The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-06 00:00:00

EIVSPAPE:II
„s;11-
1111312 NrlzE Al- X,11; 414*
•
On Wednesday efternoo
o t. nets, masters, and seem n
tine's Dock Hotel, in furthe - h Hee-
Service Anociatio ; Mr. Stewart d the Q The Ctiernse2fer, ipetting trit,sidtMl of ftfA meeting,
said that In took tee warenest possible interest in the welfare
of the association, calculated as it was to promete the
welfare of all.ptrsens engaged in tbe niercaetile marine of
England. ' such an association existed in former times
the Mercantile Marine Act would -not now be upon the
statute-book. If a law so affecting the mercantile marine
were now to be proposed, it would be gone through and
thoroughly sifted by the committee of the association, and
would be so improved that instead of proving preju-
dicial to any particular interest of the community,
it would, on their rvpreseniations, be so modified
es to advance the general prosperity of the country.
Ile thoroughly objected to Government interference
In private flatters, and be did net see what right the Admi-
uistration of the c :entry had to step in between hint and
the men whom be wished to employ in the management of
his ships any more than they bad to dictate to the owner of
a cotton mill what heeds he slued I engage in his business.
(Hear, hear.) The system of fees for the examination of
captains was highly objeetionablp but still more objection-
able was the practice of exacting 'fees from the poor seamen
both upon shipping themselves and upon their being paid
off. These were transactions which should be entirely be-
tween the men end their employers, and Government inter-
ference was altogether uncalled for. There were at present
in the mercantile marine of this country commanders who
had been in every part of the world—men of great nautical
experience, and who bad neveryet subjected the underwriters
to the least loss. Yet under the present iniquitous system
not one of these nee.. ;wild take charge of a vessel engaged
in the transport seevice without submitting to an examina-
tion by cfficers appointed by the Board of Trade; and,
what was still worse, they bad not only to pay for being
allowed to be examined, but had also to bear the burden or
a second charge on takieg out their certificate of compe-
tence. It might be all very well to impose the ordeal of
an examination upon young lads fresh from school, but to
do so in the case of men of 35 or GO years ofapgree,pwoshteorlotauds
grown old at sea, was, to say the least of it,
and unjust. (Hear, hear.) If there was no other objec-
tion to such a system it was sufficient tbat it was compul-
sory. And the grievance of which the mercantile marine
had to complain was that whenever ateaccident took place -
at sea the officer in command of the vessel injured or lost
had to render an account of his conduct to the Board of
Trade. To that he by no means objected, but be did ,
claim for the captains in charge of the merchant shipping
of Great Britain that they should have a fair trial before a
competent tribunal. This was a state of things which
requires an t tfectual remedy, but that remedy could only be,
tl tycir own'uqyed nettnn; and therefsre it wne:**
pleasure he saws suer tiien aslitebard-Greelojetinineelftm
ieepe objects which they had in viessee,objecis which, while
tbeYtebded to eitablish the indepznth-nee of the mercantile
marine, added to the respectability of all engaged in it from
the highest to the lowest, and were calculated to advance
the national character abroad, as it too often happened that
foreigners took their opinion of this country from the eon-
duct of our sailors. If they were to improve the sailors,
and imbue them with a feeling of self-respect, and of their
responsibility in upholding the national character, the com-
merce of the country would be greatly extended and
advanced.
Capt. TOOKER, in moving the first resO/urtott, to the
effect "That the meeting approve of the course pursued by
the council since the formation of the association, and espe-
cially of its advocacy at its public meetings of questions in
the interests of shipowners, as well is of masters and mari-
ners, and considered it essential to the permanent usefulness
of the association that it should-constitute -a hearty union of
shipowners and mariners, whose interests are the same, and-
who must prosper or decay together," said that he had no
doubt many difficulties would be thrown in their way in the
path of usefulness which they had sketched out for them-
selves, but they should, by presenting, a united front,
endeavour to overcome them. Since the passing of the
Mercantile Marine eta upwards of 18,000 certificates of
competency had been issued by the Board of Trade,
"and be would venture to say that more ships bad of late
years been lost by men in possession of such certificates
than by the men of old service. The association was a step
in 'the right direction, ens! as such had his. cordial support,
and he hoped that branch associations would spring up in
every trading port in the United Kingdom:
Capt. War. STEPHENS seconded the resolution. '
Capt. BREAKIV001) inquired if the captains having cer-
tificates of competency were not more numerous than the
long service captains ?
The CilintaLAN replied that be thought the fact lay lb•
other way.

