The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDO/S, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 23, 1800.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.---This Day.

. . THAMES.
A VIOLENT CIIARACTER.—ATTEMET TO DROWN A CON-
STABLE.—WiIIiam Onion, r. tall, strong, and powerful fel-
low, was charged with violently assaulting Win. Brown,
a police constable, No. 82 11.
The prisoner is a most desperate and ferocious fellow.
David, a police-sergeant No 3 11, said Onion had been
convicted eight times for assaults on the police, and once
for beating and disabling a publican, for which he was
sentenced to four months' imprisonment and hard labour,
On Friday afternoon the prisoner was intoxicated in the
London Dock. Ho was reeling about on one of the bridges,
and Brown requested him to leave the Dock, and to be
careful of himself and not fall in the water. The pri-
soner immediately attacked tho policeman, and said he
would put him in the water. Ho made use of
the most foul language and threats, and after striking the
constable on the •head he endeavoured to force him back
into the dock. He had nearly succeeded,_ when the con-
stable drew his truncheon from his pocket and knocked
him down, and if ho had not done so he would have been
drowned. The prisoner continued his violence all the
way to the station-house.
Inspector Ellis, of the London Dock police, said the pri-
soner was a perfect fury when drunk.
Mr. Paget committed the prisoner for trial.

Railway and Other Companies.

CALEDONIAN.
A Wharncliffe meeting of this company was held
on Tuesday, in Glasgow, Mr. D. Ainslie in the chair.
The CHAIRSIAN said the first bill he had to submit
was for amalgamation of the Scottish North-Eastern
Railway Company with the Caledonian Railway
Company. It had been very strongly opposed by
the North British Railway Company. The direc-
tors of the Caledonian believed that the proposed
amalgamation would prove equally beneficial to the
public and to the companies interested. They were
willing to give every reasonable facility to the North
British and all other companies carrying traffic over
their lines.

A formal resolutipn approving the bill was
agreed to.
The next bill was for enabling the Caledonian
Company to make certain branch railways in the
counties of Lanark, Renfrew,and Mid-Lothian (the
Wishaw Branches Bill).
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, seconded by
Mr. J. WILSON, the bill was approved; and the
meeting was adjourned to Tuesday, the 26th inst.

EAST INDIAN.
The report of the directors states that the only
unfinished works of importance on the main line were
the bridge over the Jumna at Delhi, and the station
arrangements in that city, and those were progress-
ing satisfactorily. The works on the Jubbulpore
line, under contract to Messrs. Warring, Brothers,
and Hunt, were proceeding to the entire satisfaction
of the board. The permanent way and works on
the opened line had been thoroughly well maintained,
partly by contract and partly by the company's own
officers, at a cost of 9d. per train mile. The work-
ing expenses for the half year ended the 31st of
December last were 46.69 per cent., against 51.96
per cent. in the corresponding half •of
,1864. The
total number of passengers carried during the past
ball year was 2,066,299, of which 1,833,999 were
third class, 174,777 intermediate class, 41,866
second class, and 15,657 first class. The increase
in the total number of passengers was 114,673, as
compared with the corresponding half of last year.
The total nu.nber of passengers carried during the
year 1865 had been 4,249,618, against 4,015,718
in 1864, showing an increase of 233,900, the aver-
age mileage opened in 1864 being 1,059 and in 1865
1,127 miles. The tonnage in goods and minerals
had been in 1865, 683,290 tons against 607,350
tons iu 1864. The gross receipts for the half year
ended the 31st of December last had been £852,766
against £620,428 in the corresponding half of 18i34,
showing an increase of £232,338. The gross receipts
for the year 1865 had been £1,678,944 against
£1,272,576 in 1864 showing an increase of £406,368.
The net traffic receipts since the opening of the
line had been as follows :—From Aug. 15, 1854, to
Dec. 31, 1862, to £1,123,426; for 1863 to £439,964,
for 1864 to £625,895; for 1865 to £928,751: total,
£3,117,036. The gross receipts for the first 18
weeks in 1865 were £621,954 ; ditto for 1866,
£799,059: showing an increase of £177,105. The
board attributed this fact mainly to improved man-
agement in the use of the stock, which was the na-
tural result of experience. They were of opinion
that the locomotive and rolling stock they had
already sent out was quite ample to carry the traffic
which had offered. In order to strengthen the
management in India the board had thought right
to associate Mr. C. Stephenson, late deputy agent,
and Mr. S. Power, their chief engineer in Bengal,
with Mr. Palmer, and those gentlemen now formed
the Board of Agency. The capital account to Dec.
31, 1865, showed that £24,017,534 had been re-
ceived, and £21,219,181 expended, leaving a balance
of £2,798,353. The revenue account for the half
year ending Dec. 31 showed that £852,766 had
been received, and £398,099, or 46.69 per cent. ex-
pended, leaving a balance of £454,667.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.

