The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-01 00:00:00

There are many ports in Ireland which have contended
for the honour of the Transatlantic Packet Station. The
pretensions of Cork, Long bland Sound, Bere-haven,
Crook-haven, Dunmanus-bay, Valentia, Galway,
Foynes, and Tarbert (river Shannon), are in turn
discussed by the Commissioners. It would appear,
on the whole, as though the palm lay with Galway,
although that station is not without very many draw-
backs and disadvantages which do not seem to have oc-
curred to the vivacious imaginations of our Irish fellow-
subjects. The Bay of Galway is certainly free from in-
jurious tidal influences, but the roadstead which must be
used by the packets is 25 miles distant from those islands
which guard the bay, and does not offer any suitable
shelter for Transatlantic packets such as would enable
them to land passengers or take in coal. When the
heavy gales from the W.S.W. are blowing, or the heavy
Atlantic sea comes rolling in, the situation of vessels of
any size which might be lying in Galway roads would
be precarious indeed. We should add that though the
difficulty might be obviated by the erection of a break-
water and other works at a heavy expense, even so the
objections to Galway are not at an end. The navigation of
the west coast of Ireland is stated by the naval officers
examined to be very dangerous, 'especially in winter.
" The coast from Mizen-head, round to Galway-bay, is,
in nautical language, `steep-to,' there being ICO fathoms
water at 18 or 20 miles off its outlying
dangers. It is
also subject to fogs and hazy weather and to fre-
quent heavy gales of wind blowing towards a
lee shore, with high Atlantic seas and very un-
certain soundings." Cork is the freest of all the Irish
ports from these drawbacks; but then the difference in
the length of voyage to New York, whether from Holy•
head direct, or round by rail from Dublin to Cork, is so
infinitely small as not to deserve account. Cork, which,
nautically speaking, presents the greatest advantages, is
that one of the Irish ports which offers the slightest
amount of acceleration—Valentia the greatest. The
adoption of the last named station is, however, rendered
quite impracticable by the dangerous nature of its en-
trances and approaches.
When we turn to the other arguments that have been
used throughout the discussion in favour of the Irish ports,
we find none to be of sufficient weight to counterbalance
the positive evils arising from trans-shipment—none
which are not fairly set aside in the report of the
Commissioners. It was stated, for example, that fares
would be reduced in consequence of the lower
rate of insurance on vessels sailing between the west
coast of Ireland and the seaboard of the United States.
The statement upon investigation turns out to be a mis•
take. The insurance is not less than upon vessels sailing
between Liverpool and New York. Again, it was said
that the convenience of emigrants would be consulted
by the proposed change. Who ever heard yet of Irish
emigrants going out in a first-class steamer? It costs
them infinite pains to scrape together wherewithal to pay
steerage fare by a sailing ship of an inferior class. Then,
again, considerable stress has been laid upon the
advantages that would result from electric commu-
nication, supposing the steamers to take their
departure from Galway, and supposing that
a continuous line of electro-telegraphic communication
existed between Holyhead and the Irish coast. The last
of these conditions has not yet been realised, and the first
probably never will. The Commissioners reserve one of
their most potent arguments for the conclusion of their
report. At present the Government pays Messrs. Cunard
and Co. 145,000/. annually for the conveyance of the
mails so and from North America. " Should it, how-
ever, be found that the removal of the mail packets to
an Irish port materially diminished the amount of traffic
conducted by means of their vessels, the result would be
a corresponding diminution of profits to the proprietors,
and the necessity for a proportionate increase in the
amount paid for their contract." On the whole we re-
commend a dispassionate and careful perusal of this very
able report to all persons who may be interested in the
point at issue. They must be singularly blind to evi-
dence if they do not concur with the conclusion of the
Commissioners, that any transference of the mail ser-
vice to an Irish port would be neither politic nor safe.
We should not benefit Ireland to any considerable ex-
tent, at the same time that we inflicted a very wanton
injury upon that portion of her Majesty's subjects who
reside and carry on their badness in Great Britain. A
saving of ten hours in a transit of eleven days is not
with so considerable a risk and so certain an incon-
venience.— Times.

SUSPECTED MURDER NEAR
NORWICH.

