The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-01 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BETTING AT MANCHESTER.--FRIDAY.
MANCHESTER STEEPLECHASES.
4 to 1 offered on the field.
TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS.
4to 1 agst Proinised Land (offered)
6to 1 agst Ralpho (offered)
CHESTER CUP.
35 to 1 agst Polestar (taken)
50 to 1 agst Drogheda (taken)
Nothing done on the Derby.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Day.—Friday,
Dec. 31.—Admissions on payment, 1,557 ; ditto by season
tickets, 623 ; total, 2,180.
A STARTLING FACT.—When the passenger ship
Isaae Wright was on fire a week ago, and all hope of saving
her had been given up, she was towed up the river to the
Sloyne, so that sir might be scuttled, out of the way of the
other ships. Some of the guns of H.lll.'s frigate Hastings
were fired into her at a short range, with the view of aiding
in the sinking ; but, strange to say, now that she lies dry,
it is apparent that not a single shot penetrated her hull.
This being the fact, the question naturally suggests itself,
of what use are such guns in naval warfare, and =ore par-
ticularly when war ships are built of stouter timber than
the merchant service. With regard to the Isaac Wright no
good can be done to her hull, and she will have to be broken
up.—Liverpool Post.

ti FATAL OCCURRENCES AT PADDINGTON.--Yes-
terday Mr. Wakley, coroner for West Middlesex, held a
joint inquiry at the Bank of 'England Tavern, Paddington,
touching the deaths of Henry Ryman, aged 29, a railway
porter, late in the employ of the Great Western Railway
Company, and John Thomas Coppins, aged 22, a labourer,
also in the service of the same company, both of whom met
with instantaneous and frightful deaths at' the Paddington
terminus, under the following circumstances :—lt appeared
that Ryman, on Monday night, fell between the platform
and a moving train ; his left leg was crushed in a most
fearful manner, the limb being twisted round like a piece of
cord, and cut to pieces by the wheelsof the carriages, while
the whole .of the lower part df his person was crushed and
mutilathchnost shockingly. He was conveyed to St. Mary's
Hospital, where he expired a few minutes after his admis-
sion. In the case of Coppins it appeared that the hapless
man was proceeding along the roof of..the engineer's resi-
dence, at the station, on Wednesday morning, when he fell
over on to the pavement, the height of 60 feet. Death was
instantaneous, for he was literally dashed to pieces. A ver-
dict of accidental death was recorded in each case, a recom-
mendation being added in the latter that the company
should erect a railing onithe roof of the engineer's residence
for the protection of others who might be engaged in such
perilous work as the deceased. The inquiry then termi-
nated.

VACANCIES, APPOINTMENTS, AND PROMOTIONS IN
THE CIVIL SERVICE.—Foreign Department.—The consul-
ship at Naples has become vacant by the death of Captain
Thomas Gallway, R.N. General Post Office.—There are
several vacancies in the secretary's office for junior clerks ;
commencing salary, £l2O per annum. There are vacancies
for junior clerks in the mail office ; commencing salary,
£BO per annum. There are vacancies for junior clerks in
the receiver and accountant-general's office ; commencing
salary, per annum. There are vacancies for junior
clerks in the money-order office,- commencing- salary, £BO
per annum. There are vacancies for junior clerks in the
circulation department ; commencing salary £BO per annum.
Mr. David Ogden, third assistant inspector of letter-carriers,
General Post-office, Dublin, has been appointed inspector of
letter-carriers, in the room of Mr. John Banmen, retired on
full pay, after 50 years' service. Law Department—There
are va( ancies for twelve clerks in the New Court of Probate
and Divorce. Audit Office—There is a vacancy for a junior
.clerk in this office ; commencing salary, £9O per annum.
Customs—The inspectorship of patrol at Plymouth has
become vacant by the death of Mr. James Owen. The
offices of third clerk, of fourth and fifth searchers, and two
Second-class tidewaiters ; also boatmen and weighers, are
vacant at Newhaven. These vacancies are consequent
upon the largely increasing trade with Dieppe. Mr. Wm.
R. Stavely has been appointed a landing waiter at New-
haven. Mr. William A. Wetherall has been appointed
a landing-waiter at Ramsey, Isle of Man. Mr. A. Baker,
landing-surveyor at Folkestone, has been promoted to
Greenock. Mr. Leitch, landing waiter at Greenock, has
been promoted to be landing surveyor at Folkestone Mr.
C. Heyward, comptroller at Folkestone, has beenipromoted
to be collector at Goole. The comptrollershipi at Folke-
stone is to be abolished,--Chid Yervice Gazette. .

