The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-15 00:00:00

SPECIAL CONSTABLES.

The following letters have been received by Mr.
B. Hancock, chief superintendent of the D division
of special constables. The first, which is dated
from Wellington Barracks, says :—" Sir,—l am
directed by the Secretary of State for the Home
Department to thank you for the efficient organisa-
tion of the force of ;special constables under your
command. lam further desired to express his sense
of the zeal and alacrity shown by the officers and
members of the D division, Marylebone parish." The
second letter, which was signed by Mr. Greeuwell,
the clerk to the magistrates, stated that, " At' a
meeting of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for
the St. Marylebone division, in special session
assembled, Sir James John Hamilton in the
chair, it was resolved unanimously, That the best
thanks of the Bench be tendered to Mr. Hancock
and the other superintendents of the division of
special constables for the parish of St. Maryleboue
for the zeal, promptitude, and energy which they
have exhibited in the organisation of the special
constables who have so loyally enrolled themselves
in aid of the civil power in the present emergency.
Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace trust that
their invaluable exertions will not be relaxed, and
beg to assure the superintendents and the officers
and men connected with them that they may con-
fidently rely on the cordial support and co-opera-
tion of the magistrates in this division of the
metropolis." A letter of similar purport to the
foregoing was also received from the Marylebone
Vestry.
The special constable movement in St. Pancras
has evoked much enthusiasm, and the drilling is
carried on with the greatest possible diligence. On
Monday night Colonel Ibbotson drilled 200 special
constables in the entrance hall of the Euston-square
station of the London and North-Western Rail-
way. At this terminus, as we aro informed, a
guard of the 20th Middlesex Rifles is on duty every
night, and challenges everybody passing into the
station or about the works after a certain hour.
Captain Butler will this evening drill the Camden
and Kentish-town specials at the head quarters
of the 29th (North) Middlesex Rifles, which have
been granted for drilling purposes three nights a
week.

The swearing in of special constables for pa-
rishes and districts of the Tower Hamlets was con-
tinued yesterday by Mr. Paget, at the Thames
Police-court, and the business was protracted to a
late hour. The remainder of Charrington and
Head's-people, including the heads of the firm,
were sworn in by Mr. Paget in the afternoon. They
number 212 persons. The clerks and workmen of
Messrs. Batger's large confectionery works in
Broad-street, Ratcliff, have been incorporated with
the other specials sworn in for the Hamlet.
Staves are very much wanted ; but one person
sworn in at the Thames Police-court in the course
of the last week has been provided with a trun-
cheon, and if called out will have no weapon of
defence. The fact is, the loyalty of the people has
outrun the large supply of staves, and some thou-
sands more are required.
Upwards of 500 special constables have been
sworn in at Stamford, Lincolnshire. At Colchester
the number enrolled has risen to 600, and on Mon-
day evening a meeting was held, at which the
superintendent (Major Papillon) announced the
final arrangements made for the management of
the force.

On Monday night the special constables who had
been sworn into office in Edinburgh, assembled in
the Corn-Exchange. About 800 were present.
The Lord Provost, addressing the meeting, said :
" We have already within the last few days sworn
in and received the cordial aid and assistance of up-
wards of 1,100 special constables---(cheers)—and I
may say we could have doubled that number had
we possessed sufficient batons ready in hand to give
them ; that was our only difficulty, and lam happy
to say that in a few days more we shall be able to
enrol a system of at least 2,000 special constables in
the city. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Morham, deputy
city clerk, read the proposed magisterial arrange-
ment for the division of the city into six sections,
for each of which a superintendent was nominated
by the magistrates, leaving the deputy superinten-
dent to be nominated by the constables themselves.

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scent bottles, albums for postage stamps, crests, etc.; cigar
eases, card baskets, pocket books, electro-gilt and elegantly
mounted articles. Bibles, Prayer-books, and Church Ser-
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street. Thousands of the above articles, all perfectly new
did freak ctmeg,uout uPoli mac' ogor—LADyL)

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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 14.
The Queen and their Royal highnesses Princess
Louise and Princess Beatrice drove out yesterday
afternoon, attended by the Duchess of Roxburghe ;
and her Majesty walked in the grounds this morn-
ing, attended by the Duchess of Roxburghe.
Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, and Princess
Beatrice also went out.

