The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-20 00:00:00

SOUTHWARK.

CUTTING AND WOUNDING.—MURDEROUS AS3AULT ON
A WlFE.—Thomas Iris, a middle-aged, respectable-look.
mg man, waiter at a large tavern in the vicinity of this
Court, was brought before Mr. Combe, charged with
committing a murderous assault upon Margaret Iris, his
wife, and stabbing her in the right side of her face with
a knife.
The complainant, whose face was much disfigured,
stated that she had been married to the defendant 20
years, and had 13 children by him. For some time past
he had neglected her and the children for another
woman, which continually caused words between them.
On the previous night she met him at the tavern, when
they both went home together, apparently very comfort-
able, but as soon as they entered the house he abused
her, and struck her with his fists. He then threw a
chair at her, and broke every thing he could lay his
hands on ; and as she was about to quit the house by
the street door he stabbed her near the right eye with a
knife he had in his hand, and then she called out " Po-
lice !" and " Murder !" A co❑stable came up at the
the time and took him into custody. When he threw
the chair at her he had a knife in his hand, and she
then struck him. After that he stabbed her, but she did
not think he meant to do her any harm.
The prisoner said it was all through his wife's tongue,
which was always abusing him whenever they met each
other. She was jealous of him, and he could assure his
worship she had no occasion to be so, as he had nothing
to do with other women.
Mr. Combe asked him what he had to say for stabbing
his wife He replied that it was done by accident, when
she was assaulting him. He declared that he bad no
intention to hurt her.
The wife here i❑formed his worship that he continually
ill-used her, but at the same time she did not want to
hurt him provided he would be kind to her for the future.
Mr. Combo told her he could not allow such a mur-
derous assault to pass over. He should sentence the
prisoner to six months' hard labour, and at the expira-
tion ot that time he must find bail for six months longer.
Prisoner (laughing)—That's just what I want, That
will serve her out.

THAMES.
CONVICTION FOR SMUGGLING TOBACCO--Henry
Amatty, William Wicks, and Ge rge Walker, lighter-
men, were brought before Mr. Yardley charged on a
Custom-house information with smuggling 83 lbs. of
foreign manufactured tobacco, by which they bad in-
curred a penalty of 1001. each.
A clerk from the Customs Solicitor's-office attended
on the part of the Crown.
It appeared that a Thames police constable named
Major, No. 36, was looking after the prisoners, whom
he had for some time suspected to be smugglers, and saw
Walker leave a boat at Irongate Stairs near the Tower,
look about him, and then go back and speak to Wicks,
who was in the boat, and say, "let us have it, it's all
right." Wicks raised a bag containing something very
heavy. Walker was proceeding towards Tower hill
with his load when he was interrupted by Major,
who asked him what he was carrying,
to which he replied that he did not know. Major
seized the bag, and opened it, and found it to contain
tobacco. The officer believed the weed had just been
imported in a foreign steamer.
Mr. Claridge, appraiser of condeinned goods, in the
Queen's warehouse, said the tobacco was of foreign
manufacture, and liable to a duty of Os. 5d per lb.
The prisoners made no defence, and Mr. Yardley sen
tenced them to p‘y a fine of 1001. each, and in default
of payment to be imprisoned for six months. They
were committed accordingly.
CONVICTION OF LASCARS AND CHINAMEN FOR
LATION of THE COMMON LODGING-HOUSE ACT—Tikh
Abdalla, a Lascar, was charged by Inspector Price with
violating the act Of parliament regulating common lodg-
ing houses.
Police Sergeant Maddigan, No. 51 A., said he visited
the defendant's house in Bluegate-fields, Shad well. It
was not registered. The defendant and his wife, an
Englishwoman, and their child were in one bed, and two
Lascars were sleeping under it. There was another
Laccar asleep in a cupboard under the stairs and two
women of the town slept in two separate rooms.
The defendant said he did not keep a lodging-house,
and called Elizabeth Wilson, who said she occupied a
room in Abdalla's house, and occasionally took home

men.
Mr. Prid, one of the inspactors of common lodging-
houses, said the prisoner had been convicted four times
and fined 10e., 40A., 3/ , and 5%., and repeatedly warned.
Mr. Yardley said the prisoner was a most incorigible
offender, and he would not allow any one to keep one
part of his dwelling as a lodging-house and the other part
as a brothel. He fined the prisoner 51., and in default
of payment one month's imprisonment.
Arze, a Chinaman of Bluegate-ffelds, was charged
with a similar offence. Sergeant Kirby, No. 53 A, found
three Chinamen in the same room as the defendant. The
house was in a most filthy state, and not registered.
Mr. Yardley fined the dependant 51.

