The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-06 00:00:00

PROMOTIONS.

Second Master—Thomas B. Wells, seniority March
(1843), lately returned from the coast of Africa as acting
master of the Cygnet sloop, has been promoted to the
rank of master.

APPOINTMENTS. I
Second Master—William West (1845), of the Ow-
trious, depot ship at Portsmouth, t) the Centaur flag
steam-frigate, coast of Africa; Charles Greig (1842), to
the Illustrious, vice West.
Midshipman—W. F. Hardinge, to the Victory flag-
ship at Portsmouth.
Master's Assistants—John Hutchings, to the Fisgard
flag-ship at Woolwich; J. H. Tully, to the Dolphin, a,
fitting at Sheerness.
The full complement of Royal Marines for the
Albion, 90, Captain Hope Johnstone, at Devonport,
have embarked.

The Birkenhead steam troop•frigate, Commander A.
J. Stevens' is detained for the present from sailing for
Lisbon with stores for Commodore Martin's squadron.
She is waiting for some machinery for the Hogue, which
will not be ready before the 13th.
PLYMOUTH, JUNE 4. Her Majesty's steam-vessel
Prometheus coaled yesterday, and dropped down to
Barnpool. Wages will he paid to-day, and she will
leave to-night or.to-morrow morning with mails for the
coast.

Her Majesty's steam-vessel Spiteful arrived on Sunday,
with seamen gunners for the Albion, and returned the
non day fur P9rtnunch.

Her Majesty's ship Albion is to have 300 seamen and
I a full complement of marines, and is to do duty as guard-
ship at Queenstowni'
The Penguin packet brig was docked yesterday for
examination.
A naval apprentice (Porter) belonging to her Maje;ty's
ship Impregnable, fell yesterday from the fore-topmast
cross-trees into the pinnace alongside, and was conveyed
in a dangerous state to the Royal Naval Hospitel, where
he shortly afterwards died.
A court-martial was held yesterday at the marine bar-
racks, Stonehouse, before Colonel Ballinghall, Royal
Marines, president, and 14 other officers, members, to
try Second Lieutenant Char'e; Pyne, Royal Marine:,
fur disobeying the commands of his superior officer,
Lieutenant and Adjutant Forbes. The prisoner was at
sword drill on the 10th ult., Adjutant Forbes being the
commanding officer at the time; and not being satisfied
with the manner in which Lieutenant Pyne was conduct-
ing his exercise, Lieutenant Forbes ordered him from
the squad in which he was to another not so far ad-
vanced in military tactics. This order the prisoner re-
fused to obey, and hence the present trial.
The evidence for the prosecution closed yesterday,
and tho Court adjourned until to-day, at 12 o'clock, to
hear the defence.
. Wind, easterly. -

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER, June 5.
(Sittings in Banco.)
CAUSSIDIERE U. LONG.
This was an action of libel by the celebrated.tnemrel
of the Provisional Government of France, in which he
sought to recover damages from the defendant, the pub-
lisher of the Morning Post, for the publication of certain
voluminous extracts from the pamphlet Of M. Chenu, in
which it may be remembered that certairr disclosures
were made by no means creditable or flattering to the
character of the ex-Prefect of Police. The defendant
pleaded " Not guilty," and a special plea of justifica-
tion, reiterating the charges in question. To this there
was a special demurrer, on the ground that the plea
ought to have given the names of places and per-
sons where and with whom those charges affected the
plaintiff.
Mr. PEARSON appeared for the plaintiff in support of
the demurrer, and stated that the plaintiff was about to
establish himself in business as a merchant in this coun-
try, and that his main object in bringing this action was
to clear himself from those imputations in the pamphlet
which affected his honesty in respect to the disposition of
funds, alleged to have been raised by him in aid of the
Poles and to have been diverted from their destination.
lie contended that the plea was bad from its generality,
and cited several cases in support of that proposition.
Sir F. Pou.ocx did not see why the plaintiff should
not take issue on the plea as it stood. It he wished for
particulars he ought to have applied at chambers.
Mr. ATLIERTON, for the defendant, was most anxious
to go to trial on the charges in the plea, which, under
the peculiar circumstances of the case, was perhaps as
full and precise as could have been expected. If, hovt-
ever, the Court thought that the plea ought to be
amended, and his friend would furnish him with those
charges in respect of which he chiefly complained, every
information should be given so as to enable the plaintiff
to go to trial at once and to meet them.
Sir F. POLLOCK.—Very well. We think the plea
ought t) be amended.--Leave to amend.

