The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-03 00:00:00

!,require the aid of Parliament be postponed until the
Court shall have decided upon those recommendations
which can be carried into effect with the existing
powers of the Court."
This was seconded and carried. It had the effect
of postponing the consideration of ten resolutions.
Mr. ARMSTRONG then moved, " That the Court do
consider whether any and what reductions ought to
be made in any, and which of the salaries of the
superior officers of the prisons of this county, and
from what period such reductions should commence."
Mr. LAURIE moved, as an amendment to this, that
the subject be referred back to the committee for
their consideration.
Considerable discussion took place upon this, in the
course of which it was imputed to the committee that
they had "blinked" and endeavoured to give the "go
by" to this part of the subject, to inquire into which
they were appointed; whilst they had bad no hesita-
tion in coming forward and proposing wholesale re-
ductions in the wages of the inferior officers. The
committee made no recommendation upon this point,
but left it to the consideration of the Court.
The amendment was carried, not being objected to
by Mr. Armstrong.
Mr. ARMSTRONG then moved the adoption of the
reduced scale of pay for the inferior officers of the
prisons, as recommended in the report, viz , the wages
of male officers, instead of commencing at 265. a
week, and ascending to 405., d-) from and after the
Ist of January next commence at 205., and ascend
no higher than 265. a week; the wages of female
officers to commence at 16s. a week, and ascend to
215., instead of commencing at 20s. and ascending to
30s. a week.

The discussion that ensued upon this proposition
lasted the whole of the day. In its support it was
urged that the officers were not entitled to their pre-
sent rate of pay, inasmuch as when it was granted
the Court had not, as it now had, the power of
awarding pensions for long and faithful services, and
that their pay ought to be reduced in proportion to
the advantage of having the prospect of a retiring
pension. Contra it was contended that, whilst it
would be desirable to make alterations in the rate of
wages given in future to officers, upon their entering
the services of the county, it would be an act of im
policy, and a gross breach of faith, to reduce the pay
of those officers who had acquired the maximum rate
by long and diligent services; that the present rate
of wages was not higher than those of other estab-
lishments of the same character, and that for the
arduous and onerous nature of the duties of the of-
ficers, the present rate was not more than remune-
rative. •

Captain COTTERELL, the chairman of the visiting
justices of Coldbath•fjeld House of Correction, en-
tered at length into a mass of statistical and other
information, to disprove some of the assertions in the
report, in respect of that establishment, and his
speech was greatly applauded.
Mr. TURNER moved an amendment to the effect
that, in future, all wardens and sub wardens should
be engaged on the scale proposed by the committee,
no alteration being made in the wages of the officers
at present employed.
This amendment was rejected, the Court not being
competent to entertain it in that shape under the
standing orders; and another, proposed by Mr.
BLucx, referring the question as to the rate of wages
to be adopted in future engagements to the visiting
justices of each prison, was carried.
On the motion of Captain COTTERELL, the consi-
deration of the remainder of the resolutions was
postponed for three weeks, and the Court adjourned.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
The sessional meetings were appropriately termi-
nated on last Tuesday evening by a conversazione,
given by Mr. Cubitt, the President, at the house or
the institution. The guests were received by the
President, supported by the principal members of the
council, and assisted by Mr. C. Manby, the Se-
cretary, on whom devolved the selection and ar-
rangement of the models and works of art, as
well as the decorations of the rooms, and the
direction of all the proceedings of the evening; and
certainly, when it is considered that nearly a thousand
visitors passed through the rooms in the course of the
evening with so much ease and comfort, it is as much
a subject of astonishment bow it was accomplished, A 3
of admiration for the general system and arrangement
adopted.
The rooms were excellently decorated, all the win-
dows and the staircase being lined with choice flowers,
and the portires draped with beautiful Aubusson
tapestry, sent by Monsieur Sallandrouze de Lamor-
naix, who also contributed several beautiful works of
art for the drawing-room tables.
The walls were covered with paintings ; among
which were three well-known Edwin Landseers,
" Diogenes," " Shoeing," and "Dignity and Impu-
dence,"—the two latter contributed by Mr. Jacob
Bell, who also spared from his collection pictures by
Etty, Frank Stone, and Wilme ; the other pictures
were by Oliver, Fahey, Wood, G. Landseer, Herring,
O'Neill, and others.
Mr. Mitchell sent a beautiful Watteau, and some
delicious French crayon drawings ; and the tables
were covered with portfolios of sketches by Lake
Price, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, H. Johnson, Nash, and
others.

