The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-23 00:00:00

THE 6 UN, I.4OI\TbON, THURSDA EVENING, JUN E 23, 187 u.

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

The Liberte, a Paris paper, observes that the French
temperament is irritable, mobile, and easily accessible to
panics. "It is for us and not for our neighbours, that
Rabelais wrote his admirable chapter on the sheep of
Panurge. This irritability and absence of sang froid
count for a good deal in the rise of the price of provisions,
especially in the rise of flour. Paris is, in a measure
the regulator of the European grain market,
and because the drought has effected the har-
vest, every one hastens to exaggerate the
evil, and to buy at any price, as if the famine were at our
doors. Thanks to this panic, the price of bread has
reached 45c. the kilogramme. Foreign markets, where
cereals abound, are increasing their demands every day,
owing to the chorus of lamentations in Paris. In 1785
the crops of cereals were seriously affected, but the
drought was excessive, not one drop of rain having fallen
in the months of April, May, and June. Wine was
plentiful, and of excellent quality. There are other
examples of extremely hot summers, from which we may
infer that before the harvest is seriously affected the
drought must last three months." The Alsace papers
announce that every . evening sheets of rain fall
in the Vosges and the Black Forest. At
Arras there has been rain, but of insufficient
quantity. In Augouleme there has been a heavy storm,
which has done great damage. The zinc roof of a ware-
house was torn off, and flung on the highway. The loss is
estimated at 10,000 f. The neighbourhood of the Orleans
railway and of Balzac have suffered severely from storms.
The Journal Officiel publishes the following inform-
ation :—ln Southern Russia, the fields are magnificent,
and prices have slightly fallen at Odessa in
consequence of the good yield promised by the standing
crops. In Belgium, Holland, and Prussia, there is sup-
posed to be sufficient to meet the requirements of the
population without having recourse to importations.
Advices from Bohemia in relation to the prospects of this
year's harvest state that, after a severe drought of more
than three weeks, there have been copious falls of rain,
and that, in consequence, it is now believed a better crop
on the whole than that of last year may be secured.
The Minister of Agriculture in order to reduce the current
reports to their real value, is preparing a report on the
state of the crops which will shew the public the true
state of the case. We may say that up to the present
time the deep soils and those that are well naanured have
not suffered at all. On the light soils the returns will
perhaps be a third less than that of the last harvest.
Whatever comes, however, it is likely that the highest
price which flour will attain has been seen last week, for
free trade and other causes will soon effect a reduction.

The Courier de Saone et Loire says that on all sides
there are complaints of scarcity of water and fears of a
continued drought. In 1775 there was also a long
drought, and the wells were dried up, but the rain fell in
June, and crops of all kinds were plentiful.
The Phare de la Loire says that it believes the har-
vest is saved. In some places the rye is ripe, and ready
to be cut. In spite of the great drought which has pre-
vailed, the wheat has preserved its fine appearance, and
where it was forward it has nearly reached its full growth.
In Albi the harvest is in process ; the stalks are not high,
but the ears are very full and a magnificent harvest is
expected.
From Clermont (Oise) we learn that great uneasiness
has been felt, but it is hoped that the crops will be less
seriously affected than was anticipated. Here, as else-
where, the deep soils have not suffered, but the cereals
sown on light lands will be very poor. The Union, a
paper of la Reole, gives a favourable account. The harvest
is just about to commence, and the crops are expected to
be very fine. The wheat is expected to be of the best
quality. In the Dauphiny fields, near Lyons, the
rye harvest is completed, but it is poor, and it
is feared the wheat crop, which is about to be
gathered, will not be much better. The ears are thin, and
the stalks not more than 20 or 30 centimetres in height.
From other parts of the country the accounts are very
similar. Forage crops are the great failure. In Moulins
(Allier) they are very scarce, and oats are seriously
affected, but the wheat looks well. In Toul (Merthe) th e
forage crop is very unsatisfactory, and the best that could
be hoped is that it will be one-third of the usual amount.
From Algeria, on the other hand, the accounts are most
encouraging. The European grain is splendid, and
in some favoured spots they return 25 grains for 1.
The oats are also very fine, and will be the best of all the
cereals. The rising price of oats in France has stimulated
their cultivation in the colony. Barley is also good, and
Algeria promises, as during the Crimean war, to supply a
great part of the deficiency of Europe.

