The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-28 00:00:00

(From Judy.)

A STANDING JOKE.—What do the members of a stand'
ing committee stand upon ?—Forms.
QUERY.—Can the fight for the championship' of the
Thames be properly described as a water-mill?
A TRUE BILL.—The recent Treasury minute is verY
amusing, when it is remembered that the First Lord, gr.
Gladstone, is, from his adaptability to change, the most
flourishing form of accommodation Bill out.
SECOND CHlLDHOOD.—Gentleman (who has hired es
Hibernian hack) : " Why, I thought you called him ' the
colt ?' "—Ostler: " Sure, and that's the name he'shadfor the
last twenty year, and he sticks to it like a respectable
baste, the same as your honour."
CERVUS HABET CELEBES, IRE REDIRE, PEDES."
" The Rev. Dr. Cumming is anxious to attend the
forthcoming (Ecumenical Council."—Vide Public Pros.
" The Church of St. Paul, Walworth, now in the ill'
cumbency of the Rev. Mr. Going, is remarkable for the
ritualistic practices carried on there."— Vide Public Press.

(From Fun.)
OBJECTIONABLE TO LOVERS OF DECORUIL—A file

breakfast-table.
THE TIME TO CLENCH AN ARGUMENT.—When the
attention of your audience is riveted.
THANK You FOR NOTHING.— Conservative MOtto---"j"
liberal trial allowed."
VERY So-so.—When may a man be said to be thoroughly
" sewn-up ?"—When he has pins and needles in his 0(4
and a stitch in his side.
FEMININE TACT.—Mamma : " Sydney, I insist on your
eating that piece of meat. You should not have asked for
it if you did not want it."—Sydney : " It's so big, ma.
Sissy: " But if you fold it up, it won't look so big."
PROPHETIC.—Few people of those who at the go.,
laughed when Mr. Gladstone on resigning office declared
that "time is on our side !" could have been aware that he
was alluding to his future election for Greenwich.
BACKING IT UP.—Our youngest, aged ten, havill;
lately seen us pass through the ordeal of a rheumatic
attack, asked us the other day, on taking up Good words
for the Young, whether "the back of the north wind
must not be rather stiff, and if so, would not a mustara
7)laster do it good ?

THE ORDNANCE SELECT COMMITTEE.

---~----

In a very long article the Herald discusses the position
and powers of the Ordnance Select Committee, which l'Be
just departed this life. It is evident how important the
duties of this committee were—the decision on I°l3'
xeapons should be used by our army and nay!'
In connection with every army there must be
some authority to look after these matters. In the last
century committees were appointed to decide on each Par"
ticular invention. But theinconvenience of a changingcollv
inittee was felt to be too great for continuance, and et the
commencement of the present century a fixed committee
was appointed. The way in which this worked ivaa
follows :—An inventor placed the effort of his brain before
the Master of Ordnance, who put it for consideration
.iefore the committee, the committee discussing the
-natter and reporting their conclusion to the Master. I.'"
;lad the ultimate decision. By and by the business 61°
increased that the Master only brought under the
notice of the committee what he considered the
most important inventions. Thus a new grievance
sprung up, and several other temporary committee'
were appointed to assist the standing one. But that vi°
only confusion, and after some time one committee WI:
appointed to have the decision in their own hands. But it
was formed on too gigantic a scale, and in 1855 had t°
remodelled, and made smaller, the members being remove')
from all other duties to attend to the work of the committee'
It is this committee which has been abolished because of
the accumulation of work on the committee, the disagree;
ments which took place, and the incompetence of sons °
the members. The Herald is not quite convinced othe
wisdom of the suppression. The new committee
y
is only acting provisionally, and in forming a l
one the first great question of importance la--
How far is it desirable that the " committee °I;
inventions " should consist only of officers of artillerYa
There is much in common between artillery stores for lant
and sea service, and the opinion of a naval officer n'lliev
often be of great value. Many questions are Par"
artillery and partly engineers' questions, such as the etaif;
ployment of Moncrieff batteries. The point the ilera
would like to see well considered is this—wheti, 1
leT;
considering the immense importance of the quest'°"t
submitted to the committee of inventions, or whatever
,0
maybe called, it would not be well worth while to make
the salaries of its members sufficiently good to ensure a's
i
taming the highesttalent and experience fromall bran°l3eo
of the service. This is not at present the case. There y
no department of the army where any small eco2l°°'
could be more utterly misplaced.

TWENTY-EIGHT MEN CONFINED IN it

PIT.

On Tuesday afternoon the Whitehall Colliery, Greets
- _ .
..diostero

Green, estbromwich, was the scene of a terrible
the
the principal boiler exploding, thereby cutting o'4 ai
means of communication with about twenty-eight roan A." t
the pit, killing one man, and seriously injuring another. I'o,
half-past three in the afternoon Richard Ingram was firing
Up at the boiler, which is about eight yards long, Ivll.,ea
it exploded, sending it in three different directions, a"
burying the unfortunate man in the ruins. The princilli'
part of the boiler was carried into a field belonging to Or.
Gordhn. Two other pieces went into the middle of Old
lane,which leads to Great Bridge, and these bounded off ":11
way on to a raised piece of ground opposite a bid
belonging to Mr. Gordon, of Newtown. In as
barn an old man, about 56 years of age, ..J
threshing, and on hearing the explosion he 1°°:1,6
and saw a piece of the boiler coming towards
building. He wisely ran into that part of the
where the straw was kept, and immediately afterwar"-
one of the regulator balls struck the roof of the bill-Idle
breaking through, but permitting him to esttbe
without injury. About half-past nine the efforts o'. -ea
men on the pit bank to raise some of the iroPril4°lll,lll
workers proved successful, and three were got out ; oe
the method of raising them proved such a dilator/ °
tbe Pti
ti
that some one suggested that the pony used o
might prove useful in the service. He was at once put nd
work, and by about half-past ten several of the wen 1:11,3
boys had been rescued. But the pony was not equal toad
effort of pursuing the arduous work any longer, and it r
decided to endeavour to obtain horses from the neighw;:ed
hood to assist. The pit where the accident has haP,Pirels
is situate on the Oldbury-road, close to Newtown. Cm-
and school.

ACCIDENT TO LORD MAIDSTONE.—Lord lan a
stone, eldest son of the Earl of Winchilsea, who is !Val
ing in Folkestone with the Countess and family, nia" out
a serious accident on Tuesday. His lordship IwasA 10
riding
at Broadmead, about two miles distant, ari-pe
leaping a fence sustained a severe fracture of the leg. -30
of the borough police, who fortunately was near, and sod
the accident, got assistance, and his lordship was coove'ili
home, and had the leg set by Mr. Bowles and the I°
surgeon;