Capt. GRIDDLE, in" supporting the resolution, said he
cetsiderca nre-hrtlf of the pung men holding these
s:ele unworthy of being put in charge of vessels,
as in all practical matters they had to rely upon the skill
not only of their first and second tfficers, but even upon
that of the common sailors.
Mr. CALDWELL also supported the resolution, and
strongly insisted upon united action between all classes,
both old and young; engaged in the mercantile marin.
Capt. TRAPP warmly defended the yontax captains f out
the charge of incompetency, and showed that they were a
decided improvement upon - the old clas3 of illiterate,
drunken, and brutal seamen who 'formerly commanied In
the, mercantile marine.

The objects of the-association having been fully and ela-
borately explained by Mr. lloonE, the resolution was
unanimously agreed to.
The thanks of the meeting were then voted to Mr. Wrat-
ton for the gratuitous use of the room, aad the proceedings
terminated in the .usual manner.

P.RESERVATION of LIFE from SHIPWRECK.

A meeting of the Royal National Life-boat Institntion
was held yesterday at its house, John-street, Adelphi—Capt.
Lambert Perrott in the cbair. We also observed teveral
other members present.
Mr. LEWIS, the secretary, having ;end the...21)114es of
the previous meeting,
The second-service clasp- was voted -to .114 r.. Henry A.
Hamil.on, of Ballrigp;an, to whoortbe silver 'medal arthe
institution was presented for previous exertions in saving
life from shipwreck, in admiration of hi. gallant conduct its
rescuing, at the imrnenent risk of his van life, a lady who,
with himself and three other nelsons, had been thrown out
of a boat off Kingstown on the 521. t ult. when a fishing
smack came into cull'sion with the boat. The lady whose
life was thus mercifully saved bcina desirous of recording
her gratitude to Gcd. has offered .E3GO to the National Life-
boat Institution to station an additional life-boat on the
Irish coast. The seeie:S* has already life- boats on that coast
at the following places :—Groomspoit, near Belfast, Drog-
heda, Skerries, Wicklow, Arkiow, Callow., Ardmore,
Youghal, Ballycotton, and Westport. There are 23 other
dangerous places in Ireland which require life-boats, but to
provide which the limited resources of the society are quite
inadequate. Last year 173 vessels were wrecked on the
Irish coast, accompanied with the usual great loss of life.
A reward of £6 10s. was also voted to the crew of the
Lytham life-boat, which belongs to the institution, for put-
ting off in her with the view of rescuing the crew of the
schooner Mineral, of Barrow, which during a heavy gale of
wind was wrecked off' Southport on the 25th ult. Fortu-
nately her crew, who had been a'l night in the rigging, had
been previously rescued by the Southport lite-boat.
A reward of £6 was liken ice granted to a boat's crew of
six men, for putting effarid rescuing, at considerable risk of
life, three out of five persons, whose curragh, during
squally wee' her, had been capsized off the coast of Donegal.
The curragh was engaged at the time in taking the men
across an arm of the sea, when a sudden squall came on
and capsized her. Two of the men were unfortunately
drowned before succour could reach them, but the two
others were saved from a similar fate by the promptitude and
gallantty of the boat's crew.

