The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-26 00:00:00

e opinion, can be productive of no possible ad-
vantage, and when such expositions of sentiment
have reference, as is often the case, to secular, and
more especially political topics, they are likely to be
mischievous to an extent which can hardly have been
contemplated by their authors. The speeches deli-
vered at a late meeting of the London Missionary
Society on the subject of Mr. Pritchard's treatment
by the French authorities at Otaheite
.(whilst his
Government was earnestly occupied in securing for
him whatever reparation was his due), for example,
was calculated to increase embarrassment without the
slightest chance of benefit to the object of its sym-
pathy--not to mention a violence of manner as well
as of language, on the part of one or two of the
speakers, which was clearly inconsistent with the
principles for which their authors claim credit, and on
the faith of which the society to which they belong
has hitherto been so warmly supported. The senti-
ments evolved at yesterday's meeting were mere
moderate ; but why convert an occasion destined to
celebrate the good service which the society has
rendered, during a period of half a century, to Chris-
tianity, into an excuse for a political manifestation
on a subject which has already given occasion
for the greatest irritation ; and which, but for the
moderation and good sense of the respective Go-
vernments of England and France, might have even-
tuated in a war which would effectually have arrested
the efforts of the society in many of the most promis-
ing arenas of their labours ? We have already seen
that a fair and reasonable reparation has been exacted
for the treatment of Mr. Pritchard— a reparation which,
whilst it cannot fail of having proved satisfactory
to his feelings, repays him for any pecuniary
injury he may have sustained. What need was
there, we ask, after such an arrangement for a
long resolution expressive of the " fixed determina-
tion of the society that Otaheite shall be free."
Does the London Missionary Society propose to
supersede the Government in its functions ?
Or has it the intention to carry on a " little
war" of its own, for the expulsion of the French
authorities from that island ? If the latter, its labour
is likely to be lost; for it has already been confessed
by more than one influential French journal that
Otaheite is not worth the expense and trouble which
it will cost the French nation to retain it.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER
NEW ZEALAND.

