The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-16 00:00:00

CHINA.

(From the China Mail of Oct. 9.)
The American clipper ship Memnon, tea laden, was
totally lost in Gaspar Straits on the 16th of Septem-
ber—crew saved ; and the British barque Metropolis,
which had been deserted by her crew, was fallen in
with off Bintang by the Honourable East India Com-
pany's steamer Hooghly, and towed into Singapore.
(From the China Mail of Oct. 16.)
After our; last number was issued we received a
report of an extensive fire at Canton on the night
previous, which has destroyed, it is said, from two to
five hundred houses, and from 50,0001. to 150,0004
worth of property. But so vague and various are the
reports, both as to the extent of the damage, and the
nature of the property destroyed, that after a week we
cannot form a more precise estimate than that above
given.

'(From the Overland Friend of China of Oct. 30.)
In the China Sea there have been one or more
severe typhoons, as experienced by her Majesty's
ships Hastings and Sphynx, and the merchant
vessel Heloise, and others. The Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company's Steam-ship
Pekin appears to have narrowly escaped destruction
in the typhoon of the Ist and 2d inst., the Lascar
crew having become panic-stricken, and hid them-
selves away.
The health of troops in the garrison of Hong-
Kong, as regards the aggregate number of sick i
hospital, is somewhat on a par with our last month's
report—viz., 124 against 129. Of these, there are 79
of the 59th Regiment, against 93 of last month-1.4
of the Ceylon Rifles against 17—and 21 of the Ord
nance against 17 ; the prevalent disease being still
bowel complaint. There have been four deaths, viz.,
two of the 59th, one of the Ordnance, and the other
in the Ceylon Rifle Corps. In the month of October
last year the total number of deaths was 18—the
contrast is therefore most favourable. The occupa-
tion of theMindru as a depot for convalescents has
doubtless been a great means in the end attained. At
present there are 78 men on board that vessel; two-
thirds of whom, we are told, are fit for duty if re-
quired, and the remainder are rapidly recovering
strength.
The intelligence from, or rather about, the " re-
bellion in K wang Si" continues to be of a very vague
nature, and seems to excite little interest in Canton,
whether amongst Chinese or foreigners.
On Monday afternoon, the 20th of October, a fire
broke out on board the Fort William, the receiving
ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga-
tion Company, from the capsizing of a pot of an
inflammable polishing nature. The flames spread
with such rapidity to the poop, that the family of
Captain Macqueen had barely time to escape below
to the entering port on the gun deck, whence they
were rescued by the boats of her Majesty's ship
Hastings. By the united exertions of the officers
and men of her Majesty's ships Hastings, Sphinx,
Salamander, and Minden, United States sloop of war
Marion, and Hon. E. I. Co.'s steamer Nemesis, the
P. and 0. steamers Singapore, Sir Charles Forbes,
and the H. and C. Hong-Kong (in readiness to
tow in case of need), the fire was extinguished
at a late hour, without having done much damage,
except to the private effects of Captain Macqueen
and his family, which being all in the poop cabins,
were totally destroyed. The other property on board
the vessel was not, as generally supposed, of great
value. The destruction of the poop, forecastle, bul-
warks, and mast comprise nearly the entire injury
done to the vessel.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Dates—Canton, Oct. 27 ; Shanghae, Oct. 18 ; and
Amoy, Oct. 20,

CANTON.—Business during the month has been pretty
good, generally, but not so brisk as in the month pre-
vious. The august news, of lower prices for congou,
caused a considerable check in exports ; but to the
present date shipments of tea from all ports, are fully six
millions in excess of shipments at same period last year.
SHANGIIAE.—In consequence of the immense number
free-booting vessels hovering about the mouth of the
of Yangt:e Kiang, junks, for the northern provinces, have
been afraid to proceed, and as a sequence have refrained
from purchasing English goods, and the market for
them since last report has had a downward tendercy;
so much so, as regards cotton goods, that grey shictings
have been exported to Canton, where sales at reasonable
prices can be effected to some extent. The August news
had some effect on the tea market, but not very great,
as shown in the quantity of tea exported during the
month.

