The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-15 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING,

will be held on the 4th March, when the affairs and
position of the company is to he considered.

THE ARMY AND NAVY.
(From the United Service Gazette of this day.)

VACANT COMMANDS-IN-CHIEF IN 1851.

The following Commanders-in-Chief will have com-
pleted their allotted periods of service during the pre-
sent year:—
MEDITERRANEAN—AdmiraI Sir William Parker,
Bart., G.C.8., Comusander-in-Chief in the Mediterra-
nean, appointed February, 1845, having now served a
double term. It is reported that the Government have
determined on :continuing Sir William in command of
this station until the Portsmouth command is vacant.
WEST INDIES—Vice-Admiral the Earl of Dundonald,
G.C.8., term of service expired Jan. 12, 1848, to be re-
lieved next month by Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour,
G.C.H., appointed last month.
Commodore Thomas Bennett, second in command, ap-
pointed Feb. 7, 1848.
DEVONPORT—AdmiraI Sir William Hall Cage,:G.C.H.,
appointed April 17, 1848, to bo succeeded, says report, by
Admiral Sir J. A. Ommanney, K.C.B.
NORE —Vice- Admiral the Hon. George Elliot, C. 8.,
appointed May 9, 1848.
SOUTH-EAST COAST OF AMERICA—Rear-Admiral Bar-
rington Reynolds, C. 8., appointed to the Cape Station,
Aug. 1848.
PORTSMOUTH—AdmiraI the Hon. Sir Thomas Bladen
Capel, K.C.8., appointed Sept. 13, 1848.

REDUCTION IN THE NAVY ESTIMATES FOR THE NEXT
FINANCIAL YEAR.—We have already prepsred our
Yekthrs to expect some reduc:iun in the Navy Estimates
for the ensuing financial year 1851-52. We are now
enabled to state that the amount of money required to be
voted for the naval service, including the expenses of
the contract mail-packet service, 700,000/., and the
expense of the Admiralty packet service, 82,000/.,
will be about 5,700,0001., or about 400,000/. less
than that voted for the current year; and compared with
last year, it will show a red]ction of one million. We
believe, as we have before stated, that there will be uo
reduction in the number of men; but the iron steamers
having been paid for, no money will be required for iron
ship building, and there will be a considerable reduction
in the estimates for machinery and stores, and the
amount required for dockyards and establishments at
home and abroad will also be reduced, _

We regret to hear that Major-General Lord Frede-
derick Fitzclarence, commanding the South-Western
District, has had a relapse, and is compelled to prolong
his stay at Malvern. His Lordship had intended to
return to his command early in the next week.
THE TROOPS IN THE COLONIES.—The Regiments
stationed in tha Australian colonies and New Zealand
are to be reduced to six Service Companies each, and
to have a Four Company Depot for duty at home; it is
expected that the greater number of the men, instead
of returning to England, will be induced to become
settlers.
THE TULLOCHS AGAlN.—Captain Tulloch, Staff
Officer of Pensioners for Edinburgh, but who for some
time past has been employed on special service at Til-
bury Fort, is to be appointed Military Superintendent
of Pensioners in Canada; and it is expected that he will
be promoted to a majority.
TROOPS FOR EMBARKATION.—The ships Athenian
and Edward have been engaged to embark the 3rd Buffs
at Cork for Malta. Her Majesty's steam-ship Birken-
head will Convey the 55th Regiment to Gibraltar about the
end of February; the 68th Light Infantry is to embark
at Cork for Malta the end of February in the Resistance,
troop ship ; her Majesty's steam ship Vulcan is to con-
vey the 74th Highlanders from Cork to Gibraltar the
end of the month ; and the 92nd Highlanders will em-
bark about the cud of. February in Her Majesty's ship
Apollo at Cork for Corfu.
NEW ACCOUTREMENTS.—We understand that the 7th
Fusiliers, recently moved into Portsmouth, look exceed-
ingly well in the improved accoutrements, which will no
dount become general in the Service.
EMBARKATION of TROOPS.—The Service Companies
of the 41st Regiment, udder the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Carpenter, embarked at Quenstown for Carfu
on Tuesday, the 11th of February, in her Majesty's ship
Hercules, which sailed the same day for her destination.
CAVALRY FOR INDIA.—It is rumoured that the 6th
Dragoon Guards will embark for India in the spring of
the year 1853, to relieve the 3d Light Dragoons.
Captain Yates of the Britannia, 120, ordinary guard-
ship at Portsmouth, has served the usual term of three
years; but we believe the gallant officer, if he lives, will
remain another year. We regret to state,, however, that
he is very seriously ill.
LIEUTENANT HOSKEN, OF THE GREAT BRITAIN
STEAMER.—The command of the Banshee, late Holy-
head steam-packet, but now fitted for the packet service
between Malta and Marseilles. has been conferred on
Lieutenant James lloken (1828), the well-known com-
mander of the Great Western steamer, then the unfor-
tunate screw-ship Great Britain, and subsequently Har-
bour Master at Lataian.
FLAG•LIEUTENANT TO ►SIR GEORGE SEYMOUR.—Sir
George Seymour has at length decided upon taking
Lieutenant G. E. K. Gore as his flag-lieutenant. This
officer is now serving in the same capacity with Com-
modore Eden; but as the West Indies presents a better
field for promotion. he has again joined his old admiral.