Report from the Select Committee on New Zealand,
with the Minutes of Proceedings. (Ordered by the
House of Commons, to be printed 29th July, 1844.
No. 556. Amended copy of Parliamentary Paper,
No. 556, delivered on 10th August.)
We have very recently printed in The Sun the
nineteen important resolutions agreed to, after many
divisions, by this Committee, on the important matters
submitted to their consideration. The case being one
of entire novelty, as to what may be termed the es-
sential characteristics of colonial relations necessary to
establish a claim of military protection by the mother
country to the settlers or colonists, or those who are
assumed to be such, we reprint the entire report.
" The Select Committee appointed to inquire into
the state of the colony of New Zealand ; and into the
proceedings of the New Zealand Company,' and to
report the Minutes of Evidence, and their opinion
thereon to the House, and to whom two petitions were
referred; have considered the matters to them re-
ferred, and agreed to the following report :
" The duty assigned to your Committee of in-
quiring into the state of the colony of New Zealand,
and into the proceedings of the New Zealand Com-
pany, and of reporting their opinion thereupon to the
House,' they have found to be one of no ordinary
difficulty and delicacy. An attempt at colonisation
upon a very great scale, and of the success of which
high expectations had been formed, has hitherto
failed to realise the sanguine hopes of its projectors;
instead of obtaining those advantages on which they
had confidently reckoned as a reward for their enter-
prise and the privations to which they have submitted,
a large body of British settlers are at this moment in
a situation giving ground for very serious anxiety,
while the lives of several of their number, have been
unfortunately sacrificed; these unhappy results have
moreover been connected with differences which have
arisen not only between the settlers and the colonial
authorities, but also between the New Zealand Com-
pany (which reckons among its members many gen-
tlemen of high station and respectability) and the
Executive Government at home. Under such cir-
cumstances, it will be obvious that a very heavy and
very unusual responsibility is thrown upon your Com-
mittee when they are called upon to express an
opinion as to the causes of a state of things so greatly
to be lamented; and though we have endeavoured to
execute this task to the best of our judgment, we
submit the result of our deliberations with much
diffidence to the House, and the more so because the
evidence before us, oral and documentary, is so ex-
ceedingly voluminous, that we feel it would have re-
quired much more time than was at our disposal to
have digested it as thoroughly as we could have
wished.
" It appears to your Committee that the difficulties
now experienced in New Zealand are mainly to be
attributed to the fact, that in the measures which
have been taken for establishing a British colony in
these islands, those rules as to the mode in which
colonization ought to be conducted, which have been
drawn from reason and from experience, have not
been sufficiently attended to. When it was first pro-
posed to establish New Zealand as a British colony
dependent upon New South Wales, Sir George
Gipps, the governor of the latter, in a very able
address, laid down the following principles as those
on which he had framed the Bill, which it was his
duty to submit to his legislative council for the regu-
lation of the infant colony of New Zealand The
Bill is founded,' he said, upon two or three general
principles, which, until I heard them here contro-
verted, I thought were fully admitted, and indeed
received as political axioms. The first is, that the
uncivilised inhabitants of any country have but a
qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy
only ; and that, until they establish amongst them-
selves a settled form of government, and subjugate
the ground to their own uses, by the cultivation
of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of
their own tribe any portion of it, for the
simple reason that they have not themselves
any individual property in it. Secondly, that if a
settlement be made in any such country by a civilised
power, the right of pre-emption of the soil, or in other
words, the right of extinguishing the native title, is
exclusively in the government of that power, and
cannot be enjoyed by individuals without the consent
of their Government. The third principle is, that
neither individuals, nor bodies of men belonging to
any nation, can form colonies, exeept with the con-
sent, and under the direction and control of their own
Government; and that from any settlement which
they may form without the consent of their Govern-
ment, they may be ousted. This is simply to say, as
far as Englishmen are concerned, that colonies cannot
be formed without the consent of the Crown.'
" Referring to the speech of Sir George Gipps for
the argument in support of these rules, it may be
observed, that, with reference to New Zealand, they
were, to a certain extent, infringed by the irregular
settlement of British subjects on the shores of these
islands, which began many years ago - but they seem
to have been first openly and delibrately departed
from, when an attempt was made by the New Zealand
Company to establish a colony, not only without the