CAUSSIDIERE V. LAWSON.

This was a similar action, plea, and demurrer in the
case of the Times newspaper. When it was called on,
Mr. PEACOCK, on the part of the defendant, said, that
as it was necessary to examine witnesses at Paris, it
would be desirable to change the Venue from Middlesex
to London.

Mr. Baron PLATT expressed his surprised at the
plaintiff's having brought two actions; if his object was
merely to justify his character, surely ono would have
sufficed. _

Mr. PEARSON vindicated the course of the plaintiff by
stating that in the case of the Ilmes the libel was of a
larger character than that inserted in the Morning Post.
Mr. Baron PLATT—Then you ought to try the case of
the Tinter alone.

Ultimately, after some discussion, it was arranged
that the venue in this case should be Changed to Surrey,
and that in that of the Mortzino Post the venue should
remain as originally laid, in Middlesex. The result of
this will in all propability be that the action against the
Times will be tried at the ensuing assizes, and before
that against the Post can be reached.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, June 5.
(Before Mr. Commissioner PANE.)

IN RE LEE.—EIGHT OF CREDITORS TO BE ADMITTED
As JUDGMENT CREDITORS.
The bankrupt was a barge-tritilder at Rotherifitbe.
His HONOUR this day gave judgment upon the point
that he had reserved for consideration. He said this
was an application by a creditor under c. 257 of the
Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, 1849, by which it is
provided that each creditor who proves under a bank-
ruptcy shall be deemed a judgment creditor, and upon
application shall have a certrticat3 of the fact from this
court; upon which certificate he may obtain from the
proper office of one of the superior courts at Westmin-
ster tae common writ of capiss under which hs may im-
prison the bankrupt if that court refuses to protect him.
The clause is one of twenty-five clauses in the new
Bankrupt Act, constituting a code of criminal of-
fences and punishments. They are all embraced in
the 39th subdivision of the Act, and are all headed by the
formula, ‘• And with respect to offences against the law
relating to bankrupts: Be it enacted," &c. Thence it
is apparent that the object of that clause was not to en-
force the payment of a debt, which, generally speaking,
is the object of the writ of copies ad sutisfaciendum, but
to inflict punishment upon fraudulent debtors. Having
reviewed the state of the bankrupt law from Henry
VIIL to the present time, his Honour proceeded to state
that one of the advantages consequent upon the recent
alteration of the law was, that no debtor could be pun-
ished by the Commissioner without the aid either of the
assignees or a creditor, nor by a creditor without the
concurrence of the Commissioner. His imprisonment
could not thus continue a longer period than an impar-
tial person might deem necessary for example sake; c.
257 makes the assignee and each creditor judgment cre-
ditors, aid points out how they shall be enabled to arrest
the bankrupt; and c. 259 provides that the bankrupt
shall not be released under one year's imprisonment,
except by order of the Court. To apply these clauses
to the case before me, the bankrupt Lee had behaved
extremely ill to his creditors in many respects,
but he has also committed one of the offences spe-
cified in c. 256, that of putting a creditor to unnecessary
expense by vexatiously defending an action. I therefore
felt bound to refuse protection, in obedience to c. 256.
As soon as I had
.pronounced my judgment I was re-
quested by the assignees to grant them, under c. 257, the
certificate necessary to enable them to punish the bank-
rupt. lof course granted it, and I was then asked by a
creditor who had been wantonly put to expense to grant.
him a similar one also. To this it was objected for the
bankrupt, that as I had granted a certificate for the as-
signees I could not, under c. 257, grant another to an
individual creditor, first, because the language of the
clause was in the alternative " on the application of the
assignees or of a creditor;" and secondly, because it
was inconsistent with old and recognised principles
that a debtor should be in execution at the suit of
two persons for the same dfibt, which the bankrupt
would be it' imprisoned by the assignees as trustees
for all the creditors, and again by one of the cre-
ditors for whom such assignees were trustees, I have
carefully considered both these- objections, and am of
opinion that there is no weight in either of them. As
to the latter, namely, that it is contrary to recognised 1
principles that a debtor should be thus imprisoned, the
answer is that the object of this imprisonment is not to
compel, payment (even instantaneous payment would not
end the imprisonment), the object is punishment; and
dl no application here.
Athe language of the
ticlause,gattob et
amihlneg first so,
ot ohf
be
jooepel idtni ioonn' principlef
othatund founded
he true meaning of the
must
rliu grant
ainent must have the certifi-
cebaleaitune
gsteopi
us a'nitilshhawmt hteohnet aCoptop Thy me.
gi suTs isbaj ec tof the enactment
in-
tended that all who would assist in inflicting:that punish-
ment should receive the utmost possible assistance, for
no evil can arise from the reasonable punishment of the
guilty. If this Court were to hold otherwise it would lay
itself open to fraudulent devices, through which the
guilty might escape. Under the present system of electing
assignees, assignees in league with the bankrupt may be
easily elected, as they often have been, and in all such
Iy ask for the certifi-
hus the ends of public
it, and would
casesctha et
en
tttoahkeeprevent assigneesotothers
el df
toi
,nmas to a
obtaininginstantly
justice would be defeated. Such frauds were formerly
fiats, whilst only
committed
lloaws
etdotocoemxitsetissait a time. They were takenloners and
out by persons in league with the debtor to prevent
their being taken ont by persons really hostile. It
would be a moat dangerous interpretation of this new
law to expose it to such evasions. On the other
hand no mischief can arise from the issue of any num-
ber of certificates, fur all can lead but to one impri-
sonment, and that imprisonment will cease when the
Court is of opinion that it ought to Cease, having regard
to the offences of which the bankrupt may appear to
have been guilty. Upon the whole, therefore, I feel my-
self bound to grant a second certificate to the individual
creditor.

