The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-23 00:00:00

TfIE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 23, L 69

the only conclusion is that Admiral ELLIOT has
been guilty of very remarkable inaccuracy. The
defence of the present Government does not, how-
ever, end here. The policy of reducing the dockyard
staff is not a new idea. On the contrary, it was com-
menced some years ago, and would have been con-
tinued, had not the incoming of the opposite party
caused its reversal. A Committee reported in 1864
that Woolwich Dockyard might advantageously be
closed, and in 1865 the Admiralty resolved
to do no more shipbuilding there. This
decision was reversed in 1867. The DERBY Govern-
ment wanted more small wooden craft. The official
staff was increased to build them, and finally work
was recommenced at Woolwich. The estimates
naturally mounted up with terrifying rapi lity.
In 1868 a large number of men were dis-
charged, and the Conservative Administration
decided to go no further with the work of construc-
tion. This is not the place to enter upon the justice
or otherwise of the reasons which induced the
DERBY-DISRAELI Government to first adopt the
policy of strengthening the navy, and then to abandon
it. The simple facts aro that they did adopt that
course, and afterwards suddenly retrenched. The
fluctuations in the dockyard staff are fairly attri-
butable to these fluctuations in policy. If the resolu-
tion of the Liberals in 1865 had been adhered to by
their successors, it is clear that the reduction of an
overgrown service would have been accomplished
gradually and easily. Ere this, the full change might
have been brought about, and the country would
have been reaping the benefit. Whatever might
be the arguments which induced the Government
of 1866-8 to overrule the decision of their predeces-
sors, the change had undoubtedly a certain effect,
which ought to be attributed to its real authors.
An investigation of this kind is important, no
doubt, in a party sense, but it is of far
higher moment in its public bearing. The
scandals of Admiralty management have op-
pressed the nation until they have fairly
aroused it. The British, on the whole, may challenge
comparison with any nation in respect of general
indifference to the disposal of public money. Unless
the evil is unendurable, it is seldom that the English

taxpayer goes beyond broad complaints, and peers into
details. But even the mind accustomed to English
official waste was amazed at the extravagant
blunders and utter recklessness which characterised
the Admiralty, under every Government, up to the
last few years. The story has been told again
and again, and the main facts have been established
beyond refutation. It now remains for the nation to
consider which of its servants are best calculated to
bring about the required reform. In a matter
of this kind there ought surely to be no
difficulty in ascertaining the truth. The GLADSTONE
Ministry promise much, and have performed some-
thing. The navy estimates have been reduced, as an
earnest that the pledge of putting a stop to waste with-
out hampering efficiency will be redeemed. Time will
shew whether the end is likely to correspond with the
beginning. On the other hand, the late Govern-
ment took a course which in no respect de-
parted from the old groove. Their policy
was the old policy, their estimates of the old
stamp. They made no economy pledge—indeed, they
expressed themselves rather hostile to the notion—
and the sum total of the Admiralty expenditure was
in no way diminished under their guidance. And
yet, by an attempt at compromise between the two
systems, they caused those sudden changes in the
dockyard complements which have been ascribed to
the present Administration.

WHATEVER verdict the jury will think fit to return
on the case of the Welsh fasting girl—and the
duty is not without difficulty—there can be no doubt
as to the cause of death. The fast was an imposture.
The child had been in the habit of taking food during her
career as an object of public curiosity, and the depriva-
tion ofnourishment during the watching led to death.
The medical testimony was unanimous in shewing
that the girl had received sustenance at no distant
date. The body was healthy, well-formed, and in no
way defective. There can be no doubt whatever
that a supply of nourishment in due time would have
arrested the catastrophe. It seems, indeed, that Dr.
DAVIS, of Llandyssil, was thinking of this some-
what obvious expedient ; but the thought that " the
father might feel annoyed" restrained him, and,
moreover, ho wished to take the opinion of the
medical committee. 'Whilst he was pondering over
the father's possible annoyance, and the wishes of the
committee, the girl was dying. -When she was nearly
dead, Dr. Davis overcame his repugnance to
encountering parental annoyance, and asked
permission to give stimulants, which the affec-
tionate father refused. The jury must be left for
the present to deal with this scientific mode of treat-
ing fasting girls. There can, however, be no hesi-
tation in saying that the spectacle of these fond parents,
doctors, and nurses watching a child die of hunger is
neither pleasing nor creditable, and it may not be
too much to express a hope that such an experiment
will never be repeated. If impostures of this kind
are to be exposed, where shall we leave off ? The
deluded might safely be left to their delusions.
Public curiosity ought not to be gratified at such a
price, nor ought science to require living victims.