sanction, but in direct defiance of the authority of the
Crown. This attempt led at once to a violation of
the law by the first settlers entering into a voluntary
agreement for the establishment of an authority by
which they hoped, in the absence of any legitimate
power, to maintain order amongst themselves. The
illegality of this arrangement was pointed out to the
Company by the then Secretary of State; but the expe-
dition sent out to found, what was to be, in fact though
unauthorised, a British colony, had already sailed.
It is to be regretted that more decisive measures were
not adopted for preventing the sailing of the expedi-
tion under these circumstances, since it appears im-
portant, with reference to the future, to observe, that
such unauthorised attempts at colonisation cannot be
permitted without leading to the most serious incon-
venience. When large numbers of British subjects
have established themselves in distant regions, inha-
bited osly by barbarous tribes, it is impossible
for her Majesty's Government to leave them exposed
without protection to the dangers which their own
rashness may draw down upon them, or to allow them
to exercise, without control, and perhaps to abuse the
power which their superior civilisation gives them
over the rude natives of the soil. Hence every new
establishment of this kind involves a new demand
upon the military and naval resources of the empire ;
but the undue multiplication of such demands must
occasion a very heavy burden on the nation, and it
therefore follows that enterprises of colonisation
should only be entered upon with the sanction and
under the authority of the Government. In this in-
stance the irregular and precipitate mode of sending
out the settlers had the unfortunate effect of placing
these settlers, and the agents of the New Zealand
Company, from the very outset, on unfriendly terms
with the officer whom her Majesty's Government
found it necessary immediately to dispatch from Eng-
land for the purpose of establishing the authority of
the Crown in the islands of New Zealand ; and there
can be no doubt that this want of a good understand-
ing between those whose cordial co-operation with
each other was so essential to the welfare of the
newly-established colony, has been one of the main
causes of the difficulties with which it has had to con-
tend. In order to avert these difficulties which were
soon seen to be likely to arise, a Charter of Incorpo-
ration was afterwards granted to the New Zealand
Company, with the hope of placing that body in
friendly relations with her Majesty s Government;
but this attempt was defeated, partly by the jealousies
created between the respective servants of the Crown
and of the Company, by the error originally com-
mitted by the latter; partly by other causes of diffi-
culty which afterwards arose. These are chiefly to
be traced to the means which were adopted for esta-
blishing the authority of the Crown in New Zealand.
" The sovereignty over these islands had, at an earlier
period, been formally disclaimed, and their indepen-
dence had been distinctly recognised, both by the
Crown and by Parliament. This course had been
pursued because it was considered (and by no means
upon light grounds) that it was not advisable to ex-
tend British dominion in these distant regions; but in
adopting this policy it was overlooked, both by the
advisers of the Crown and by Parliament, that it was
impossible to check the tide of emigration which set
so strongly towards the shores of New Zealand, and
that the regular establishment of British power was
the only practicable mode of guarding against the
evils which could not fail to follow from permitting a
large number of Europeans to settle among its un-
civilised inhabitants, without being subject to any le-
gitimate authority or control. Looking back at what
was then done, with the light to be drawn from sub-
sequent experience, there is no room to doubt that it
would have been far better if British dominion over
these islands had been asserted as early as 1832, or
even 1825 ; but a different policy having been at that
time pursued, it was considered, in the year 1839,
when Captain Hobson was sent out, that the diffi-
culties which had thus been created could only be got
rid of by obtaining from the natives their assent to
the extension of the authority of the British Crown
over New Zealand. Acting under the instructions he
had received, Captain Hobson, therefore, immediately
on his arrival in New Zealand, at the beginning of
the year 1840, concluded, with a large number of the
chiefs of the Northern Island, a treaty known by the
name of the treaty of Waitangi, by which, in return
for their acknowledgment of British sovereignty, they
were promised protection, and guaranteed in the pos-
session of all lands held by them individually or col-
lectively. The evidence-laid before your Committee
has led them to the conclusion that the step thus
taken, though a natural consequence of previous
errors of policy, was a wrong one. It would have
been much better if no formal treaty whatever had
been made, since it is clear that the natives were in-
capable of comprehending the real force and meaning
of such a transaction ; and it therefore amounted to
little more than a legal fiction, though it has already
in practice proved to be a veryinconvenient one, and

