The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-24 00:00:00

LATE HOURS OF BUSINESS.

- - - -
The Annual Meeting of the " Metropolitan Drapers' Asso.
ciation" was held last evening in Exeter Hall ; J. E. Tennentr
E,q., M.P., in the chair. The meeting was fully and respect'
ably attended. By the Report of the proceedings of the Asil°'
ciation during the past year, it appears that there are in London
15,000 milliners and dressmakers, 16,796 clothiers and linen-
drapers' assistants, 12.831 grocers, and 2,&00 chemists—total,
251,100 ; that 211. have been paid for a prize essay on the late
hours of business; and that from the gratuitous circulation of
tracts the Association have cause to congratulate the public on
the successful prosecution of their labours. Perhaps there to
no system extant so pernicious, so utterly destructive of social
comfort, morals, and intellect as the present system of late
hours of business. It appears that young men and women of •
tender age are obliged to labour unremittingly in a vitiated
atmosphere for seventeen hours a day, arid that frequently on
-aturday nights their labours are prolonged to 1 and 2 o'clock
the next morning. It behoves. then, the mothers of families for
the future to deal only with those who do not employ the
young and dependent, to unseasonable hours—to deal only with
those who close at a reasonable hour. It is almost impossible
to conceive the misery, di.tress of mind and body entailed on
thousands by the present system of hours of business adopted
by the generality of the trades of the metropolis. Massy of the
linendrapers, in an extensive way of business, now close at seven
o'clock ; and from their statements it appears that they have
no reason to regret the adoption of this improved plan. It as°
appears that the young men employed in these houses of bust'
ness, which are closed at seven o'clock in the evening, are, 0
was evidenced in their address to the meeting, a highly intel-
ligent class of men ; that they do not abuse the time placed
their hands.

Several gentlemen of acknowledged talent addressed the
meeting. Resolutions, condemnatory of the late hour systems
were passed, without one dissenting voice, and the meeting
separated at a late hour.

On Wednesday last, the 17th instant Captain Be'
noit de Kolesinski, a Polish refugee, happened to pass along
the east end of the Serpentine, when he saw an unfortunate
woman struggling in the water. He immediately rushed into
the river, and succeeded in saving her from her perilous situal
Lion. Upon her being brought to the bank she was conveyed
to the receiving-house of the Roy al Humane Society, and place'
in a warm bath, after which she recovered from the eftect o 1
her immersion. The Committee of the Royal Humane bat!:
tutien, fully appreciating such gallant conduct, have addresseo`
letter to the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland eS:
pressive of their thanks to Captain de Kolesinski for his prolnr
act of humanity.
MEDICAL TREATMENT OF THE POOR.—An inVeS'
tigation (at the instance of Mr. Payne, the deputy coroner)"
took place before the board of guardians, at St. George-the"
Martyr's, Southwark, respecting the manner in which the we;
dical officers of the union had treated two out-door easualfe
who had died. Mr. Bathurst in the one case, and Mr. Ken'
dell in the other, had prescribed without either of them seeing
their patient ; and the latter had allowed, it appeared, 1;:_
assistant, an apprentice only 20 years of age, to attend t •
paupers. In the former case the board, in spite of great oPP°'
sition from Messrs. Boxer, Gladwell, and others, passed a re.
solution acquitting Mr. Bathurst, who said he bad evaif
aiternoon to see some 40 patients. In the other case a silni4t,
resolution was agreed to, but accompanied by a cantleo
against allowing any one who had not passed the College of
Surgeons to visit the sick poor.
Lady Dashwood King died on Friday, in Upper
Montague-street, at an advanced age. Her Ladyship wOna".
daughter of Theodore H. Broadhead, Esq., and married, 17°'
Sir John Dashwoed King, Bart., by;whom she has left a none
rous family.
MELANCHOLY .SUlClDE.—Yesterday afternoon, SC
about a quarter past three o'clock, a young woman, respectably
dressed, was observed to mount the balustrade at the west-side
of Waterloo-bridge. For a few moments she excited no attest..
tion, seeming to be enjoying the view which that locality Pre'
sents. After a brief interval, however, her intentions beanie
fearfuliy alteved : she mounted the top of the parapet, and fora
short time stared wildly round her, and in a moment or two fo.,
"
became quite calm, :.and with a most perfect coolness untied bey
bonnet and threw it deliberately from her into the
road ; then turning her face towards the river, ,78
thre-.v her hands behind her and jumped forward. She
made no turn in her descent, but went stralg
into the water ; her clothes became inflated by her felt
nor did she appear to sink more than a couple of feet
beyond her own depth, when she immediately rose to the sue'
face. It was remarked by several persons, who, as well as the
writer of this paragraph, were witnesses of the transaction, that
neither in her spring from the bridge, nor when she rose to the
surface of the water, did she utter any manner of ejaculatien't
As soon as the circumstance became known, boats were put on
from both sides of the bridge, and after some time she Wel
picked up, but life was quite extinct. The unfortunate wen n!"
appeared about 20 or 21 years of age, and apparently in
perfect health. A gentleman who witnessed the transaction
rushed forward to prevent, if possible, the fatal catastrophe'
and was within arm s-length of grasping her clothes when e
precipitated herself into the river. 'the body was subsequent))
taken to the bone-house, Waterloo-road.
GENERAL POST-OFFIE.—INCREASE OF MoltNl
MAlLS.—Yesterday the following notification was posted up
the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the
various Branch offices in the metropolis :—" In addition to
the names of places in England already published, to eibic.
:
letters by the morning mails are forwarded, the following have
been affixed to the list, viz., Brampton, Gateshead, Newcastle!
on-Tyne, North Shields, lttekmanswurth, Salisbury, Soot:
Shields, Stockbridge, Sunderland, all Ireland, all Scotland'
For all the places the letter-boxes at the receiving .houses will
be open till 7 A.I. for newspapers, and 8 A.M. for letters.
And those at the Branch offices at Charing-cross, Old Cavell'
dish-street, and Blackman-street, Borough, for the recepti°2
of newspapers till half-past 7, A. M., and for letters, 8 A.ll'
At the General Post-office, and the Branch-office in Lembaru"
street, the boxes will close for newspapers at a quarter before
8, A.M., and for letters at hall past 8, A.M.--W. L. 3144"..
BERLFY, Secretary."
THE NELSON STATUE.--Yesterday and the al
before, the recently-boxed-up statue of the hero of the Nile, rat
1 rafalgar.square, was uncovered, so that his head and shoulder'
were visible. It is to be hoped the column will now soon be
completed, as the grand terrace, steps, and level part of tie
centre e
centre of the square, appear to be ready to be thrown open '-
the Public ' • and it will be a great relief when the unsightly
hoarding that has so long disfigured this part of the metropelie
is at length removed "fur good."
THE LATE NEFARIOUS AFFAIR AT NEWCASTLE.'"'
Louis, the Assistant Tithe Commissioner, who escaped front
custody while charged with an unnatural offence, has not bee°
since apprehended. Carter, the police-constable, out of whose
custody the person charged with the offence escaped, was `,°
hare been brought up before the Magistrates at Newcastle, °-
,
Tuesday, when the evidence against him would be gone into,
and if it is thought capable of sustaining the charge of his ha,y'
ing wilfully permitted the prisoner's escape, he would be coin'
mitted for trial for the offence, which is an indictable one.
SHIPMENT OF CIGARS TO THE ISLE OF MAN.--4
diversity of practice having prevailed at the ports of Londe?
and Liverpool, in regard to cigars allowed to be shiPPea;
under licence, to the Isle of Man, the officers at the port o!
London requiring that the shipment be made in packages 01
not less than three hundred pounds weight each, whereas, 14
Liverpool, shipments are permitted in packages under that
weight ; and as cigars may now be legally imported and e!,:
ported in packages of not less than one hundred pour
weight net, the Board of Customs have issued directions 1116.
cigars be in future allowed to be exported to the Isle of Ma!:
under license, in packages of one hundred pounds net weir'
and upwards, and that the terms of the license be altered ac'
cordingly.

