The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-24 00:00:00

GAME LORDS AND RABBITS.
ORMSKIRK.—On Saturday last, Thomas Edge, of
Hoskar Moss, and three other young men, farm-
labourers, appeared before the Rev. Joshua Thomas
Horton, clerk, to answer a charge of trespass pre-
ferred against them by Lord Skelmersdale, father-
in-law to Lord Stanley, one of her Majesty's princi-
pal Secretaries of State. It appears that the young
men had obtained permission from Thomas Morris,
Esq., to have a day's ferreting for rabbits, as a sort
of Christmas gift, on his lands, near Hoskar Moss,
in Lathom, and that, in the course of the day, they
inadvertently walked into a field adjoining to one of
Mr. Morris's, belonging to his Lordship, erroneously
supposing it at the time to belong to the former gen-
tleman. They were seen by his Lordship's game-
keeper, who informed them that they were trespass-
ing, when they immediately retired, expressing their
regret to the keeper, and telling him that the trespass
was not committed knowingly. The damage done
to the herbage of the field does not amount to more
than half a farthing, rated at the very highest. The
gamekeeper appeared to support the information, and
the reverend magistrate convicted the parties, in
damages of forty shillings each and costs, and in-
flicted an additional fine of eight pounds and costs
on one of the young men, who unthinkingly, and un-
fortunately for himself, carried a gun to assist them
in the sport.—Here are fines inflicted by a clergyman
of the Church of England, on four poor labouring
men, amounting, with the expenses, to near 201., for
momentarily entering a nobleman's field in a mistake.
The poor fellows, too, are all parishioners of the con-
victing magistrate, and do not live very far distant
from the park walls of the noble complainant. The
aggregate amount of the fines and costs, astounding
and unprecedented as it may appear, is more than
twenty thousand times the actual value of the damage
sustained by his Lordship.--Liverpool Chronicle.

DESTRUCTION OF OLIVES.
I The inhabitants of the south of France and Italy,
who cultivate on a large scale the olive tree, complain
bitterly of the severe losses caused by insects, and
which they seem unable to guard against. The
olives are attacked by a small caterpillar, which pene-
trates into its kernel, on which it lives, and escapes
about the end of August, by an opening near the
pedicle, and, by means of a thread which it spins,
reaches the ground, where it undergoes its metamor-
phoses, and then becomes a butterfly. The caterpillar,
in making the hole through which it escapes, causes
the pedicle to die, and the olive always falls before it
is ripe. Once on the ground, the caterpillar seeks
for a dry leaf, or some crevice in the earth, constructs
a light silken web, is changed into a chrysalis, and, in
the space of from three to six days, the butterfly
appears. At the instant the caterpillar leaves the
olive, it meets with numerous enemies : thus, birds,
while it hangs by the thread ; ants, as soon as it
reaches the earth ; and, finally, a small hymenopterus
deposits its egg on its body, and these produce small
larva, which live on, and are developed at the expense
of, its flesh and fat, without attacking the vital parts.
As soon, however, as they are completely developed,
they kill the caterpillar, or the chrysalis, and make
under its skin from fifteen to twenty oval webs. In
order to destroy a great number of these lepidopterce,
the following plan may be followed :—At the end of
August, when the caterpillar leaves the olives, a
trench, of about an inch or two in depth, must be dug
around the tree, and filled with dry leaves, so as to
furnish a convenient hiding place for the caterpillar
to form its web. In the beginning of September the
leaves must be collected and burnt, and the trench
filled up, so as to bury any that may remain under
the clods.—Medical TimeB.

METHOD OF BUILDING ON A
DAMP SOIL.
_

_ --•
In building on a damp soil, having provided for the
drainage of the site and its vicinity, the walls to a
little above the ground-line should be built with
mortar incorporated with some ingredient giving it
the property of a hydraulic cement, or such as would
set under water ; otherwise the mortar will never
properly harden, but be inclined rather to decompose,
and will always facilitate the rise of damp into the
walls of the superstructure. Where there does not
appear imperative occasion for incurring this extra
expense, and indeed in all other cases than the one
named, it is well to introduce near, but out of contact
with the ground, a course of some material which is
of a nature much more impermeable to moisture than
the generality of building materials, a thin plate of
some incorrodible metal for example, or a layer of
hard slates in Roman cement, or of coal' •tar and sand ;
either of these will intercept the rise of damp. In
buildings of brick, it is the more necessary to have
recourse to such measures, since that material is very
absorbent in its nature, draws up damp to a consi-
derable height, and retains it for a long time. Where
the walls of a building in which no such precautions
have been taken, have become damp, it would have a
salutary effect to dig out the earth which lies against
them, and apply a coat of concrete, or Roman cement,
to the parts under the ground-line, then fill in the
earth :gain ; the current would thus be effectually
stemmed, and on the right side of the wall ; and all
short-sighted attempts to shut it out from within, by
means of tarred-paper, or tea-lead, rendered unne-
cessary. It is plain that where water is collecting, it
must either run out or run over; and if an internal '
coating resists the percolation, the more is the pity, I
since the consequence must be the rise and spread of '
the mischief.—The Builder.

