The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-06 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

WHAT ABE CHARITIES ?—A case in which this pOint
arose was heard in the Lord Chancellor's Court, and was
an appeal from the Master of the Rolls. A Mr.
M`Dermot, at his death, devised the residue of his per-
sonal estate, after the death of his wife and her sisters, to
trustees to bestow it' " in such charities and other public
purposes as lawfully might be in • the parish of
Tadmardon in the county of Oxford" as his
trustees might think fit. The Master of the
Rolls held that it was a charitable bequest for the
benefit of the parish of Tadmardon, and the children of the
testator appealed. On their behalf it was contended that
m account of its vagueness the gift was void, and further,
that as the testator had mentioned charities, "public pur-
poses" must mean something more than charities. The
Lord Chancellor dismissed the appeal, believing that the
testator used the word " charity " in its popular sense.
ImPonmiurr TO ASSIGNEM.—Another appeal from the
Master of the Rolls was decided by the Lord Chancellor,
in which some important facts were stated with reference
to the powers and duties of assignees. Mr. T. Lloyd,
under his marriage settlement, was entitled to an annuity.
In 1859 he took the benefit of the Debtors' Act, and
Mr. Banks, the trustee of the settlement, saw in a
newspaper the usual advertisement of the petition
in insolvency. In 1860 Mr. T. Lloyd executed an
assignment of the annuity to Mr. Shephard, who
gave the usual notice to the trustee, and the Master of
the Rolls held that as Mr. Shephard had given actual
notice he was entitled to priority over the assignees in
insolvency. The assignee appealed. The Lord Chancellor
said that no doubt the usual and safe course was for an
assignee to give formal notice ; if not he was under a
difficulty with other claimants. But this was not abso-
lutely necessary to give him priority, and it would be
sufficient if the trustee was perfectly well aware of the
assignment. His lordship in this case reversed the judg-
ment of the court below.

PROHIBITING A CHANCELLOR'S VISITATION.—In the
Court of Queen's Bench, Mr. Archibald, on behalf of the
Archdeacon of Carlisle and also on behalf of the
Archdeacon of Westmoreland, moved for a rule for a pro-
hibition to the chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle restrain-
ing him from exercising archidiaconal jurisdiction within
their respective archdeaconries. The question !arose thus.
Carlisle is an ancient archdeaconry ; Westmoreland was
created by the 6th and 7th William IV., chap. 77, the
Ecclesiastical Commission Act, which contained a proviso
that " all archdeacons should have equal jurisdiction, any
usage to the contrary notwithstanding." The chancellor
in the diocese of Carlisle had been accustomed to hold
archidiaconal visitations and synods, or chapters, as dele-
gate of the bishop. The question was now raised whether
he had a right to do so, notwithstanding the statute. The
court granted the rule nisi.

DAMAGES FOR KNOCKING A MAN DOWN. —ln the
Court of Common Pleas the case of Munro v. Ellis
was heard. The plaintiff claimed damages for injuries
sustained through the negligence of the defendant allowing
his horse to run away, whereby the complainant was
knocked down. The jury returned a verdict for the
plaintiff.—Damages £lO.
CHARGE OF ASSAULTING A LADY.—At the Enfield
Petty Sessions, Dr. it. Cobbett, of Southgate, was charged
with assaulting Mrs. Newington, of Burlington-row. In
a cross summons the position of the parties was reversed.
A similar charge was heard a short time ago by the same
justices, but dismissed on Mrs. Newington promising not
to annoy the doctor any more. The leading circumstances
are, that the gentleman made the acquaintance of the lady
and her daughter at one of the fashionable watering-places
which the latter were in the habit of frequenting, and, con-
tinuing that intimacy on their return to London, the com-
plainant alleges that he seduced her daughter, and by the
exercise of his influence has since kept her away from
home. These charges the defendant denied, and at the
sitting of the court on Friday Miss Newington herself, an
attractive young lady, attempted to give evidence in his
favour. The present assault is alleged to have taken
place since the last case was disposed of, and to have
arisen in consequence of the renewed attempts by the
complainant to annoy the defendant, for the reasons and
on the grounds just stated. When the case was called on,
it was stated that Mrs. Newington was too ill to appear.
This was denied by the other side. After a good deal of
parley, the bench agreed to adjourn the case for three
weeks.