AblOY.—Business at this port since last report has
been unusually dull.

MARSEILLES, DEC. 13.
The Banshee, Captain Hosken, has entered the
port this evening, at half-past six, with the India
Mail, having performed the distance from Malta in
53 hours.

The Bentinek was detained 24 hours at Malta,
owing to bad weather.
We continue tranquil at Marseilles.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, SUNDAY.
Uer Majesty, bis Royal Highness Prince Albert, the
Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal, attended by,
the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Household, were pre-
sent at divine service at Whippingham Church yesterday
morning.
The Rev. T. Protheroe officiated.

A deputation from the Trustees cf Essex Turnpike
Trust, consisting of Sir John Wood, Messrs. Tower,
Cox, Dixon, Fisher, Hobbs, Brewster, Tober, and Codd
(Clerk to the Trustees), had an interview with Sir
George Grey, yesterday, at the Home office.
Sir Gaspard Le Merchant had an interview with Earl
Grey at the Colonial-office, yesterday. Mr. Carrie, M.P.,
had also an interview with the Noble Earl.

The Oxford University Commission had a meeting
yesterday, at the official residence of the First Lord of
the Treasury, in Downing-street. Present—the Bishop
of Norwich, the Dean of Carlisle, the Master of Pem-
broke, the Rev. H. G. Liddell, J. L. Dampier, Esq., the
Rev. Professor Powell, the Rev. G. W. S. Johnson, and
the Rev. A. P. Stanley, Secretary.
Lord Monteagle transacted business yesterday at the
Railway Department of the Board of Trade.
Dispatches were sent off yesterday from the Colonial-
office to the Governors of the Cape of Good Hope and
Sierra Leone.

NATAL.—A. new weekly journal has appeared in
Urban under the title of The Natal Times. It is very well
printed, and although of small dimensions, appears to be an
excellent medium for advertisements, judging from the
number contained in its early impressions, of which the first
five have just reached us.

THE BOILER EzrLosrort AT KINGSWOOD.—The
inquest on the body of the unfortunate man, Thomas
Waller, killed by the dreadful boiler explosion at Kings-
wood, near Bristol, the particulars of which were fully de-
tailed in The Sun, was commenced yesterday by the
coroner, Mr. W. Joyner Ellis, at the Tennis Court Tavern,
Warmby. The only evidence gone into was as to the iden-
tity of the body, the coroner explaining that it would be
necessary to adjourri the inquest, in order to give time for
the Government to consider whether they would send down
an inspector.to assist at the investigation.
THE GEORGE STENIENSON TESTIMONIAL..—A
meeting of the committee of the George Stephenson Testi-
monial has just taken place-3,0001. has been raised. It has
been decided that the statue shall be erected in the court-
yard at Euston station. This is said to be the place most
consonant to the feelings of Mr. Robert Stephenson.
PRINTERS' PENSION SOCIETY.—We understand that
a sermon will be preached in aid of the funds of this most
excellent charity, on Sunday morning next, the 21st inst ,
at St. Helen's Church, Great St. Helen's, Bishopsgate-street,
by the Rev. John Edmund Cox, M.A., F.S.A., the vicar.
We hope the benevolent efforts of the Reverend Geenntroleterniautii();,f who has so generously come forward on behalf of this so-
coifetthye,
jwoiullrnbeeymseacnondpeodabioyn an; rothwedebduscinonegssreg(
fa(l)rioth_h,
whose brethren and their widows when overtaken by age
and infirmity the society has been principally founded), but
also of master printers and all who are connected withr in-
terested in the Printing profession, as well as a kind and pal
lanthropic public.
The suspension of Messrs. Luckie, Brothers, and
betwyeesetnerd wa,yoomooznainnag
Co., a respectable firm in the West India trade, was . Their liTabhielitie stoppages
an-
nounced
40,0001.
have originated solely from the difficulty of realising certain
property in Demerara, which is, nevertheless, valuable, and
there is, consequently, a prospect are
is said to
undereteod
to be
that the ultimate liquida-
tion may prove favourable.
The accounts of
t unsatisfactory.
wholer,nnmo
f the effects At Manchester, after a slight recoveryte
the state of trade in the provinces
during the past week are, upon the
places business
d
improvement at Nottingham is pro-
duced by the French revolution, h market has again gra-
ually declined, but at other manufacturing
hascontinued active. The
as regards the demand
sus-
tained, and the promise for the spring,
diminution of general employment,
mingham there isi
no
both for lace and hosiery, said to be excellent. At Bir-
The Irish linen market has
and the iron trade is Steady.
again shown much animation.
LENGTH OF THE DAY.—That the day is longer
or shorter as you go north or south of the equator is a fami-
liar fact to our readers. Off Cape Horn, 56 degrees south
latitude, the days in mid-winter are about nine hours long.
The longest day at London is sixteen hours and a half ; at
Hamburgb, seventeen hours; at SL Petersburgh, the longest
day has eighteen hours and the shortest five ; at Tornea, in
Finland, the longest day has twenty-one hours and a half,
and the shortest two hours and a half; at Spitzbergen, the
lougeo day 4 Vim unatiaii acid g 1141 f.