is likely to be still more so hereafter. The sove-
reignty over the Northern Island might have been at
once assumed, without this mere nominal treaty, on
the ground of prior discovery, and on that of the
absolute necessity of establishing the authority of the
British Crown for the protection of the natives them-
selves, when so large a number of British subjects
had irregularly settled themselves in these islands, as
to make it indispensable to provide some means of
maintaining good order amongst them. This was the
course actually pursued with respect to the Middle
and Southern Islands, to which the treaty of Wai-
tangi does not even nominally extend ; and there is
every reason to presume that, owing to the strong de-
sire the natives are admitted to have entertained for
the security to be derived from the protection of the
British Government, and for the advantages of a safe
and well-regulated intercourse with a civilized people,
there would have been no great difficulty in obtain-
ing their acquiescence in the assumption of sove-
reignty than in gaining their consent to the conclusion
of the treaty; while the treaty has been attended with
the double disadvantage, first, that its terms are am-
biguous, and, in the sense in which they have been
understood, highly inconvenient; and next, that it
has created a doubt which could not otherwise have
existed, and which, though not, In the opinion of your
Committee, well-founded, has been felt and has prac-
tically been attended with very injurious results,
whether those tribes which were not parties to it are
even now subject to the authority of the Crown.
" Your Committee have observed that the terms of
the treaty are ambiguous, and in the sense in which
they have been understood, httve been highly incon-
venient, in this we refer principally to the stipulations
it contains with respect to the right of property in
land. The information which has been laid before us,
shows that these stipulations, and the subsequent pro-
ceedings of the Governor founded upon them, have
firmly established in the minds of the natives notions,
which they had then but very recently been taught to
entertain, of their having a proprietory title of great
value to land not actually occupied; and there is
every reason to believe that, if a decided course had at
that time been adopted, it would not have been diffi-
cult to have made the natives understand that, while
they were to be secured in the undisturbed enjoy-
ment of the land they actually occupied, and of what-
ever further quantity they might really want for their
own use, all the unoccupied territory of the islands
was to vest in the Crown by virtue of the sovereignty
that had been assumed.
" Your Committee have already mentioned, that it
is one of the fundamental principles of colonial law
and policy, which they believe to have been correctly
laid down by Sir G. Gipps, that the uncivilised in-
habitants of any country have but a qualified do-
minion over it or a right of occupancy only; and that
until they establish amongst themselves a settled form
of government, and subjugate the ground to their own
uses by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to in-
dividuals not of their own tribe any portion of it, for
the simple reason; that they have not themselves any
individual property in it.' Unfortunately the original
instructions given to Captain Hobson, when he was
sent out for the purpose of establishing British do-
minion in New Zealand, were not sufficiently precise
upon this most important point; they contained di-
rections as to the manner in which he was to proceed
in purchasing land from the natives, and they did not
(as your Committee think that they ought to have
done) clearly lay down the rule that sovereignty
being established, all unoccupied lands would forth-
with vest in the Crown, and that, except in virtue of
grants from the Crown, no valid title to land could
be established by Europeans. This mode of framing
the instructions seems to have led the first Governor
into the error of acting throughout upon the assump-
tion that no part of the extensive and unoccupied ter-
ritory of New Zealand was to be considered as belong-
ing to the Crown, or available under its authority for
the purposes of settlement, until first regularly sold by
the natives : this is not indeed distinctly stated in the
treaty of Waitangi ; had it been so, this treaty would
probably have been attended with less injurious con-
sequences than it actually has been, since in that
case there can be little doubt that it would have been
at once disallowed by her Majesty's Government; at
least it is clear that the treaty could not have been
understood either by the Governor of New South
Wales or by the Secretary of State, in the sense put
upon it by Captain Hobson, since both expressed
their approbation of it, though the former had pre-
viously laid down the very different principle upon
this subject already quoted ; and the then Secretary
of State, Lord John Russell, after he had received
and approved of the treaty, adopted in the most
formal and authentic manner the views of Sir George
Gipps. By the advice of Lord John Russell, in the
month of December, 1840, a charter passed the great
seal, by which New Zealand was erected into a sepa-
rate and independent colony; and this charter was
transmitted, together with instructions under the
Royal Sign Manual, to the Governor, Captain Hob.
son. In this charter and instructions, ' actual occu-
pation and enjoyment' are clearly pointed out as
alone establishing a right of property in land in the
natives; and the rule is laid down that all other lands
must be considered as vested in the Crown, in virtue
of the sovereignty that had been assumed, and that
they must be dealt with accordingly. The treaty of
Waitangi (which had previously reached England
and been approved), it may therefore fairly be as-
sumed, must, when this charter and the instructions
which accompanied it were forwarded to the colony,
have been understood as bearing a meaning not incon-
sistent with the terms in which they are couched.
The lands held collectively,' of which the possession
was guaranteed to the aboriginal inhabitants of New
Zealand, must, therefore, have been regarded as the
and cultivated in
m
manner' frequently pree-
n landsn common
on actually
h y
a tribe,occupied
in t bh ye them
prac-
tised, and the forests as those actually used for cutting
timber.
" This is the interpretation which, consistently
with the ancient and acknowledged principles of
colonial law as laid down by Sir George Gipps, and
consistently also with the terms of the charter of the
colony and of the royal instructions to the Governor,
ought to have been put upon the treaty ; had it been
so, the most serious of the evils which have since
If native rights to
th
been admitted when
ariseneow nweorushldiphaovfelbaneedn
haavdoidonedly.
arising from occupation, there would have . been no
difficulty in giving at once to the settlers secure and
quiet possession of the land they required; and they
would thus have been able to begin without delay and
in earnest the work of reclaiming and cultivating the
unoccupied soil. The proceedings of the Commis-
sioners appointed to inquire into the claims to land
would also then have been short and simple ; they
would have to inquire merely whether lands actually
occupied by natives had been fairly sold to settlers
by the occupants, and with respect to wild lands,
whether Europeans claiming to have purchased them
had done so at such a price, or had incurred such an
expense in respect of them, as to give to the supposed
purchasers not a right to the lands (for they could
not derive a title from parties who did not them-
selves possess one), but a claim on the consideration
of the Crown to have granted to them as an indul-
gence more or less, according to circumstances, of the
lands they had nominally purchased. With respect
to the .New Zealand Company, as the extent of land
to which they were entitled had been already settled
by a special agreement with the Government and the
award of Mr. Pennington, they would at once have
been put in possession of all that very large portion
of the land on which they proposed establishing set-
tlements which was previously wild and unoccupied ;
and the question to be determined by the Commis-
sioners would have reduced itself to that of whether
those inconsiderable portions of land actually occu-
pied and enjoyed' by natives had been fairly sold by
the occupants—a question the decision of which, one
way or the other, would have been comparatively
unimportant."