THE LOSS CF THE DERWENI (S.S.)

OFFICIAL REPORT.
To the Lords Committee of Privy Council
for Trade.

My Lords,—We, the undersigned, two of her
Majesty's Justices of the Peace acting in and for the
borough of Sunderland, have, in accordance with
your lordships' instructions, held an inquiry, under
the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act,
1854, into the circumstances attending the loss
of the ship Derwent, of the port of Sunderland,
which occurred on the 29th day of September
last in the East or Baltic Sea, on a voyage from
Cardiff to Cronstadt, in which inquiry we have been
assisted by Captain Harris and Commander Elliot,
R.N., the Nautical Assessors appointed by your
Board. The Derwent was a screw steamer, built at

Wellington Quay, on Tyne, in the year 1866, and
was registered at the port of Sunderland on the
30th of May in that year. It was an iron clincher-
built vessel, schooner rigged, of 649.90 tons gross
510 96-100 register tonnage, and was owned by
Charles It. Fenwick, of London, and others, and
commanded by Mr. Jan es Dennis, who holds a cer-

tificate of service issued at Yarmouth on the 3d May,
1851. The crew numbered 18 all told. The Der-
went left Cardiff on the 21st September last, laden
with a cargo of steel railway bars, stowed in the
fore and main holds, the square of the hatchways
being filled up with coals for the ship's consump-
tion during the voyage. None of these bars or
any other cargo was stowed upon deck. She had
two compasses on board, one on the bridge and one
aft before the wheel. Both of these compasses
were said to agree, but strange to say, there
were no deviation cards on board, nor was
there any information as to when or where the
ship was last swung. .'"..fhe Derwent was bound
to Cronstadt, in Russia. Everything appears to
have gone on favourably, and there was no
reason to doubt the accuracy of her compasses,
as each landfall was made correctly. She passed
Estholm Light on the 27th of September, and en-,
tered the Baltic Sea. On Tuesday, September 28

they had a good observation both for latitude and
longitude, in 56 10 N., and 17 E. At this time they
found the ship to the eastward of her course.
Nevertheless, though in 14 fathoms of water on the
bank to the southward of Gland, no soundings were

taken, which would at once have verified their I
position. At noon on the 29th they had again goo.'
observations both for latitude and longitude iu
57 38 N., and 20 50 E. An azimuth is also stated
to have been taken, and the compasses up to this
time were found correct, but they were still under
the impression that the ship was to the eastward of
its course. Instead of hauling well to the north-
ward into a clear channel and a fairway to round
the Island of Dago, the ship was kept N. by E. E.
till 6 p.m., too near the land, when she struck upon
one of the outlying shoals on the coast of Oesel, about
six miles from Filsand Lighthouse. The weather is
described as moderate and clear till just before four
p.m., when the master's watch commenced. It then
became thick and hazy, so that objects could not be
seen at a greater distance than one and a half mile.
A cast of the lead would then have warned them

that they were approaching dl►nger, but this
precaution was neglected, and the ship ran full

speed upon the Petulka Shoal, and became a total
wreck. Fortunately, no lives were, lost. The
Court came to the conclusion that the Derwent was

lost by default of the master, and suspended his
certificate of service for six calendar months from
the date of this report. The certificate is forwarded
herewith.—We have, &c.,
GEO. HUDSON,'
Magistrates.
K. ELwirr,
We concur in this report,
Hr. HARRIS, Nautical
R. ELLIOT, 5 Assesors.
Sunderland, Dec. 14, 1869.

''CIRCUMLOCUTION" OUT OF ENGLAND.