THE WEST OF IRELAND LAND
INTESTMENT COMPANY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE sun.
SIR,—I have just read, with extraordinary satisfac-
tion, the preliminary prospectus of the above company,
as well as an account of the proceedings of the
committee before the President of the Board of Trade,
as reported in your columns of Wednesday last. And
it is with equal satisfaction that I observe, by your
comments on that meeting, that the laudable objects
of the company are finding a supporter in your
influential pen, a circumstance the public will be quit*
prepared for, knowing your readiness at all times to
advocate every measure calculated to afford practical
and substantial aid to Ireland. For that good must
result from such a company, well organized, and under
prudent, skilful, and judicious management, few can
doubt.
My avocation in life, both as a practical farmer and
as a land agent, has led me for many years to think
deeply on the condition of agriculture, and without
referring particularly to Ireland, I have long felt how
grievously the full development of our landed resources
have been retarded by want of the advantage of com-
bined skill and capital in their management. And
a() far back as August, 1847, I published in a London
Weekly journal a letter, "On the Expediency of
_Establishing Farming Companies with a view to the
Improvement of Neglected Lands." And in which
letter, inter alia, the
following observations were
made ea—. While cheerfully bearing testimony to the
spirited course pursued by innumerable intelligent
i
and enterprising farmers in every part of the empire,
I cannot shut my
eyes to
the miserably defective and
slovenly farming
things arisine. re-
- --I'llY from that greatest of all impe-
diments to '
main evil, and look
improvement—want of capital in the
risible
n gtuoinlhvmanatn_yolfoesak,liitlilesin; amsatnayte
as
occupier. . . . . ere .
, 1 wing this, then, as the
another, I have long th
might be found in the eostagbl isbment of farming com
panics, to take into their o
which capital, judiciously
districts, and applying to thememployed,
those improvements
As
anbt;aaintineffenectt,usaul
erhemceodrayi
No fear
can alone com-
panies wouldthan a unquestionablyo
y
wand and carry out.
far safer and more
com-
petitors ' breaking up their lines,' but domestic
alolnuadslde t
be
ee i
their
ro of
currentntcustomersdheat
p otchooren produceshwt
ea
aonrv;
hy
wochfoi
15 in
es
ry
et
rbhyage
tangible security always at and in a visible and
constantly stock
ibmanenoandrrekefialcst
er
tdtohopasp employmenturwc
'cottager in the kingdom . . . Nor do I
!send the slightest difficulty in obtaining lanaTsPre-
which to carry out the proposed scheme ; for under
such companies, prudently and judiciously conducted,
landowners would be found but too happy to put their
neglected properties in the way of that improvement
which combined skill and capital would ensure. And
then as to management, a well selected committee of
shareholders, assisted by local bailiffs, with account-
ants and clerks, would form an efficient and suitable
staff."

