The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-07 00:00:00

DULWICH COLLEGE.

The following letter has been addressed to the editor
of the Times :

Sir,—Having read your admirable article on Dulwich
College and its abuses, I beg to be allowed, through
the medium of your influential columns, to suggest to
the Charity Commissioners for the Administration of
Dulwich Colllege a little charitable consideration in their
new and enlarged scheme for the members of the profes-
sion to which the founder, Alleyn, belonged, and who
devoted to its endowment the entire fortune realised by
that profession, now valued at 8,0001. a-year, with every
possibility of doubling that amount in time.
No other profession, either lay or clerical, can, I be-
lieve, boast a similar instance of charitable devotion in
one person as this " God's gift" of an actor ; but by
some oversight—for I cannot imagine such an acknow-
ledged good man would have designedly forgotten the
indigent old age and children of his less fortunate
brethren of the mimio art—the charity has only been
available to the inhabitants of four parishes, removed
from his sympathies and associations. Perhaps the
player's calling was in a healthier condition then, if we
may judge by the fortunes acquired in following it.
No class of society can be more liberal towards the
distresses of ethers than actors have proved to be, and
no class would more sensibly feel the benefit of the ex-
tension of this charity, which is now possible, to their
wants.

I trust, therefore, that I shall not be deemed too pre-
suming if I entreat that out of an actor's charity one-
fourth of its new additions be devoted to the needy. and
helpless members of that profession by which the imstitu-
tiou originated, and their children, both with regard to
in and outdoor pensions and education in the upper and
lower schools.
The many instances of the highest talent being reduced
to the lowest means, when the large and wasted funds of
the Actor's College might, if properly applied, have been
so well bestowed in relieving abject misery and bright-
ening tie future of many a neglected orphan, are too
painful to enumerate.
Hoping for your good will and word towards "the
poor player," andihis little ones,-_I am, &c.,
Theatre Royal Adolph', Jan. 4. B. WEBSTER.

MINES.—The mining share ark'
has worn a dull
aspect this week, and as sellers have predominated prices
generally rule lower.—Mining Journal of Saturday.
CITHE COAL TRAM—Statistics of the coal trade of
London for the past year, just prepared by Mr. J. R.
Scott, show that the total importation into the metro-
polis was 4,177,953 tons, of which 3,016,868 tons were
seaborne, the remaining 1,161,085 having been brought
by railway, &c. This total presents a decrease of
198,817 tons, as compared with the great importation of
1854, since, although the quantity by railway exhibits
an improvement of 183,876 tons, there is a falling off of
382,693 in that by sea, the latter circumstance being
partly attributable to the removal of a number of screw
steamers from the trade for more profitable employment
as transports under Government. The following are
the numbers of cargoes of sea-borne coals, sold by the
principal factors—namely, 'Till, Wood, and Hughes,
1,969 cargoes ; Dixon, Harris, and Angier, 1,040 ; Hugh
Taylor, 992 ; Marshall and Page, 734 ; Charleton and
Watson, 634; Stephenson Clarke, 627 ; Smith, Scur-
field, and Co., 436 ; William Milnes and Co., 434 ; F.
D. Lambert, 316 ; Miller and Potter, 284 ; and Fen-
Wick, Laroche, and Stobart, 214,