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

(Prom the Mining Journal of this day.)
Another serious fall in the standard for copper ores
has been the chief topic of conversation in mining circies
during the week, and various plans have been propound-
ed to remedy the present unsatisfactory state of the
copper market. Now, it appears to us there are two
ways of bringing the smelters to book, and one or the
other should be adopted at once. The first is, let share-
holders conset to forego dividends for six months, that
the produce of the mines brought to market may not
be mere than enough to meet current expenses ; if
the Devon Great Consols, North and West Bas-
set, Great South Tolgus, and a few under the same
management, were to set the example, it would be quickly
followed by others, and from 5000 to 6000 tons of ore
per month would be withdrawn from the market, and
the furnaces of the smelters be left comparatively
Idle. The other plan, and the one most likely to succeed,
would be a miners' smelting company, formed by a Com-
bination of mining shareholders, capitalists, managers o
mines, and consumers of copper ; and for a company of
this sort, under proper management, and the Limited
Inability Act, almost any amount of capital would be
Subscribed, for that no business is so profitable as smelt-
ing is well known, and every person holding a share in a
mine would be interested in subscribing. To show the
miner how his profits are diminished by the present smelt-
ing monopoly has often been our task ; lot us again refer
to the system under which he is compelled to sell his pro-
duce. The smelters are also the merchants in copper, and
regulate the price of copper for the consumer and the ore
for the miner, and both, it is scarcely necessary to say,
fo suit their own purposes. A. mine having ore for sate
" samples" it a fortnight before it is sold, and during this
fortnight all the smelters take samples and have assays
made, so that they know its exact value. The ticket-
ings, or weekly sales, supposed to be species of auctions,
are nothing of the kind, for the smelters, or their agents
meet together before the sale, and arrange, not only for
the parcels each may require, but the prices they will
give for them, so that as one will not bid against the other
there is no competition, and the miner is compelled to
take the price offered, because he has to rely upon the
proceeds to meet his monthly expenses, in wages to men,
&c., no advances can be got, except upon ore sales, for
the smelters are the only bankers in the mining districts,
and they are also the merchants, supplying materials,
from candles to steam-engines. flow nicely, therefore,
the whole thing works for the monopolists ! They keep
down the price of ore at starvation point to the miner,
until they get in a large stock of metal ; and to get a
good profit out of the consumer of copper, they next
meet in London, and put up the price ld. or 2d. per lb.
Then to raise the spirits of the miner a bit, and to
induce him to go on raising all he can, the standard creeps
up, week after week, for a time. Well, having
sold their large stock, the metal world is startled some
fine morning with a drop of ld. per lb. in copper; and
the mining world knows but too well that it is the pre-
cursor—in fact, the plea for again reducing the price of
ore, preparatory to laying in another stock. We would
ask any one who may have watched the market for the
last 20 years, Is this picture overdrawn? And what will
the uninitiated think of the following ? The miner
is compelled to sell 21 cwts. to the ton ; here the
smelter gets 5 per cent., and a mine selling 1,000 tons
a month loses 50 tons of ore—say 2501. The expense
of reducing ore to metal is about 1/. ls. per ton on the
ore ; and in any other branch of business a manufac-
turer buying a crude material, to manufacture into an
article upon which he realises a large profit, would be at
the expense of the manufacture. Notso the smelters ; they
make the miners pay by deducting 2/. 15. per ton from all
the ores they buy, as returning charges. Ore of 5 per cent.
prod
sumcee,ltaetr de
a stadnudeatsrd2lo.flls,.
301p.,eirs
ton. Now,
N6lo.wlo,ss.
uppepr
otsoinn
g;
the
copper itself to be 1151. per ton (2/. less than its qnoten
value), the fair value of the ore, at a produce of 5 per
cent., is 51. 15s. per ton, according to the price of the
copper ; and then, even allowing the smelter 1/. Bs., the
1 real cost of returning, the miner should receive 41. 7s.
instead 6f 31. 155., and a mine selling 1,000 tons per
month loses 6001.