The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-07 00:00:00

THE PARKS AT NIGHT.

A letter in the columns of the Telegraph complains of
the infamous pollution of the parks and public places in
London by degraded females. The Telegraph, in com-
menting on the letter, says :—" We agree with R.' that
the authorities are grossly negligent in the matter. In
the pleasant summer evenings, when enjoyment of the
free air is more practicable than during the heat of the
day, nobody can enter the parks of the metropolis
without molestation. Hyde Park is specially men-
tioned by our correspondent ; but has he ever returned
from Regent's Park after sunset without being annoyed
in the manner he describes ? Again, is R.' a City man,
or does he ever have business in the City ? In the flood-
tide of commerce, when Cornhill is crowded and the gates
of the Bank of England are admitting and discharging
streams of mercantile humanity, what kind of people
are those who walk to and fro in front of the Royal
Exchange? It is true, as our correspondent says,
that no scenes like those enacted in our West-end
parks, by night, arc tolerated elsewhere than in London ;
but we may add the emphatic assertion that no Bourse, in
Europe, save that in the centre of the metropolis of Eng-
land, is permitted to be a mart of immorality by day.
One point made by our correspcsadent deserves especial
commendation, and suggests praetical thought. Quoting
the Rev. James Fraser, Education Commissioner
of the Privy Council in America,. ' calls
the attention of Englishmen to the fact that, without
any system of licensed houses, such as we do not
desire to imitate from Continental Governments, the
streets of cities in the United States are effectually kept
clear of the abomination which obtrudes itself upon every
respectable inhabitant of an English city. It is simply a
matter of police rogulation, after all ; and a general recog.
nition of the fact that any offensive intrusion justifies the
interference of a constable, when required, would rid our
parks and thoroughfares of a most pernicious nuisance."

NEW ACT ON EMBEZZLEMENT.-Au Act was
issued on Thursday, 31st and 32nd Vict., c. 116, by which
police magistrates can deal with cases of embezzlement in
a summary manner, as under the 18th and 19th Vict.,
c. 126.

An old widow lady named Lock has just died
at the age of 92, in Newport, in the Isle of Wight. Sbo
was the widow of a volunteer of that name in the days
when Buonaparte threatened to invade England. Mr.
Lock was accidentally shot dead at a volunteer review
upwards of 60 years ago.

The recently discovered islands in the Pacific
Ocean arc described by Captain W. Reynolds, who took
possession of them on behalf of the United States Govern-
ment, as follows :—" The harbour is formed very much
like Honolulu, is rather more roomy and safe, but not
with quite as much depth of water on its bar, which,
however, appeared to be about eighteen feet. Water
was found on the islands at a distance of from four
to seven feet. The soil will produce a good many
kinds of vegetables, and choice fish are found in the
vicinity."

THE HEALTH OF THE QUEEN.—ller Majesty
has undertaken her journey to Switzerland, where she
intends to stay for about a month, on the recommendation
of Sir W. Jenner. We stated some months since that the
Queen had been subject to fainting fits, accompanied by
distressing attacks of sickness. Though these to a great
extent have abated, she has felt very much the hot weather
of late prevalent, and this, with the unusual fatigue she
has recently undergone, have produced a degree of weak.
ness which the proposed change, it is expected, will
remove. Oa her return from Switzerland the Queen will
spend some time at Balmoral.—Lancet.

A MARE'S NEST.—The St. Pancras guardians
were rather alarmed on Thursday, when they had nearly
concluded the business before them, by the sudden inrush
of the Marquis Townshend. His lordship had driven to
the workhouse in great haste, and demanded that inquiry
should be made at once into the circumstances of a
" cruelty " case which had been reported to him. The
marquis's informant was a woman, who had told him a
sad tale of the ill-treatment she had received at the work-
house. As there could be no objection to the inquiry, it
was ordered to be held, in the presence of the marquis,
who was soon made aware that be had only found a mare's
nest. It was shown that the woman had been an inmate
of the workhouse for about nine months ; that she then
discharged herself, got drunk, remained away for five
or six days, and after all that wanted to enter again
without an order. The inquiry, it is said, satisfied the
marquis.

THE WEST INDIA MAILS.—The central depot of
the West India mail steamers is about to be re moved
i
from the pestiferous island of St. Thomas, and an nfluen•
tially signed memorial has been addressed to the Home
Government from Barbadoes, urging that that island
should be selected as the new station. The memorialists
urge that Barbadoes is beyond the rage of hurricanes, and
sly that " the island of Barbadoes stands out clear beyond
all the other islands, and that from Barbadoes to Color
the course is clear from one end to the other. That nc
island of the northern group can hold out such advantages.
That Barbadoes is abundantly supplied with excellent
water. That Carlisle Bay is an excellent roadstead, and
has natural advantages for carrying out a breakwater ci
pier. That the steamers, by shaping their course for
southern instead of a northern West Indian island, would
have the benefit of three days' trade winds to one, and would
save from 12 to 20 hours in every passage. That Bazba•
does is also contiguous to Trinidad and British Guiana(
which three colonies together ship three-fourths of the
sugar received from the British possessions in the West
Indies, and that Carlisle Bay can be entered at all hots
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