(TO DI CONTINUED.)

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS

The following are the results of "A Table of Mortality
in the Metropolis, showing the Number of Deaths from
all Caine" registered in the Week ending Saturday, the
21th of September,,lB44." The Tablops issued from the Office
of the Registrar-General:—

of
ff
the
ee
IBieraiarnt,aNnderßvleoso,d_vesseis 23 W.ekly
Total. lyetage of
and otheran Fire Years,
Epidemic,Endemic,and Contagious Diseases 250 178
Diseases of variable or uncertain seat lOB 111
Diseases of the Lungs,
Respiration 192 286
and Senses l3l 157
21
Diseases
of the Stomach, Liver, and other
Organs of_Digestion .........
Ki

CAUSES OF DEATH.

74 69

Diseases of tne Anneys, &c 8 5
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c...., lO 10
Diseases of the Joints,
6
Diseases of the Skin, n
Decay,
&c 1 1 and Muscles 5 Bones,
Old Age, orNatural. '4s 71
By Violence, Privation, or Intemperance
the
Causes specified... ..................
. 854 942
Deaths from all Causes 857 946
DEATHS FRODI THE PRLNCEPAL DISEASES INCLUDED UNDER
THE ABOVE HEADS.

Weekly Average
Total. of Five Years.
Consumption .............. - 124 147
Scarlatina B7 34
Pneumonia .......... 37
79
Dropsy ••• •• .. ........... - 32 35
Hooping Cough ........... .. l4 33
Typhus 33 31
Small Pox ..... .. 37 15
Disease of the Heart
Measles ... ...................... 18 28
Apoplexy ........ ...
Diseases of the Brain ......
Diarrhcea.. ....... - ........
Sudden Deaths ..............
DISTRICTS.
___

West .............................. 123 138
North 164 171
Central
East lB3 207
South.. 230 242

Total .... ..... ... ...... ... 857 946

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MARLBOROUGH-STREE7.
Yesterday a Jew, named Abraham ,lfgor., late
keeper of a saloon in Great Windmill-street, was
placed at the bar before Mr. Maltby, charged with
having wilfully wounded Mr. Robert Clayard, livery-
stable keeper, Lisle-street, Leicester-square.
It appeared from the evidence that Clayard and
Myers were in the habit of meeting at the house of
Mr. J. Banks, the Crown, Cranborne-passage, Lei.
tester-square. On Tuesday evening they met as
usual, together with several other persons. Some
altercation took place between the prisoner and Cla
yard, and blows were exchanged. This occurred in
front of the bar about 7 o'clock. An apparent recon-
ciliation afterwards took place, and all parties went
into the parlour, where general conversation was car-
ried on, without any reference to what had occurred
in the bar. About 9 o'clock Myers went out, re-
questing some one to take care of his great-coat till
his return. Having been absent ten or twelve
minutes Myers resumed his seat, and no apparent
change had taken place in his demeanour. Clayard, who
was sitting in a chair at the opposite end of the room
to Myers, addressed the latter, saying in a familiar
tone, "Come, come, Aby, there should be no ani-
mosity between us, here is my hand, and with it my
heart," at the same time extending his right hand.
Myers, without the slightest hesitation rose from his
seat, and approaching Clayard, took hold of the ex-
tended hand with his own left hand, and then said, "I
freely accept your hand, but I'll have your heart's
blood ;" and suddenly drew from his coat pocket a large
butcher's knife, and made a desperate lunge at his in-
tended victim. Clayard caught sight of the weapon,
and, in order to turn the point from his side, to which
it was directed, seized the knife with his left hand,
when Myers violently drew it through the hand, cut-
ting through the ball of the thumb in the most danger-
ous manner. Myers again raised the knife, and re-
peating his threat, made a second stab, which inflicted
a flesh wound just above the left breast. The fact of
Clayard being seated in a chair enabled him to throw
himself backward, and to this may be attributed his
fortunate escape, for the prisoner's determined pur-
pose was evident to all present, who interposed as
speedily as possible. The prisoner then dropped the
knife, and was making his escape from the house, but
was stopped by a waiter, and given into custody. A
surgeon was fetched to the wounded man without loss
of time, and after the blood was somewhat stanched,
he was carefully conveyed home.
Yesterday the policeman who took charge of the
prisoner handed to the magistrate a certificate from
the medical attendant, which was to the effect that the
present removal of the wounded man would be unad-
visable.
Mr. Smallwood, solicitor, who was present to watch
the case on the part of the prisoner, did not at all in-
terfere in the proceedings, nor offer any opposition to
the magistrate's determination to remand the prisoner,
who was accordingly put back till Saturday next.
The knife with which the attempt was made was
exhibited in court. It is nearly a new one, and of
the largest size butchers use, being altogether from
eighteen to twenty inches long.
WORSHIP-STREET.
Yesterday James Lewis, a shoemaker, and Sarah
'layman, a woman with whom he cohabited, were
brought up before Mr. Broughton, charged with
deserting their male infant, a child six weeks old, in
the public streets, whereby it had become chargeable
to the Spitalfields Union, and since died in that work
house.

