The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-10 00:00:00

TUE SUN, LONDON, TIVJESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1868.

AUSITALIAN MEAT FOR ENGLAND,

IL-111:WAY AND QT.HER COMPANIES.

EAST SOMERSET.

The report of the directors states that, notwith-
standing the extreme depression of trade during the
half-year ending Juue 30, the returus showed a
slight increase over the corresponding half of 1867,
and the directors felt sanguine that with a revival
of trade the steady increase of traffic on the line
would be maintained. The gross earnings for the
past half-year amounted to £3,582, which, after
paying 1.1,033 for interest on debenture debt and
rent charges, left £1,530, or 60 per cent. of balance,
to the Great Westeen Railway Company for work-
ing, and £1,020, or 40 per cent., to the company.
The directors recommended a dividend on the pre-
ference shares at the rate of 3/ per cent. per annum
for the last half-year free of income-tax.

Sxperimente in the preservation of meat still excite
public interest. Prom New South Wales we learn that
an attempt is about to be made by Mr. Mort in conveying
a cargo of meat, frozen by his process, from Sydney to !
England. The process has been for a long time before!
the public, and a practical test of it will be watched with
interest by all concerned in what is now one of the most ,
important questions of the day. An instance of the
success of the process carried on by the Victoria Meat
Preserving Company, under the management of Mr. R.
M'Cracken, has recently been brought under notice. Two
legs of mutton cured by their process were hung in the
rigging of the brig Greyhound, and remained there six
weeks, while the vessel made a trip from this port to Hobart
Town and back. The meat was afterwards cooked, and
proved to be perfectly sound and palatable from the outside
to the bone. The Victoria Company supply meat cured
in this way at a cheaper price than salt beef, and it will
no doubt come into extensive use among the shipping.
The Melbourne Meat Preserving Company still carry on ' ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN.
their operations, under the management of Mr. Ritchie ; ' The traffic receipts on this company's lines
and in the preparation of tinned meat, to which they limit amounted for the second week in August to
themselves, they will inevitably take a leading position $103,813, against $119,016 in the corresponding
among colonial preservers of meat for the home market. week last year, showing a decrease of $15,203.
A gratifying piece of testimony to the success of Mr.
Ritcbie's process was afforded by Messrs. Wilkie, Welch,
NORTHERN OF FRANCE.
and Co., in a letter to this journal a few days ago, stating The traffic receipts of this company for the week
that a most satisfactory trial had been made by Mr.
ending Aug. 18 amounted on the old and new lines
Welch, in London, of some Australian roast mutton,
cured by Mr. Ritchie before his connection with the com- to £772413, aud for the corresponding week last
pany. Mr. D. Medlock's process of curing joints of meat year to £85,190, showing a decrease of £7,777. Ihe
by dipping them in bisulphate of lime was put to a total receipts from January 1 to the above date
public trial the other day at the Governor Arthur Hotel, amounted to £2,166,479, and for the same period
Little Bourke-street, where a number of gentlemen dined in 1867 to £2,263,974; showing a decrease of
off roast and boiled legs of mutton, and roast and boiled £,7,495.
beef, which had been subjected to the process about three
1..........1
weeks before. The meat was served up hot, and
ELECTRIC AND INTERNATIONAL TELEGRAPH
proved to be quite equal to fresh cats, the gravy being '
retained. Mr. Medlock's process is expected to prove very (LIMITED).
useful for families and shipping. He is, however, like A special general meeting of this company was
almost all the numerous projectors of schemes for meat held yestetday at the London Tavern to consider
preservation, ambitious of trying to get at the home the propriety 'of selling and conveying to her Ma-
market, and a shipment of meat prepared by his process jesty's Postmaster-General, upon the terms specified
was sent to England by the Lincolnshire on her last trip. in the Electric Telegraph Act, 1868, the comp my's
The result of the experiment cannot be known for some undertaking ; the tlou. IL Griins.on in the chair.
time to come, but should it prove successful, a cheap way •
[he seal of the company having been taxed to
will have been found of solving the problem which has
the register of proprietors,
engaged so many ingenious minds among us.—Melbourne
Age, July 18. The CHAIRMAN said the meeting was convened
i
! for the purpose of obtaining the confirmation or
rejection of au agreement provisionally entered into
EXPLOSION OF A POWDER MAGAZINE.
by the directors with the Government for the sale
-•
to the Government of the business and plant of the
The Italian journals give some details of the blowing-up
undertaking, provided that Parliament should
of the powder magazine at Cagliari, in Sardinia. Three
distinct detonations succeeded each other with the rapidity pass . the Money Bill in the next session ; and
therefore he had to ask the proprietors for their
of lightning, and the next moment the entire building
was a heap of ruins. The prison and the military approval of that agreement as the first step in the
hospital of San Vicenzo were also seriously damaged. matter. The bargain for the sale of their uu-
Five dead bodieswere found at once, horribly mutilated, dertaking did not touch the company's reserve
and subsequently two others, those of a major of artillery fund, cash, or any of the past or undivided profits
and a young doctor. A large number of persons were also of the
undertaking.
aAll that the Government
wounded. The disaster is believed to have been caused by
sought was the business and plant to carry on that
the explosion of a steam-engine, which was out of order,
business. The terms of the bargain were that the
and to the state of which the officer above•mentioned had
previously called attention. All the local authorities were Government were to pay 20 years' purchase of the
present at the interment of the victims, and a subscription net profits of the company to June 3U, 1868. In
has been opened for the families of the workmen killed. caseof difference between the ciinp my and the Go-
The inhabitants now demand that the magazine should be vernment the amount of net profits w.:s to be settled
rebuilt outside the town. , by arbitration, either by one arbitrator mutually
I agreed on or by two arbitrators and au umpire. It
Iwas impossible to say what the arbitration would
give them ; and it would be undesirable to make any