MONEY MARKET.—The premium on gold at Paris
is 16i per mile, which, at the English Mint price of
3/. 17e. 100. per ounce for standard gold, gives an ex-
change cf 25.56; and the exchange at Paris on London
at short being 25.50, it follows that gold is 0.24 per
cent. dearer in Paris than in London. By adrices from
Hamburgh the price of gold is 4351 per mark, which,
at the English Mint price of 31. 17e. 100. per ounce for
standard gold, gives an exchange of 13.10/; and the ex-
change at Hamburgh on London at short being 13.101,
it follows that gold is 0.23 per cent. dearer in London
than in Hamburgh. The course of exchange at New
York on London for bills at 60 days' sight is 110
per cent, and the par of exchange between England and
America being 109 23.40 per cent., it follows that the
exChange is- nominally 0.42 per cent. in favour of Eng-
land, and after making allowance 'for difference of
interest and charges of transport, the present rate
leaves a small profit on the importation of gold from
the United States.

The General Board of Health has just issued its re-
port on the second point to which its attention was di-
rected by the Royal Commission, viz., " The better sup-
ply of the metropolis with water for domestic use, fur
flushing sewers and drains, and for cleansing streets;
and also the best means of using existing works, and of
erecting any new works requisite, and maintaining them
in action." The vast population of this metropolis is in
the hands of seven companies, end taking the data fur-
nished by themselves, there appear to be 17,456 houses
»holly unsupplied with water. Where inqiiries have
been made for sanitary purposes, in den•ety populated,
districts, upwards of 13 per cent. of the houses have
been found to have been unsupplied with pipe water; in
large districts five, four, and three per cent. There are
1,181 cases of supply by stand-pipes, serving for several
houses, often for a whole court or alley. In many in-
' stances, the supply by one butt in a yard, or-area, is
equivalent only to a supply by a common stand-pipe to
several houses in a court or alley.
SUPPLY TO THE METROPOLIS.—The gross daily
quantity of water pumped into the metropolis amounts
to upwards of 44,000,000 of gallons. It is, however,
shown in the report that the averap daily consumption
04 the whole metropolitan population of 2,000,000 does not
amount to more than 20,000,000 gallons of water, or 10
gallons per individual per day. The residue—viz.,
20,000,000 of gallons—therefore runs to waste.
EFFECTS OF IMPURE WATER.—Mr, Chalice, aSUP.
geon of Bermondsey, attributes the first fatal case of
cholera he met with to the effects of the Thames water.
The master of a vessel at Gravesend had drank rather