Comet (iv.) by M. Bruhns, at Berlin, on the 21st
of May ; also visible for several weeks.
Comet (v.), by Dr. G. B. Donati, at Florence,
on the 2d of June, visible in Europe for about five
months.

Comet (vi.), by Dr. Forster, at Berlin, on the 7th
of August ; visible for about nine weeks. Usually
known as Eneke's comet.

Comet (vii.), by Mr. H. P. Tuttle, at Harvard
College, on the oth of September ; visible for about
three months.

Comet (viii.), by M. Bruhns, at Berlin, on the
Bth of September; visible for about eight weeks.
Usually known as Faye's comet.
Planet (54), by M. Goldschmidt, at Paris, on the
11th of September : named Alexandra.
Planet (55), by Mr. G. Searle, at Albany, U.S.,
on the 14Ith of September.
Planet (56), by M. Goldschmidt, at Paris, on the
9th of September.
The following are among the more important
events that will take place during the year 1859 :
Eclipses of the Sun.-2d of February, 4th of
March, 29th of July, and 27th of August; all par-
tial eclipses only, and all invisible in England.
Eclipses of the Moon.-17th of February and
13th of August ; both total, and both invisible in
England.

There will be 11 occultations of the planets by-
the Moon, viz., 9 of Saturn, 1 of Venus, and 1 of
Mercury ; all invisible in England except 1 of
Saturn on the Bth of May.
The well-known Comet of Biela, remarkable for
its double nebulosity, will return to perihelion in
May.
A remarkable conjunction of the planets. Venus
and Jupiter will occur on the morning of the 21st
of July. At the moment of least distance, their
edges will be separated by an interval of 13 seconds,
rather more than the diameter of Venus, but less
than one half that of Jupiter. This shighly in-
teresting phenomenon will be visible in this country,
and at the moment of conjunction th• two planets
will appear as one star.
The Sun enters Capricornus and Winter begins
—lB5B, December 21, 14h.:12m.
The Sun enters Aries and Spring begins-1859,
March 20, 16h. 20m.

The Sun enters Cancer and Summer begins-
-1859 June 21, 11h. 58m.

The Sun enters Libra and Autumn begins--1859,
September 23, 2h. 10m.

The Sun enters Capricornus and Winter begins
--1859, December 21, 20h. 3m.
.... ...

The Sun will be in the Winter signs, 89d.
h. Bm.

The Sun will be in the Spring signs, 92d.
90h. 38m.

The Sun will be in the Summer. signs, 93d.
4h. 12m.

The Sun will be in the Autumn signs, 89d.
7h. 53m.

The Summer is therefore 4d. 13h. 4m. longer
than the Winter ; 3d. 20h. 10m. longer than the
Autumn ; and Od. 17h. 34m. longer that the Spring.
The Sun will be north of the Equator (com-
prising the periods of Spring and Summer) 186 d.
10h. 50m.
The Sun will be South of the Equator (com-
prising the periods of Autumn and Winter) 178 d.
19h. lm.

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WOR KS.

A meeting of this board was held in the Council
Chamber, Guildhall, yesterday. The President, J,
Thwaites, Esq., took the chair at 12 o'clock.

FINANCE.
The cash statement for the present week shows
a total general balance of £230,061 ss.
A report was brought up from the finance com-
mittee, recommending, among other things—
" 1. That, inasmuch as a special fund is created
by the act of the last session of Parliament for main
drainage works, the sums in the hands of the board,
or which may hereafter he received bs them, in
respect of the £140,000 borrowed from the Clergy
Mutual Society, be appropriated to general pur-
poses, under the ordinary precepts for 1858, so far
as concerns the charges included therein applicable
to entire parishes. _

" 2. That the board do, in the ensuing session of
Parliament, seek statutory powers to re-apportion
among the several parishes concerned, the debt in
respect of the £200,000 borrowed by the Metropo-
litan Commissioners of Sewers from the Rock Life
Office, and expended on sewerage works, according
to the actual benefit derived by each parish from
that expenditure; and that it be referred to the
Works and General Purposes Committee to consi-
der and frame a propek apportionment, on that basis,
and submit the same for the approval of the board.
" 3. That the board, do apply, in the ensuing
session of Parliament, for statutory powers to re-
distribute the debt of £43,721 15s. the amount
expended in the construction of the dounter's Creek
Diversion Works, and to make such debt a charge
on the metropolis at large.
Mr. TURNER, pursuant to notice, moved as an
amendment to the first recommendation—" That,
inasmuch as the recommendation of the committee
sanctions the permanent application of borrowed
money to meet the current expenses of the board,
and such recommendation, if acted upon, will throw
upon the ratepayers of future years a burden which
it is not just to impose upon them, the recom-
mendation be not adopted ; and that the subject of
the appropriation of the £140,000 be referred back
to the _Finance Committee for further considera-
tion."