FATAL GAS EXPLOSION.

A sad occurrence has taken place at Stratford New estimate of the probable amount. II: kuew it was
Town. Last month Mr. John Bennet, a licensed said out of doors they had made a good bargain,
victualler, entered into possession of a large tewly-built and that the Government had made an improvident
hotel on the right hand side of the Great Eastern Railway bargain, but all he had to say iu that respect was
Station at Stratford. On Tuesday evening, observing *
that he did not ask the proprietors to-negative the
smell of gas, he went to the billiard-room to see what was
proposition, but to confirm it. If they aegatived the
the matter. His wife followed him, and when they entered
the room 111 r. Bennet lighted a match. An explosion in• proposition the Government would eater info com-
stantly took place, and the windows were blown out into the petition with them. He thought it better to accept a
roadway, and the doors were also blown away. The alarm reasonable offer than be forced into competttiou
created in the neighbourhood was very great, and upon with a powerful rival; and, besides, Government
some persons rushing upstairs and entering the room they had the idea of establishing cheap telegraphy 311 over
perceived Mr. and Mrs. Bennet lying on the floor. They the country, and the various Chalabers of Commerce
were both severely burnt. Mr. Bennet was insensible, had urged that view before Parliament, some hav-
and from the first no hopei were entertained that his life ing suggested a 6d. rate for messages from London
would be spared, and he expired on Wednesday afternoon.
to Glasgow. Under these cireunistauces, such
The injuries received by Mrs. Bennet, although not so
severe, have left her in a most precarious condition, and undertakings could no longer be carriel on by pri-
her recovery is doubtful. vate enterprise, and he therefore recommended the
proprietors to accept the offer. lie then moved a
THE DISCOVERY OF HUMAN REMAINS IN formal resolution authorising the Board to sell and
BIRMINGHAM. convey the undertaking of the Electric and Inter-
I national Telegraph Company to her Majesty's Post-
master-General in his corporate capacity in terms
of the Electric Telegraph Act, 1868.
The DEP UTY-C II AIRMAN seconded the motion. He
said he had always taken a deep personal interest
in the success of their undertaking, and the direc-
tors had brought it to a point of prosperity that
made him very reluctant to part wish it. They
were compelled, however, to surrender the un-
dertaking to the Government, after having brought
their long labours to a successful isitie. lie re-
gretted parting with the undertaking, which was
to be extended so that every man, woman, and
child in the country might avail themselves of its
utility.

