The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-21 00:00:00

111ETROPOLITAN GOSfTP.

[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]

The mismanagement of the Royal Patriotic Pubs !s
likely to become a prominent subject of public discussion
before long. Since the Prince Consort's death, things
have been going from bad to worse. Money is being spent
in bricks and mortar and endowments, while the primary
claimants to the Fund are relieved either in the most
niggardly manner or not at all. Grievous is the outcry
among the widows and the orphans of our Crimean heroes
at the harsh treatment which they receive. So harsh,
indeed, is it that one of the most influential officials,
finding his efforts vain to bring about a better
regime, has resigned a lucrative post rather than be held
responsible for conduct of which he most strongly disap-
proves. The whole question is likely to be brought before
Parliament when it reassembles. I hear it is not impro-
bable that the Hon. Captain Vivian, M.P, for Truro,
who has already made a mark in the House of Commons,
will undertake this task.

There is another subject which it is to be hoped will be
ventilated on the recommencement of the session— the Duchy
of Cornwall. Some years ago the conduct of the Duchy
officials to landowners and other persons in the Western
Counties was so intolerably overbearing that it assumed
the form of a very serious grievance. There was not a
single landowner who did not fear that some morning he
might find himself called upon to prove his right to
estates held by hts family for centuries, since no lapse
of time bars against the Crown or the Duchy. The most
preposterous claims were put forth in order to extort con-
cessions from men who feared to encounter with a limited
purse the boundless resources of the Duchy. M ainly through
the strong representations of the Western Morning News,
whichwere conveyed to high quarters, the official most ob-
noxious to the landowners of the West was removed, being, in
fact, pensioned off ,or "kicked up stairs." Subsequently there
was peace for a time. But recently the aggression has
begun again, and though, thanks to the exertions of the
present Justice Montague Smith, a measure was passed to
a certain extent protecting the landowners, they are now
again exposed to annoyance. Especially is this the case
with men who hold land bordering on the sea. The late
House of Commons used to name Mr. Augustus Smith,
the late member for Truro, "Foreshore Smith," and I
fear he never got the attention which his subject deserved.
In reality it is a very important one, for the Duchy is now
claiming a large portion of the foreshores of Devonshire
and certain import and export dues which have never
been' demanded before. The matter is one which
primarily affects, of course, the inhabitants of the West of
England, but in principle it affects the whole community.
How far it is wise oa the part of the Prince's advisers to
stir up enmity against him in the loyal West is a very
doubtful question. In these days it is prudent to offend
no one unnecessarily, and if the Duchy agents were less
ambitious it would be better for their master. The land-
owners are nowbanding themselves to resist these encroach-
ments, and it is to be hoped that some independent member
will call attention to them in Parliament. It is, I
suppose, hardly to be expected that Mr. Augustus Smith's
successor in the representation of Truro (Captain
Vivian) will undertake this duty, for he has lately been a
visitor at the same house as that at which the Prince of
Wales was a guest. But there are other M.P.'s who have
no such intimate relations with the Duke of Cornwall,
and who would be well qualified for the task of exposing
the harsh deeds done in his name.

Lord John Manners is hastening very slowly as far to
.egards the improvements in Hyde Park. The new rail-
ings are being put up at about the rate of half a dozen a day.
The lamps cast a good light, are handsome to look at, and
quite fulfil their object. The Gothic fountain erected by
the Drinking Fountain Association is completed, and it
rather a feeble piece of work. Still less remarkable, archi-
tecturally, is the new summer-house which is being erected,
in red bricks, close to the northern entrance to Kensing-
ton Gardens ; while, worst of all, a new barrack has been
built, which is a miracle of ugliness. Mr. Gilbert Scott's
magnificent memorial to the Prince Consort has made
considerable progress of late, but I am told that it will
even now take two years to finish, so elaborate are all the
sculptures and decorations which will adorn it.
I fear it will be some time before we see the vacant
space recently cleared between Temple Bar and St,
Clement's Church covered with the long-talked-of Palace
of Justice. There is a difference between the commis.
sioners appointed by Parliament and the committee
appointed to consider the plans. While the latter are
prepared to recommend that two of the eleven competing
architects should be selected as joint architects, the former
do not approve of any of the plans yet produced. The
payment of £BOO to each competitor relieves the commis-
sioners from the necessity of choosirg some one of the
designs. At present it seems likely that a new competi-
tion will be demanded, which !mist be the work of a year
or two. In the meanwhile lawyers and suitors are alike
railing at the extreme inconvenience caused by the disper-
sion of the law courts over London and Westminster.

