The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-25 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—(This Day.)

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

(Sittings in Banco before the Lord Chief Justice and

Justices Keating, Byles, and Montague Smith.)
TIER LONDON MEDITERRANEAN BANK V. ADAMS.

. In this case, which had been tried in Middlesex in
February last before Mr. Justice Byles, Mr. Littler moved
for a new trial, on the ground of the absence at the trial
of a most important witness. He said that the London
Mediteranean Bank, which was now being wound up in
Chancery, had brought this action to recover £20,000 and
interest on three bills of exchange, drawn on one Dims-
dale, who harl been employed to go into the market to
raise the shares of the Continental B tnk, which the Lon-
don Mediterranean Bank wished to amalgamate with their
own. At the trial Dims lain was not forthcoming, and the
application to postpine the cause was refused by Mr. Jus-
tice Byles. Adams was the victim of Dimsdale, and was
a clerk in his office.

Mr. Justice Keating—A clerk in his office, and accept
bills for £20,000?

Mr. Littler—Not a clerk in the strict sense of the word.
aril he is connected with people of p mition and means.
The reason given for Diumiak keeping out of the way
was, that these very plaintiffs had issued execution against
him in order to prevent his coming to give evidence. lie
was now a free man, having gone through the Court. The
way in which the transaction was carried out was this.
The bank take these acceptances and get them cashed, and
then give the proceeds to Dimsdale and Adams, and they
buy shares and hand them over to the bank 7 and the latter
had those shares now, neither Adams nor Dimsdale having
had a farthing.
Rule granted.

A choral festival of five thousand voices, under
the direction of Mr. G. W. Martin, will be held at the
Crystal Palace, on May-day, Wednesday next. This army
of choristers will be made up as follows :-3,500 will bo
children selected from the metropolitan schools, the re-
maining 1,500 will consist of adults selected from the
National Choral and other musical societies. The pro-
gramme will commence with Martin Luther's Hymn, the
first verse being sung in unison by the whole of the 5,000
Voices, always produces an indescribably grand effect. The
first part of the programme consists of choruses, anthems,
chorales, &c., including a children's prayer, composed in
three treble parts for this occasion by Mr. Martin, and will
be sung by 1,200 treble voices to a part. The second part
of the programme will consist of various madrigals and-
part songs, including the following melodies, harmonized
by Mr. Martin :—" Home, Sweet Home"—English ; " The
Minstrel Boy"—lrish ; "Scots whahao"—Scotch ; and
" 313 e of Harlech"—Welsh. This is the tenth year Mr.
Martin has brought together this large choral force. Every
member of the choir is supplied with a book of the music,
and, as about 50,000 singers have received a certain
amount of musical education during the training for these
festivals, it is easy to account for the enormous increase in
the taste for good choral music that has taken place during
the last few years. Mr. Martin intends to organise meet-
ings of a similar kind in all the large towns. The experi-
ment has already been carried out at Birmingham with
great success.
THE EXHIBITIONS A CENTURY AGO.—From the
spring of 1761 there were two exhibitions of works of art
iu London. The exhibitors in Spring Gardens styled
themselves the " Society. of Artists of Great Britain ;"
the old committee of sixteen being at the head of
the affairs of the new society. The designs on their
catalogue by Wale and Hogarth demonstrated their in-
tention to devote their revenue to the relief of the dis-
tressed. Of the catalogue rendered attractive by these
embellishments, 13,000 copies were sold. No charge was
made for admission ; but the purchase of a catalogue was
made imperative. The catalogue, however, was a ticket of
admission for the season. The receipts of the exhibition of
1761 amounted to £650. At the other exhibition in the
Strand, to which 65 artists contributed, the old system
prevailed. Visitors were at liberty to purchase a cata-

logue or not, as they chose ; but a check was placed upon

the indiscriminate admission of all classes by requir-
ing from visitors the production of tickets which had
been distributed gratuitously by the exhibitors, and were
readily obtainable. After defraying all expenses the exhi-
bition produced upwards of £l5O, which was appropriated
in benefactions—to the Middlesex Hospital £5O, to the
British Lying-in Hospital £5O, to the Asylum for Female
Orphans £5O, the small balance remaining after these
donations being distributed among distressed artists.
Once a Week.

The Statistical Cotn nittee of Lloyd's have issued
an elaborate analysis of wrecks and casualties reported in
Lloyds List during the year 1866. The total number 'of
casualties for 1866 was 11,711, resulting in the total loss
of 2,231 ships and steamers, the constructive loss of 270,
and to the great damage of 1,295. The number of lives
lost are put down at 2,311, but Cie committee believe the
returns are inaccurate, and that the loss must be greatly
in excess of that stated.

SUICIDE THROUGH MISFORTUNE-0a Tuesday
au inquest was held iu the Kingsland-road on the body of
Mr. J. Mayhew, a master tailor, aged 45 years. Deceased
had lately been unfortunate in business, and had recently
had his furniture se:zed. Oa Thursday night he left his
zr.iserable home, and on Sunday his body was discovered
in the ItekiZtut's banal. Th-e jury returned a verdict of
Found Drowned.