We have heard a good deal in this country, says the
Daily News, of circumlocution, red tape, and official cere-
mony. We may, however, be consoled by the knowledge
that other Governments suffer from circumlocution equally
with our own. In the French colony of Tahiti there
is a little establishment where an engineer is installed
is the presiding genius of a Board of Works. In
pis own person he fulfils the duties of chief of the
,ervice, general surveyor of works, overseer, shopman, and
3ook-keeper. As an overseer he one day required a pound
A nails ; and to obtain what he wanted had to go through
most elaborate process. He took a sheet of paper, care-
fully numbered and dated it, and then wrote: "To the
General Surveyor of Works.—The overseer of this section
oegs to inform you that he requires a pound of nails." Then,
Liking another sheet of paper, he again began: "nave the
sonour of fi rwarding to the chief of the service of the Board
of Works the demand of the overseer," &c., &c, These
two letters written, he began a third :—" I approve the
demand of the overseer of the section. &c., forwarded
oy," Re. A fourth sheet of paper was then taken out, and
a letter to the filowing effect written :—" To the over-
ear of the Section of, ,Sze.—l have the pleasure of return-
ing your demand approved by the chief of the service."
After that came a fifth sheet of official paper. "To
Shopman.—Please kindly to deliver a found of
nails according' to my demand, approved of on
instant. But even this was not all.
As shopman the same individual was bound to write, " To
the Book-keeper of the Works.—l have delivered to the
demand of the overseer, approved on the instant, a
pound of nails." In the evening this correspondence had
to be copied out threefold and forwarded to the head
office. Now the evident calculation suggested by this
little feat of bureaucracy is that the pound of nails was
worth about threepence, while, counting an hour's office
work as worth no more than fivepence, the result would
be that the writing for the pound of nails cost about six
t,:mes their value.

THE INDICTMENT AGAINST THE
PANTIN MURDERER.

The French papers publish the indictment agains
Traupmann, accused of the assassination of the Kinck
family. The document is very long and according to
French custom, is for the most part in narrative form. It
commences by giving an account of the finding of the
bodies of Madame Kinck and her five children at Pantin,
on Monday, the 20th September last, of the arrest
of Traupmann, at Havre, on the 23rd September,
and of the discovery of the body of Gustave
Kinck, on the 26th September. The indict-
ment then adds the following account of Traupmann :
"Traupmann, now 20 years of age, is a native of Cernay,
hamlet situated in the department •of the Haut Rhin.
After receiving a certain amount of education, he served
his apprenticeship as a mechanician in an establishment
managed by his father. He was endowed with good intel-
gence, and he had only to be industrious to gain an honest
living. But he cherished other projects; gloomy, suscep-
tible, and violent, he seemed a prey to ambitious and
jealous dreams which were betrayed by the nature of his
conversation. He read constantly and greedily, publica-
tions containing accounts of great crimes or dramatic
events, made experiments in chemistry, and neglected his
business. In December 1868, Traupmann, senior, sol d
some machines to a manufacturer in Paris. The accused
was entrusted with the duty of fitting them up. He
lodged at Pantin, where he resided at the Quatre
Chemins (the scene of the Pantin tragedy) until May
1308. The persons with whom he associated during this
stay testify to the desire of getting rich by which
he was agitated. Shortly afterwards he was sent by
his father to Roubaix, to fit up a machine. It was there
he made the acquaintance of the Kinck family." The in-
dictment then gives an account of the Kincks and of
the affectionate terms on which they lived. " Upon
one point alone (it adds) the husband and wifo were at
variance ; Kinck, independently of the three houses he pos-
sessed at Roubaix, had some property he wished to
increase at Buhl, near the accused's native place. He had
sometimes expressed a desire to go and live there one day,
and his wife endeavoured to dissuade him from doing so.
Traupmann determined to turn to account the sentiment
which attracted his compatriot towards the place of
their common origin. This gloomy young man, who
hitherto had been intimate with nobody, was now seen in-
sinuating himself into the Kinck household, and became
especially intimate with the father. The accused more
than ever displayed by his language the ardent desire he
had to make a rapid fortune. He announced that ho would
do ' a thing that would astonish the whole universe.' All
means were good, he said, and a stay in America would
cause, if need be, the source of. ill-acquired riches to be
forjotten. The plan of a journey in Alsace, revealed by
the facts and the correspondence collected by the prosecu-
tion, was arranged, under these circumstances, between
Kinck and Traupmann. On the 18th August, Traupmann
first quitted Roubaix and went to his parents at Cernay,
arriving there on the 24th. The same day he wrote a
letter to Kinck—found among the papers of the latter,
in which, announcing that he had already made the
arrangements agreed upon, he made an appointment
with his friend at the station of Bollwiller. Kinck imme-
diately replied. On the 24th of August he left
Roubaix, saying that his absence would only be a
short one, and that he was going on business to Alsace.
He took with him only a small sum, but also had
some blank cheques, detached from his cheque book, on the
house of Deeroix, Verlier, Verley, and Co., at Roubaix.
On the 25th, at 11 o'clock in the morning, he arrived at
Bollwiller. Traupmann was waiting for him there
They were seen to get upon an omnibus which took them
to Soultz. There Kinck placed in the omnibus office
the two carpet bags and the hat box, which formed the
whole of his luggage, and asked at what o'clock in the even-
ing the conveyance going to Guebwiller passed. Both
went and had something to eat at Widow Lorvers. Kinck
paid, and they went rapidly away towards Watviller.
From that moment Jean Kinck was never seen again.'
The indictment then describes the means by which
Traupmann obtained an order for 5,500 f. from Madame
Kinck, by writing to her as the amanuensis of her hus-
band, who was represented to have met with anaccident to
his hand. The negotiations which followed, and which ended
in Gustave Kinck, the eldest son of Jean Kinck, being
allured to Paris, and afterwards Madame Kinck and hem
five remaining children, are then detailed at great length
Traupmann now says that he had three accomplices, but
he gives no details, and the indictment says that his
story is evidently a gross fabrication. "It is evident,'
it adds, " that Traupmann alone committed the eight
murders,"

