The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-21 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN

Siu,—Knowing your readiness to expose wrongs
in any shape, I have presumed to address you on a
subject which may not be considered obtrusive.
A relative of mine, residing in the village of Chew
Magna, about seven miles from Bristol, of the Baptist
persuasion, loses a niece at the age of two years,
to whom the vicar of the parish refuses a Christian
burial, on account of the child not being christened
(the Baptists' custom being to baptise their brethren
at a mature age), and tells the relatives they must
bury the child themselves by night, or between the
hours of six in the evening and six in the morning.
The child was accordingly buried between six and
seven in the evening, without the funeral rites or the
tolling of the bell, which is usual in all cases in the
village ; and after the vicar claims the full fees, as if
he had officiated on the occasion and with the usual
formalities, which claim the relatives refuse, for the
reason above described.
You will therefore oblige your humble subscriber
by informing him whether or not they are obliged to
pay the demand. Your answer in your widely-
circulated journal will greatly oblige,
Your obedient servant,
A CHURCHMAN, BUT A LOVER OF
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
London, Feb. 20, 1850.
P.S. —I should have informed you that the Bap-
tists of the village, being so few, had no burial-place
of their own.

[As to the legality of the fees demanded, that will
depend on their nature, which our correspondent has
not explained. The vicar is entitled, we believe, to
certain charges for " opening the ground" for the
reception of the body ; but we do not think he can
make any claims for services which he refused to
render.—ED. Sun.]

CATHEDRAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL.—We are enabled
to state upon good authority that the Rev. Henry
Meeres, whom the Dean and Chapter have declared that
they have selected and duly appointed to be the head
master of the King's School, is, notwithstanding, still
the chaplain of the Bucks county gaol. Leave of tem-
porary absence from his duty in the prison was granted
to Mr. Meeres by the county magistrates on his repre-
sentation that the mastership of the school had been
offered to him by the Dean and Chapter, and that he
believed that the litigation on the subject would be
shortly determined. Mr. Meeres further assured
the magistrates that he should forthwith resign his
chaplaincy in the event of his being confirmed in the
head mastership offered to him by the Chapter. The
result of this temporary absence from the prison is that
there are now tvso schools in the cathedral precinct, one
holden in the cathedral school-room, with a very large
majority of foundation and other scholars, under the
direction of a master who his been twice " amoved, re-
moved, deprived, and displaced" from his office; the
other over a gateway, and under the chaplain to a gaol.
His room is small and his scholars few. Mr. Whiston,
in whose favour the Court of Queen's Bench has made
the rule absolute for a mandamus, still occupies the head
master's place in the Cathedral, and Mr. Meeres has been
promoted to the corner stall near him.—Rochester
Gazette.
MIDDLESBOROUGH AND REDCAR RAILWAY. ""The
ordinary half-yearly general meeting of this company
took place on the 19th instant, at the office in Darling-
ton, J. C. Hopkins, Esq., in the chair. The share-
holders of this company are, for the most part, pro-
prietors of the Wear Valley line. The statement of ac-
counts for the half-year showed that thee receipts
had been 81,9951. 5e., and the payments 82,112/. 18s. 3d.,
leaving a balance of 1171. 13s. 3d. A dividend of 30s.
per share (less income-tax) was declared for the half-
year ending March 31, 1850, the said dividend to be
paid on the 18th of April to such proprietors as are re-
gistered on tho boolis of the company on the said 31st
instant.

LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM EXTENSION RAILWAY.
—Yesterday the; affairsj of this undertaking came on be-
fore the Master in Chancery (Blunt). About 33,000 L
was received by the directors as deposit, the greater
part of which was expended in railway and engineering
expenses. The existing liabilities remaining to be de-
frayed by the shareholders amount to 10,000 E There
were upwards of 400 shareholders on the list of contri-
butories, and the Master fixed on the list as liable all
those who paid the deposit and signed the deed, reserv-
ing for argument and consideration the cases of those
who appeared and who object on various grounds to be
held liable at all.
WEAR VALLEY RAILWAY.--The half-yearly ordi-
nary general meeting of the Wear Valley Railway Com-
pany, was held at Darlington, on Tuesday; Mr. H.
Stobart, chairman of the board of directors, presided.
The accounts of the receipt and expenditure of the com-
pany for the past half-year stated that the receipts dur-
ing that period had amounted to 868,2491. Os. 11d., and
the expenses to 821,772 L Bs. 6d. leaving leaving a balance in
hand of 46'4761. 12s. sd. The Capital and revenue ac-
counts were also read, and their details laid upon the
table for the inspection of the shareholders. The follow-
ing dividend was declared, viz., on the 501. shares paid
in full, 1/. 103. per share; on the 251. shares paid in full,
155.; on the 251. shares, calls duly paid, 10s.; the said
dividend to be paid on the 18th of April, to such pro-
prietors as may be registered on the books of the com-
pany on the 31st March, 1850.
SCHEME rou THE ORGANIZATION OF LAIOUR IN
MANCIIESTER.—A public meeting was held on Monday
evening
Lindsay,
to take into consideration the necessity of a
general Organization of labour in Manchester. Mr.
mara seconded a resolution condemning competition as
a journeyman tailor, moved, and Mr. M‘Na-
" unjust in principle, immoral in its tendencies, and cal-
culated to deprive the poor man of a fair remuneration
for his labour." Mr. L. Jones supported the resolution,
and attacked Mr. Macaulay, charging him with various
misstatements concerning the working classes in his
recently published history.
The speaker compared
the present state of the working classes, with their
condition in the reign of Henry VII.; and concluded by
regretting that in a time of such boasted civilization as
the present the working men of England were so de-
graded and oppressed. The resolution was carried unani-
mously. Another resolution was carried, proposing as
a remedy for the existing
evils, "the adoption of a
system of trade organization on the co-operative system ;"
and a plan was proposed whereby such a system might
be carried into effect in Manchester. The Dusting was
also addressed by M. D. St. Hilaire, who detailed the
success of the co-operative system adopted by the work-
ing classes in Paris. Specimens of the manufacture of
a similar association in Salford, were produced by a Mr.
Stork; after which the meeting terminated.
CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN IRELAND.—At this
moment, when a growing appreciation is experienced in
foreign countries for our yarns and linens,. and just before
the flax• sowing season,` the following particulars cannot
fell to be interesting. At the monthly meeting of "The
Royal Flax Improvement Society," a gentleman pre-
sent remarked that ho had sold his crops of flax straw,
grown near Carrickfergus, pulled and dried, to a steeping
company at Cregagh, getting 121. per Irish acre fur it,
which paid him better than any of his other crops. He
had since been told by the purchasers, that they were
offered 81. for the seed of an acre of this flax; and he
had himself seen some of the fibre, which they had
steeped and scutched, and,which was of such good qua-
lity as to be valued by the spinners at 635. per cwt. It
was producing from the straw at the rate of about 80
eton es of 161bs. to the acre, which would be 28/. worth
of fiore, and, adding 81. for the seed, the Irish acre
WORI4 l bring 361.

INDIA.

The following summary from the Bombay Over-
land Times of the 17th ult. will be read with inte-

rest :

