The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-09 00:00:00

THAMES.

IMPORTANT TO EMIGRANTS.—About a fortnight since
eight persons, who came to this country in the ship Strath-
allan, applied to Mr. Selfe for summonses against Captain
William Williamson, the master of the ship, for not supply-
ing them with sufficient rations on a voyage from Sydney
to London. The applicants had paid various sums for a
passage from Sydney to London, but one who paid £3O and
another £22 were provided with the same provisions as a
passenger who paid £l4. The provisions were defective in
quality as well as quantity when the ship left Sydney ; the
passengers were subjected to very great privations on the
voyage owing to the want of provisions. Supplies were ob-
taiued from three vessels spoken with on the voyage; in
fact, one of the passengers declared " the ocean was
scoured for food, and the voyage was a very uncomfortable
one." They considered that great blame was attributable
to the agents at Sydney for allowing the Strathallan to sail
without an adequate supply of provisions for so long a
voyage, and that, if food had not been obtained from other
ships, the passengers would have been half starved.
Mr. Selfe said, if the dietary scale agreed upon had not
been complied with on the voyage, and if the passengers
had not been adequately fed, they were entitled to compen-
sation. He granted summonses against Captain William.
son on the complaints ofthe foll awing passengers :—Richard
Bartley, John Melina, Peter Anderson, Win. Johnson, Mar-
garet Francis Strachan, Wm. Phillips, and Samuel Wilson.
Each summons charged the defendant, Williamson, " that he
being the master of a British passenger ship called the
Strathallan, did unlawfully refuse and neglect to issue to
the said passenger or any other person on his or her behalf,
or for his use, sweet and wholesome provisions according to
a dietary scale marked B as provided by the statute in that
behalf during a period of 17 weeks from the 2d day of
March to the 2901 day of June, 1860, upon a voyage from
Sydney to London.

Mr. Joseph Smith, solicitor, was subsequently retained '
for the complainant, and Mr. Charles Young, solicitor, for
the defendant, and au arrangement was made to pay each
of the passengers £5 and the cost of the summonses.
This day the arrangement was made known, and a pub-
lic exposure, as the parties connected with the ship be-
lieved, would be prevented. It was also stated that each
of the crew had received £4 as a compensation for a reduced
allowance of provisions.
The summonses were, *if course, dismissed.

A FABLE FOR SMA LL GERMANS.

(From Punch.)

My lit-tle dears, there was once a French Wolf
—very gray, and gree-dy, and lean, and sly. Near
the wood in which he lived grazed a large flock of
sheep, in the charge of a great many small dogs,
who were al-ways snarl-ing, and bit-ing. and quar-
rel-ling a-mong them-selves. The old Wolf knew
that he was more than a match for any of the dogs
sin gly, but he was a-fraid if he ven-tur-ed to
at-tack one of them the o-thers might for-get their
'narling to join in a league of de-fence a-gainst him.
There was one large dog in par-ti-cu-lar cal-led
" Prince," who had long war-ned the rest of the
pack of the corn-mon dan-ger to all from the old
Wolf, and had done his best to make them a-gree
bet-ter ; " for so sure," said he, "as the Wolf suc-
ceeds in keep-ing us at log-ger-heads, he will take
us, one by one, with-out dif-fi-cul-ty, and when he
has eat-en us up he will have his own way with the
sheep." But they would not mind bis words, and
some of them growl-ed at him, and said he was a
trai-tor, and on-ly wan-ted to get the sheep to him-
self, and that the Wolf was an hon-est beast, and
loved the small dogs, and would do the sheep no
harm. The Wolf, knowing that if he could on-ly
succeed in gain-ing over the big dog Prince he
might eas-i-ly mas-ter the small curs one by one,
was always very po-lite to Prince, and used to send.
him civil mess-ages, in-vit-ing him to take coun-cil
with him, for the ben-e-fit of the o-ther dogs, and
the sheep. For a long time the big dog on-ly growl-
ed and trot-ted the o-ther way when-e-ver he saw
the Wolf ma-king to-wards him. Bye at last, find-
ing the Wolf would take no de-nial of his in-vi-ta-
tions, he sent Mm a let-ter, pro mi-sing to meet him.
The Wolf was de-light-ed, and said to his cubs,
" Now I have the big dog at last." And off he trot-
ted to the place of meeting. It was in a thick wood
on a hill, with an old cas-tle built at the top. The
big dog was at the gate of the cas-tle, and when
the Wolf, came up, with a grin that showed his
long, sharp teeth, he said, "Walk in, my dear Wolf,
lam so glad to see you." Then the Wolf put his
paw on his heart and said, " Dear Prince, I have
been wait-ing so long for this hap-py meet-ing.
I do feel so fond of all you dogs, and of those
dear sheep you watch so well, you can't think,
I have a plan, by which the small dogs will be a-ble
to do their work so plea-sant-ly and so ea-si-ly.
What a shame it is that the poor lit-tle beasts
should be so hard work-ed, and kept out in all wea-
thers, guard-ing their sheep from the wick-ed
wolves that sur-round them. Now you are a great
dog, and ve-ry strong. Sup-pose you took the work
of the small dogs off their hands, and kept all the
sheep yourself. They might sleep in the sun, and
you and I would take care they had plenty of nice
bones and paunches ; and mean-while we would
guard the sheep to-ge-ther." Then the big dog
laugh-ed and said, " A nice plan, in-deed! How
ve-ry kind you are ! Here are ail the small dogs
just in-side the gate. Per-haps you will be kind
e-nough to tell them the nice lit-tle plan you have
just told me, and see how they will like it." Then
the Wolf be-gan to feel very awic-ward and un-com-
fort-a-ble, and felt that the big deg had led him in-
to a trap ; and he curl-ed up his mouth in-to what
he meant for a ve-ry sweet smile, and said, " No
thank you, dear Prince. I think I will not say
any-thing to them to-day. I have not got my speech
quite rea-dy." Then all the small dogs, who had
heard all from in -side the old cas-tle, be-gan to yelp
and to laugh, and to wag their tails, and to set up
a cry of " How ve-ry kind you are, dear Wolf, to
think of to-king the charge of our sheep off our
hands !" So the Wolf, see-ing his plot was de-
tected, sneak-ed off with his tail between his legs,
and from that time the small dogs knew that Prince
was their true friend, and were jea-lous of him no
long-er, and made up their own quarrels, and the
Wolf was fain to keep his de-signs a-gainst the
sheep in the dark, till he could find a bet-ter time
for put-ting them in ex-e-cu •tion.