Horace Walpole tells a story of a Lord Mayor of
London in his time, who having heard that a friend had
the small-pox twice, and died of it, asked if he died the
first time or second,

A marrying bachelor anxiously asks if it would be
of any use to attempt to make love to a young lady after
one has stood on her dress till he could hear the gathers
rip at her waist ?
Troops continue to be poured into Ireland. The
troopship Himalaya has arrived at Kingstown, with the
47th Regiment and two batteries of the Royal Artillery
from Darbadoes. They will proceed to the Curragb, and
after the departure of the 17th Regiment the 47th will re-
turn to Dublin.

The .211aneltoter Courier, calling attention to the
report that Mr. Kinnersley, the Birmingham stipendiary
magistrate, had spoken in " praise of ignorance," denies its
truth, and impunes the accuracy of those who circulated it.
Our contemporary declares that the object of the address
was not to ch fend the withholding of instruction from the
children of the poor, but to urge the uselessness of a merely
secular system of education ; not to oppose the instruction
of such children in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but to
advocate the extension of their training in such a way as to
cover a much larger field. Mr. Kinnersley wished to point
out the fact which is so frequently put out of sight, that in
the proper sense of the word the " three R's" are not "educa-
tion" at all.

BAD SPEAKERA.—The two representatives of con-
stitutencies, who were the worst speakers I ever heard
when sober, were the late Sir William Guise, M.P., for
Gloucestershire, and Colonel Webb, the member for the
city. The former, in an after-dinner speech, expressed his
satisfaction at having his health proposed "by so respect-
able an individual " as his Royal Highness the Duke
of Gloucester, and the latter, in a low pothouse, during his
canvass, assured half-a-dozen sweeps and tinkers that "his
feelings overcame him in having the onerous responsibility
of addressing so respectable an assembly." The assembly
grinned, and one of them cried, "Walker."—The Hon.
Granary nerketcy'.l Life and Recollection:.
A NONCONFORMIST ADMITTIID TO THE CHURCH.
—Ali iholtient 4 deep Interest took place at the ordination
hell by the Bishop of Lincoln, in Lincoln Cathedral, on '
Sunday last. Mr, Chapman, for many years minister to a
largo congregation of Nonconformists in Nottingham,
having sought to bo reconciled to the Church, was publicly
admitted, together with his wife, by the rite of confirma-
tion, which was administered immediately after the ordi-
nation sermon, preached by Chancellor Massingberd, Sub-
sequently he partook, for the first time, of the Holy Com-
manion with the newly ordained clergy and the rest of
the congregation, The combination of the two services
was most impressive, Mr, Chapman has resigned his post
at Nottingham, and 14 otticlying at 440rcl wit 4 aview to
Ncliptig. - -

TSB vgANoaLLOR OF T7tr ITOZMUER
ON THE P.AtMEII7 OF THE I.YCOME TAX.