COMIC PAPERS.
(From Punch.)

NEW DIVISION OF TIME.—" The Rest of the week.'
Sunday.

A PuOVERB or NO VALUE IN JUNE, 1870.—" Make hay
while the sun shines." Can't.

GRINNING AND BEARING IT.—" We all owe something
to our country," said the Briton who went abroad without
having paid his income tax.
Astronomers are the sun's "pod-natured friends."
They are never tired of talking about him, and pointing
out his black spots.
PEERS PECKING AT PEERS.—EarI Granville, the other
day, had occasion to remark that the law lords always had
a tendency to pull each other's bills to pieces. Doves bill
and coo ; but a different sort of billing is natural to birds
of prey.
LONDON ANATOMY.—The Metropolitan Railway will
now take country visitors into the very " heart of Lon-
don." Not much to be gained by that, even if it exists.
At all events, so many things have run right through the
heart of London ere now, that it ought to be pretty con-
siderably like a dead heart by this time.
MRS. RAMSBOTHAM ON LAws.—A gentleman of repub-
lican tendencies observed to Mrs. Ramsbotham that in
England there was one law for the rich and another for
the poor. "Of course there is," returned Mrs. Rams-
botham, who has been lately reading history, " there's
the Poor Law, and the Sumptuary Law ; and quite right
too."

LAW AND POLICE.

ACTION BY MR. TENNYSON.—An action has been raised
in the Court of Session, at the instance of Mr. Tennyson
and his publishers, the Messrs. Strahan, against a Glas-
gow bookseller named Robert Forrester, in which
£550 is sought to be recovered as damages for the illegal
sale by the defender of pirated copies of the Poet-
Laureate's works.

DOGS ANb SERVANTS. —Serjeant Wheeler, judge of the
Liverpool County Court, has had a curious case before him.
A servant, who had gone on a month's trial, objected to
the presence of two dogs in the kitchen. The lady
declined to assign the animals any other local habitation,
and the maid left, and sued for two months' wages. His
Honour gave her a verdict in full, as he held that the
kitchen was not the proper place for dogs, and a servant
had a perfect right to require all unclean animals to be
removed.

THE TRENT AND HUMBER SHIPBUILDING COMPANY.—
An application has been made in Vice-Chancellor James's
chambers for a final certificate as to the winding-up of
this company. It seemed that all the assets; amounting
to nearly £13,000, had been gathered iu, excepting a sum
of £9O, which was owing by four shareholders, who, being
in pecuniary difficulties, were unable to pay. There was
a balance of £6O inlhe bank. The Chief Clerk said there
was a difficulty in the way of granting the certificate, in-
asmuch as until the i;aoney from the four shareholders in
question was known to be past all recovery, the affairs of
the company could not be said to be completely wound
up. Another difficulty arose with respect to the balance
at the bank, and until that was ordered to be disposed of
by the official liquidator he must decline to grant the
final certificate.

AN ABSCONDING SOLICITOR.—A first sitting has taken
place at the Court of Bankruptcy before Mr. Registrar
Roche, in the matter of William Henry Cotterill, solicitor,
of 32, Throgmorton-street, City. He absconded about
thee months ago, leaving liabilities, it is said, of not less
than £150,000, , consisting chiefly of money which
had been placed in his hands by various
clients for the purpose of investment, but which
he had appropriated. There are no assets. A petition
for adjudication was presented in April last by M. Emile
Boudonneaux, photographer, of Regent-street, a creditor
for £B2, and the adjudication was made on the 2nd inst.—
Mr. Linklater now appeared to represent the creditors.
Debts of between £15,000 and £200,000 were proved, and
Mr. Waddell, accountant, of Poultry Chambers, was
chosen trustee, and two creditors were named as inspectors.