IHE METROPOLIS IMPROVEMENTS.—Yesterday, ati
one o'clock, by order of the Commissioners of Woods any
Forests, the twenty-second sale of houses to be removed for tb!
improvements at the west-end, took place in Thorney-stree.L2
Bloomsbury, on which occasion many houses situated in
Thorney-street, Duke-street, and Castle-street, were dispel!'
of by auction, the conditions of the purchase being that the,'
should be cleared away in twenty-four days. These are in the
line of street to communicate with Oxford-street and Holborn'
There are several others which have been bought, and are lad
the possession of the Commissioners. Another sale is order
for Friday next, when some houses in Plumtree-street, %
street, and Short's-gardens, will be sold to make way for Or:
line of street from Bow-street, Covent-garden. Whe
Illiddle-row, Holborn, formerly stood, a foot-pavement &Wild
eight feet wide has been laid down, adjoining the houses, an
the effect of the removal of the clump of houses has highly 11112.
proved the locality.;
such is the peaceable state of Carmarthenshire,e
present, that the magistrates have deemed it advisable toomt:
pense with the aid of the London police, and they are t._tr.
removed to the metropolis as speedily as possible. Mu
:bre.. left Carmarthen for London on Tuesday .—Welsh

BIRTHS.
On the Bth inst., at Annett's-crescent,
Charles Home, of a son.
On the 20th inst.', at Newport, near Barnstaple, Devon) the
Hon. Mrs. Butler, of a eon. Islington, Mrs.

MARRIED. es
On the 23d inst., at St, Ueorge's, Hanover-square, on,
Stirling, of Holme-hill, Perth, Eiq., to Christian, elael.
daughter of the late David Erskine, Esq., of Elambagar, Beings)

D.
On the 21st hist., ElizabethlED,
the wife of Pcter Barlow, Esq' '
F. R. S., Woolwich.
Cartlie,
Or, the 21st inst., at Cheltenham, Captain George
late of the 97th Regiment, aged 40. n, War'
On the 21st inst., Mr. Thomas Gaisford, of Kineto
wickshire, surgeon.

--- London:` Printed and Published by MORD() YOUNG •of
Ne, 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand,
the County of Middlesex, %doodandawn 2-10 Is 4