An inquiry was held by the Birmingham borough
coroner, on Tuesday afternoon, upon the skeleton remains
discovered below the surface, a few days since, in Great
Hampton-row. From the evidence it appeared that while
several workmen were engaged digging a trench for a
sewer, they came upon something like a box, at a depth
of about seven feet. The removal of a part of the
box revealed the fact that it contained bones
and pieces of rope. An old man, aged 73, deposed that
about fifty-eight or sixty years ago he remembered to
have seen, when passing along the lane that was
afterwards called Hangman's-lane, and now Great Hamp-
ton-row, a number of people standing about there, and he
afterwards learnt that it was on account of a man
who committed suicide by hanging himself being buried
there. A surgeon, who had inspected the remains,
gave a description of them. He had no doubt that they
were human remains, and they formed a perfect skeleton,
with the exception of the fibula, which was absent. It
was about sfeet 9 inches long, and he believed it to be
that of a middle-aged man. At the foot of the coffin he
found six, pieces of rope, about 3 feet 4 inches in length,
and about a third of an inch in thickness. There was
nothing in the appearances in contradiction to the conjec-
ture that the body had been interred fifty or sixty years
ago, when it was the law of the land that suicides should
be buried at cross-roads. The jury returned a verdict to
the effect that a skeleton of a middle-aged man had been
recently found.

After a short discussion the resolution was car
ried ; and a cordial vote of thanks to the chairman,
directors, and officers of the company for their valu-
able services concluded the proceedings.

ROSS AND MONMOUTH.

The half-yearly meeting was hell at the offices,
IMonmouth—Mr. Powles in the chair.
! The report stated that the subscriptions, with few
exceptions, had been satisfactorily paid up, and the
works would shortly be commenced, the contract
having been let to Mr. Firbauk.
I• The report was unanimously adopted.
A public meeting fo,lowed at the Borough Court,
the Mayor (Mr. Powles) in the chair, when resolu-
tious were passed approving the scheme, and le-
er)gnising the importance of increased efforts on the
part of the shareholders, and the share list received
a considerable accession of strength.

the banker. At the same time, he would be happy
to receive any suggestion that Mr. Hoyes had to
make, and it should have the careful consideration
of the board. He hoped the trade in Belgium would
improve during the next six months, as it was very
dull at present.

'1 he report and statement of accounts were ap-
proved, and it was agreed that the shareholders
could not do better than re•elect Messrs. BraPsey
and Austin, the retiring directors, at the general
meeting in Brussels.
A vote of thanks to the chairman and directors
concluded the proceedings.

dents, and especially, his mistakes, reproduce them-
selves. The Commission of 1867 was pretty nearly
moulded upon the exemplar of a -certain Commis-
sion called " of Ecclesiastical Revenues and Patro-
nage Inquiry (Ireland)," which was also appointed
by himself during his Chief Secretaryship for that
country, as a member of the Administration of the
late Earl Grey, and whose four Reports of 1833,
1834, 1836, and 1837 are, with their " Sum-
mary of Digest of Inquiry into Revenues and
Patronage" (1833), in all the. libraries. That
Commission, like the present, was limited to the
inquiry, " What are the revenues and property of
the Irish Establishment, and what are the duties of
the satne ?" The more important question,
What part have the people of Ireland in these
things, and how ought they to be appropriated for
their benetL.?" was then, as now, entirely laid out
of sight. But there was more excuse for the
omission then than now. The Commission of 1832-
7 was mainly composed of archbishops and bishops
of the Irish Establishment ; th a of. 1867-8
unless, indeed, Sir Joseph Napier has secretly
received the imposition of hands—contains not a
single ecclesiastic.

