The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-16 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

BREACH OF Pao3rrsE.—ln the Court of Queen's Bench
their lordships made the rule absolute for a new trial in
the case Smith v. Clapham. The circumstances are some-
what peculiar. The defendant had in 1863 seduced the
plaintiff, and was summoned before the magistrates at Hull,
and the usual weekly allowance was made for the support of
the child. No thin g further occurred between the parties until
1866, when the defendant went over from Hull to the
plaintiff's house at Woodmansey, and whilst there wrote a
document stating that he was engaged to the plaintiff.
After that he got married to another person, and in an
action brought against him at York Assizes the jury
awarded £lOO damages. It was stated that the defendant
was drank at the time that he wrote the document, and
there being some corroboration of the statement, the court
made the rule absolute.

DAMAGE. 9 FOR ILLEGAL DISTRESS.—In the Bail Court,
in the case of Bowen v. Russell, the jury awarded £5O
damages. It was an action for illegal distraint. The
plaintiff, a pewterer in the Euston-road, was tenant to the
defendant of a factory in Bath-passage, adjoining the
Euston-road, and fitted it up with lathes and other machi-
nery worked by steam power supplied by the defendant.
The defendant distrained for rent due, and some of the
machinery was seized while it was at work, and sold under
the distress. It appearing clearly that there was an
illegality in levyiiig the distress, the defendant's counsel,
in the course of the evidence, consented to a verdict for
the plaintiff for £5O.
TEE ACTION AGAINST THE " KENTISH MERCURT."=
In the Court of Common Pleas the hearing of the case of
Keen v. llartnoll was resumed. The defendant, the pro-
prietor of the Kenti3,7l Mercury, was alleged to have com-
mitted a libel in stating that the plaintiff received a profit
from a co-uperatiye company, and that the said company
was not " limited "as meant by the Limited Liability Act.
The evidence of the plaintiff and his co-directors and
others proved that there was no truth in these statements;
that the association was registered, that they acted
quite gratuitously, and had no arrangement to receive
any sum whatever, and never had received anything,
and that there was no arrangement with the
wholesale dealers that the association should re-
ceive 10 per cent. Those who bought 2s. 6d. tickets
from the association got that advantage in dealing
with certain tradesmen whose names were given. These
statements were said to be founded on the information of
their shopman, a person named Annegram, with whom
they had quarrelled. For the defendant Annegram was
called, and he swore they were true, and that some tea
%%lid' cost 2:3. a lb. had been sold at 3s. a lb., or at an ad-
vanced rate of 50 per cent. This was denied, and it was
stated that an average of 4d. per lb. was placed on tea to
pay the costs of the association and the rent. It was said
that the-abject of these amateur shopkeepers and Govern•
meat clerks was
.to ruin the shopkeepers who paid the
taxes of the Government. After hearing the summing up
of the Lord Chief Justice the jury found for the plaintiff;
damages, £lO.

£l,OOO DAMAGES AGAINST A RAILWAY COMPANY.—III
the Court of Exchequer this was an action brought by a
minister of the Methodist Free Church to recover compen-
s:%tion in damages for an injury he had received through
the train in which he was travelling from Manchester to
Bristol, en route -to Exeter, coming into collision with a
goods train. The negligence of the company being ad-
mitted, an arrangement was made by which a verdict was
entered for the plaintiff ; damages, £l,OOO.
SENDING UNWHOLESOME MEAT TO MARKET.— At the
Guildhall, Mr. Joseph Roberts, a meat salesman in
Newgate-market, was summoned before Mr. Alderman
W. Lawrence, M.P., and Alderman Causton, charged
with sending, and also with causing to be sent, to Newgate-
market, 7001 b. weight of beef intended for human food, the
same being diseased, unsound, unwholesome, and unfit for
the food of man. After hearing the evidence, Alderman
Lawrence said he had come to the conclusion that it was
a very bad case. All the parties connected with it were
fully conversant with meat and the meat trade. The
evidence before the court was that a meat salesman of
Newgate-market, carrying on business for years,
.bad
bought meat which was killed when it was on the point of
death, had had it dressed for sale as human food, and sent
it himself to the London market for sale in the usual way.
It was a case which he could not deal with, and he must
therefore commit the prisoner for trial. He was then
fully committed for trial. The bench consented to accept
bail—himself in /220), and two sureties in £lOO each.

1,200 tons of new potatoes from the Channel
Islands and France were imported into Southampton last
week.

The Recordership of Portsmouth has become vacant
by the death of Dlr. George Poulden, of the Inner Temple.
The appointment is in the gift of the Home Secretary.

Ludy Napier and her family are in London, await-
ing the arrival 'of Sir Robert Napier, who 14 expected
home within the next fortnight. Sir Robert intends
to stay i❑ England but a few weeks, to settle various ques-
tions of expenditure with the Indian Office, after which ho
will return to Bomb

FATAL ACCIDENT IN A roller turner,
named Ralph Greenhalgh, was about descending by a
hoist, at the mill of Messrs. Hargraves, Bolton, on Satur-
day last, when he accidentally seized hold of the ascending
rope, and was dragged to the top of the mill, and then fell
a depth of about sixty feet. He was dreadfully injured,
and died almost immediately.

REDUCTION IN COLLIERS' WAGES.—The colliery
proprietors in the district of Little Hulton are reducing
the wages cf the colliers in their employ. The reduction is
equal to 15 per cent. The men at the Bank Colliery
struck work last week, but they have since gone in
at the reduced rate. Mr. F. Charlton's men have been
out all the week. Considering the bad state of trade
throughout the district, there is no doubt that the reduc-
tion will be accepted and work continued.

SHOCEING RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—An accident of
a shocking and fatal character has occurred at the Great
Northern Railway Station, Doncaster. Two men were
engaged repairing an engine, when it was discovered that
they wanted some longer screws than they were using.
One of the men, named Ephraim Ormanroyd, went to
fetch them, but in doing so was knocked down by an
engine and tender they were shunting. They both passed
over his body, and the poor fellow was mang!ed in a most
terrible manner, his limbs being torn off, and scattered
about the line.. Death was, of course, instantaneous. No
blame appears to attach to anyone, the only wonder being
that the man did not see the approaching engine.

The text of the Government bill to amend the
law of registration, so 'far ^s it rebate; to the pre3ent
year, Las been publiAled. The bill is Ivided into two
pal tF, and contains twenty. three clauses. Tire ninth
claue of this bill prowl les that where, I y reason
of the tiL4fianchisement or the alteration of the boundaries
of any borough during the present session of Parliament,
nny person who would not otherwise be so entitled be-
comes 'entitled to a county vote, the time for making a
&aim shall in such case this year extend to the
23th instead of the 20th ef July. The eleventh clause I re-
v'kles that iu the event of • a dissolution taking place this
y. nr, the first meeting of Parliament after the dissolution
may ta'ie place any time after the lapse of 28 days Iraq the
Ch.19.21t10 ectlft.matiort.