THE PRINCE AND 211 E ABORIGINES.

The Duke of Edinburgh, in the course of his visit
to South Australia, went up to the Lakes. On his
way, passing by Point Sturt, two or three milt s
brought the steamers to the landing place called
Macbeth. It is a station of the llon. J. Baker, on
the peninsula, between Lake Albert and the
Cooong. Some time before reaching this the tents
which had been erected ashore for the use of the
party were observable, and on reaching still nearer
a crowd of blacks, with a number of white people,
also were clearly discernible. The steamers haVing
been stopped, his royal highness and party put off
from the Queen, and were taken to the
landing by the crew of the steamer, who
were in uniform. As soon as the boat touched the
shore, three thundering cheers were given by the
blacks--cheers which for heartiness excelled even
the hearty cheers which had welcomed his Royal
Highness elsewhere. The Prince landed, and walked
up the avenue which had been formed by about 400
blacks. One native bore a Union Jack, and a
second a banner with the words " Point Macleay,"
and " Peace" with an emblem of peace, and also
the sentence, " Welcome to our Country." At the
top of the avenue a black fellow stood with a red,
white, and blue flag, bearing the inscription,
" Goolwa black fellow big one glad see im Queen
picaninny." His Royal
.Highness walked up to
the tents, before which he watched the dancing and
antics of the natives. The blacks were then all
mustered for the presentation of an address to his
Royal Highness. A native named George Pan-
toni, from the Point Macleay Institution, came
forward, and read the following address, cor-
rectly, but in a very low voice :—." To his Royal
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Your Royal
Highness,—We, who are young men belonging-
to all the Lake tribes of natives, are glad to tell
you our joy at seeing you in this our country. Our
old men bow to your Royal Highness the coroboree,
or, as we call it, singbalin, such as our fathers used
to have before the white men came here. But we
do not wish you to think that we are wild blacks,
because such a sight is shown to you. For seven
years our tribes on this peninsula have had a
Christian teacher. Nearly 100 native children
have been taught in school. Every Sunday more
than 50 of us meet together to pray to the same
God and hear of the same Jesus as your Royal
Highness does. Some have given up native customs
and become real Christians, and many others are
learning the way. Many of us get an honest
living by working like white people. We have
often been told about the Queen, your mother,
and we hope and pray that God will always
bless her ; and may His blessing rest upon her
children, especially yourself ; and may He take
care of you till you see your mother's face in
England again." His Royal Highness promised to
write a reply and send it to Mr. Taplin, who
was present. Night was now coming on, and
every one seemed anxious to select a tent and make
sure of a comfortable night under cover. The na-
tives were accordingly sent away to their camps, a
little way off, and the party who had accompanied
the Prince were busily engaged in collecting their
" traps" and depositing them in the tents. Supper
concluded, a start was made to see the grand coro-
boree, any description of which would fail to con-
vey an idea of its character to the reader's mind.
We can only give a notion of the way in which it
was managed, but a coroboree must be seen for a
proper conception to be formed of it. About 30 or
40 women are seated, and beat time with wonderful
precision on a cushion or rug before them, keeping
up a monotonous " yah-yah, yah-yah," increasing
in earnestness as the excitement heightened. On
the arrival of the Prince at the camp about thirty
of the Point Macleay men—naked, except from the
waist, and painted in the most singular and gro-
tesque manner—were lying down as if dead. After
one or two manoeuvres with their legs they all sprang
up, and then the real dancing began. Most of a.)
natives had waddies, spears, boomerangs, and other
warlike implements, and kept up a sort of monoto-
nous song, ending now and again with a whoop.
The night was too light--it being full moon—to see
the coroboree, with all the unearthly effect which a
dark night gives to it, but enough was seen to give
his Royal Highness an idea of the mysterious and
fiendish dance. The several tribes of blacks amal-
gamated for this coroboree, and Mr. E. B. Scott,
the Protector of Aborigines, made all the arrange-
ments for the grand assembly, and there was a
darkie as M.C. The Prince continued at the na-
tives' camp till 11 o'clock, when he and the rest of
the party left, but before leaving the blacks piled a
number of their implements before him as gifts from
them. During the evening rounds of cheers were
given at intervals on a signal from the M.C., and as
a return compliment the Duke sent for his piper,
Farquharson, who played the pipes, much to the
astonishment of the natives.—South Australian
Advertiser.