It is not to be denied that the reports of the
former Commission contained much to amuse and
instruct, and it is very possible—for jobbery is of
perennial growth—that the report of the actual
Commission will be equally edifying. But again,
it must be said, all that is really not germane to
the matter. The Irish of to-day feel as the Irish of
1835 felt. They cared but for one thing—the
getting rid of the incubus of ascendancy altogether.
They cared not to be told by the most reverend and
right reverend Commissioners of the shocking
abuses which their graces and lords dps confessed
themselves to have winked at so long. Protestants,
superior to jobbing, might redden with shame and
auger to, be told of such scandals, and might
clamour fur a new reformation ; but Irish Catho-
lics cared for none of those things. Of what
moment was it to them that the aggregate income
of the Irish Episcopal bench was at least
£128,808 Bs. 3id in 1834 ? that whilst the richest
areh.sishopric (Armagh) in that year boasted of a
present rs;venue of " £14,494 Os. 31d.," and a
possible one of " £23,930," the poorest (Cashel)
posses,ed a revenue of £6,308 ss. 2 t. ? that whilst
the income of the Bishop of Derry, the wealthiest
of mere bishops, was £12,159 3s. 6J., that of his
poorest brother, him of Cloufeit and
duagb, was the not inconsiderable sum of

" £2,097 11s. 6id." ? that when the reductions
enacted in 1833 should be made there would still
remain two out of fuur archbishoprics and eight
out of eighteen bishoprics? that an aggregate sum
varying in estimated amount from " £152,606
16s. Bid." to " £160,000" represented the income
a 281 persons in respect of deaneries, precentor-
ships, chancellorships, seven treastirerships,
.two
vostships, twelve archdeaconries, twenty-three
prebeuds, and one canonry, " there are not any
duties annexed ;" and as to the rest, the only duties
annexed were said to be either preaching in the
-cathedral church (" twice," " twice," or about
" fuur times in the year," or " in turn with the
other members of the chapter," times not specified)
or "attendance at chapter meetings," or " occa-
sional management of the Economy Fund," for the
benefit of self and fellows ? that the tithes of
Ireland " were estimated at £665,000 " ? that the
church glebes amounted in ail to " 91,137 acrt,
ucluding above 87.000 of protitAble," and esti-
mated at " £65,200 per annum "? And hat,
hilst on the one hand there were many of these
oelieticed clergymen who had no cure of souls at
all, there were, on the other hand, as many as
4,5ii0, or thereabout, of Anglican souls (no incon-
siderable fraction of the little flock!) without the
pretence of a single Anglican clergyman, beneficed
or utibeneticed,"to cure them?
The disclosure, no doubt, was very painful—in a

merely Protestant point of view. There was no-
thing having the faintest likeness to it iu Protestant
Church history, except perhaps the revelation in
the English Rolls Court of that much less shocking

" anomaly," the sinecure establishment of the
Canons of Windsor ; as to which the late Master of
the Rolls, in continuing a receiver of the income
of one of the canons at the suit of a creditor, is re-
ported to have thus judicially delivered his senti-
ments :—" If the residence in Windsor Castle and
the attendance on divine service had been stated in

the answer, or in any way shown, to be for the
benefit of the public, or for the maintenance of the
dignity of the Sovereign, I should have thought the
case very worthy of a different consideration. But
as that is not the case, it is a service to be performed
for the benefit of the party himself." This, how
ever, was the wiliest aspect of the " anomaly."
The most shocking feature was the numerical in-
significance of that very minority for whose pre-
tended benefit the rich mouoply was supposed to
be kept up. In all the reports of air. Secretary
Stanley's Commission of Inquiry into "revenue
And patronage" that feature was studiously kept
out of view. It was without the scope of Ins in-
structions.