A reward of S 6 10. was also voted to the crew cf the
tubular lifeboat of the institution stationed at Rhyl, for
putting off in her with the view of rendering asiistance to a
smack which was observed to have sunk some distance from
the station, and to have her crew of two old men in the
rigging. Tire lifeboat was much promptitude launched,
and p-cceeded to the wreck, but before her arrival the
smack's crew had been taken oilby another boat.
A reward of ,122 Wee likwise granted to Alexander Melt,
a fisherman, lo testimony of his gallant conduct in rucuing,
at the peril of his own life, a boy, who with his father and
981, ring
a gale of wind, off Find remy, on Cie coast of Bang'. It
emitter man, had !wen opret from their fishing-.boat
appeared that they had been out, all day in a small heat
/yet the boat. One man swam ashore,
fiskim„ They ~ore returning to the silo e under sail when
to do so, but unfortunately sunk to rise
Td7'apaltiettdtilird, be;y 10 years cf age, clung to the
t ast
naatolscmlui‘oliedrree t;at
boar. Alexander nett, havini.z observed the accident, ran
nearly a mile • till he come opposite the drifted boat.
Ile
then undressed himself and swam cif to it.
The meeting decided to bring into cenaection with the In-
stitution the three life-boats under the superintendence of
the Tees Bay Life Boat St'ciefy. Local life-boat committees
derive considerah'e ad7antsges by connecting themselves
with the national institution, inaFtuuch es the Efficiency of
each life boat station is secured, and a uniform system of
management established.
Acknowledgments were read from the Duke of Malakoff
and other foreign Ministers for drawings which the institu-
tion had presented through them to their respective countries
of the life-boat and transporting carriages now successfully
acrd by the society on the coast of the United Kingdom.
come Interesting reports were also read from the Bou-
logne and Dunkirk Life-boat and Shipwreck Societies, in
which the cordial co-operation of the National Life-boat
Institution of Great Britain was acknowledged. The de-
signer and inspector of its life-boats had asme time since
visited both societies, which had given them a hearty recep-
tion, and which had decided that some of their life-boata
should forthwith be altered to Mr. Peake's plan. Additional
good life-boats are much needed on the French coat, where,
notwithstanding its erect extent, hardly any life-boats are
to be found. Surely such a state of things only requires to
he properly represented to the Emperor of the French.
It was reported that the institution had, during the cur-
rent year, paid nearly X 5,000 in founding new life-boat
establishments and maintaining others in a state of effi-
ciency. The committee, therefore, earnestly appealed for
additional support to enable them to continue successfully
their humane operations, and the proceedings then closed.

MURDER OF Two CIIILDREN DT THEIR MOTHER.--
Two children have beet] drowne:t by their mother at Cle-
vedon, burnersetshire.—Their dead bodies were washed up
by the tide on the beach in a small bay called the Little
Harp. The eldest and is a girl, shout two years and a half
old, and the other a boy about 12 month. There were
no marks of violence, except a few bruises on their
faces, occasioned by the rolling of the bodies against
the shingle, which is very sharp near the spot. A woman's
b-nnet, trimmed with white riband, was also washed on
shore. It appears that the mother surrendered herself at
the police-oflice at Flax Bourton. about eight tidies from
Bristol, and cane sera her crimp. She stated her name to
be Williams, and that die was the wife of a very quiet re-
spectable man, a painter, living at Tipper Easton, one of
the suburbs of Bristol. From information gained since,
she It-fr Bristol by the 3 c'elnic down-train, on Tuesday,
bringing the two etiii&en, one in arms, and had been sten.
and where i' ,is te-
;lucre anythinc to cx.:ite suspiei.m of
ofh thorn,
nineittili,cervuilalasce, but no particular notice was taken
anything unusual. Site was seen la'e in the evening near
tLe headland water's edge, where at this season many per.
ilncltetiric*dsettablhirtteen7teit'il between 10 al, d 12
then about
isiten‘,sedweekteemanlisiostenja,-.ey
waled near a shelving
rode into the sea with a child on each arm, and t here drowned
them; at the same time losing her own bonnet, which floated
ob'aellfoeebktV,vaaintidngthheenr deliberately°P rtilili
:3 (the
being
with the children, and was found with them when.washed on
shore. After the commission of the deed she seems to have
made her way by road towards Bristol, passing through the
clotheso r t t i p g'
villages of Nausea and Wraxail, where she Ayes, remarked
bottnetless, her dress thrown over her
as if saturated With water,; According
'to report elm wotrain is of inienrperate audpassionaTe habits
ian t hhee r i '
and her husband a kind and mildly-disposed man. The
heath,early n
d
bodies of the children were removed to a neighbouring
14)1c1fOr A corontro inuot.