The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-25 00:00:00

71SILERIES PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION.

A general meeting of the members of the associa-
tion was held yesterday, at their offices in Regent-
street, to consider the report of the council upon
the exportation of unseasonable salmon to France,
and also to consider the Lord Advocate's Fisheries
Bill. Lord Saltoun presided.
The CHAIRMAN intimated that since the last
general meeting the council had met frequently'
and had made every inquiry in their power into
the subject referred to them for investigation. ,They
had framed a report, the draft of which he would
read, and which would show the necessity of im-
mediate and strong steps being taken to prevent
the total extermination of the salmon and trout
fry in all the rivers of the United Ringdern.
The report stated with regard to the export of
foul salmon to France (by which Paris, was
meant, for it was there that 999-1000ths of it went),
that the council had made diligent inquiry as to the
extent of the export during the fence months, which
though differing as to time in various parts of the
United Kingdom, extended over 20 weeks of the
year, and found that not less than from 4001 b. the
500 lb. w eight of salmon on the average was exported
every week during those 20 weeks. As in the course
of a few weeks or even days these fish would have
deposited their spawn in their several rivers, and
as each fish would contain from 10,000 to 12,000
eggs, the loss to the fisheries and the public was
enormous. It was the custom to transmit these fish
in all kinds of packages, sometimes in ladies trunks,
and sometimes in boxes and baskets with rabbits'
feet protruding from them. There was consequently
some difficulty in dealing with the question effec-
tually on this side. An excise duty on the export
had been suggested, and 'as that no doubt would
at once hamper this illicit trade, the council would
not lose sight of the suggestion. But a more
effectual remedy would be the prohibition of the
sale of the fish in the Paris markets during the fence
months; and as the French Government were actively
engaged at the present moment in the development
and improvement of their own river fisheries, there
was reason to believe that if the matter were pro-
perly represented to them they would enact and
enforce such a prohibition. The same machinery
which collected the octroi duty on all provisions
entering Paris might easily be made effective in
preventing the introduction of salmon during the
close season. The council concluded by recom-
mending that the suggestion of Mr. Martin T.
Smith should be acted upon, viz., that a deputation
should wait upon Lord John ussell, urging-him
to use the influence of the British Government with
the French Emperor to induce him to establish a
prohibitory law on the subject.
The recommendation of the council was agreed to
unanimously.

HORRIBLE CASE OF MURDER AT ST.
_PHILIP'S, BRISTOL.

BRISTOL, FRIDAY EVENING.
This afternoon the densely-populated manufac-
turing district of St. Philip and Jacob, which
forms the south-eastern boundary of this city, was
thrown into a state of the greatest excitement
in consequence of its becoming known that a little
girl of between two and a-half and three years
old, had been deliberately murdered by her own
mother. The names of both murderess and victim
were the same, Martha 011iver, and they were the
wife and child of a journeyman saddler and harness
maker, named Henry 011iver, with whom they lived
in an apartment at No. 4, John-street. The unhappy
woman, who is 46 years of age, was before the per-
petration of the crime the mother of three children,
and the fact of the murder was first brought under
the notice of the police authorities by her own state-
ment. In the early part of this afternoon she pre-
sented herself at the central police-station, Bride-
well-street, where she encountered police-sergeant
Windmill, and addressing him, said that she sur-
rendered herself to him as his prisoner. The con-
stable at first thought that she was jesting, but
upon his asking her upon what charge she wished
him to arrest her, she said, very earnestly, " I have
been and hung one of my little children." The
officer, still dubious of her statement, asked what
could have induced her to commit such an act as
that, to which she replied that her husband had used
her very badly, and by his cruelty had driven her
to it. She stated this with apparent calmness, and
the sergeant deemed it his duty to take her into the
charge-room before the officer on duty. She there
repeated her statement, telling where she lived, and
saying she had hanged the child from one of the
posts of her bed. She then tendered the key of her
door, saying that if the officer could go and look he
would find it as she had stated. The officer on
duty, upon this, directed Police-sergeant Windmill
to go to John-street, and he was telling him to make
haste, as life might not be quite extinct, when she
said, " Oh, it is of no use. I have done it. I could
not bear to see her suffer, and I pulled her by the
heels." The sergeant lost no time in proceeding to
the house, which is rented by a person named
Mounting, 011iver being an under-tenant. He
opened the door, and in looking into the room
found that her horrible statement had been a true
one, as the lifeless body of the poor child was sus-
pended from one of the bed-posts. The sergeant at
once cut it down, and medical assistance was pro-
cured, but it was of course wholly unavailing.
The woman, who had been held in custody at
the station-house during the time the officer was
engaged in making the inquiries, was afterwards
taken, for examination, before the magistrates, and
was remanded by them for further inquiry. Infor-
mation has been conveyed to the coroner, J. B.
Grindon, Esq., who will hold an inquest to-morrow:

APPALLING SCENE ON A WINDER-

HERE STEAMER.

On Tuesday, in consequence of the large number
of excursionists from Preston for Windermere and
the cheap trains thither from other towns, Bowness
was very much crowded, and the three steamers on
the lake were loaded with passengers from the
various landing-places, anxious to view the beauties
of the locality and to enjoy the pleasure of a sail on
the Queen of the Lakes. One of the steamers of the
Windermere Steam Yacht Company, the Lady of
the Lake, left the pier at Bowness for Ambleside,
at a quarter-past 12 o'clock, with deck and cabin
passengers, variously estimated at from 200 to 400,
being considerably more than the legal number and
more, apparently, than she was, able to carry. Per-
sons left behind on the pier were astounded to see
her lurching and rolling on the water as though in
a heavy sea as she passed away, the paddlewheels
being alternately lifted entirely out of the water.
Before she had proceeded a mile on her journey
water made its appearance in the cabin, to the sur-
prise
of the passengers, and this surprise was
heightened to consternation, and even to terror
with some, when they found that it • increased in
height. The cabin passengers rushed on deck in a
state of the wildest alarm, the ladies shrieking for
help, and the panic became indescribable when the
cry that the vessel was sinking went through the
dense mass of people on deck. The captain,
having ascertained beyond doubt that the vessel
had sprung a serious leak, ran her ashore en the
Lancashire side of the lake, where the Hawksworth
road approaches the water, and a little to the north
of Curwen's Island. Here the confusion became
worse confounded, some of the passengers leaping
into the water and struggling to get ashore, to the
imminent risk of their lives, and many received
severe sprains and bruises. Two women were en-
tirely immersed in the water, one of them being
the daughter of Mr. Fearnley, of Luno.street,
Preston, who leapt into the lake from sheer terror ;
happily, both were safely rescued. The majority,
however, were got ashore, without either bruise or
immersion. The passengers remained on the bank
of the lake until the returning steamer from Amble-
side—it having been signalled for by the steam
whistle of the sinking vessel—came up and took
them off for Bowness. The fright of the passen-
gers was greatly increased by the suspicion that
the boiler had burst. This arose from the extinc-
tion of the fire by the water, which rose rapidly
after the luakage was discovered. The great volume
of steam thus created caused the same feeling to be
shared by persons on board the other vessels on
the lake, who, when they saw the steamer run
ashore, were convinced some serious accident had
occurred.

In the Bankruptcy Court yesterday there was a
dividend sitting under the separate estate of Messrs. Davies
and Troughton, bankers, of Shoroditch. It was stated that
the dividend will be 20s in the round, with a considerable
guroo applicable ty the joiut estate,