VICTORIA. CLUB BETTING—This DAT.
NORTHUMBERLAND PLATE.
2to 1 agst Primate (taken)
3to 1 agst Miss Haworth (taken)
sto 1 agst Red Earl (taken)
12 to 1 agst Missile (taken)
12 to 1 agst Lady Durham (taken).
14 to 1 agst Honesty (taken) .
Caithness scratched.

The Imbecile.

_.r

Thursday, in accordance with annual custom, the sub-
scribers to Earlswood, the Asylurh for Idiots, situate a
short drive froth the Rcdhill junction of the London and
Brighton Railway, were invited to witness and participate
in a summer fete for the amusement of the inmates. It was,
however, the attendtince of visitors in largo numbers, and
the special preparations incident thereto, rather than the
actual amusements, which constituted thefi;te. Inquiring
visitors were distinctly told, "What you see is as nearly as
possible part and parcel of our ordinary life, for in recrea-
tion we find a moral stimulus to good, our only punishment
being the deprivation of pleasure." While the events of the
day afforded gratification they derived their solid interest
from the indications they afforded of the work which the
institution is doing and of the spirit in which it is done.
The late Prince Consort laid the first stone of the build-
ing at Earlswood in 1853, and opened it in 1856. It is in-
tended for the reception of idiotic children, under the age
of 16, a fundamental rule being that the number of those
who are supported by the payments of their friends shall
not exceed the number of those whose parents or friends,
although not paupers, are too poor to pay fur them. Of
the latter 60 were elected last year, and 30 morn cn the
day of the annual meeting in April. This made the total
number of inmates 446, of whom nearly 300 are males, and
to the inmates are to be added 120 officers, attendants, and
servants. The proportion between the elected and the pay-
ing patients shows that the institution is not only half, but
fully two-thirds a charity; and the numbers of the two
elasses correspond with the items that relate to them
in the statement of income and expenditure. The
parents or friends of pupils, who pay varying rates
proportioned to their means, contributed .£B,OOO last year ;
the annual and life subscriptions, the donations, legacies,
and profits of gardens and farm brought up the income to
£22,000. The expenditure allowed .£4,000 to be canied to
capital account, but that only represents the amount of life
payments that have been received. The great fact which
the board desire to impress upon the public is that the
asylum is now full, while applications for admission con-
tinue to be made at the rate of 500 a year. Under these
circumstances, what it is proposed to do is simply to double
the institution by degrees, without incui.ing debt, and
therefore in proportion to the sum contributed ; and this
it is proposed to accomplish by erOcting a parallel wing,
with a not thorn aspect, and with an Italian façade corre-
sponding to that which, facing the south, commands the
flower garden, the slope, and the extensive lawn or plea-
sure ground on which the file of yesterday took place. It
commenced at one o'clock, with games of cricket, croquet,
Aunt Salty, Red, White, and Blue, football, and a Punch
and Judy show manipulated by one of the inmates. In
two hours these were followed by racing and jumping
matches for prizes, and a peculiarity of the contest was that
boys of the same trades and girls of the same classes ran in
the same races. The resident physician and superintend-
ent, Dr. Down, acted as starter by striking a gong. Mr.
Alderman Abbiss, one of the board of management, was con-
sidered to be the winning-post, and the races wore most ex-
citing from the eager wildness with which some of the com-
petitors ran. The winfters generally displayed unbounded
delight when the prize was put into their hands. The classi-
fication of the competitors corresponded with that of the
patients employed in industrial occupations, and it appears
that there are 13 carpenters, 15 shoemakers, 80 mat-weavers
and helpers in mat shops, a baskotmaker, 28 tailors, 16 who
labour on the farm and in the gardens, a plumber, and a
baker, while 26 of the males are employed in household
work and Bin the hum& Jr. Of 34 females 2 are assistant-.
nurses, 2 repair clothes, 9 aro otherwise engaged in needle-
work, and 21 in household work. With regard to school,
there is a whole time system for the younger children and
a half-time for the majority, one-half the day being spent
in school and the other half in work. It may be conve-
niently added here that in regard to food and clothing, the
institution is as nearly as possible self-dependent; almost
everything required is produced or made on the spot by the
co-opera:ion with the patients of their attendants, who are
elected in double capacities, and this utilisation of the staff
extends to onto' tainments, even to discovering who among
the female domestics possess good voices, training them to
sing in tho weekly concerts. Several tents of various sizes,
of excellent materials, tasteful design, and good make,
afforded special accommodation on Thursday ; even these
were home made, under the superintendence of the steward,
a man whose love of his work developes every kind of use-
fulness to the delight of inmates and officers, and the eco-
nomical administration of funds. There were " wheels of
fortune," by means of which the surplus stock of past
bazaars was partly disposed of. A largo refreshment tent
was pretty Iwell filled all afternoon. The inmates had their
tea on the lawn, the boys in one company and the girls in
another. After tea the choral union of the establishment,
consisting of inmates and attendants, sang some of their
glees from an orchestra raised on the slope, and then the
Earlswood " troupe," sini;larly constituted, gave " negro
melodies." The band of the Coldstream Guards played
near the refreshment tont during the afternoon. The
ascent of a fire balloon was reserved for the darkness of
evening. All the patients were under admirable control,
and tilt arrangements of the day were carried out by the
ordinary staff of the establishment, assisted by a few of
the board. Authority is maintained by combined firmness
and kindness, and it could be seen that the patients re-
spected rather than feared their attendants. No punish-
ment is allowed, and indeed the servants are liable to
dismissal for any resort to violence. No strait waistcoat,
chain, or strap is kept on the premises with a view to sub-
jecting an inmate to restraint. But it is not many years
since a boy was conveyed to the institution by two police-
' men manacled in such a way as to be powerless, and when
he was set at liberty and led off through the garden by an
attendant the officers wore equally alarmed and surprised
that their worst fears were not realised. We mention this
circumstance to suggest the contrast between the restraint
and neglect from which imbeciles too often suffer while in
charge of their friends with the happy freedom and thorough
supervision which they enjoy in Earlswood Asylum, one of
the largest, if not the largest, of its class in Europe, and
one the history and conduct of which has excited continental
interest. The industrial parts of tho building were closed
on Thursday, but dining-rooms and dormitories wereopen.
The establishment has just been visited by Messrs. Forster
and Nairne, Commissioners in Lunacy, and they have made
a most satisfactory entry in the visitors' book. We quote
one fact which that entryrecords. Of those cases discharged
during the, year, six had been treated with such success as
to suable the children to do something in future for their
own support ; and there was one case of a youth who had
received so much benefit from his treatment that at the
time of his discharge he was considered to be both self-
reliant and self-suppdriing. The cases of many individual
inmates aro interesting. There is one man who has an ac-
curate knowledge of dates and events in ancient and modern
history, how obtained is a mystery. Thera is another
whose drawings sell at high prices, and who has made
perhaps the most complete model of a ship that was ever
constructed, which he exhibits with justifiable pride, and
attempts to describe with great volubility, although scarcely
able to utter a word which a stranger can understand.
There are no " show" days at the asylum; it is always in
the samecondition, and open to inspection ; and Dr. Down
will be happy at any time to receive visitors, or Mr. Nicho-
las, the secretai y, to afford information, at the office in the
Poultiy.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE--Last Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 14 11 15
Ditto 3 Months. 11 181 11 19
Rotterdam
Antwerp — 25 47 25 55
Brussels
Hamburg
Paris -1 ort 25 10 25 20
Ditto 3 M oaths. 25 35 25 471
Marseilles . 25 40 25 50
Frankfort on tho Maine 1171
1185
Vienna — 14 0 14 50
Trieste — 14 0 14 50
Petersburgn - 241 241
Berlin
Madrid — 441 45
Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan
FGenoa
Naples — 30 0
30 30 80 50
SO 0