As with Lord Derby's Commission of last
year, so with Mr. Stanley's Commission of 1831-3,
the play was to be " Hamlet," with the part of the
Prince omitted " by desire." In 1834 his 'col-
leagues of the Grey Ministry took heart of glace
upon the occasion of Mr. Ward's famous motion
for a further progress in the spirit of Mr. Stanley's
Irish Church T,mporalities Act of the previous
year, and consented to supply that strangely'
anomalous omission. Lord Grey, supported by the
great majority of the Cabinet, caused a new Coin•
mission to issue to a number of laymen, presided
over by Lord Broughatn, then Lord Cuaucellor,
and called the " Commissioners of Inquiry into
Public Instruction iu Ireland." They were directed
by the terms of their Commission " to ascert.in
the number of persons iu communion with the
United Church of England and Ireland in each
(Irish) benefice or parish, distinguishing, in the
cases of such benefices as comprised more than one
parish, the number belonging to each parish sepa-
lately, and to the whole collectively ; . . . to
state generally whether the numbers had been for
the last five yearsincreasingo:a iouary, or diminish-
ing ; to ascertain the number of places of worship
belonging to Roman Catholics, or Presbyterians,
and other Protestant Dissenters" (with the like.
instruction as to the fluctuations of the last five
years), " and the proportion of the population of
each parish belonging to each of such persuasions
respectively." The promulgation of the new Com-
mission was attended with one memorable inci-
dent. Mr. Stanley, already at variance with his
colleagues, took that occasion to retire from Earl
. Grey's Cabinet, and to break with the Liberal party
for ever.
The Commissioner& report upon the above-men-
tioned particulars of inquiry was published in the
spring of 1835. They had made a new and careful
census of Irish population for 1834, founded, how-
ever, upon the last census, that of 1831, and classi-
fied according to professions of faith and parochial
domicile. There were 7,943,740 of Irish people
within Ireland. Of these no less than 6,427,712
were Roman Catholics; the Anglicans were set
down at 852,064, but in that bUtil were " included
a considerable number of Wesleyan (Primitive)
Methodists, who " (although separated in worship)
" wished to be classed as members of that body ;''
there were 642,356 "Presbyterians ;" and " the
other Protestant Dissenters" amounted to 21,208
in all. There were 1,338 " cathedral and other
churches and chapels" of the Establishment, be-
sides 196 temporary meeting-houses of the same.
The Roman Catholics possessed 2,105 churches and
chapels ; the Presbyterians 452 ; and the other
Protestant sects 403. There were 1,385 " bene-
fices" belonging to the Establishment. Of these
907 consisted of " single parishes," and 478 were
" unions of two or more parishes." In only 12
" benefices" did the whole body of Anglicans (in-
cluding the Primitive Methodists mentioned above)
exceed 5,000 ; in 91 others it reached to 2,000
only ; iu 139 others to I,ouo only ; in 209 others
to 500 onty ; in 286 others to 200 only ; in 221
others to 100 only ; in 160 others to 50 only ; in
124 others to 20 only ; and in 99 others to 1 only.
Not less than 42 benefices are specified, in whicu,
say the Commissioners, " there is no member of the
Es!ablisnment."
Of the coluparative dhaihaut4oll or iwrease of the

respective numbers of the several denominations
during the past five years the Commissioners seem
to have been, unable to judge, the large emigrations
or changes of domicile during that period having
largely operated to disturb any calculation under
that head. But the steady growth of decline in
the numbers of the Anglican, and of increase in
those of the Roman Catholic, classes of population
ever since the days of Sir William Petty was
abundantly ascertainable by a comparison of the
received statistics with those of the report.
If the Eal of Derby's Commission of last year
had been instructed to continue that census of 1834,
with similar classificatio.A, down to the present
time, the appearance of the long-delayed report
would now be looked for with very general interest.
As it is, we shall not be far wrong in supposing
that by the time the contest begins in the new
Parliament on the disestablishmeut of the Irish
Church, the report—should it even have appeared
in the brief interval—will have been found useless
for the purposes of debate. In the meantime, how-
ever, the Commission has certainly had its uses,
and what these are we have endeavoured to ex-
plain.