hoard, OO [
of
Indian corn, 717 barrels of oil-cake, and about 1
of beef. h verf
We are enabled to state, and we do so with
great satisfaction, that orders have been sent from
....?...."-tin
~ .to withdraw the Spanish troo f the frontiers. la" 0
ps from betiyee
end is put to the very menacing state of anal°
Spain and Portugal.—Chronicle.