It will be recollected that the infant, which was
rolled up in a bundle of dirty rags, was found at ten
o'clock at night, on the 31st of May last, lying upon
the flag-stones in Henry-street, Commercial-road, by
a married woman, named Mary Gray, who took it
to her own house that night, and on the following
morning delivered it to the parish authorities, at the
workhouse. At the former examination, the infant,
which was exceedingly ill, was produced by a work-
house nurse, and several of the witnesses then in
attendance distinctly swore to it as being the child of
which the female prisoner had been delivered, and
identified also the clothing upon it as belonging to
Hayman. It was now intimated to the magistrate
that the unfortunate child had expired in the work-
house at four o'clock in the morning of the 20th inst.
and that a coroner's inquest had returned a verdict of
"Died from natural causes."
Mr. Ross, the surgeon of the Shadwell and Wap-
ping district of the Stepney Union, said that the
child was brought to the workhouse on the Ist of
June, at which time it was in good health, but that
in a month afterwards it was attacked. with diarrhcea,
from which for a short time it rallied; but a second
attack took place, and it then expired. He did not
think that the exposure of the child had produced
the disease which caused its death.
Mr. BROUGHTON then inquired whether the police-
man who had the case in hand had succeeded in ob-
taining any information with respect to the other
child, of which it had been proved at the last exami-
nation that the female prisoner was in a state of preg-
nancy with when she absconded from the work-
house on the 15th of August, 1842, and which it was
suspected the prisoners had disposed of by unfair
means, as they so positively refused to give any ac-
count of it ?
Hams, 248 K, replied in the affirmative, and called
the following witnesses :
Elizabeth Laws, living at 2l,Brown's-lane, Spital-
fields, stated that at the latter end of August, 1842,
the prisoners, who were accompanied by a little boy,
two years old, hired apartments in her house, and
that in about a week afterwards the female prisoner
gave birth to a male child, which was full-grown and
perfectly healthy. The prisoner had no baby-linen
ready, and she (witness) supplied her with it.
About a month after that the prisoners left her house
clandestinely, taking with them the child in question,
and upon witness going up into the room they had
occupied, she found every article of child's clothing
she had lent the prisoner left behind them, and hang-
ing upon a line. She had never seen anything of
either of the prisoners since.
Maria Ridley, a midwife, proved having attended
the female prisoner at her accouchement on the 26th
of August, 1842, when she was delivered of a re-
markably fine male child, which was both full-grown
and in every respect in perfect health.
Diana Still, of No. 12, Sebright-street, Bethnal-
green-road, stated that in September, 1842, the pri-
soners engaged an unfurnished room in her house.
They were accompanied by a little boy, about two or
three years of age. The woman appeared in a very
weak state, as if she had just got up from a confine-
ment, but she had no baby with her, nor did she make
any allusion whatever to having had one. They left
about five months afterwards, having been ordered to
quit by witness's husband, in consequence of their
cruel treatment towards the little boy. The prisoners
had been frequently in the habit of going out for hours
together, leaving the poor child shut up in a deal
box, and locking the door :of the room after them.
The child frequently remained so locked up till mid-
night, when the prisoners generally returned and re-
leased it.
Mrs. Laws here stated, that while the prisoners
lodged at her house, they were guilty of similar in-
stances of cruelty towards the boy, whom they were
repeatedly in the habit, when they went out, of shut-
ting up in one of the drawers of a chest in their room
till their return.
Hams, the officer, stated that he had ascertained
from Mr. Lawrance, a master shoemaker at Cam-
bridge-heath, Hackney, for whom the male prisoner
had formerly worked, that a young man who had
lodged in the same house with the prisoners
in Brown's-lane had been to his (Mr. Lawrance's)
house, and made frequent , inquiries of him to
ascertain--the prisoners'--address, declaring that if
he could only discover it, he would instantly give
them both into custody for destroying the life
of their child. He (Hams) in consequence had
been using exertions to find this young man, but had
not been able as yet to ;do so. He had traced the
prisoners to a lodging in a house at the back of
Shoreditch Church, which they occupied before they
lodged at Mrs. Still's, where they went without the
infant of which the female prisoner had been so re-
cently delivered, and there he lost all further trace of
their movements; but he hoped he should succeed in
finding the young man, who, no doubt, could give
important information.
Mr. BROUGHTON said as the evidence of the medical
officer absolved the prisoners from the charge of
causing the death of the child which had died in the
workhouse, they would now, as far as regarded that
child, be only sent to take their trials for deserting the
infant ; but with respect to the other child, of which
it had been proved that the female prisoner had been
delivered two years ago, its fate was wrapped in such
mystery, that nothing could remove the suspicion at-
taching to both prisoners, but a full and candid reve-
lation on their part. 'Would the male prisoner give
this explanation ? Male prisoner—I could very
easily do so, if I chose, but I decline saying any-
thing about it at this court.
The female prisoner remained silent.
Mr. BROUGHTON said, in that case, he could not
think of parting with them as yet; he should send
them both back to prison to enable the police to make
further inquiries into the matter, and endeavour to
ascertain the fate of the missing infant, if possible.
The depositions of the witnesses wero then taken in
the first charge, on which the prisoners were com-
mitted for trial, and they were remanded to answer
the second.

