The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-05 00:00:00

STATE OF THE RIVER THAMES.

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE—THIS DAY.
The Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the ri%er
Thames re-assembled this morning in No. 11 ct-nurnitree-
room, for the purpose of reporting on Mr. G. Gurney's
plan ani hearing witncsseq. The members present
were—Mr. Kendall (chairman), Lord J. Russell, Lord
John Manners (First Commissioner of Public Works),
Lord Palmerston, Alderman Cubitt, Sir J. Yarce
Buller, Sir J. Shelley, Mr. Tite, Sir B. Hall, Mr.
Ackroyd, Hon. Jocelyn Percy, &c. The room was
crowded to excess.
The first witness called was—

Mr. Bateman, who said—l am a civil engineer. I have
been employed on the water works at Blanchester and
Glasgow. lam still engaged in improving the Clyde—
it is in a very offensive state. Where there is a great
quantity of mud on the banks cf a river it is important,
where such is exposed to the action of the sun, that
it should be immediately removect to prevent decomposi-
tion and etßuvia. There are no mnd banks on the river
Irwell, yet it smells most offensively. There is a sewer
in Glasgow which receives the discharge from certain
chemical works, which renders the sewage from this par-
ticular place inodorous, and the sewage coming from
thence, on being mixed with other fool sewage, renders it
inodorous. I don't know ho,v this is occasioned, but
such is the fact. I am, therefore, strongly of opinion,
and Dr. Anderion agrees with me, trlat it i possible to
disinfect sewage by ,oi vents on its progress by precipi-
tation.

By Mr. Acroyd—There are no mud banks in the
Irwell in csnsequence of its being all deep water. The
river has been artificially dredged, and the sides walled.
Some of the sewage, of course, COM. 4 back after it has
been discharged into it, but more goes out than comes
back, or the estuary would be filled up. I hope tha.
will be possible to deal o ltil the sewers by solvent chemi-
cal agents in so perfect a manner that the whole of the
sewage would be deodorised in its passage through them
without leaving any precipitation.

The room was here ordered to be cleared, and after a
short absence the public were admitted.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.--(This Day. )

HOUSE OF LORDS.—APPEALS.
THELLUBSON, APPELLANT, V. ROBARTS, RESPONDENT.
This cause was postponed till next segSion.

CRIMINAL COURT.—(This Day.)

OLD COURT.

The July session of the Central Criminal Court took
place this morning before the Lord Mayor, the Re-
corder, Alderman Finnis, Alderman and Sheriff Allen,
Alderman and Sheriff Lawrence, and the Uader-Sheriffs,
Messrs. Millard and Parker. The calendar contains
only the names of 56 prisoners for trial, and the busi-
ness of the session is expected to terminate on Wednes-
day evening.
The Recorder, in charging the grand jury, was very
brief. The calendar, he congratulated them, was very
light, both in number and the nature of the offences, and
was not likely to detain them long from their usual occu-
pations. There was only one offence of any magnitude,
and that was a charge of manslaughter, but the particu-
lars were not of an aggravated character, and would not
cause them much difficulty.
lip grand jury then .retired, and commenced their
dutffl by returning a few true bills into court.
None of the cases that came before the Court this
morning was of sufficient general public interest to jus-
tify a report.

POLICE INTELLIGENC.E.—(This Day.)

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MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

WORRYING THE DUCKS IN THE SERPENTINE.
Alfred Ramsay Taylor and Joseph Elliot Lawley, both
gentlemanly-looking persons, were charged under the
foil, wing circumstances.
John Browning, Hyde Park constable, No. 21, said,
that on Saturday evening his attention was called to
Taylor, who was on the footpath of the Serpentine near
Kensiegton-gardens bridge. The dog produced was
swimming in the water and worrying a brood of duck-
lings. He asked Taylor three times to call the dog in,
but he refused, saying he was doing no harm. He
tcld him he would take him into custody if he did nut,
when he turned round and said "You are a -- fief,
my dog has a right there and the ducks have not."
Lawley then came up, having been drinking, and
thrust himself between him (Browning) and Taylor.
They were both very noisy. A young duckling was
brought to him, which, though dead, was still warm,
and it belonged to the brood. A gentleman on the
bridge said it was disgraceful, and gave him his card.
They were throwing in a stick to inducs the dog to go in.
The aecused put several questions to Browning, with
the view of showing that they did not intend to worry
the ducks, that there was no proof the dog had killed
the duck, and Lawley said he was not drunk.

Mr. Beadon—Then theta is less excueu for you.
Taylor fined 20s. for worrying the ducks, and Lawley
fined 20s. for attempting a rescue.
ROBBERY AT WILD'S READING-Roollll.—John Stevens,
a respectable looking young man, of fair complexion,
was charged with stealing an umbrella and bat on two
different occasions of Lis visiting Wyld'e British and
Foreign Reading-rooms, Leicester-square.
. The prisoner, watched by Mr. Wyld, entered the
room and took up a paper, but instead of reading it he
was noticed to be watching all the persons in the room,
and immediately after leaving the property was missed.
On corning again be was given into custody.
The prisoner, who said be did not take the things in-
tentionally, was remanded for a week.