largely over night, and " the next morning drank
heartily from one of the water-casks which had just
been filled with Thames water; he was soon after at-
tacked with purging and voaiting. I went down post
and found him just dead. I foun that the death was
so sudden that it almost appeared as if he had taken
poison in the water; subsequently it was, from facts
that came almost hourly under notice, that I formed the
opinion of the direct consequences of taking impure
water in producing a disordered state of the bowels, and
those who had such a state of the bowels were pre-
eminently in a condition to become victims to the
disease." The larger portion of this metropolis is sup-
plied from this tainted source. The mode of distribu-
tion is very objectionable, and most especially in the
poorer districts. The supply of water is inter-
mittent—it is " let on" once in twenty-four hours, or
once in forty-eight hours, as the case may be.
This necessitates the adoption of tanks in the houses of
the rich, and of tubs or barrels in those of the poor, to
receive and retain as much as is deemed requisite.
Amongst the most serious evils attending upon this
system is the filthy and polluted state of the cisterns and
butts into which it is received, and of the vessels in
which it is generally kept in the dwellings of the poorer
classes. The cistern or butt is usually uncovered, and
exposed to all the dust and smut that are continually
flying about even in the cleanest parts of a large city.
I Nava heard ," says Dr. Milroy, " more than one
person say that they have seen people actually rinsing
chamber pots in the water which their neighbours drank
and used for cooking. When the cistern is outside the
house it is liable to the same horrible pollution, parties
who live in the upper rooms emptying everything out of
their windows into the court behind, the cistern being
usually placed there between the ashpit and the privy."
CHARACTER OF SUPPLY.—The impurity of Thames
water has been abundantly proved, both by chemical
analysis and by the microscope. Thames water is not
only unfit for drinking, bat is also unfit for domeistic
uses.

ADVANTAGES OF SOFT WATER.—These aro princi-
pally the gain in fuel, in consequence of there being less
time required to cook vegetables—often the saving of
tea, as the same quantity that would produce three cups
only with hard, will furnish five of the same strength
with soft water; and also that a much larger quantity of
soap is wasted when it is used with herd water.
QUALITIES OF TEAT FLUID.—The Commissioners
consider that the qualities for the water supply of the
population range themselves in the following order:—
"1. Freedom from all animal and vegetable matter,
especially matter in a state of decomposition. 2. Pure
aeration. 3. Softness. 4. Freedom from earthy, mineral,
or other foreign matters. 5. Coolness in delivery, at a
medium temperature, neither warm in summer nor ex-
cessively cold in winter. 6. Limpidity, or clearness."
And, as popular tests have laid it down that all special
flavour or taste in water, the slightest smell, the slightest
shade of colour, are objectionable, they consider that,
under the most favourable circumsthnces, the Thames
water could not be rendered wholesome.

GATHERING GROUNDS FOR SIIPPLIf.—After the most
careful examinatiorrof a great number of places near the
metropolis, Bagahot Heath teemed to be the spot
most fitted by nature and by circnmstances as the
receptacle of the greater proportion of collected water
for the supply of London. The portion of this dis-
trict to which their attention was more particularly
directed comprises an area of less than a hundred
square miles, lying east and west of a line from Begshot
to Farnham. The remaining distict, which, although
of the same bleak and barren character, is of dif-
ferent geological c-mstruetion, consisting of the upper
and lower green sands arid gault of the green sand tor:-
mation, which constitute the uncultivated sand districts
draining into the east and west tributaries of the river
Vey, is situated south of the chalk ridge, in the midst
of which the town of Guilford stands. At this point
the specimens collected at the surface immediately after
the rainfall aro of the highest degree of purity, being in
large quantities not exceeding one degree of hardness;
while that portion of the rain water, also, which filters
through an upper stratum of sand in parts of the district,
and appears again at lower levels, after passing through a
few feet of the upper stratum, is of an equal degree of
purity. It should be added, that the report under notice
states that the improvement of most of these tracts has
hitherto been given up in despair, and that the growth
of fir is recommended as the only agricultural purpose
for which they are fitted.
EXPENSE OF SYSTEM.—The quantity of water re-
quired per diem to meet the present demand is
40,000,000 gallons, and by the proposed mode of ob-
taining water 90,000,000 would be obtained, and the
gross approximate estimate of expense would be
2,142,0001., giving an average charge in the metropolis
of rid. per house per week, against which the present
cost of repairing drains and emptying cesspools, &c.,
must be set off.

The Commissioners have embodied their conclusions,
together with a concise exposition of the facts them-
selves, in certain resolutions which we give verbatim

" QUALITY OF THE WATER.