THAMES POLICE.
Yesterday George James, a dissolute-looking lad,
about fifteen or sixteen years of age, was charged
with highway robbery under the following curious
circumstances :
Henry Morton, a very intelligent boy, fifteen years
old, but short for his age, stated that he was bred to
the sea, and had gone two or three short voyages.
On his return from the last of these he went home to
his father, who resides at Cheltenham, in Gloucester-
shire, taking with him it., which Was 4 he had been

able to save up. He found that his father had been
some time out of employment, and tendered him the
money, hut the po:o• man, not 1-eing fiZ.l3 to make p,ny
provision fur the lad, gave it back to him again, tell-
ing him to go to London, and procure another ship.
He consequently came to town about a fortnight since,
and lived as sparingly as he could upon the sovereign
whilst looking out for a ship. On Tuesday evening,
whilst he was talking to a lad at the St. Katherine's-
dock, the prisoner and another, who overheard him
inquiring after a ship, came up and addressed him.
They then moved a little away and whispered after
which the prisoner again addressed him, and said he
could procure him a ship, but it would not do for the
whole four of them to go to the captain, who would
blow them up. Complainant, who promised the pri-
soner a shilling in the event of his procuring him a
ship, proceeded with him and his companion towards
Blackwall, where they took him to a shed near the Gun,
and asked him where was his money, to which he made
no answer. Upon this, the prisoner took a blue kerchief
with white spots from his pocket, and tied it round the
complainant's mouth, threatening if he called out, to
stifle him. The other lad then put his hand into com-
plainant's pocket, and took all the money he had—
namely, four shillings, 6d. in halfpence, and six far-
things. They then ran away, and he pursued them,
calling out, " Stop thief." The prisoner was subse-
quently caught by a constable, but the other had got
away. Police-constable Davies, 94 K, hearing the
cry of " Stop thief;" pursued the prisoner, who, in the
true artful dodge style, also called out " Stop thief,"
at the top of his voice. When arrested, he cried out,
" Oh, Sir, it was not me ' • it was a shipmate of mine."
Witness asked him what his shipmate had done ? to
which the prisoner, pointing to complainant, replied,
he had robbed the boy of Ss. 6d. The complainant
then came up, and, addressing the prisoner, said,
" You have done sufficient to transport you, as you
and your mate have robbed me of 55." He, at the
same time, added, " What did you tie the handker-
chief round my mouth for ?" To which the prisoner
replied, " What if I did ? I did not think any harm
of it ; but .idare say we. shall overtake my shipmate,
and find whether he has your money." The prisoner
was then taken to the station-house, and on being
searched nothing was found on him but a spotted blue
kerchief, the same with which the prisoner's mouth
was tied up. The prisoner said he knew nothing
more of the matter, except that the lad who was with
him offered to take complainant and introduce him to
his captain. They went together, and on coming to
Blackwall, the other boy, of whom he knew nothing,
except hearing from him that he ran away from his
parents, thrust his hand in complainant's pocket and
ran away. He (prisoner) pursued and overtook the
boy, but ha succeeded in getting away again.
Davies, the• constable, here stepped forward, and
said the prisoner told him he and the other lad came
from St. Alban's together, and slept at the Holborn
Union on Monday night.
Mr. BRODERIP said, that if the boy's statement
was true, the case deserved attention and he should
be looked' after. He would remand the prisoner
until Tuesday next, and in the mean time it was pro-
bable that the other lad would be apprehended.
Inspector Rutt, who seemed much interested in the
lad's case, said he would see to a full provision in the
interim.

Mr. BRODERIP commended the boy to his care, ex-
pressing the fullest reliance on his humanity.
The case excited the deepest interest, owing to the
youth of all the parties involved, and the more than
ordinary intelligence which the poor little fellow dis-
played throughout the inquiry.
Mr. Leadley, the junior clerk, undertook to writ•
to Gloucestershire, to test the accuracy of his state-
ment ; and

The. MAGISTRATE assured the lad, that if his story
proved true, no pains should be spared to provide him
with a ship, and furnish him with an equipment.

BRIGHTON, LEWES, AND HAS

TINGS

RAILWAY.