Few person7s, I suspect, are aware of the large dimen-
sions to which the Civil Service has attained. The list of
certificated candidates in the last report of her Majesty'.
Civil Service Commissioners contains little short of 9,000
names. The Civil servants are now, indeed, quite an
army ; whether they are exactly an " army of industry "
may perhaps be doubted by those persons who are
"acquainted with some of those capital companions, but
bad Queen's bargains, the clerks of the War Office.
Is there any hope of galvanising into active life any of
those weekly publications which are by courtesy known as
" comic? " I believe that a spirited competitor who could
present the British public with the topics of the day as
they arose would beat the whole of the existing comic
papers out of the field. What do they give us this week—
a week which has witnessed one of the vilest outrages re-
corded in the annals of civilisation. That outrage took place
on the afternoon of the 13th, and our satirical periodicals,
which should be public instructors, bear date the 21st—
eight days after the occurrence. It has been the talk of
every household in the kingdom, yet in neither Punch,
Judy, nor Fun is there the slightest reference to it, either
in sketch or l-4<;press. Punch's cartoon concerns
France and Italy—not a new subject, certainly; Fun
devotes its chief page to a representation of Lord Russell
as the Minister of Public Instruction, founded on a speech
aged nearly three weeks ; while the cartoon in Judy is
positively without any meaning whatever. Why, asks
the uninitiated, should this be ? Well, I can only assume
the truth of a statement to which I could never give cre-
dence until now. That is to the effect that our comic
papers are printed at least a week before the day on which
they are dated, so that the matter and the subjects of the
sketches must be frequently a fortnight old or more. In
these go-ahead days, when such successful efforts are made
to supply the public with cal lf intelligence, surely the
comic weeklies might make some exertions in a like direc-
tion. A joke reads stale when the subject is forgotten.
There is a general feeling in literary circles that Christ-
mas literature has been overdone this year. In mak-
ing many Christmas books there seems to be no end.
Seeing that in form at least there is nothing lest
novel than novels so called, it might be worth
the while of publishers to consider whether some of the
capital and energy expended on the fugitive works spe-
cially designed for Christmas might not be employed on some-
thing of a more permanent kind. Authors and publishers,
like ordinary mortals, seem to run very much in grooves.
Otherwise the standard generally has been maintained.

BLASTING POWDER FOUND IN NEWCASTLE.—lll-
kpector Amos and Sub-Inspector Wallace having, from
triformatien received, been led to suppose that there was
r. quantity of blasting powder stored in the premises of
Mr. Sutton, auctioneer, visited that gentleman and ques-
tioned him relative to. the matter. The police officers,
with the consent of Mr. Sutton, proceeded to the ware-
house, and found a quantity of what seemed to be blast-
ing powder, with fuses attached, which, together with
the cases, weighed about 4 cwt. The Town Clerk waa
consulted, and the question arose how it was to be dis-
posed of, but no decision has been come to.—Northern
Daily Express.

PURIFICATION OF THE THAMES.—TIIO Conserva-
tors of the Thames are able to report that they have given
the requisite thirteen months' notice for the removal of all
sewers above Staines which empty themselves into the
river, or into any tributary stream within three miles of
the river, and at a later period in the current year they gave
like notices with regard to drains below that town. They
baxcalso served notices upon the proprietors of paper mills
i_quiring the discontinuance of the flow of sewage or other
offensive matter from their mills. With a view of further
preserving from impurity the waters of the Thames above
the point of the water supply, the Conservators employ a
steam-tug to pass up and down the river, with a view to
the removal of all dead animals and other polluting sub-
stances, and all the lockkeepers have instructions to
remove all such nuisances. •

THE RECENT CASE Or CHILD ADOPTION. —The
inquest on the body of a child that had been adopted by
a Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, at Bethnal Green, under circum-
stances that gave rise •to a suspicion that they made a
trade of such transactions, was resumed on Thursday.
Medical evidence showed that the cause of death was
suffocation arising from inflammation of the lungs, but
there were signs of neglect. The jury returned the fol-
lowing verdict :—" That the deceased child (unknown) was
found dead from suffocation from inflammation of the
lungs from natural causes ; and the jury desire to say that
they consider that the attention of the Legislature should
be drawn to the system of adoption of children for money,
with a view to the devising of means for the better pro-
tection of the interests and lives of children so disposed
of, either by registration or otherwise, as may be deemed
fit."