Two extremely curious illuminated Holy Books of
he Seikhs, contributed by Mr. Edgar Bowring, ex-
cited great attention ; as did some splendid specimens
of Chinese ivory carvings and of silver chased work,
brought from Ceylon by Sir Emerson Tennent, and
which were appropriately displayed on a fine carved
oak sideboard, by Mr. J. Thomas.
Messrs. Elkington contributed a fine collection of
electro-deposit works in gold, silver, and bronze;
Messrs. Minton, encaustic tiles; Mr. Essex, enamel
paintings; Mr. Le Molte, remarkable alto-relievo
groups ; and Mr. Mayall, fine daguerreotypes.
The mechanical models were very numerous, and
well arranged. Space will only permit a few to be
mentioned. Of those at work, Mr. Cotton's in-
genious machine for weighing and selecting heavy
and light gold coins, with the accompanying turbine
for giving motion to it, was, perhaps, the most ge-
nerally interesting.
Mr. Barker's Curvilinear Sawing Machine ; Mr.
W. S. Johnson's American Printing Press ; Mr. Ap-
pold's Register Hygrometer and Thermometric Ba-
lance; and Mr. Whishaw's Printing Telegraph,
worked by magnets, being in action, attracted much
attention.
Of the other models arranged around the room, the
following may be mentioned :—Mr. John Penn's mo-
dels of French Engines, and of Oscillating Cylinder
Engines ; Messrs. Maudslay's Feathering Paddle
Wheels ; Captain Feyrer's Improved Steering
Wheel; Siemen's Condensing Apparatus; Svmon's
Weighing Crane; Mitchell's Screw Pile for Light-
houses, Ship's Moorings, &c.; Smith's Yielding
Breakwater and Lighthouse ; Ransome and May's
Agricultural Implements ; Anthony's New American
Churn ; Soyer's New Portable Cooking Apparatus;
Edge's, Crosley's, and other Meters ; Chubb's Locks;
Moxon's Imitations of Wood and Marble ; Perigal's
Ellipsograph ; Lemolte's Batteries; Lerebour's Op-
tical Instruments ; Fahey and Green's Folding
Models; Brunton's Mine Ventilator; Martin's Im-
proved Sewage Flaps ; Marsden's Gully Trap ; Sher-
ingharn's Ventilators; Wilkins' Dioptric Light Ap-
paratus fur Light Ships • Shepherd's Balloons for
the Arctic Regions ; Ships;
Deflectonaeter ;
P. and W. H. Barlow's Permanent Way, and
Saltometer ; Ransome and May's Compressed Tre-
nails and Wedges; specimens, from Low Moor, of
Raw Material and Iron in all stages of manufacture;
and of Stirling's Toughened Iron ; Turner's Iron
Roof of 154 feet span, at Liverpool; Cubitt's Roof
for the Goods' Station at the Great Northern Rail-
way ; and numerous specimens of Gutta Percha,
adapted to now and useful articles.
The centre of the room was occupied by Dighton's
model of Gatton ; Jee's models of the Dinting Vale
Viaduct, and of the Goods' Station of the Man-
chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway ; Fow-
ler's Torksey Bridge, &c., &c.
In the anti-room were Dorkin's new application of
the Disc Engine; Chubb's Iron Safe; and Jobson's
clever and simple Reflecting Stove.
The examination of the specimens and works of
art occupied the guests, until they were drawn away
by their host's liberal attentions in the refreshment
rooms; and it was not until an early hour of the
morning that the last of the guests departed.
On Wednesday the rooms were again thrown open
for a few hours in the middle of the day, and were
visited by many noble and distinguished ladies, who
were desirous of examining the collection, which was
explained to them by Mr. Manby, the secretary, who
received the guests in the absence of the president.
Among the guests on Tuesday evening were--
The Marquis of Salisbury; Earls Rosse, Harrowby,
Overstone, Manley; Viscount Ehrington, M.P.;
Powis, Lovelace, Granville; Lords Wharncliffe,
Sirs Robert Peel, G. T. Staunton, Isaac Morley, P.
Laurie, Benjamin Brodie, H. De la Beebe, R. West-
macott, H. Douglas, James Duke, D. J. Norreys, E.
Ryan, H. Ellis, Charles Lemon, Charles Fellows, W.
Snow Harris ; the Hon. Stuart Wortley ; Mr. Martin,
M.P. ; Mr. Cubitt, M.P.; Mr. Locke, M.P. ; Mr.
Lacey, M.P. ; Mr. Cardwell, M.P. ; Mr. Pusev,
M.P.; Mr. Masterman, M.P.; Mr. Mackinnon, M.P.;
Doctors Granville, Billing, Forbes, Paris, Roger,
King, Pereira, Ridge, Simpson, Sylvester, Ure ;
Barons Goldamid, Lola i • Professors Rymer, Jones,
Hall, Hoskins, thalgkinson, Donaldson, Graham,
Ansted ; Admirals Dundas, Sir Charles Mal-
colm ; Lieutenant-General Sir Howard Douglas ;
Major-General Sir Charles Pasley ; Colonels
Vickers,
Wylde, Yorke, Dundas, Shaw; Lieute-
nant-Colonels Reid, Colquhoun, Sir James Ha-
milton ; Majors Moore, Cavalli ; Captains Nelson,
Gordon, Rowland, Simmons, Boyle, Sweney,
Denham, Clark, Moorsam, Sir G. Back,
Rennie, O'Brien, Sir William Symons ; Lieu-
tenants Robinson, Galton, Shaw • the Reverends J.
.13Arlow, E. Uurray, W.- G. -Matron; J.. Clutter-