A court-martial was held onTuesday on board the
Mersey at Cork, on Captain Morrell and Lieut. Browne,
of the Research, for running the vessel on Daunt's rock:
Evidence was giving showing that the steamer struck not
the rock, but the wreck of the City of New York, which
was not officially noticed on the chart. The defence was
that the Research, having secret orders to watch certain
suspicious vessels, was pursuing the American bark
Alaska, and seeing her so near the land, and apprehending
a landing, bore down upon her, and had to approach tho
rock nearer than it otherwise would. The Court did not
consider the charge of neglect proved, and acquittod the
officers.

TELEGRAPHS THROUGHOUT TIIE WORLD.—It may
be interesting to our readers to know the total length,
approximately at least, of the telegraphic lines throughout
the world, and the proportion which exists in each of the
several countries in which this agency of correspondence
has been adopted. The total length of telegraphic lines in
the world is 178,086 miles. In 1866 there were in Germany
28,347 miles of telegraphs ; in Russia, 22,992 ; in France,
18,694; in Great Britain and Ireland, 16,297 ; in Tu, key,
8,665; in Italy, 8,216; in Sweden, 3,507; in Belgium,
1,089; in Switzerland, 2,160; in Canada, 5,050; and in
the United States, 52,957. Besides these, there are the
two Atlantic cables, which measure 4,369 English, or 3,755
nautical, miles. Tho total length of the other submarine
cables is nearly 6,000 miles. 'One of the most marvellous
examples of tho value of telegraphic communication was
afforded on the recent occasion of Mr. Gladstone's tour.
The addresses delivered at Southport and Ormskirk con-
tained 16,882 words. The report of the speeches reached
Liverpool by train at 11.25 p.m. The transmission to
London by telegraph began at 11.30 p.m., and was cora-
-1 pleted at I.4o—that is to say, in little more than two hours.
The last slips were delivered at the offices of the daily
papers before 2.30. Mr. Gladstone's speech on the follow-
ing day at Oldham contained 30,745 words, and was trans-
mitted with corresponding rapidity.
WILD Fowl..—During the winter months our
lakes and estuaries are visited by innumerable quantities
of ducks and geese, which are driven by stress of weather
from their feeding places in Norway, Sweden, and the
north of Europe, and are included by the unscientific
sportsman under the general denomination of water fowl,
many hundreds of which are every year taken in decoys,
or slaughtered by the discharge of a pound of shot from a
swivel gun by an individual calling himself a sportsman.
Among the vast quantities thus taken, it is highly pro-
bable that many of the rarer species pass unnoticed along
with the general mass. This suggestion is further
strengthened by the frequency with which Leadenhall, or
other of our largo game markets, is given as the locality
from which the majority of our rarer species of water-fowl
are obtained, not uufrequently minus the head, or some
other important organ; it being the general custom of our
game dealers, whenever they meet with an individual pre-
senting any peculiarities, in shape of plumage, which pre-
vents its being classed under the general head of " teal"
or "mallard," to remove the abnormal part, and they con-
sider themselves fortunate if they succeed in disposing of
it to some inexperienced purchaser. With fishmongers
the reverse is the case; whenever a rare or curious looking
fish is received it immediately occupies a commanding
position on the marble slab, probably for the combined
purpose of attracting the attention of Mr. Frank Buckland,
or some other naturalist or epioure.—Land and Water.