The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-08 00:00:00

THAMES.

AN INCORRIGIBLE THIEF.—THREE CONVICTIONS.—
Rachael Catlin, aged 38, and described as a gas glass fitter,
of No. 4, French-alley, Aldersgate-street, was brought
before Mr: Selfe, charged with stealing one quart pot, and
four pint pots, the property of a licensed victualler and two
beer-shop keepers.

George Palmer, a police constable, No. 208, K, stated
that he met the prisoner in Church row, Stepney, carrying
the basket which he now produced. It was a large market
basket. He was induced to stop the prisoner and to ask
her what she had got there, when she replied, " What I
have got there is my own." He opened the basket in
which he found a quart pot, and asked the prisoner how she
accounted for it, the prisoner said, " I don't know how it came
there ; some one must have put it there, I know nothing
about it." He searched the basket a second time, and found
in it four pint pots. The prisoner said she knew nothing
at all about them. He locked her up, and went to her
lodgings, at No. 4, French-alley, Aldersgate-street, where
he discovered the lid of a tin saucepan. It had been used
for melting down publican's measures and pots. There
were particles of pot metal adhering to the lid.
Several officers said that the prisoner had been some time
in the practice of waiting upon licensed victuallers and
beershop-keepers and soliciting orders for gas-light glasses,
and her visits in numberless instances had been followed by
the loss of pots and measures. She had been in custody
once before.

Mr. G. Matthews, landlord of the White Swan public-
house, High-street, Shadwell, recollected seeing the pri-
soner in his house. One of the pint pots now produced was
his property, and worth Is. He had been a great sufferer,
and had lost a great many pots.
Mr. Richard Lowe, of the Champion beershop, in Bell-
lane, Stepney, identified the quart pot taken from the pri-
soner's basket ; and Francis Lawrence, of the Fountain,
Mile-end-road, owned two of the pint pots. Both wit-
nesses had seen the prisoner in their houses, and had
frequently lost similar property.
The prisoner pleaded guilty, and begged for mercy. She
said she was " a poor lone woman."

Mr. Selfe said ho had no doubt whatever that the pri-
soner was a professional pot stealer, and had been so for
some time, and he would put a stop to her depredations
and relieve licensed victuallers and others of her visits for
some time. He convicted her of larceny and sentenced
her to nine months' imprisonment and hard labour, or
three months for stealing each pot that had been identified.
Tf she was brought before him again, he would commit her
to the Sessions for trial.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

WAYS AND MEANS.

The following resolution was reported and agreed to on
Saturday :—." That, towards raising the supply granted to
her Majesty, in lieu of the Stamp Duties contained in the
schedule to the Act passed in the 55th year of the reign of
King George the Third, chapter 184, and now payable
upon probates of wills and letters of administration in Eng-
land and Ireland, and upon inventories to be exhibited and
recorded in any Commissary Court in Scotland, where the
estate and effects for or in respect of which such probate
or letters of administration shall be granted, or whereof
such inventory shall be exhibited or recorded, shall be of
the value of one million ponnds or upwards, there shall be
charged and paid the following duties respectively (that is
to say) :
• ' For every £lOO,OOO of the whole value of such estate
and effects, and any fractional part of £100,000,
' Where the deceased shall have left any will or testa-
ment, or testamentary disposition, of his personal or mov-
able estate and effects, the stamp duty of X 1,500 ;
' And where the deceased shall not have left any such
will or testament, or testamentary disposition, the stamp
duty of £2,250.'

THE ALPACAS IN AUSTRALIA.—The Sydney
Morning Herald contains an interesting resume of the pro-
ceedings connected with the removal and ultimate purchase
by New South Wales of Mr. Ledger's flock of alpacas. Mr.
Ledger had received for his services the slender reward of an
appointment as superintendent of alpacas—a somewhat
novel post. The satisfactory assurance is at the same time
given that the government have no idea of entering into
competition with other wool growers, but merely intend to
take charge of the flock until it shall be sufficiently nume-
rous to be really useful. We cannot help regarding the
history of this enterprise—involving as it does an immedi-
ate outlay of £15,000, a sum by no means inconsiderable to
a colony—as creditable in the highest degree' to the libe-
rality and sagacity of the people and legislature.—Austra-
lian