The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-16 00:00:00

LONDON PERILS.

There is an amusing letter in the Post, written
from Belgravia by "An Unguarded Spinster," and
honoured with leader type. The lady says she is a
maiden of means, and possesses considerable attrac-
tions in the shape of trinkets, plate, &c. The news-
paper statements of police inefficiency had made her
nervous lately. She had hoped that they were exagge-
rated, but she relapsed into horror the other morning
at receiving a printed placard delivered at her house
by a policeman in uniform. She is instructed that
five modes of burglary may be efectually prerentecl
if due precautions are taken by the inmates. The
modes mentioned are—entering with false or skeleton
keys, especially on Saturday and Sunday evenings;
passing through an adjoining empty house, and
entering through attic windows ; removing insecure
shutters; calling at the house on pretended errands;
and, lastly, by climbing up the portico and entering
through the upper windows. The portico is too
much for this spinster's peace of mind. She thinks of
mantraps and spring-guns in the area and balcony,
but she would prefer to come to an understanding
with the robbers, and pay black-mail, thus adding a
robber rate to a police rate. The force of folly "
in the Metropolitan Police Office "can no further go."
If householders really have to turn their houses into
garrisons, and take the law into their own hands,
some of these burglars may have to regret that the
negligence of the police encouraged them to undue
confidence in their depredations.

PAY FOR PILOTS.

In the advances that have been made of late years,
none have been more marked than the advances in
the rates of wages and the prices of commodities of
all kinds. It stands to reason, therefore, that Govern-
ment employ6s and others with fixed salaries require
that these should be raised, if it is necessary
to maintain the old standard of position. A propos to
this, rather a queer story is told by a correspondent
of the United Service Gazette. The loss of the Devon
and seventeen lives is still fresh in the memory of
those who are accustomed to read the reports of
wreclis. "The Devon," says the correspondent, "was
a lighter of 154 tons register, her crew consisted of
a master, mate, ten able seamen, and a boy ; she
had on board a general cargo, consisting of dock
and victualling-yard stores, and five passengers; the
value of ship and cargo wouldbe, I should suppose, from
10,000 to £12,000 ; the whole of this property and
life was in the sole charge of two officers, both good
men and respected by all. how were those officers
paid P lam informed that the master received 6s,
and the mate 2s. per day. It really surpises one to
hear that 2s. per day is the pay of an officer who
has to assist the master in navigating a vessel
from one port to another with a valuable cargo ; and
what is of considerably more importanceis, the master's
end the seamen's lives are entrusted to the skill
and judgment of the mate during his watch on deck.
There are dangers besides rocks and sands a seaman
has to avoid. What of collisions P The danger of a
collision is well known to your nautical readers, and is
as fatal to life and property as any other danger. If
mistake not, the pay of able seamen in the War
Department vessels is more than the pay of a mate
in the dockyard craft, and seamen in one of the
victualling-yard steamers under the Board of
Admiralty are in receipt of the same rate of pay as
the mates of the sea-going dockyard lighters."