THE CHARGE OF EMBEZZLEMENT AND FORGERY AGAINST
A SURGEON.—Francis Horne Scaife, 31, described as a
surgeon, was brought up on remand before the Richmond
bench of magistrates, charged with embezzling the sum
of £sl3s. 6d. and a cheque for £7 10s. 6d., the property
of doctors Anderson and Hassan, his late employers of
Richmond. The prisoner was arrested in Liverpool on the
11th inst. , by police-constable Heath and on his portmanteau
being searched forged cheques for £323 7s. and £2BO were
found, purporting to have been signed by William
Anderson, M.D., and payable to Francis Scaife, or bearer,
and a counterfoil, No. 26, for £370. on the back of which
were figures shewing £1,718 7s. 9d. Mr. Smith, solicitor
of Richmond, appeared for the prosecution, and stated
that his clients had received a letter from the prisoner ex-
pressing his regret, and entreating them not to press the
charge. The letter was read, a,s.was also another from the
Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, stating that the
prisoner's name did not appear, on their register as a
surgeon. The bench retired for consultation, and after-
wards committed the accused for trial.

LOVE LAUGHS AT LOCKS.-At the County Police-court,
Strangeways, a young man of respectable appearance,
named. John Brewer, was charged with breaking into a
house in which his sweetheart, Alice Ann Chhppel, re-
sided, at 134, Ashton New-road, Bradford, and
threatening her with personal violence. The com-
plainant and the defendant had ' known each
other for some time. Ultimately the complainant
told the defendant that he must cease visiting her. Things
passed on satisfactorily until last week, when the com-
plainant went with her brother and sister to the
Prince's Theatre, On returning home the complainant was
surprised to find the house in a state of great disorder, and
the defendant sitting in the parlour. Upon an explanation
of his conduct being demanded, he threatened to " squeeze
her to death," and to "smash her to pieces" unless she
immediately restored his presents, and some property be-
longing to him. She was so terrified that she ran up
stairs to escape him, and, upon being pursued, threw up
the bedroom window and leapt out into the street, but
fortunately escaped without serious injury. The defen-
dant was bound over to keep the peace for six months,
himself in £2O and two sureties in £lO each.

A SINGULAR CASE.—A man, named Burke, was tried
at the Middlesex Sessions, for stealing several articles
valued at £3O, as well as several sums of money, the
property of Morris Pinto. It appeared that the prose-
cutor was a commercial traveller, and, the prisoner and
his wife were fellow lodgers. The prosecutor's wife had
some conversation with, the prisoner about the rates,
which she had received a summons to pay within fourteen
days. The prisoner told her she was very foolish to have
acknowledged that she owed them, but she replied that as
her landlady, who had promised to pay them, had not
given her a written paper, she was liable. However, the
prisoner advised her, as a means of security, to put some
of her things in his room, telling her that if the rate.
collector saw only a few things in the house he would be
more likely to give her time to pay. The prosecutor's'
wife, believing this, put a number of articles into the pri-
soner's room, and he afterwards persuaded her to put
there a bag containing money, a box, with a watch and
earrings, &c. A day or two after the woman saw the
prisoner bring a van to the door, and then with the
assistance of several Irishmen put her goods into
it. She went to ask him the reason, but he told her not
to interfere, and went on removing them. His com
panions knocked her down, and tore away the goods she
tried to stop. They drove off fast with the van, and she
could not follow. She informed the police. The prisoner,
against whom several previous, convictions were proved,
was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude.
RUFFIANISM AT KINGSTON.—At the Kingston-on-
Thames borough sessions, a young man, respectably
dressed, was charged with assaulting Mr. F. Gould,
an alderman and justice •of the peace for that borough.
On Saturday night Alderman Gould was riding along by the
promenade when he saw a number of young men surrounding
a man and woman. Seeing a blow aimed at the woman he rode
up and found that she was receiving a blow intended for
her husband, whom she was shielding in consequence of
some of the ruffians having said they would " make a
corpse of him." Alderman Gould interposed to protect
the man and his wife, and immediately was set upon and
violent nttempts were made to unhorse him. Stones were
picked up, and two of the men tied their handkerchiefs
together and tried to throw Mr. Gould's horse with a jerk. At
last the cowards made off, finding that they could not suc:
ceed in their endeavours ; but one of the ringleaders was'
followed and tracked from place to place, and in spite of
his efforts to escape, Alderman Gould succeeded in hand-
ing him over to the police. He was fined 40s. and 6s. 6d.-
costs, which was paid by his friends. Neither the man
nor his wife came forward ; it is said they feared to pro-
secute.