The first General Meeting of the Directors and
Shareholders in this Company was held yesterday
afternoon, pursuant to the terms of the Act of Par-

liament, at the terminus of the London and Brighton
Railway, London-bridge.
Wm. Nash, Esq., took the chair.
The Secretary read the report, which stated that
the contracts for the works had been entered into at
a sum below the Parliamentary estimate. The con-
tractor had agreed to take a portion of the contract-
money in shares in the Company. The Directors
were happy to announce that they had received
the cordial co-operation of the landowners on the line

—more particularly that of the Earl of Chichester,
Lord Gage, and Col. Trevor, who had, in the most
generous manner, presented the Company with the
sum of 5001., to be applied towards the preliminary
expenses. The Directors observed, with regret, the
continued determination of the South-Eastern Com-
pany to contest for the traffic to Hastings with this
Company. The Brighton Company had agreed to
take up 1,400 shares in the Company, and it had still
been found necessary to issue 2,100 shares more. A
proposition had been received from the Brighton
Company, to take up any number of shares not ex-
ceeding 3,000, provided the option were given them
of taking the line, when completed, at 4 per cent. on
the estimate cost of 475,0001. The report was re-
ceived and adopted.
A resolution was then passed, authorising the Di-
rectors to cause surveys to be made for a line passing
through Rye, to join the South-Eastern Railway, at
or near to Ashford, and for a line between Lewes and
the Brighton Railway, in a north-westerly direction,
with a view of materially shortening the distance be-
tween London and Hastings.
A vote of thanks was passed to Lord Chichester,
Lord Gage, and Col. Trevor.
The meeting was then made special, to confirm the
proposition of the Brighton Company, which having
been done, the meeting separated.

NEW AND VEXATIOUS REGULA-
TION AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.
We have received a letter, inserted elsewhere, and
signed a " London Merchant," on a new regulation
in the Customs' department, which calls for the atten-
tion of the commercial public, and, in our opinion, for
vigorous remonstrances against the continuance of
this novel annoyance to trade.
Our mercantile readers are aware that in case of
export of exciseable articles on which a drawback of
the duty is allowed, it has long been the practice
for the merchant to send notice to the Expert-
office of his intention to pack excised goods on which
the drawback was to be claimed, when an officer was
sent to his premises to superintend and certify the
packing, on whose report and certificate the goods
were passed at the Custom-house without further
molestation. By the new regulation, this con-
venient and proper practice is to be discontinued,
and such goods are to be sent down to the quays,
where the searcher can only perform his office of as-
certaining the amount of drawback to be allowed by
opening the packages and examining the contents,
which are then to be repacked by the labourers of
the Custom-house. The bare enunciation of the fact
will suffice to convince our commercial friends
of the loss, detriment, and iniquity, implicated
in the new practice. The answer to remonstrances
on the innovotion—as remonstrances on such a matter
must be loud and frequent—is, that the change has
been made by order of the Lords of the Treasury.
We do not affect to dive so far into the arcane of
official tactics as to pretend to know in what depart-
ment the first move towards the pernicious change
had its origin—whether it was suggested to the
Treasury by the Customs, or whether it sprung
from the board of supreme finance. But it is
evident to our mind that the new regulation has
been put into operation through pure ignorance
of the nature and requirements of " packing"
for over-sea transit. It surely could not have been
known by those from whom the order emanated, that
the business of packing goods was an art—an employ-
ment of skill and knowledge; and that every distinct
kind of goods demanded its
i peculiar care, arrange-
ment, and contrivance to fit t for sea voyages ;—that
1 every trade, in fact, had its own system for packing
its particular wares ;—that the safety and durability
of goods on a voyage depended mainly on the
skill and care in packing them ;—that the
costs and charges of transport were much affected
by the mode of packing ;—that many goods were
so compressed by immense mechanical force,
that no unassisted, human power could reduce
them into the same compass, in the event of a pre-
mature release from the compression of the packer.
All this and much more regarding the commercial
importance of the art of packing, should have been
well considered by the Government authorities be-
fore they undertook to issue an order which went to
contravene the especial care of traders for the se-
curity of their goods—to nullify all their cost and
labour in packing, and to leave a large amount of
our exported manufactures to damage, mutilation,
and almost certain destruction, under the opening
and repacking of a set of unskilled, careless, undi-
rected, Custom-house labourers.
It is manifest to all practical men, that the new
regulation cannot be persisted in, unless in every
Custom-house in the kingdom there be set up a regular
packer's establishment, with all the implements, sur-
rounded by all the skill and special knowledge called
for in every particular branch of the export trade in
excise goods. The concoctors of the new regulation,
whether Lords of the Treasury or Commissioners of
Customs, did not, we are convinced, foresee the serious
derangements to our commercial pursuits, the great
danger of damage to our expert produce, which it in-
volves. We trust, therefore, that the authorities will
at once see the necessity of abandoning such a vexa-
tious and absurd rule; and not wait until merchant-
exporters shall be driven to try whether in our courts
ofjustice they cannot obtain redress for damage sus-
tained by the ill-advised and arbitrary administration
of A public &cut board,—Journal of Commerce.