The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE LIFEBOATS.

Some time since the Government of the • Care of
' Good Hope ordered two lifeboats to be, built in
this country, on the plan of those now adopted and
successfully used by the Royal National Li feb oat
Institution. Accordingly instructions were
.given
to the Messrs. Forrests, of Limehouse, to pri.lceed.
with r large lifeboat 38 feet long, and one 32, feet
in length, the drawings for which have been. ex-
pressly furnished by Mr. Peake, their dekigner.
Yesterday a trial of these boats took place in. the
Regent's-canal dock, in the presence of many: ex-
perienced persons and others connected with. the.
Lifeboat Institution. The 38 feet boat was Wined
over by means of some tackling attached to a
hydraulic crane. After having with same diffi-
culty been turned keel up, she at once recovered
her proper position, and freed herself of the
water she thus shipped in less than 30 secol
So great was the stability of the boat that'. it
required the weight of 33 men on one gunwald, to
bring it to the water's edge, showing that it woui'd
be almost impossible for her to be capsized in
heavy surf; but in the event of such a casualty the
boat would immediately right herself again. With.
40 men on board no water could remain in the boat,
the same being self-ejected. The smaller lifeboat
was subjected to a similar trial, and with the like
gratifying result. On the whole nothing could
have been more satisfactory than the trials of thet:e
lifeboats, and we have no doubt that the inhabi-
tants of Table Bay and Port Elizabeth, where they-
are to be permanently stationed, under the com-
mand of Lieut. Jamieson, R.N., and another officer
will learn, as the people on our own coasts have
learned with lifeboats of a similar character, •to
appreciate their valuable characteristics. This
class of lifeboat possesses in the highest degree
the qualities 'which it is most desirable a lifeboat
should possess, viz., great lateral stability, speed.
against a heavy sea, facility for launching and for
taking the shore, immediate self-discharge of any
water breaking into her, the important advantage
of self-righting if upset, freight and stowage room
for a number of passengers. In the great efforts
which the National Lifeboat Institution is no w
making to provide exposed points with lifeboats,
and there are still sixty such points unprovided on
our coasts with lifeboats, according to reliable-re-
turns from officers of the Coast Guard and others,
let us express an earnest hope that these efforts will
be cordially seconded by the pecuniary support' of
the public. During the late disastrous gales on our
coasts the Institution's lifeboats saved many a ship-
wrecked crew from a watery grave, and who can
tell how many more of these unfortunate creatures
who perished on those calamitous occasions might
now have been alive and preserved to their familic
and country if lifeboats had been in sufficient num-
bers on the coast ?

31ETROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

Yesterday-, at 12 o'clock, this board held a meet-
ing in the Council Chamber, Guildhall, for the
transaction of business, Mr. Thwaites, the chair-
man, presiding. The paper of business for the day
showed that the balance in the hands of the trea-
surer to the Board on the general current account
on the 22d inst. was £14,690 odd ; that the amount
of the general deposit account was £25,000 ; that
the balance on special accounts amounted in the
aggregate to £134,518; making a total general
balance of £174,208.

Mr. Woolrych, the clerk, read a communication
from the vestry clerk of St. Luke's, Chelsea, stating
that at a special meeting of the vestry on the 19th
inst. Mr. Tite, M.P., had been elected to represent
them at the board in the room of Mr. F. Chalmer.
resigned. The hon. gentleman, at a subsequent
part of the sitting, took his seat at the board and
received the customary welcome. Mr. Burslem pre-
sented a memorial from the vestry of Paddington,
complaining that several new streets in that dis-
trict had been commenced in disregard of the by-
law of the board that notice should be given to the
board, accompanied by plans. Mr. Peckett brought
up a report from the committee of the whole Loard
on Covent-garden approach and Southwark and
Westminster communication, recommending that
the treasurer of the board be requested to give in-
structions for the sale of a portion of the Exche-
quer bills applicable to the Southwark and 'West-
minster communication current account. The re-
commendation was agreed to. Mr. Stevens pr'-
rented a memorial numerously signed b inh ui •
tants of Balham, Clapham-common, Wandsworth-
common, and Battersea, calling the attention of
the board to the fact that from the increasing num-
ber of houses the state of the Falcon-brook sewer,
which was open and pestilential, had become much
worse, and praying that the board would take im-
mediate steps to convert it into a covered one. Mr.
Stevens also presented a communicatic n from rate-
payers and owners of property in the district of
Fulham, stating that the building of houses of a
superior class, which had been going on for several.
years past, had received a check, from the disco-
very that drainage could only be obtained by means
of open ditches charged with gases destructive to
human life. and without any flow, or by cesspools
through which their pure springs of water were
polluted.. A letter was read from Mr. Austin,
Secretary of Works, stating that that board are
prepared to pay the atnountof the expenses (£1,500)
incurred by the Metropolitan Board in supplying
information to the Government referees on the
main drainage. The question as to giving the
proper notices for taking the lands and other pro-
perty for the purpose of carrying on the Victoria
Approach Act was referred to the Streets Committee
on the motion of Mr. Dixon. It was referred to the
Main Drainage Committee, at the instance of Mr.
Legg, to take the necessary steps for obtaining the
homes and land requisite for the construction of
the pumping station at Deptford Creek, with power
to engage such professional assistance as migLt b 3
necessary for the purpose. Some routine business
was then transacted, and the board adjourned.

THE MURDER OF MR. ELY.--The gentry of tle
Queen's County have subscribed £B5O, which sum, ni
£l5O offered by Government, makes up £l,OOO as the re
ward for the discovery and conviction of the assassin.
Delany is still at large ; £2OO are offered for his appiehen-
sion ; £lOO for the arrest of such person or persons as may
harbour Delany, and £7OO for such information as shad
lead to the actual conviction of the murderer or murderers
of 31r. Ely. In any other county, where the Riband code
oes not override the law of the land, £l,OOO would b e
tty certain to effect the ends of justice. Six times th
am unt, however, was offered in vain for a clue to the grea
Norbury murder perpetrated in the Queen's County up-
wards of 20 years ago, and which remains one of the most
remarkable instances on record of =discovered crime.