FIRE AND SAD Loss OF LIFE.—A fire, attended
with fatal results, broke out at the village of Monkstown,
Fifeshire, on Monday afternoon. The fire originated in a
thatched cottage, and, from the inflammable nature of the
materials, as well as the absence of fire-engines, the flames
spread rapidly, and in a short time seized upon and burnt
down three other cottages of the village. In one of those
cottages a Mrs. Muckarsie, her son Richard, and a young
man named David Anderson, were engaged removing fur-
niture, etc., from the place while the roof was blazing above
their heads. Suddenly the rafters gave way, and the
burning timber and thatch fell in upon them, cutting off
every means of escape. The bodies, when some time after-
wards recovered, were dreadfully scorched.

THE REGATIAS ON THE SEINE. —The Moniteur
publishes a decree from the commission of the Exhibition
ordering that, with the view of judging practically of the
pleasure boats and yachts of different countries, three in-
ternational regattas shall take place on the Seine at St.
Cloud and Argenteuil, and, in addition, six days of such
contests, either before the island of Billancourt or in front
of the Champ de Mars. A series of experiments with in-
ventions applicable to river navigation will also be insti-
tuted. A committee is nominated charged with carrying
out the intentions of the above decree, and a sum of
20,000 f. is placed at its disposal, 18,800 f. to bo distributed
in prizes, and 1,200 f. to be applied to the expenses of
management. The dates of the regattas will bo fixed in
due time.

FRIGHTFUL DEATH FROM MACHINERY.—On
Tuesday afternoon a very shocking accident occurred at
the bleach woiks of Mr. Fox, Old Basford, near Notting-
ham. It appears that a young man, named George Pinder,
was walking along a plank which was laid over some
machinery in motion, and while doing so ho accidentally
slipped off. He was fearfully crushed by the machinery
before the engine could be stopped, and died soon after-
wards.

THE DOINGS AT NORTIIMOOR-GREEN. At
Bridgwater, on Tuesday, the Rev. James Hunt appeared to
give evidence before Mr. Sealy against " Turpin" Kitch,
who was apprehended on the previous Satarday under a
warrant, charged with using threatening language towards
the rev. gentleman on the 17th inst. at Northmoor-green.
The language complained of was as follows :—" I'll cut
off your ears and sell you for a bulldog." Mr. Hunt swore
that the defendant followed him from Northmoor-green to
Borough-bridge, a distance of more than two miles, re-
peating threats all the way; that he used the above ex-
pression at least 100 times, that ho brandished a stick over
his head, and his fist before his face, and that he (Mr.
Hunt) was in danger of his life. The defendant said God
was very merciful towards Mr. Hunt not to strike him
dead for telling lies, as he did Ananias. He was bound
ovein ta•n'sureties of £2O each to keep the peace for six
months.— Western Daily Press.
HALF-A-DOZEN PROVERBS.—" Dirty hands make
clean money," is an adage to our liking. It is all English.
It is industrial. A vision of the Black Country rises up
before us. It is better than the notion of clean hands making
dirty money. "Good meat we may pick from a goose's eye,"
a learned writer upon the goose, in his work entitled "The
Goose," gives us to know. Next to the goose, his eye then,
but the goose first. "Itis as great pity to see a woman
weep as a goose to go barefoot," is in a book of 1526, and
was, of course, part of our treasure-trove. It seems to
fulfil all Mr. Ward's conditions. Can it be true, though ?
"Money's round : it truckles." Short, plain, figurative,
and, by your leave, true. "Still swine eat all the draff."
The quietest porker is the cunningest. He eats while the
rest are singing or snoozing. "The king must wait while
his beer's. brewing," has a fine touch of morality about it.
We make the pnblic a present of its suggestiveness.—
Dickens's " All the Year Round."
ROYAL ORTEIOP,EDIC HOSPITAL, OXFORD-STREET.
--The Right lion. Lord Lyttleton has consented to preside
at the 29th anniversary dinner in aid of the funds of this
hospital, on May 8, at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate-
street. The expenses of the institution have considerably
increased by the opening of a new ward. There are now
2,000 patients under treatment, and 31,740 have been bene-
fited, while upwards of 100 are waiting for admission, In
order to enable the committee to carry on the valuable
operations of the charity, additional public support is much
needed.

FIRE ON BOARD THE ST. VINCENT.—PLYMOUTII,
ArRIL 24.—The steamship St. Vincent, from Adelaide,
Jan. 21, with 61 passengers and a cargo of wool, copper
ore, and wood, for London, put in here this evening with
her cargo on fire. She has been towed into Clovelly Bay
Cutwater, grounded on the mud, and filled with water, by
a party of seamen from the Ordinary, with Government
fire floats. The firo was first discovered on board on Good
Friday morning, while the St. Vincent was nearing the
English Channel, and fearing the smouldering fire might
burst out Into filmes, 56 of her passengers were transferred
to the barque Delta, from Havannah for Falmouth for.
orders. The Delta had not arrived at Falmouth up to a
late, hour to.-night.—Retaer's Telegram: •