" We have once more got rid of the wars and
rumours of wars which were, but are now no longer,
the invariable concomitants f the cold season. The
Eusoofzae revenue recusants having been chastised
and humbled, the force lately in the field under
Colonel Bradshaw has returned to Peshawur, the
Bombay portion of it being by this time on its way
to the Presidency. The Fusiliers were to leave on
the 30th ult., the Artillery and Sinde Horse on New
Year's-day, the 19th Native Infantry when relieved,
and the 3d about the end of the present month. Drs.
Campbell and Hooker being now safe at Darjeeling,
the insults and indignities they have suffered become
known. It was, it seems, for no fault of theirs that
they were seized on and imprisoned : the attack was
as wanton and unprovoked as it was cowardly and
cruel. It remains to be seen what chastisement
we shall deem requisite for the Sikkimites
who abused them. A misunderstanding is said
to have arisen betwixt Government and the
ruler of Khyrpore, the faithless Ali Moored,
the betra3er of the other Ameers. The nature of
this has not bean made known, but that the Khyrpore
Chief could long speak the truth or act honestly is a
thing not to be looked for. The "Black Act "
agitation zontinues the theme of discussion. Bombay
has now followed Calcutta in presenting a memorial
to Government, pointing out the inadequacy of the
Company's Courts, and adverting to the illegality of
Parliament vesting the Legislative Council of India
with powers which Royalty itself never claims, and
the reforms in our tribunals hare hitherto been over-
looked which were considered by the Charter Act
essential preliminaries to the extension of their juris-
diction. Sir C. Napier, in reviewing the
troops now quartered at Lahore, has fulminated a
general order against the state of their discipline such
as is without precedent in our military annals.
Sir Charles states that he never before, in the
course of half a century of service, wit-
nessed such a scene, and feels assured that in no
other regiments of the army could such misconduct
have occurred. He winds up by saying that troops in
a state of undiscipline, such as some of the regiments
he reviewed, would in the field prove dangerous to
their friends and contemptible to their enemies. The
Governor-General is expected to leave Kurrachee to-
day or to-morrow, and to be in Bombay about the
20th. He will remain here for two or three days, and
no more, and most likely keep himself strictly private.
The health of the Noble Marquis is, we rejoice to
learn, almost entirely restored; he will, after leaving
us, take a short sea voyage, and then return to
Calcutta, whence he will proceed to Simlah as the
hot season approaches. The Ruler of Goozerat, his
Highness the Gwicowar of Baroda, is on his way to
Bombay, to be presented to the Governor-
General. Five steam-boats have been dis-
patched to bring down his attendants, amount-
ing to several thousands. While here, they will
have assigned to them the Government-house at
Malabar Point—the hot weather residence of the
Governor. He is about to propose that the British
Government should afford a guarantee of five per
cent. on the portion of the Tankaria and Baroda
Railway which passes through their dominions—about
one half—he providing for that of the half which
passes through his own ; making up, besides, all defi-
ciencies in the share list. The offer seems a mcst
liberal one. Pity it is to see the Prince who makes
it about to squander on a pilgrimage to a village of
prostitutes in the Deccan as much almost on elephants,
horses, and women, or gifts to the idle and the disso-
lute, as would cover all the outlay he proposes to incur
in public improvements. On the morning of the 6th
the ship Dartmouth was burnt, as is believed, by incen-
diaries, in Bombay harbour—being the seventh in
the port, and ninth belonging to it, that has thus
perished within these eight years, the value cf the
property thus destroyed exceeding a quarter of a
million sterling. MajorEdwardes and Captain Nichol- ,
son—two of the officers who so eminently distinguished
themselves throughout the Punjaub.war, and received
brevet rank, and the former a C.8.-ship have been
residing for some days amongst us and receiving the
honours and attentions that are their due. They re-
turn on a twelvemonth's leave to England to take
breath after their adventures. The Commander-in-
Chief of the Indian Navy has addressed a very able
letter to the Government on the subject of ship.
burning ; pointing out that in the majority of vessels
no proper regulations are observed, that there is no
floating engine belonging to the harbour, such as is
considered requisite at every extensive shipping port,
and that there are no means of compelling the ser-
vices of seamen in the harbour in eases of emergency.
A remedy for all these is suggested, which, if adopted
would most assuredly go far to diminish the magni -
tude of the mischief or danger. The results of the
census taken in May last have been published, and it
appears that in the little island of Bombay, com-
prising in all twenty square miles of ground—
four-fifths of which at least are uninhabitable
swamp or rock—there are in all no fewer than
566,119 inhabitants, of whom 354,090 are males, and
212,029 females. Of these 6,936 are Brahmins,
289,995 are of other castes of Hindoos; 1,902 are
Jains or Bhuddists ; 124,155 are Mahomedans ;
114,691 Parsees • 1,132 Jews ; 7,456 native Chris-
tians ; 1,333 Lido-Britons ; 5,417 Indo-Portuguese ;
5,088 pure Europeans; 889 Siddees, Negroes, and
Africans; and 7,118 of other castes unspecified. The
Europeans are thus less than one in a hundred of the
whole population. Cholera has greatly abated, but
has not yet quite ceased. The staff of engineers for
the railway is expected by next mail. Mr. T. J. A.
Scott has been appointed secretary on a salary of
1,0001. a year, and there are five directors who re •
ceive each 1001. per annum. So much of the season
has been lost by delays at home that little will be done
before October. The inhabitants of Calcutta have
presented Sir John Littler with a splendid piece of
plate in testimony of their esteem."