If, then, such companies were considered essential
lt o 8
4t h 7 e,
himprovement
oorfe
aneglectede laarned sth ieny Et
on gthl aen dp r
em.
sent impoverished condition of the agriculture of
western Ireland at this moment; and I can conceive
no greater blessing to the distressed population of that
portion of the empire, and no safer employment of
capital, than in the business-like objects of the " Land
Investment Company" now about to be formed.
One feature in its intended operations strikes me as
especially valuable and important, the combining hand
in hand agriculture with mazer facture. Each will thus
support the other, and add immeasurably to the re-
sources and prosperity of both. And while the result
will be a safe return for the capital employed, incal-
culable benefit will be felt, far and wide, in the locali-
ties in which these extensive undertakings are car-
ried on.

That such a combination of industry, skill, and
capital must lead to successful results to those em-
barked in it we have every reasonable ground to ex-
pect, especially as regards the agricultural branch of
its operations. For what is it that has hitherto caused
agriculture to advance less slowly in prosperity than
most other branches of our national industry ? Be-
yond all question it is the isolated manner in which
its labour and its capital have always been employed.
IVho ever heard of a firm of farmers, much less of a
company ? No, the farmer fights his way single-
handed.' No multitude of counsellors—no partners to
aid by their heads or their purses his operations ; but
left solely to his own resources, he is deprived of those
advantages in the prosecuting of his calling which
combined intelligence and capital afford to others.
See the strides that our other great branches of in-
dustry have made. Look at our shipping, our mining,
our railroads, our manufactures, all carried on by the
united skill and money of companies in some shape or
other. For every firm may be called a company,
and but very few of our leading concerns are to be
found conducted single- handed.
Everything, therefore, in the shape of success, may
reasonably be relied on from the extensive practicel
combined operations of the " West of Ireland Land
Investment Company," and I cannot too strongly
recommend to the friends and well-ssiehers of that
important but neglected section of the kingdom, to
give every aid to an undertaking calculated to pro-
duce such extensive good.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
ARTHUR OCFAVIUS BAKER.
NV incanton, Dec. 12,1851.

DARING 1101111ERT.—A daring highway
robbery, attended with great violence, was committed in the
Meadows, near Nottingham, on Saturday night, at eight
o'clock. John Knapp, a cattle jobber, of Bottesford, Jeft
Nottingham on his way to Wilford, having_ a considerable

sum of money on his person : he Purchascil a pistol at one
of the gunmakers in the town, and having charged it with
ball imagined himself secure. When about half a mile from
Nottingham, on a lonely pathway, he observed five men a
little in advance of him. Ile had the pistol in his hand,
and had taken the precaution to put it on the full-coct.
Upon getting up to the men one of them saluted him, but in
a moment he received a blow from behind from a life-pre-
server; he immediately drew the trigger, holding the pistol
at the head of the man in advance, who was striving to catch
hold of him ; unfortunately the nipple broke off, and the
robbers perceiving all danger from fire-arms to be passed,
commenced beating the unfortunate jobber with life-preservers
and other bln.!geons. When rendered senseless they rifled
his pockets of 211. in gold. Mr. Knapp, from the darkness
of the night, was unable to recognise the laces of any of the
robbers. Ile is now lying in a precarious state at the Talbot
Inn, Nottingham.

At Wandsworth Police-court, yesterday, James
Leary, an Irish labourer, was placed at the dock before Mr.
Hardwick, who sat for Mr. Beadon, on a charge of
cutting open the head of of 'Lichee' Dean, his landlady,
with an iron tire-shovel, and also her wrist, with the same
weapon. He was also charged with committing assaults on
two of the police who went to apprehend him, one of whom
he attempted to strangle. Mr. Hardwick ordered the prisoner
to pay 51., or be committed for two months for the assault
on the woman, and committed him for one month to hard
labour for each assault on the police, making an Imprison-
ment of four months.