Is A WIFE'S NEPHEW HER HUSBAND'S NEPHEW ?
An extraordinary will case has been argued before the
Court of Error on appeal from the Court of Common
Pleas. John Grant, a marine store dealer at Rugby, left
certain premises to a person described in,his will as my
nephew, Joseph Grant," The testator had married his
own cousin, and had adopted his wife's nephew;
Joseph Grant, who assisted him in his business. It
was not disputed that it was the testator's intention to
leave the property to this young man,as he had said so to
the solicitor who drew up the will ; and it appeared that
up to the time of his death he was not aware that hit
eldest brother, William Grant, had a son named Joseph.
The latter, however, as the son of the heir-at-law, con-
tended that he was Lentitled to the property, being the
legal nephew of John Grant, and he brought an action
of ejectment against the other " Joseph," which
the Court of Common Pleas decided in favour of the
present holder. The Court of Probate had also decided
in his favour. The question now was whether the will
was to be construed according to the testator's ascertained
intention, or was to be, strictly interpreted in its limited
meaning of " the son of a brother or sister." Other be-
quests to nieces and a nephew, daughters and son
of another brother of the testator were relied
upon as giving colour to this interpretation. It was
contended that the plaintiff was the only " nephew
Joseph" of the testator, according to the strict interpre-
tation of the will. Mr, Quain, Q.C., cited three cases as
being analogous ; but in none of them was the status of a
nephew defined. The court, without calling upon the defen-
dant's counsel to rep:y, unanimously upheld the deCision of
the court below, holding. that the ordinary and popular signi-
fication of the word " nephew " included the son of a
wife's brother or sister, and; thus it was competent to
admit evidence shewing the testator's intention of making
the devise.

The St. Paul, Minnesota, Press's Pembina corre-
spondent, of the 30th ult., says :—" Indians are concen-
trating in the vicinity of Lake of the Woods for the pur-
pose of giving fight to the Canadians when they penetrate
the swamps. Riel's picket line extends from Lake of the
Woods to Pembina Mountain."

On the night of the sth of June the Black Ball
packet ship William F. Storer took fire as she lay at her
dock in the East River, New York, and burnt till she
settled at the bottom of the slip. The vessel had arrived
from Liverpool on the 17th of May, and was receiving
cargo for Europe. She had just taken on board about 250
barrels of lard.

A Prussian military detachment having lately
crossed the Bohemian frontier into Austrian territory, the
Eastern Budget says, the Prussian ambassador, General
von Schweinitz, immediately forwarded explanations to
the Austrian Government, which were accepted as per-
fectly satisfactory, especially as that Government had from
the first looked upon the affair as purely accidental.

HORRIBLE DEATH.—The Liverpool coroner has
held an inquest on the body of a man named John
WlCenna, who was employed at Messrs. Walker's.distil-
lery, Vauxhall-road, in that town. Whilst cleaning a
corn-shoot he fell into a large mash-tub filled with boiling
liquid, and was so horribly scalded that he died the next
day in great agony.
THE POOR LAW DEPARTMENT.—The number of
paid officers locally employed in the administration of
the Poor Laws in England and Wales in 1869, exclusive
of the metropolitan district, was no less than 13,849.
618 were clerks to the guardians, 3,906 medical officers,
1,336 relies ing officers, 629 masters of workhouses or
superintendents of schools, 636 matrons of workhouses or
schools, 307 schoolmasters, 489 schoolmistresses, 1,521
collectors of rates, 227 assistant overseers, 460 porters, 98
male nurses, 689 nurses, 2,933 assistant relieving officers,
industrial trainers, and other officers and assistants. In
the course of the year 1869 53 of this host voluntarily re-
signed in order to avoid inquiry, &c., and there were also
70 forced resignations and 74 dismissals.

