The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-12 00:00:00

THE IRON TRADE.

The accounts from Glasgow, and particularly from
South Wales, are still of a most dispiriting character.
Pig iron is quoted free on board in the Clyde at 41s. per
ton, without buyers, aid a writer it a Bristol paper, from
Merthyr, reports that " the iron trade there is in a very
depressed state. This staple manu:acture of this district
is selling almost at ruinously low prices, and rumour (we
hope it will not prove true) has it that we are on the eve
of another reduction." And again, he says, "the work-
men employed at Plymouth iron works received a
month's notice on the 25th ult., the: a reduction of 10 per
cent. would take place in a month." Extraordinary
disclosures also have been made daring the week,
plainly showing that sales are sot only being forced
without attention to profit, bit, under an unprin-
cipled competition, far below the actual cost of produc-
tion. While it must be acknowlEdged that these state-
ments afford a sufficient cause for dismay, we can,
however, congratulate ourselves that at present no un-
usual stagnation has been felt in this district—indeed the
immediate local demand continues fully as brisk as usual
at this season of the year; and as this is the main sup-
port of the lesser manufacturers, who would be unable to
continue working to stock during a scarcity of orders,
there has yet been little complaint of want of employ-
ment. We should, however, scarcely think that the larger
houses are so well supplied with orcers, as they are more
dependent upon the export trade, and at this time not
only have to contend with the disastrous Welsh and
Scotch rivalry, but also with a very serious falling-off of
foreign shipments, as compared with the transactions
of previous years. From the Government returns
it appears that in the month ending November 5, 1847,
the total exports of iron and steel amounted to
430,0101., while in the corresponding month of the pre-
sent year they only reached 272,9761., showing an
ominous decrease of 161,0341. in one month. These
facts, joined with the continued uncertainty that over-
clouds our commercial intercours3 with the continental
States, affords no very glowing prospect for the winter;
and it is not a matter of surprise that an impression
should prevail of an approachieg reduction in price,
originating, contrary to the general course, with the
larger firms, who have usually litherto taken the lead
in an advance, but avoided that post in retrograde move-
ments. It is, however, worthy of serious consideration,
before taking such a step, whether there is an imperative
necessity for it, and whether it would not be better to
first make an attempt to reduce the superfluous make
to meet the reduced demand, tad to refrain as much
as possible from plunging into a wild and ruinous com-
petition with other districts, leaving them for a time to
fight out their own destructive battles. The benefits of
submitting to continued reductions in price have already
been proved by experience to b( sufficiently precarious,
while they aro unavoidably accompanied with an abridg-
ment of the comforts if not of the necessaries of life
among the labouring classes, to an extent deplorable to
be contemplated. The pig iron trade remains in about
the same position, with but little business doing, prices
being represented as so ruinousthat, should the decisions
of the manufacturers involve tlem in a further reduc-
tion, the deteriorated value cf materials would inevi-
tably seal up again a large moiety of the mines at pre-
sent working, and thus throw a very dangerous portion
of the population out of employment.—Aris's Birming-
ham Gazette.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY AND MURDER.—An attempt
at robbery and murder occurred on the morning of
Sunday last, at Brickendonbur7-hall, near Hertford, the
residence of Mr. Russell Ellis, the East India director.
Mr. Ellis and a party of friends were out shooting on
Saturday over the Brickendon Manor, and had a very
successful day's sport. The larder at the hall was in
consequence well stocked with game of various kinds.
Some thieves, who, it seems, were aware of this, and had
some knowledge of the premises, formed the project of
carrying off the whole of the game, and for that pur-
pose visited the premises about two o'clock on the morn-
ing of Sunday. They got into an inner yard, and broke
open the door of the larder. A large dog was at liberty
in the yard, but the thieves managed to keep him silent.
A small dog, however, that vas kept in the harness
house, maintained such an incessant barking, that a
groom who slept in the same building got out of bed,
opened the door cautiously and peeped out, in order to
ascertain whether anything was wrong. He perceived
that the gates of the yard stood open, and that a man
stood near them, evidently watching. Another man was
proceeding towards him from the inner yard, laden with
the contents of the larder. Almost at the same instant
the groom heard the report of a pistol close to him, and
he felt the flash upon his head and face. He drew back
mechanically, when a man whom he could scarcely per-
ceive through the smoke, said, " You have disturbed us
before, and we meant to give it you this time," or words
to that effect, and then disappeared after his compa-
nions, who had fled on hearing the report. The groom
suffered no injury, but the bullet was imbedded 2i
inches deep in the door-post, and from the height of the
perforation it is certain that the bullet must have passed
quite close to his head. Two men and two boys have
been taken into custody on suspicion of being concerned
in the affair. The prisoners all reside in a low locality
of Halford. One of the men, named Clarke, was found
in his bed on Sunday morning by the police. He
owned at once that he had been out all night, but said he
had been poaching with his neighbour, Edward Willis.
A gun which had been recently discharged, and a score
of game nets, were found in the house. The police next
visited the abode of Willis, and he, too, acknowledged
that he had been out all night. The shoes of the two
men are said to correspond with the footmarks left by
the would-be assassins.
DEATH OP MR. TURNER, M.P., iron TRURO.--
Last night Mr. Bedford held an inquest at the Goat,
Arabella-row, Pimlico, on the body of Mr. Edmund
Turner, aged 56, Member for Truro, Cornwall, who died
suddenly, on the morning of Sunday last, at the resi-
dence of his son•in-law (Mr. Beasley), of 7, Victoria-
square. Mr. Josephus Farris, of 36, Sutton-street,
Clerkenwell, identified the body of the deceased. He
was subject to gout. Witness last saw him
alive on
Friday afternoon, when he was in his usual health and
spirits. Elizabeth Davis, in the service of Mr. Beasley,
deposed that deceased was upon a visit at her master's
house for the last week. During that time he appeared
to enjoy perfect health. She last saw him alive at twelve
o'clock on Saturday night. He came home about eleven
o'clock in his usual health. In the morning, at the
usual hour, she went to call him, but receiving no answer
to her repeated knocks, she entered his room, and found
him lying on his left side, quite dead. Mr. Henry Lat-
ter, 5, Melcombe-terrace, surgeon, stated that he had
attended the deceased since April last, during which
time he had suffered from a disease of the heart, result-
ing from gout. He had made a post mortem examination,
and he had no doubt that this disease led to the sudden
and unlooked-for dissolution. Verdict—Natural death
from spasm of the heart.
SIXTY-TWO CROWS KILLED BY LIGHTNING !
Aynhire was visited by a severe hail and thunder storm
on Saturday last. A flock of crows sitting on a hedge
on the farm of Mr. John Duncan, Shalloch, parish of
Coylton, were struck by the electric fluid, and 62 of them
were killed 1--Ayr Advertiser.