The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-12 00:00:00

NARROW ESCAPE.

About five o'clock on Saturday evening last a frolic
was performed at Wilford Ferry which very nearly re-
sulted in a fatal termination to one of the persons con-
zsrned. Two individuals, who apparently had been
imbibing rather freely, having arrived on the Not-
tingham side of the ferry, one a knight of
the anvil, the other valet de chantbre to a
neighbouring baronet, just as the boat had at-
tained the middle of the stream in one of its many
voyages " from pole to pole," proceeded, "just for a
lark," to work their own passage, by passing across the
chain hands and heels upwards, heads and tails hanging
down. The foremost of these adventurers had not gone
ten yards, however, when, in consequence of the weight
upon it, the chain sank into the water, leaving
nothing but the tips of. his toes and the ends of his
digits visible—all the remainder of his person being
completely submerged. His companion had not loco-
model above five yards, when his legs lost their hold of
the iron, and down he tumbled from an horizontal to a
perpendicular position, much less agreeably than pre-
ciptately, sinking up to'his waist in th water, and hang-
ing like a herring at the end of a toasting-fork. The
scene would now have been in the richest degree ludi-
crous, had it not been alarming. There was the first
voyager jerking and working about under water like some
huge porpoise playing at " blind hookey," vainly struggling
to got his nose above water; while the second, sub-

timely unconscious of his companion's danger, sus-
pended by his arms from the chain, with the water up
to his middle, was singing out, " Go it, Jack; go it, my
boy! hurrah!" to a man who certainly appeared going
much faster than he liked to a place for which he had
evidently no inclination. Happily the ferryman per-
ceived their peril just as the boat had touched the
Wilford shore, and, without waiting to discharge his
cargo, put about the helm, hurried to the rescue,
an i was in time. Another minute and the formost tra
yeller would, perhaps, have been in eternity; when
hunted into the boat, staring like a galvanized porcu-
Pine, ho still clung to the chain convulsively, mid some
minutes elapsed before his hands relinquished their
tenacious hold. His companion in adversity was hauled
aboard with not much further inconvenience than having
the truth pretty emphatically impressed upon his
memory, viz., that those who begin by taking too much
beer sometimes end by getting too much water.—
Noitingham Review.

POOR RELIEF (ENGLAND ANDWALES).—According
to official returns just published the total amount for in-door
maintenance of the poor in the 606 unions of England and
\Vales was for the half-year ending Michaelmas, 1549,
378,1681., while for that ending Michaelmas, 1850, it was
310,066/. The out-door relief for the same periods amounted
respectively to 1,468,6901. and 1,337,6461. The total decrease
in both kinds of relief, comparing the two periods together, is
197,1461., or 10.7 per cent. The total number of poor re-
lieved ou the Ist of January, 1850, was 931,328 ; on the first
day of the present year it was 862,749. In regard to the
counties of Cambridge, Hereford, Lincoln, Monmouth, Rut-
land, Salop, Anglesea, Brecon, Carnarvon, Merioneth, Mont-
gomery and Radnor, there is exhibited an increase of paupers
amounting to a total of 2,604; in all the other counties a
decrease is shown amounting to 71,183. Thus the general
decrease, after deducting the increase, is 68,579. The total
number of adult able- bodied poor relieved witkin doors on
the Ist of January, 1850, was 26,151; on the Ist of January,
1851, it was 23,322. The numbers of the same class of poor
receiving out-door relief on the Ist of January, 1850, were
155,008, of whom 54,000 were widows; on the same day in
1831 they were 131,203, of whom 50,600 were widows.
The total general decrease in this class of paupers is 26,634,
after deducting the increase in the counties of Monmouth,
Salop, Anglesea, Brecon, Merioneth, Montgomery, and Rad-
nor, amounting to 738.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORSIIIP OF ADDISCOMBE.-
Lieut.-Colonel F. Abbott, C. 8., late of the Bengal Engineers,
has been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the East India
Company's Seminary at Addiscombe. Lieut.-Colonel Abbott
had served many years in India, and was particularly men-
tioned for his services in the Sutlej campaign of 1845-6.

In consequence of the inconvenience which has
been occasioned through the number of persons visiting the
model of the Central Cattle Market, which has been placed
at the corner of Cheapside, the association have felt it neces-
sary to limit the privilege of admission to holders of tickets,
which, however, can easily be obtained from any of the com-
mittee—Mr. Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange; Mr.
Sweeting, Cheapside; and booksellers at the West-end. The
public generally will be admitted gratuitously at other hours.
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSIAIRE RAILWAY —lt is
expected that the Lancashire and Yorkshire dividend at
their forthcoming meeting will be 2 per ceat. per annum.
This, besides leaving a reserve to meet the claims of the
holders of fifth shares (should the decision on the question
pending in a court of law be adverse to the company), will
leave a very large surplus to be carried to the replacement
fund.

WHAT IS THE WINDOW DUTY ?-Why, it's the
duty of Government to take it off,—Panch.