The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-07 00:00:00

I 11. i EATEN ED sTuPPAGE OF NEW-
CASTLE RACES.

The Newcastle Chronic& says :—" On Tuesday
a private meeting was held for the purpose of
bring:ng to arbitration the question in dispute be-
tween the Newcastle Grand Stand Company,
Limited, and the Herbage Committee of the
freemen. For some months past serious differ-
ences have existed between the above Company
and the executive of the borough freemen.
Last races the Herbage Committee, in opposition
to the wishes and interests of the Company,
enclosed a portion of the race-ground close
to the enlarged enclosure fronting the grand
stand, and let it for £BO. An indignation meet-
ing was held on the race Monday night, and the
result was that the people demolished the new
railings and threw the place open. In July the
Race Committee, anxious to come to a definite
settlement with regard to the erections on the race
ground, offered the Herbage Committee £3OO per
annum for the rent of the great enclosure and the
privilege of letting all the tent and stand sites at'
the race meetings. On the 11th August a meeting
of the stewards of tl.e incorporated companies was
held, when it was resolved not only to decline the
offer of the Grand Stand Company, but also to
give notice that, with a view to the comfort
and convenience of the general public, and a
better understanding with the Grand Stand Com-
pany, notice should be served upon the latter body
that the present arrangement for the use of the en-
larged enclosure in front of the grand stand should
cease and determine on the Ist of May next.' Upon
receipt of these resolutions the Grand Stand Com-
pany passed two important motioas. Firstly, they
resolved to memorialise the Town Council of the
borough respecting the right of freemen to let the
ground used for the races as against the right pos-
sessed by the Corporation ; and, secondly, they de-
termine not to hold any future race meeting on
the Town Moor until a satisfactory arrangement
has been come to with the freemen.' At the Octo-
ber meeting of the Town Council, the memorial,
which also contained reference to certain moneys re-
ceived by the Herbage Committee at the spring and
summer meetings, was presented. The matter was
referred by the Council to the Finance Committee
of the corporation, and in due course a settlement
of the matters in dispute by arbitration was sug-
gested. The Grand Stand Company cheerfully
acquiesced in the proposition, and two arbitrators
(the past town clerk, Mr. J. Clayton, and the pre-
sent town clerk, Mr. It. I'. Philipsun) were ap-
pointed to hear the case on either side and adjudi-
cate. On Tuesday morning the parties met for
the despatch of business, both arbitrators being
present. At the commencement of the proceed-
trip, Mr. Brown, on behalf of the freemen,
handed a letter to the arbitrators, stating that
they would agree to the settlement of the question
in dispute by arbitration, on the understand-
ing that the decision should not affect their
rights and privileges in any way, and should not
interfere with their management of the Town
Moor and Castle Leases as heretofore.—Mr. G. W.
Hodge, on behalf of the Grand Stand Company,
entered his emphatic protest against this letter
being accepted as a basis of arbitration. To allo w
the freemen to take such ground to commence with
could not be called fair, and he declined to accede
to these propositions as a starting point.—Mr.
Philipson took suls:antially the same view of the
letter. The only thing they had to go by was the
Town Moor Act, and they could do nothing against
its provisions. The document had an appear tnce of
alleging they would do something against the Act.—
Mr. Hodge said the letter amounted to this—that
the freemen would accept the decision of the arbi-
trators, if it was inttheir favour, but not otherwise.
It left them a hole to creep out if the award did not
please them. It was a mischievous document.
Nearly an hour was spent in trying to arrange
a mutually • satisfactory basis for arbitration,
but without success ; and at length the gentle-
man appointed to act in the matter declared
the meeting at an end. We understand that in
his do,ing remarks Mr. Philipson said he must
report to the Finance Committee that they had
failed in attempting to deal with the subject,
and the onus must fall upon those who had insisted
upon adhering to the letter handed in as a basis of
negotiation. He had been under the impression
that both parties would have attended animated
only with the idea of settling the matters in dis-
pute; and he was sorry that no arrangement bad
been come to. The proceedings then terminated ;
and the Race Committee, as the result of their
failure to treat with the freemen, express their in-
tention not to hold the Newcastle race meeting
this year, unless a private course can be secured,
or the Herbage Committee consent to debate the
questions between them upon some more satisfactory
ground."

THE WELLE,s MURDER.

We understand that on the 19th of December
the Rev. W. J. Shearly, of Welles, forwarded to
the Home Secretary the statements of four inhabi-
tants of Wookey, which were personally noted
down by Mr. Shearly. The position of these parties
to the convict gave weight to their declarations—
the woman who brought him up, the man who
worked with him through the week before the mur-
der, the schoolmaster who taught him in his early
youth, and the conjoint evidence of a family with
wham ho was in the habit of splendiug much of
his leisure time. The evidence thus gathered
pointed out that Wm. Bisgrove was illegitimate,
not 19 years old, had been much neglected, was
weak in apprehension, and for years had been sub-
ject to fits, brought onbyseeing a man killed by the
falling of a stone in a coal-pit near Farringdon ;
and his fellow workmen spoke of a fit Bisgrove bad
on the Tuesday before the murder, as being of long
duraton, and leaving Bisgrove violent, and then
lost and foolish. The Home Secretary communi-
cated this information to the Chief Constable for
Somersetshire, with a request that he would inquire
into it, and, we believe, all the above statements
were verified, and their importance even added to
by further information and search. These confirmed
declarations, combined with the memorial from
Taunton and the petition presented by Mr. Chiches-
ter Fortescue from 100 colliers, with no doubt re-
ference to legal and medical authorities, were suffi-
cient, it appears, to enable Mr. Bruce to advise her
Majesty to commute the capital sentence. We are
glad to have it in our power to make this authen-
ticatt.d statement, as we believe the full reasons for
her Majesty's clemency are but partially known.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has
taken Chiswick House for a term, intending to re-
side there from time to time during the reconstruc-
tion of Sandringham, which will probably occupy
a period of 18 months. It is gratifying to find that
the anticipations of a prolonged absence of their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales
i from England are thus dissipated, and the inhabi-
tants of Cheswick and its neighbourhood may con-
gratulate themselves upon the prospect of an im-
proved condition consequent upon the Royal pre-
sence. It will be recollected that Chiswick House
was the residence of the late Duchess Dowager of
Sutherland for some time before her death.
The marriage of the Marquis of Hamilton, M.P.,
eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn, with the
Lady Mary Curzon, daughter of tho Earl and Countess
Howe, was celebrated this morning at St. George's, Han-
over-square.
A meeting was held on Tues'lay, at the Man'.
siou-houso, Dublin, for the purpose of forming a peritn-
tient committee to carry out the proposed monument to
Henry Grattan, in College-green. The Lord ..11a3 or pre-
sided. Amongst those who proposed and seconded reso-
lutions were Mr. Pitn, M.P. ; Dr. Webb, F.T.C.D.; Dr.
Shaw, F.T.C.D. ; Mr. John Norwood, Alderman Man-
ning, [Judge Little, the Very Rev. Dr. Sprott, and the
Rev. Mr. Carroll. It is gratifying to find men holding
different political and religious opinions uniting cordially
together for the purpose of doing honour to an illustrious
Irishman. The movement has now been placed on a
broad national basis, and we will not permit ourselves to
doubt of its triumphant success.

CLACKMANNAN AND K I NROSS ELECTION.—We
learn by to:egraph that Mr. W. P. Adams was re-elected
at Dollar yesterday, for Cockinannau and Kinross, on his
appointment as Lord of the Treksury. He believed that
is a few years the expenditure of the country would be
considerably diminished.