CHINA.
CANTON MARKET, DEC. 27.
IMPORTS.

Cottons—We have this month to report a healthy
change in favour of these goods, the rise in prices being
attributable entirely to the reduced stocks, and the small
supplies expected.
Raw Cotton—The partial failure of the native crop
must naturally increase the demand for the foreign arti-
cle, and even now shipments are being made to places
which hitherto have been supplied from Shanghae. The
moderate quantity expected from India likewise tends to
give confidence to the dealers.
Cotton Yarn—The market for this article shows a
slight improvement, notwithstanding the very large
stocks; but until these are considerably reduced, no great
arise in prices can be looked for.
Long Cloths—These goods are in demand at a consi-
derable advance on last month's quotations.
Woollens show no improvement, and the stocks are
still veey large.
Opium ,—.lllalwa, stock small, and all refuse—a little
new came oil per steamer, but we have heard nothing
quoted. Nom;: ;al price 630 dolls. to 640 dolls. For
Bengal drug the ;lemand is good, and stocks small, but
the extreme pressure for money brings sellers of both
Patna and Benares for%lgrd at 475 dolls. to 480 dolls.

Exi-onTs.
Teas—Black—The small 16.,-.'olc and the high rates for
which theso are held, check purcL'ases, and but little has
been done in them since our last.
Greens—The:teamen having shown a desire to meet the
views of shipper., some considerable transactions have
followed for the American market.
Freights—To England 21. 15s. to al.; to the United
States 20 dolls.
Exchange—On London 4s. sd. for bank bills, and for
private bills 4s. 4d. to 4s. 61d.; on India, Company's ac-
cepted have been sold at 226 per 100 dolls.
Sycce 54 per cent.; Gold leaf 20 dolls. 50c. per tael.

SIIANGHAE MARKET, DEC. 20.
IMPORTS.
Cottons—The heavy stocks of English goods must
prevent any considerable advance in prices, but the pros-
pect for American is more favcurable.
Opium—Market dull. Patna is quoted 505 dolls., and
Malwa 630 dolls., with a stock of 1,000 chests of the
former, and 2,800 of the latter.
EXPORTS.
Teas.—Black—During the early part of the month
considerable improvement took place in Congous, which
was somewhat influenced by the tenor of the last over-
land advices. At one time cur market was entirely
cleared, 40 to 43 chops having been settled. Common
deser.iptions show au advance of say one tad on the rates
of last month, and other kinds may be quoted a shade
higher; but only four or five available chops are left,
though 'Pastors of other ten have been received. Quota-
tions: Good ordinary and but middling, 10 to 12 t9,els;
blackish leaf, nohow kind, 15 to 13 taels, cash rates.
Total settlements to date, 265 chops. Souchong: 2
chops sold at 11i for common, and for fair 14 taels.
Greens—A good inquiry still exists. The settlements
have not been on st, large a scale as the two preceding
months. About 18,600 to 20,000 packages have been
taken, and previous rates well supported. The stock is
much reduced, and it ;seems doubtful whether many more
chops of consequence w;11 be seen here this season. On
hand of all kinds there a:l3 8,000 packages, and of rather
inferior quality.
Silk—it is supposed that. private contracts have been
entered into for this article. The stock in market is
small and of inferior quality, and the rumour as to the
short crop is confirmed. The dealers demand 210 dolls.
to 300 dolls. for common 1
0 good, and 346 dolls. for in-
ferior Taysaain; and 380 dulls. to 400 dulls. for third
quality Tsatlee.
Freights—To England, 31. 10s. to 41. Tonnage
abundant.
Exchanges—On London, nominal at 45. 53d. to
4s. 7d.

favour.

TLe Chancellor of the Exchequer is going on
ably towards recovery.
The Finance Committee of the Commission for the
Exhibition of 1851, consisting of Earl Granville, Sir
Alextauler Spearman, Mr. Joues Loyd, Mr. T. F. Gib-
son, and Colonel Reid, R,E., met at the Board of Trade
yesterday. Mr. Francis Fuller, of the Executive Com-
mittee, had an interview with the Fiance committee,