A murder of a most atrocious description has been
discovered during the last week in the neighbourhood or
Norwich. The circumstances of the case are as fol-
low :—On Saturday forenoon last a young man named
Charles Johnson, son of a Primitive Methodist preacner,
residing at Trowse, accompanied by his dog, passed
down what is known as Mrs. Martinau'e•lane. This
lane extends from Trowse-road to Lakenham, and is of
a sequestered character. About two hundred yards
within the lane, commencing from Trowse ends, stands
a small plantation on the left hand side, and when the
youth arrived opposite to this, his dog, which had been
running among the trees, sprung over the hedge to the
road with something in his mouth, which his master
thought was a bone or a piece of carrion. A stranger,
who was passing near, authoratively commanded the
dog to "drop it ;" but, instead of doing so,
the animal ran home to Trowse. Here it was
discovered that the of jest the dog had found was a hu-
man hand, and young Johnson, on his return shortly
after, was horrified to learn what the dog had brought.
Ue detailed the circumstances under a hich the animal
had possessed its4,f of the hand, and it was then taken
to the station-house and deposited with the police. A
search was immediately instituted by the police, and a
number of labourers with dogs, and on Sunday morning
a human foot was found about 200 yards further down
the line, in Mr. Jervis's plantation, by two young men,
named J. Spruce and T. Dent, and a dog. A portion of
the vertebra was also discovered in the same place by
Mr. Warner's coachman, and a second portion in a saw-
pit, not far distant, by Simon Fiacb.
On the same morning a deg with Spruce and Dent
found the pelvis. A black striped waistcoat was also
discovered ceracealed in the hedge near where the hand
was found, and a quantity of waste cotton, such as is
used by mechanics and others in cleansing machinery,
the latter being smeared with blood; also part of a roller
such as is used by weavers. Oa Monday the search was
continued—the police, assisted by labourers and dogs,
minutely examining the hedges and every portion of the
ground extending fora considerable distance round the
lane. Every heap of manure or rubbish likely to conceal
any portions of the body was turned over and inspected.
Nothing further, however, was discovered on that day.
The mayor and magistrates of the city examined those
parts of the remains that had been discovered on Mon-
day afternoon, The hand, which belonged to the right
arm, was firmly closed, the muscles appearing to be con-
tracted as in the case of a person who had suffered
great pain. From the appearance of the skin, it also
teemed as if it had been placed in water. The toes of
the foot were likewise contracted. The foot is small and
delicate, with a high instep, and from the appearance of
it and the band a person would imagine that they be-
longed to a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age. Death,
whether natural or by violence, could not have taken
place above a fortnight, or three weeks at the utmost, as
decomposition had not fully commenced. The ligaments
attached to the joint of the pelvis were perfectly elastic,
which would not have been the case had they been
severed for a long period. The ribs appeared to have
been sawn from the right side of the vertebra with a
saw, in a rough and clumsy manner.
On Tuesday the following were found:—A fibula, at
the lime-kilo, on the Heilesdon•road (distant about two
miles from the place where the hand, &c., were dis-
covered, on the opposite side of the city), by a man
named W. Noller ; a humerus, near Mr. Manning's
garden, Lakenham, by police-constable Wooller;
another fibula in a field near the Hellesdon-
road, by police-constable Moore; three pieces of
human flesh, at the same place, one of which would
probably weigh a pound, and the others probably less,
by Flaxnsan; two other pieces of flesh, in Mr. Reynold's
field, near the Hellesdon-road, by William Carter;
another piece of flesh, in the same place, by Martin
Cory; a piece of flesh in the hedge near the windmill,
by Robert Self; also a piece of flesh in each of the fol-
lowing places:—Near Mr. Brown's farm, by Charles
Davison; near Mr. Reynold's mill, without St. Augus-
tine's Gates. by Henry Cubitt; in the hedge near the
mill, and in Brown's field, by Charles Davison.
The search was continued on Wednesday. A number
4f the police were employed to drag the river from
Trowse Mills upwards to Lakenham Mills, as it was
though that the party who committed this diabolical
crime might have thrown a portion of it into the river.
Nothing, however, was discovered. Another party of
the police, together with several labourers, were em-
ployed in searching those localities where there was the
least probability of any portion of the body being con-
cealea. During the day the following pieces of human
flesh were found, and brought to the station-house:—Five
pieces of human flesh were discovered in a field a little
past Mr. Reynold's mill, by three men named William
Neave, Robert Leach, and Robert Burrow; a tibia or
shin bone, in Mr. Shotger's field, by a young man named
George Chapman: three more pieces in a field belong-
ing to Mr. Gowing, situate next to that of Mr. Rey-
nolds's, by Robert Dewing and Mott Bales, and in
another field adjoining Reynolds's mill, by Charles
Johnson. The only other portions found this day were
a piece of flesh, by a young man named John Stone, in
the field next Mr. Reynolds's mill; and another piece in
a field belonging to Mr. Curtis, by Robert Bewing.
These pieces were generally about the size of a man's
hand, and had been mostly cut from the surface of the
body. They consisted nearly wholly of portions of skin
and thin layers of flash or muscle. A portion of the
patella was attached to one of the pieces, and tho sciatic
nerve to another. Notwithstanding that they had been
found at so many different places, and in spots a con-
siderable distance apart, they were found to join when
tried, thus proving that they all belonged to one body.
From this it would seem that the body has been cut into
pieces some time after death, and that the author of
this atrocity has endeavoured to get rid of it by deposit-
ing
riosams.a/I,tp9r dons in different localities at various
by a disco on Thursday. As
Robert which was made.
guilty Mr. Yarington
was searching in Philadelphia that
morning, be inuuri, as
37•archod ou the this place was closely
is" a piece of human. flesh inside a fence.
reon.fldent that f
Dewing he eerrePetem'us day; and if the statement c
and there is no reason to doubt it
—it shows that thee--
of flesh so recently
eenuifuW''
smeared with blood, was delivered dnesday night. This day a
party had deposited this piece
thorities manifesting the utmost
On Thursday morning the search to Mr. Yarington.
Mousehold-heath, much
terious occurrence. A numlair
means likely to throw any was reurced, the an-
lLthanxic'ty to adopt every
the police were di-
rected to drag the river Irons the tNoi:pan this most mys-
' whilst others were directed to conw.tinlluelitt
shet os
arch
on
land.
At eleven o'clock the Mayor, P. J. Money, J, a, car.