" 1. That for domestic use it is inferior to the average
quality of waters supplied to towns.
" 2. That its inferiority as a supply for domestio use
arises chiefly from an excess of hardness.
"3. That even when taken above the reach of
pollution from the sewers of the metropolis, it contains
an excess, varying with the season, of animal and vege-
table matter.

• " 4. That although the latter cause of inferiority may
be, in part, removed or corrected by filtration, the excess
of hardness will still remain, rendering this water espe-
cially unfit for tha following uses ; namely, for cleans-
ing the skin, and for the ordinary purposes of washing,
by occasioning an excessive consumption of soap; for
the preparation of tea, by occasioning waste to a like
extent; and for all culinary processes, by diminishing
their efficiency, and increasing their expense.
"5. That the quality of the water of the river Lea
and of the New River is, in this respect, no better than
that of the Thames water, taken beyond the influence
of the sewage of the metropolis.
" 6. That the water taken by the Lambeth Company
from the Thames opposite Hungerford Market is charged
with animal and vegetable impurities, apparently the
effect of the discharge of sewer water, which render it
wholly unfit for use, and highly dangerous to the health
of the persons who drink it,
"7. That of the seven principle companies by which
pipe water is conveyed to the metropolis, four deliver it
without previous filtration.

"8. That the defects in the quality of the water at
present supplied, when collected in its least objection-
able condition, and the evils arising from its distribution
in the unfiltered state, are all aggravated by the practice
of intermittent distribution.

"a. Ttat the praetiCeOfintermittent distribution oc•
casions, in the case of the better description of houses,
the retention of the water in cisterns and butts, and in
that of the poorest classes, in tubs, pitchers, and such
other vesels as can be obtained; and, as a consequence
of such retention the water imbibes soot and dirt, and
absorbs the polluted air of the town, and of the offen-
sively close, crowded, and unhealthy localities and rooms
in which the poor reside.
" 10. That from the inferiority of the water at its
source as at present collected, and from the additional
pollution and deterioration occasioned by the mode of
its distribution, a large proportion of the population is
rendered averse to the daily use of water as a beverage,
and is inclined and almost forced to the use of fermented
liquors and ardent spirits to an extent greatly beyond
the consumption of such drinks where purer water is
more accessible.
" 11. That the annual cost of the construction and
maintenance in repair of cisterns and their supports
and conneAed apparatus in the houses of the middle and
wealthier classes often exceeds the annual water-rate.
" 12. That the cost of the pipe-water supply and the
additional expense and inconvenience resulting from the
present mode of its distribution cause the population in
some suburban districts to resort for water to open
ditches, and in other crowded localities to shallow
springs or wells; sources which are subject to increasing
pollution from cesspools, from badly constructed house
drains and sewers, and from over-crowded graveyards.
" 13. That the localization and intensity of cholera in
such districts as those alluded to was promoted in a most
marked manner by the use of water containing decom-
posing animal and vegetable matter derived from sewers,
drains, and other impure sources.

" 14. That the districts most severely visited by epi-
demic cholera, as well as those most afflicted by ordinary
epidemic diseases, are low-lying districts, where, from
the defective state of the drainage, there is an excess of
damp and of putrid decomposition; and that such excess
of damp is aggravated by the waste of water attendant on
the intermittent mode of supply; a waste which appears
to exceed the whole of the annual rainfall on the inha-
bited arta of the metropolis.

" 17. That the inconvenicnen Np2rehended from the
interruption f supply during repairs 40d elteratioos ate
never experienced, the work being executed under such
simple precautions that no complaint has ever been
known to have been made on this account.

18. T
" constantlyheaxt the
perienieentderornupithieons of supply,
intermitten which
tsystem
armfre soom
the waste in the lower districts, from the neglect 'of
turncoeks, from limitation of quantity, from inadequate
or leaky butt; and cisterns, or from deranged ballcocks,
art scarcely ever known on the constant system.
" 19. That the syctem of constant supply admits of
great economy in pipes, a 4 they may under that system
for the most part be considerably smaller, and, not being
subject to the violent hydraulic jerks of the intermittent
system, are less liable to burst.

" 20. That the pipes for the house service may not
only be considerably smaller and cheaper, but that the
cisterns and apparatus co.inected therewith, which, in
the smaller class of houses, now cost more than the
whole public portion of the works, may bi entirely dis-
pensed with.