DESTRUCTIVE FII:ES.-08. Thursday evening a
fire occurred on the premises of Mr. G. Morrison, a
picture frame maker, at 50, New Compton-street, St.
Giles's, destroying in a short time a building of four floors
used as workshops, and extending to some of the adjoin-
ing property, to which, however, it did comparatively little
damage. Next to Mr. Morrison, the principal sufferer was
Mr. Mann, a gilt metal worker. The Metropolitan Fire
Bi;gade turned out on receiving the alarm about 9 o'clock,
and rendered what aid they could in the emergency. The
cause of the fire is at present unknown. Some of the pro-
perty was insured in the Phoenix and County offices, and
some of it was uninsured. On Wednesday night, about 10
o'clock, a house of six rooms, in the occupation of Mr. Hay-
ward, furniture broker, at 8, Whitmore-road, Iroxton,
caught fire, and was almost wholly destroyed. An ad-
joining house, occupied by Mr. J. 'l'. Bullock, being also
I
scorched in froht, and the furniture damaged by hasty

removal.
THE TRAFFIC WITII TIIE CONTINENT.—TIIC follow-
ing is a copy of a telegram received from M. Belmar, gene-
ral manager, Rhenish Railway, Cologne, by Mr. J. S.
Forbes, general manager, London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway, Victoria Station :—" The communication to Ha-
nover, Hamburg, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Breslau is not,
interrupted."