Mr. Lowe has addressed the following letter to an
evening contemporary:—" In the Pall Gazette
of December 20 I find the following passage :--
A curious question has arisen with reference to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer's arrangement, by which on
the Ist of January we arc to pay our taxes in advance.
Suppose a professional man who makes £5OO a year
has paid his income tax for the year in the month of
January and dies in February, will Mr. Lowe return the
amount overpaid?' Permit me to point out to you
that the question cannot arise, because there is no
'arrangement that we aro to pay our taxes in advance.'
The taxes which fall due in January 1870—the land tax,
the house tax, and schedules A, B, and D of the income
tax—are composed in respect of the year beginning April
1869, and ending April 1870. Of this year nine
months will have expired before any portion
of these taxes is demanded. The hardship, such
as it is, consists, not in the requiring the taxes
to be paid in advance, but in requiring them all to be paid
at the same time. It must, however, be remembered that
for this hardship, the necessity for which I regret, the
pahlic has bad an ample equivalent. By this means have
we, instead of imposing fresh taxation as was generally
and very reasonably expected, been able to take one penny
off the income tax, to repeal the corn and fire insurance
duties, to abolish the licence for the sale of tea, and to
remodel the taxes on locomotion."

THE GOVE.RNMENT AND THE VOLUN-

TEERS.

Tho Secretary of State for War, at the conference
held at the War office on Tuesday, discussed the question
of increasing the capitation grant to the volunteers,
and the result is that Mr. Cardwell proposed to connect
the force with the army under ono' general organisation,
but so as not to interfere with the functions of Lord
Lientenants. 116 will increase the grant to 30s. per head
for every efficient, providing the man shoots into the second
class or fires t3O rounds, 10 of which are to be "volley firing."
The old system of finance is to be reverted to--4hat is, all
expenditure will have to bo vouched at the War-office.
Commissiened officers will have to qualify themselves by
joining a line or militia regiment for a month, or by
pissing an examination. Camp equipage and targets
will be provided without charge, and all Government stores
delivered free. As to ranges, it transpired that an inquiry
is pending to ace if it is not possible to provide two ranges
near London for the use of metropolitan corps. Company
drills to count for capitation grant must be with not less
than twelve files and battalion parades four companies of
sixteen files.

IMPORTANT TO DEBENTURE-HOLDERS.

In Vice- Chancellor Blalins's Court, on Wednesday, pro-
ceedings of a character most important to debenture-holders
came before the court. Mr. Pearson, Q.C., on behalf of Messrs.
Naylor and Stokse, debenture-holders in the Panama, New
Zealand, &c., Mail Packet Company, claimed that his clients
had a charge on the ships and other property of the com-
pany, which was now in course of liquidation.
The company had power in the first instance to borrow
£50,000 on debentures, and subsequently the power was
enlarged to borrow an additional £lOO,OOO. The plaintiffs
in their affidavits stated that they believed they had a
charge on the ships and other property of the company.—
Mr. Pearson, in arguing the point, said that it had been
decided that holders of debentures similar to the one
before the court had a lien on the property of a company.
—Mr. Cole, Q.C., for the general body of creditors, con-
tended that by the debentures, the holders of them were
only entitled as general creditors.—The Vice-Chancellor,
in giving judgment, referred to the circular inviting
debentures, which, after relating the number of ships in
possession of the company, said " therefore there is ample
security." There is no doubt the company intended to
pledge their property. A mortgagee could not stop an
undertaking, but undoubtedly he could claim when the con-
cern ceased so be a " going " one. He was therefore of
opinion that the debentures were a charge upon the ships
as the undertaking had ceased to go.