LONDON TEMPERANCE LEAGUB. .--- The thi.d
monthly meeting of this league was held
in Exeter Hall; Mr. John Cassell in the chaeire.
theT ilreev wvirs
.
a large attendance. Among presentthoseete
aekw, r
yesterday evening
T. W. Kellogg,
N. Robinson, A.M., Messrs. G. Cr h
read from several persons connecte with the
Let-
ters were
' that they could not attend
movement, regretting .
Richard Place, George E. Lomax, of Manchester,
tem-
peranceho on account of hishealth,
neyw who,
London; Mr. Rathbone, of Liverpool; Mr. Silk
the demonstration.
.Among others from Father Mathew,
Buckingham, &c. The chairman alluded to the deleterious
effects of intoxicating liquors upon the people of this country,
but he rejoiced to be able to state that, although the popula-
tion of England had been steadily increasing, the ratio of
intoxicating liquors consumed l't this country had not kept
pace with it, but, on the contrary, had considerably decreased.
During the ten years ended 1850, the decrease had been
upwards of 24 millions of gallons of spirituous liquors, or,
allowing for increase of population, Ali millions, as compared
with the previous ten years. The consumption of malt
during the same time had decreased 3i millions, or, allowing
for increase of population, 4-6 millions of bushels. Notwith-
standing the increase in the number of foreigners who visited
England during the existence of the Great Exhibition, he
believed that there would be a diminution this year in the
quantity of intoxicating liquors consumed of no less than
blsetswo.eeniatwr.eLaonmdax, three
Mr. Kelloggmillionso, m
fgra.
clloruniskshex
as compared with
addressed the meeting.
The commercial advices from New • •
as increasing
Africa arc very favourable, and confidence
tranwsacted durißlS
as to the extent of business that wouldival of about 600,0004
the coming year. The further
greater part of it would be Bent
Yors:db Yu ' thee
from California, although the gdretehe money market, and the
to England,
• id jeinate-'rfe.
best paper cohnatdin
failureb during the week, the house
cent. There had been a
dCo , large dealers in lead. The
being that of Cornellieean
were. to the Ist of November. The
sutredentogthet?nediscounted with ease at 7 per
dates from San Frante_
delayed; but, although the want of
mpancyeeedn'thuiintnha
dntadecofidthede
rainy season was ill
red.
There were
kind.
propelled by steam, at work in the southern mines,
wistahbomuitnienlgeven quarts crushing machines,
mostly in the northern, and about fifty.nine additional
n districts are of theempeorsattisoantsis'fatchteoray":nu
of erection. There were differences of
ones were in process
opinion as to the degree of richness that would pay for aywinaedt eeri gh t
crush-
ing,but some believed that, with proper management, quartz
averaging even as low as a halfpenny per pound would pay
well. Twopence-halfpenny to fourpence per pound was what
bad been generally considered the lowest for profit. A dis-
covery of gold in considerable quantities was alleged to have
been made on Queen Charlotte's Island, one of the British
possessions north of Vancouver's Island.
SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 15 —The Ripon steamer,
Captain Moresby, proceeded this morning on her (Adel trial
trip, as announced yesterday, having on board Captain
DIN. Penn, thel engineer;peninsula
Corry, R.N., Captain Tinling, R.N., Captains Engledon AII°C.I.
8i
nog3 ,e
engineer r and
dd
Orientalhi riLameoh, superintend-
ing
measured
dd
mdoilweninthsetroikveesr toßCayo,wewshlileohadesh,einpdertthueerrinn;
1 min. 8 secs., equal to 11,726 knots per :me engines
making making 194 revolutions; and running
the
eainst a good tide,
back, she did the mile in 5 min. 30 secs' :r.„,317, being an
equal to 10,909 knots, giving an average of a quarter of a knot
improvement on her Saturday's or indicator,
ts per hour. She returned
which showed a speed of 11i
quite realised the expectations
per hour. She is fitted with the
into dock at 330 r.m.,
having improvements.a
'which had been formed of her
It is understood
LORD BROOKE.
MARRIAGE Or of Lord Brooke's mother, the
death
that on account of
the
ehe nuptials of the Noble Lord with
Countess of Warwick,t
will not take place until the month
trial of
log
the Hon. Miss Charteris
of k'o4;lllrY 99"