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF FORGERY OF
TITLE DEEDS IN PEMBROKESHIRE.
It is pleasing to find that the important subject of the
general registration of assurances affecting land, has at
' length been brought to the attention of her Majesty's
Government, with a view to some legislative enactments
on the subject. It is doubtless one of a difficult nature
to deal with, and the arguments as well against as for
the establishment of a general registry, are unquestion-
ably of a very formidable character. But there seems
to be a growing opinion in favour of a change, and not a
few instances have lately come to light in proof of the
serious evils of the present system. Among some which
have occurred in our own neighbourhood, may be men-
tioned the following flagrant case which has just been
disclosed. A clergyman of the Church of England, who
had the spiritual oversight of two parishes in South
Wales for a period of mote than twenty years, died
within the last twelve months. His kindness to the sick,
his liberality to the poor, and his general attention to
his pastoral duties, gained for him the respect and esteem,
not only of his parishioners, but of all who knew him ;
his talents as a preacher were of the highest order. lie
was ready at all times to undertake the delivery of anni-
versary sermons and other extra parochial ministerial
duties, which he always did with great ability, and on
those occasions, his services were eagerly sought after.
Shortly after his institution to the principal benefice he
held, he purchased of one of his parishioners at different
times, a little property consisting of from 20 to 30 acre:,
upon which he erected a comfortable dwelling-house and
out-offices as a residence for himself and his family. In
a few years atterwards he purchased another small farm
in an adjacent parish. Although the income of this
reverend gentleman from his Church preferments
amounted to between 250/. and 300/. a year, it was
generally understood in his neighbourhood that ho was
in needy circumstances, and tbat he had recourse to the
not uncommon practice of borrowing money, but his
station in life and character precluded the remotest sus-
picion that any other thin the ordinary modes had been
adopted for obtaining loans. However, on his death
(intestate), an advertisement was issued calling on all
persons who had claims on his estate to send them in;
in answer to which, to the utter amazement of all per-
tieg, notices were given from various parts o: the king-
dom of some fifteen or twenty mortgages and charges
on his property to the extent of five or six times the
value therefore; and on further enqniries being made, it
appearod that each claimant possessed what purported
to be an original set of title and purchase deeds of the
estate inot tgaged! How came this to pass? Why the
Reverend Gentleman, assisted by a village schoolmaster
who is also dead, employed not a little time in fabri-
cating those deeds and other documents of title from
copies of the original ones which he possessed, and
so admirably were they manufactured, that he was
enabled to pass them off without suspicion or enquiry,
and obtain money on them to an almost unlimited ex-
tent. It seems the spurious documents are not only
drawn, ex:cuted, and attested in regular technical form,
but in order to make them look more genuine, means
were made use of for relieving them of their freshness
and modern hue and to give them the appearance of
antiquity, the better to agree with their dates. In this
way many members of the legal profession both in Lon-
don and in the provinces have been victimised. The
eyes of several of them are now opened, but alas ! it is
too late ; among others, however, doubts still remain as
to whose parchments are entitled to precedence, and
there are, it seems, legal proceedings now pending to
try tie comparative merits of the respective documents.
Such is a brief outline of this most distressing case; to
detail the full particulars, however interesting and useful
they might ho to the public by patting them on their
guard, would occupy too much time and space; and it is,
not unlikely that they may before long be more fully
reported in another form. But we think enough has
been said to justify the Government in at once intro-
ducing a measure which will have the effect of putting
a stop to such wholesale fraud as this, whether attempted
by a plausible country person or by a crack London
forger.— Welshman