ATTEMPTED WIPE Muunmt. —At the Clerkenwell
Police-court Thomas Clarke, a horsekeeper, was charged
with attempting to murder his wife. The prisoner had
behaved in a most outrageous manner to his wife. She
was frightened one night, when he seized hold of her by
the hair of the head, and struck her with a knife,
the blade of which was broken by the force of the
blow. When the complainant appeared in the witness-
box her face was covered with scratches. The prisoner
was committed to prison for six months, and at the expi-
ration of that term he will have to find sureties for his
future good conduct.

A PUNISHMENT RICHLY DESERVED.-At the Dundee
Police-court, Alexander Ramsay, a flesher, NVW3 charged with
having unwholesome meat expOsed for sale. It was proved
that the carcases of two beasts were found on the premises
of the prisoner, and the animals, according to the testi-
mony of a veterinary surgeon, had suffered from pleuro-
pneumonia. The court sentenced him to thirty days' im-
prisonment.

Dr. Michel Levy, a verylearned French physician,
Who has made the question, "Is the average life of the
Jews in Europe longer than the rest of the populations ?"
his special study, tells us in the " Annals of Public
Hygienics for 1866," that the average duration of life
among the Christian population is 26 years, and among the
Jews 37. —Scattered Nation.

HARVESTING OF CORN IN WET 'WEATHER.--
The council of the Society of Arts having offered the gold
medal of the society and a prize of fifty guineas for the
best essay on the harvesting of corn in wet seasons, re•
ceived 20 essays, and the gentlemen acting as judges have
unanimously recommended the council to award the prize
to Mr. W. A. Gibbs, of Gillwell Park, Essex. This award
has accordingly been made.

In accordance with annual custom, the children
and teachers of the various Roman Catholic schools
of Salford formed a procession through the principal
streets on Friday, and walked to Pendleton, and were
subsequently provided with tea at the schools at which
they attend. The procession started in the afternoon,
preceded by an instrumental band from the Catholic
Cathedral. Accompanying the children, who numbered
upwards of 1,500, were Canon Benoit, Rev. Dc Clerc,
Rev. C. G. Gadd, Rev. W. S. Berry, Rev. Desplantes,
Father Conway, and others.

MIDNIGHT ELOPEMENT FROM A RECTORY. —The
inhabitants of an unusually quiet village near Stoney
Stanton, Leicestershire, were thrown into intense excite-
ment on Wednesday morning by learning that in the
course of the night Miss B—, who was under the care
of the venerable rector of the parish, had eloped with a
stocking-maker or framework-knitter. It was discovered
that they had taken a conveyance to Leicester, where a
licence was obtained, and by eight o'clock they were mar-
ried at the office of the registrar. They were pursued
and captured, and by the mail train taken to the village
from whence they had flown, the young lady being again
safely lodged under the roof of her venerable guardian. It
is expected that the youth will be prosecuted for having
made false statements before the registrar.—Leeds Evening
Express.
A MILL-STONE DRESSING MACHINE. —A trial of
a new patent mill-stone dressing machine has been made
at Stowmarket. Mr. Jacobsen, a Leith merchant, intro-
duced the invention into this country. The invention is
simple. It consists of a " black diamond," similar to a
glazier's diamond, fixed in a spindle, or small wheel, about
one inch in diameter, connected with a frame. The mill-
stone to be operated on is laid on its side, and by means of a
small belt or cord, adjusted to a shaft of the rnillmachinery,
a rapid revolving motion is given to the diamond-set
spindle, which, with its frame, is placed on the stone. A
man attends the sharpening machine, and by the hand
directs the longitudinal and lateral movements of the
diamond in its operations. The fine lines it cuts are, it
is said, far more expeditiously and better executed than
could be accomplished by the ordinary sharpening by
picks.

IGNORANT DIVINITY STIJDRNTS.—III a debate
which took place recently in the General Assembly of the
Scotch Church on improving the divinity examinations,
Professor Douglas ArLagan gave some specimens of the
answers given by the students at the examinations. He
said .that at a late examination in literature and mathe-
matics there were fifty-five candidates, and in English
twenty-seven passed and twenty-eight were rejected. If the
Assembly were to hear all the details of the examination
they would be astonished. One of the questions—not a
very profound one—Was as to the meaning of the word
"hypothesis." One of the candidates said that it meant
" a machine for raising water. Another candidate said
that it meant "something that happened to a man after
his death." One of the historical questions put was as
follows: " Give some account of Galileo and Copernicus,"
to which one of the students replied that Galileo was a
man that I.had • committed five murders ; another that
Galileo and Copernicus were two gentlemen who had
fallen together in some battle ; and a third student said
Copernicus was " a compound of two metals."