The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-04 00:00:00

ACCIDENTS FROM MACHINERY

A question of some importance to factory workers,
and one which has not before been raised, has jast been
decided by the magistrates of Leeds. Mr. W. Hill, a
fl :x-spinner, had been summoned, on tha information of
Mr. Baker, sub-inspector of factories, for having, after
notice to fence off certain machinery in his mill required
to be fenced off, neglected to do so, in consequence of
which neglect, the information alleged, Mary Freeman,
a girl seventeen or eighteen years of age, received a
severe lacerated wound on ore of her hands. The acci-
dent happened on the 16th ult. The summons was is-
sued under the 60th section of the 7th and Bth Victoria,
chap. 15, which enacts, " that if any person shall suffer
any bodily injury in consequence of the occupier of a
factory having neglected to force any part of the ma-
chinery of which he shall l'ave received notice li'rom
the inspector that the same was deemed to be dangerous,
the occupier of such factory shall pay a penalty of not
less than 104 and not more than 1004" The facts
proved were, that the notice, which was a general one,
applicable to all flax machinery in the mill, was given
by the inspector on the 14th of February last, but
the particular machine at which the accident occurred
was no., then on the premises, and was not brought
into the mill until the 22d of March; and the ques-
tion for decision was, whether the notice was valid
under the 43d section of the Act, as applied to a
machine not existing in the mill at the time it was
given. The magistrates held that the notice must be one
founded on the inspector's own observation of the exist-
ing machinery in the mill, and that it was never meant
by the Legislature in passing the Act of Parliament,
that raachinery brought into a mill at some future time
should be covered by a general notice previously given.
They therefore dismissed the summons, but in doing so
Mr. J. 11. Shaw said, the case was one in which the
occupier of the mill was clearly bound, probably by law,
but certainly in point of morality, to take care that
such compensation as money could make should be
made to the unfortunate girl for the injury she had suf-
fered, which might to some extent render her a cripple
for life. The unfortunate people who were subject to
accidents of this kind were not left without any redress
although the matter might not be within the Act of
Parliament. The Secretary of State, upon the report
of the sub-inspector, might order an action to be brought
to recover compensation; but the magistrates trusted
that the feeling of Mr. fill would induce him to do that
justice to the girl which would render an application to
the Secretary of State wholly unnecessary. Mr. Hill
said, he had already ordered his foreman to pay the girl's
wages, and her case, under the treatment of the sur-
geons at the Leeds General Infirmary, had taken a
favourable turn.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, SATURDAY.
Her Majesty gnd his Royal Highness Prince Albert
;ook their uau4l early walk yesterday morning.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Col.
the Hot.. 0. B. Phipps, embarked in the Royal yacht
Fairy, at three P.m., for Southampton, and proceeded by
spacial train to Winchester.
His Royal Highness honoured the wean of Win_
chaster with a visit, at Bishopstoke, and returned to
Southampton by train.

The 'fuel Yacht having returned to Osborne, ei a-
barked her Majesty, their Royal Highnesses Oe
Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, Princess Alice a ad
suite, at five o'clock, and crossed again to bouthampti
to meet his Royal Highness Pricce Albert, who re-ean•
barked at half-past six.
The Royal party returned to O.borne at half-past
seven o'clock.

Lord John Russell left early yccterday morning for
London.

Lord Alfred Paget and Lieutenant-Colonel the 11. on.
A. Gordon have relieved Lord Charles Fitzroy and
Lieutenant-Colonel F. Li. Seymour as equerries in
waiting.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3.
Tho Queen and Prince Albert walked in the garde ms
at Osborne yesterday.
The younger branches of the Royal Family also took
their usual exercise in the grounds.
Her Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert,
with the Princess Alice, rode on horseback this after-
noon.
Sir Tames Clarke arrived from London, and had tite
honour of receiving an invitation to dinner.

Her Majesty will hold a Privy Council at Bucking.
ham Palace on Thursday, at three o'clock.

-The Solicitor-General had an interview with Lord
John Russell, on Saturday, at his official residence in
Downing-street. Mr. Denison had also an interview
with the Noble Lord.

The Oxford University Commission had a meeting on
Saturday at the_official residence of the First Lord of
the Treasury in Downing-street. Present, the Bishop
of Norwich, the Master of Pembroke, the Rev. G. B.
Liddell, the Rev. the Dean of Carlisle, J. L. Dampier,
Esq., and the Rev. A. P. Stanley (Secretary).