A REMARKABLE INVEN TION.

We were present at the foundry of Messrs. Barrows,
Savery, and Co., at the corner of Reed and Front streets,
to witness the practical operation of Messrs. Whipple and
Dickerson's new process for converting petroleum to the
production of motive power. A large number of persons
interested in a discovery so pregnant with importance as
affecting the whole question of fuel in the future, were
present, and were perfectly well satisfied of the value and
feasibility of the same. The new process does not bring
the petroleum in contact with the fire at all. By a most
ingenious and exceedingly simple machine, it is first eva-
porated into hydro-carbon gas or vapour, and that gas is
conducted to the fire-box by ordinary pipes, and there
burned as you would burn ordinary gas under a kettle in
a gas stove. The process of evaporation, and its
product, - is the secret of this new discovery.
The objection which was urged in 1867 by the
Secretary of the Navy that in all tests of the value of
petroleum as a fuel it had been discovered that carboni-
sation resulted to such an extent as to stop up the tubes
used in a short time, cannotbe raised against the present
mode of burning petroleum, as the fire does not come in
contact with the crude petroleum, but merely with its
vapour, as stated. In regard to its perfect safety, also,
there can be no question for the same reason. At the
foundry which we visited, and in which this process is in
operation, there has been a saving of 'nearly one-half in
coal, with an increased efficiency. The same boiler is in
use as before, and while by the use of coal a pressure of
not higher than forty pounds to a square inch could be
obtained, with a great decline in this pressure when there
was heavy work being done in the foundry, with the use
of petroleum by this process a constant pressure of sixty
pounds is attained, never varying, no matter how great
the call upon the motive power. These engines, aggre-
gating sixty horse-power, are driven by the steam gene-
rated in this way. This will shew the great demand for
a large and invariable supply of steam, and also the
efficiency of the newly-utilized fuel. Of the solid value of
the invention we have no doubt, and believe that the new
process is destined to revolutionise the entire question
of fuel, at least as a generator of steam.—Philadelphia
Press.

AN ART AND SCIENCE ➢IUSEUM FOR ALL
NATIONS.

A meeting has been held in New York at the house of
Professor Dorremus, for the purpose of considering pro-
posals for the establishment in New York of an Art and
Science Museum, of a permanent character, for the exhi-
bition of works of science and art. A number of letters
were received from prominent gentlemen of the city
approving of the scheme, and also from the representa-
tives of foreign governments volunteering their practical
aid in the development of the proposal. It was decided to
issue the proposal in a printed foina, so as to give the
scheme a wider publicity. From the influential support
that the scheme has already received there is no doubt
of its ultimate success, and that in New York
will very shortly be formed the nucleus of a
museum worthy of the great continent of America.
Dr. G. Naphegyi read a paper embodying the details of
this proposal, from which we select the following prin-
cipal characteristics :—After obtaining a charter of incor-
poration, it is proposed to make a solicitation, in the name
of the society, to all the resident and accredited foreign
Ministers at Washington, so that through them each of
the foreign Governments may forward objects of interest.
Memberships in the organisation of the executive of this
museum is to be obtained by defined subscriptions in
money and objects for exhibition. It is proposed to make
it a demonstrative and pictorial atlas of the American
.continent. For the cultivated mind a source of learning,
for the layman a source of pleasure. The chemist, the
botanist, the mineralogist, the geologist, and the orni-
thologist are to find in it a new field of labour. The pro-
posals were received with considerable enthusiasm, and it
was said that early in the fall the scheme would, in all
probability, assume a practical shape, and would be sub-
mitted to the publie with great confidence of establishing
a museum equal in its nucleus to that of many European
countries.