The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-11 00:00:00

A SWINDLER.

A somewhat novel expedient for " raising the wind"
has been communicated to us. One day last week the
residence of a Preston gentleman (who has a son in
Australia) was visited by a respectable-looking
individual, attired as a subordinate officer of
the royal navy. After making sundry preli-
minary inquiries, the stranger intimated that he
had recently landed at Plymouth from Australia, and
that he had formed the acquaintance of Mr. —'s
son at one of the colonies of that country. Upon
this, the visitor was invited into the drawing-room,
and several questions were addressed to him by the
young ladies of the house, respecting their absent
brother, from whom they had not heard for a
considerable time. The man, however, replied,
" I shall tell you nothing until I have seen his
last letter ; I know his handwriting, and I shall
then see whether lam at the right house." He
was told that the letter was then not at hand, it
having been lent to a friend. At length he informed
the anxious querista that he had brought over a large
box from their distant brother; that on his landing
at Plymouth, the custom-house officers examined
the contents of the box, which they detained, on
finding therein a letter addressed to Mr. —; and
that he had business to transact in Liverpool, but had
been at the expense ofjourveying thence to Preston for
the purpose of seeking the yonng man's friends and
making them acquainted with these circumstances.
r He proceeded to make various other representations,
which we need not detail, evidently with a view of
obtaining money. In the meantime, however,
Mr. -- arrived ; he haring been sent for
by one of the young ladies to hear the
important intelligence. He at once surmised that
the man was an impostor, and proceeded to sub-
mit him to the ordeal of a searching cross-examina-
tion. On being asked what the box contained, he
replied " natural curiosities ;" and in the course of
some further conversation, he said, " The custom-
house authorities will pay no attention to you if
you write to them ; but if you have a friend in
Plymouth to whom you can refer, I will go with
him for the box." Still Mr. manifested his in-
credulity. At length the stranger became indig-
nant at the suspicions cast upon his integrity, and
exclaimed, " Take down my address," which he gave
as follows :—" George Sandars, second mate of the
ship Auckland, Plymouth." Perceiving to his dis-
I cornfiture that Mr. -- was not to be caught with
chaff, the visitor at length took his departure,
with a great display of wrath ; the person who
escorted him to the door being requested, in
nautical parlance, to " open the gangway." Alr. --
has since written to the Custom-house officials at Ply-
mouth, from whom he has received a reply, stat-
ing that there was no such person in the service and
that numerous application had been received respect-
ing imaginary boxes like the one described. We un-
derstand that the audacious impostor, who is a young
and good-looking man, wears a profusion of jewel-
lery, which he loses no opportunity of displaying ;
this, in all probability, was purchased with the pro-
ceeds of his fraudulent career.—Preston Guardian.

LORD PALMERSTON'S ESTATE.
Last week, for the first time, we visited the above
estate, situated iu this county, and within a few
miles of this town. We have seldom discharged
a similar duty with greater pleasure. The
property, which extends from the boundary
of Leitrim at Bunduff-bridge to the Half-way
house at Castlegarron, is about 10 miles in length,
and the whole estate, we have been informed, contains
some 1,500 acres, varying in quality, but all exceed-
ingly rough and difficult to cultivate. The average
rental on the estate is by no means low and
scarcely equitably proportioned to the quality,
or the land. In justice, however, to his Lord-
ship, we must state that he never pockets a shilling
by the estate, but invariably lays out all
on improving the state of his tenantry. For the last
ten years he has purchased seeds fur his tenants
at considerable expense, and improved in this way
the product of cultivation. It is but right to
add, also, that the tenants are never pressed,
and although two years' rent are now due on the
estate, his Lordship has ordered seed to be given
out as usual. His Lordship having obtained an
extensive grant from the Board of Works for the
purpose of improving the estate, has been enabled
to give extensive employment to the poorer classes of
the tenantry. Upwards of 100 men are engaged at
present in making roads fur the accommodation of
interior portions of the property. Under the Arterial
Drainage Commission better than 50 men are
engaged in opening Cartern River for the purpose
of giving fall to the sewers being opened on either
side, and employment for similar purposes will be
given to 200 men for the next three months
in opening Grange River. The good effects of
this system are already apparent. While hun-
dreds of acres, muctl• better land, are uncultivated
on other properties, there is not a single acre of
this rough inferior land of Lord Palmerston's un-
let on the whole estate, and but four persons in
the receipt of relief in an entire electoral divi-
sion. The improvement of the property has been
facilitated considerably by emigration. In 1847
and 1848 his Lordship expended 11,000/., in
sending those of his tenantry which could not
occupy the soil to advantage to America, and else-
where. This gave liberty for the present system
of improvement which is being carried on in the
estate. Cabins which were unfit to live in have been
replaced by human habitations, and a system of en-
couragement adopted which has made the small' far-
mers rival each other in the neatness of their dwel-
lings. We are sorry 'co see the neat little harbour of
Mulloughrnore, upon which his Lordship laid out
somefifteen or ta a werAty thousand pounds, lying compara-
tively useless,
a beautiful little smack lying idle
in the Barbourremunerative fiswhinnich might be usefully employed for
Lordship on
Whgolepurposes. We congratulate hisowever, on his successful ef-
forts to improve his esta: hteand the social condition of his
tenantry at time, the samee
wTheldaimple facts we
have stated go further tmr.
would
both him
Smyth, than any
equally totuoaut mrbaeelvesomitting
and the
a
and his effiudcientt n
owe,uch m creditL is
duty
yer witheidchla weaios agent,
tenantry, were we not to state, h
due to the local agent of the property,
through whose untiring attention to ther.busi yneb,
"
of the estate and the interests of the tenants,
designs of the proprietor are being efficiently
carried out. Possessing the mutual confidence of
the owner and occupiers of the soil, and possessing
a thorough knowledge of his business, Mr. Lynch
is well adapted for the discharge of his onerous du-
ties. It would be well for Ireland, everything con,
sidered, if the owners of the soil, generally, bad taken
so lively an interest in the welfare of his tenantry, as
Lord Palmerston has done on this estate.—Sligo
Chronicle.

SINDE PRIZE MONEY.—We are glad in being
able to announce that the rolls of the unclaimed shares of
the Sinde prize money, due to the Bombay portion of the
force, have
as sa been received' by the Court of Directors of the
East Indta'Conipatiy, hnd distribution will commence' as soon
the
e'ce•ssarY arrangel32ollo call be made fvr that prpose.
`Unites Service Gazette.