The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-22 00:00:00

SICK PAUPERS.

The Poor-law Board is making an effort to get at
least some sick paupers out of the hands of parish
officials. According to the Medical Times, the Board
has addressed the governors of certain metropolitan
hospitals with the view of ascertaining whether they
are prepared to receive and treat pauper patients. On
learning how many can be taken, arrangements will
be made between the hospital authorities and the
guardians of those places in which additional provi-
sion for the sick poor is required.

MENDICITY AND ORGANISED RELIEF.

The suppression of mendicity by establishing a
system of organised relief has been found so success-
ful in Blackheath and elsewhere that it is being
adopted throughout the metropolis. The parish
of Paddington is the last district which har
given in its adhesion to the now cause. A
meeting, presided over by the Earl of Lauderdale,
has formed a committee for carrying out the plans.
They simply consist in issuing tickets to subscribers
for relief by a central committee, the tickets are
given in answer to application at the door for money
or food, and the committee then make all needful
inquiries.

"LADIES IN STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES."

There is a hospital for women in London. The
purpose of one wing of this institution is ostensibly
to provide good medical advice and nurses for ladies
whose straitened means prevent them from obtaining
proper aid individually. But as fresh funds are now
asked for paying off the debt incurred in building
this wing, it becomes important to know on what
principles the accommodation for ladies in straitened
circumstances is supplted. "A Sister of Charity"
writes to say that one lady is now paying six guineas
a week as a patient in this department of the hos-
pital. Surely this is not a case of straitened circum-
stances. Public money can be applied to better pur-
poses than providing medical advice and nursing for
ladies who are able to pay six guineas a week for it.

TECIINICAL EDUCATION.
Portsmouth has made a start in the scientific in-
struction of the masses. A meeting strongly attended
by M.P.'s, magistrates, and other local magnates, was
held on. Friday. Mr. Buckmaster urged the neces-
sity of education for the working population, and
explained, the terms on which the assistance of
Government is given. It was resolved to establish
a school of Science and Art for Portsmouth, and a
considerable sum was straightway promised.
RAILWAY IIAyTERS.

•
The Railway News states that Lord Cairns and
th&Marquis of Salisbury are making such progress
with the London, Chatham, and Dover arbitration
that there is good reason to believe their award will
be made public before Christmas. Their lordships
have, it is understood, already disposed of the whole
of the legal points, which promised in the various
courts of equity to drag on a protracted existence for
the next seven years at least 2. and so far an end has
been put to that frightful litigation which was
inflicting so much injury upon the company and upon
all interests connected with the undertaking, and
yielding such a bountiful harvest of fees and charges
for the lawyers.—M. Boutet's plans for the construc-
tion of a bridge across the Channel are still attracting
attention in France. A.large model of the structure
which is to span twenty-two miles of sea is about to
be erected in the Champ de Mars. This model will
be 330 feet long. Should it stand the trials it will
be subjected to, an entire revolution in the construc-
tion of iron bridges and viaducts will be the result.
M. Boutet's system, it should be said, involves the
use of only one-tenth of the iron employed in bridges
constructed on the usual plan.