Mr. DALTON seconded the amendment.
After considerable discussion, in which several
members took part, the amendment was put and
negatived upon a division, by a majority of 31 to 3.
The original motion to adopt the recommendation
of the committee was then, put and carried.
The two other recommendations of the committee
were adopted without any serious opposition.
The other business disposed of was of a routine
character.

ATROCIOUS AND .EXTRAORDINARY

CHARGE.

At the Clerkenwell Police Court, yesterday, Philip Cox-
ford, described as a lathrender and timber merchant, of
Kingsland, was charged, at the instance of the London
Society for the Protection of Young Females, with a most
revolting and atrocious offence.

Mr. Buchanan, of Basinghall-street, who was instructed
by the above society to prosecute, stated that the charge
against the prisoner was one of the most appalling that had
ever come under his notice. Prisoner had taken advantage
of the tender age and inexperience of two girls, aged respec-
tively 12 and 11, to ruin one and to materially injure the
other: The girls, named Emma Jane and Rosa Bulwinkle,
were the daughters of a respectable newsvender. Prisoner
had visited the shop for the ostensible purpose of purchas-
ing papers, tobacco, or ginger beer, but really to accom-
plish one of the most infamous purposes that was
ever conceived. After visiting the shop for some
little time, he ingratiated himself into the good graces of
the family. On Whit-Monday prisoner invited the daugh-
ter Emma to accompany himself and daughter to Black-
heath. He sent his daughter home, and, taking Emma to
a house in Whitechapel, succeeded, under circumstances of
unparalleled aggravation, in effecting her ruin. Under
threats that he would inform her mother, she frequently
met him, and he took from her various small sums of
money. At last he persuaded her to leave home, and he
took
,a room for her. Now one would suppose that that

was villany enough for a man. But no I Prisoner 'still con-
tinued his visits, and, condoling with the distressed mother,
said he thought he could find her. To the poor child he
conveyed the intelligence that her mother had desired him
to say she would infliet some injury upon her if she caught
her. In July he called upon the mother, and saw Rosa
(aged 11) in the parlour, and he then and there so
far succeeded in effecting his purpose that he
communicated a foul disease to her--(sensation)—being
only disturbed by the entrance of her sister. The child
Emma was discovered by the mother ono night outside the
Victoria Theatre, and was at once taken home.

Mr. Buchanan then called the mother, whose statement
contained circumstances entirely unfit for publication.
Amongst some other statements, she said that prisoner had
offered her daughter some sovereigns if she would be quiet,
and he could show her how to get her living on the town.
She described with many tears the visits of the prisoner
after the abduction of her daughter, and -his condolations
upon the subject.

In answer to the charge, prisoner, who did not examine
any of the witnesses, said it was all lies.

He was accordingly remanded till a future day, for the
completion of the depooitiouse

ASTRONOMICAL SUIIMARY-1818, 1859.

The following arc the chief discoveries of the
year 1858:
Comet (i.), discovered by Mr. H. P. Tuttle, at
the Harvard College Observatory, U.S., on the 4th
of January; visible for about seven -weeks. This
comet was also detected by NT. Bruhns, at Berlin,
on the 11th of January, and has been identified
with the second comet of 1700. Its period is about
134 years.
Planet (51), by M. Laurent, at Nismes, on the
22d of Jan.: named Nemausa.

'Planet (52), by M. Goldsehmidt, at Paris, on the
6th of February : named Europa.
Comet (ii.), by 1)r. Winnecke, at Bonn, on the
Bth of March; visible for about three months.
This comet has been identified with the first of
1819. Period 51 years.
Planet (53), by M. Lutlu, at Bilk,-on the 4th of
April : named Calypso.
Comet (iii), by Mr. H. P. Tuttle, at Harvard
College Observatory, U.S., on the 2d of May ;
visible for several weeks.