TUE CASE OF MESSRS. SMITH, THE DISTILLERS,
AND THE EXCISE.—The law officers of the Crown are in
daily communication with the Commissioners of Excise on
the subject of the above approaching trial in the Cour
of Exchequer. To render the case more intelligible
than it could possibly be by the description of counsel,
and the immense interests involved in the issue, the
Commissioners have caused to be constructed a model of
the premises at a cost of three hundred guineas, which is
now in the board room of the excise department. This
model it is proposed to place before the jury on the day
of trial.
We have every reason to believe, from information
received from Oxford, that in deference to the opinion
of a large number of the members of Convocation who
have expressed their dissent from the proposed altera-
tions, the intended additions to the Statute, title xvii.,
sect. 3, "De Auctoritate et Officio Vic,...-Cancellarii,"
will be withdrawn ; and so form no part of the acade-
mical business to be considered and determined on upon
the 13th of February.
YARMOUTIL—The quantity of sprats brought into
this town have been very great during the past week,
and large quantities have been sold as manure.—Cam-
bridge Advertiser.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT.--NARROW ESCAPE.—Yester-
day evening, about twenty minutes past six o'clock, as
the workmen in the employment of Messrs. Blackball
and Scott, comb manufacturers, 21, New-street, were
quietly engaged at their labours, they were suddenly
alarmed by the descent of a large stone, 341bs. weight,
right down through the roof of the manufaetory into the
midst of them. The chair on which one of the men was
seated was splintered into several pieces, and yet, strange
to say, the man himself escaped unhurt. The only injury
sustained was by a little girl, whose face was slightly
hurt by a fragment of the stone. On inquiry, it turned
out that this unlooked-for visitation was occasioned by
the blasting operations in the Calton-hill tunnel, upwards
of 200 yards distant. It was also ascertained that several
larger stones had struck the front of Mr. Ruthven's house,
No. 23, and that another had shattered the pavement in
front. It is amazing, though very gratifying, to think
that no one was killed. This, we regret to say, is not the
first accident that has occurred at this tunnel.—Scotsman.
SINGULAR AND FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday
last a labouring man, named Thomas George, met with
his death at Pull Court, near Tewkesbury, under the
following circumstances :—The deceased, in company
with other labourers, was felling some timber on the es-
tate of J. E. Dowdeswell, Esq., and a rope bad been
fastened to an elm tree for the purpose of pulling it
down in a particular direction. The tree, however, fell
in a contrary direction to that intended, and in pulling
the rope caught against another tree, which caused the
deceased to be jerked forward a distance of fifteen yards,
his head striking in bis fall violently against the trunk
of another tree, and killing him on the spot. The de-
ceased was thirty-three years of age, and has left a
widow and four children.— Worcester Journal.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.—On Monday evening, as
the five o'clock train was proceeding from Brockley
Whirls to South Shields, a female passenger, in a state
of intoxication, leaped off the top of one of the car-
riages, the train at the moment proceeding at full speed.
As soon as it could be effected, the engine was stopped,
and a person dispatched to look after the woman. Oa
the arrival of the train at Shields, medical aid was pro-
cured; and the return train proceeded up the line at a
slow place, a man being placed on the look-out at each
side of the engine. Fortunately, and to the astonish
ment of all parties, the woman had been enabled to
scramble back, with assistance, to the station, having
escaped with only a severe contusion of the knee.—Tyne
Mercury.
THE ACCIDENT AT THE EAGLE'S BUSH COLLIERY.
—We regret that no particulars of this accident, upon
iowhich
tn in wo
our
rl
couldaat p
daeppeer.n d ,
Tleer were
numberreceived f in
etni time
injured
inser-
tion ser
was
l-
to the expectations which we ex-
pressed,l,
andall rapidly getting better. The cause
they contraryare
of the explosion is supposed to be the falling away of a
portion of the walls which separate the working from the
old levels, by which a large quantity of fire, damp was
liberated, and took fire at one of the workmen's candles.
tNwoewroN have.
uwithn e nt
the
edeath ordinary
f
NORTON...
oiatnins
—Swansea Journal.
William Fletcher Norton, Esq., of Elton
thef e el? i nl:gAds :or if
or:erg rAeti hsa•
Manor, in this county, at 40, Wellington-square, Hast-
ings. This amiable and excellent lady had been for
some time in a declining state of health, and it bad been
recommended by her medical adviser to try the air of
Hastings, where she accordingly went on the 21st De.
comber la. t.
from the She aPPV red at first to derive some benefit
dange, but thisa hope was soon dispelled ; she
gradually became weakersat dand weaker, till at length she
minutesbreat hed
before her last o
uorn the_ayl_ot
,18tahm inst., at twenty
o'clock. t haul Review.
CAVTION TO CABMEN.—At Marlborough-street
Police-court, yesterday, three cab-drivers were fined five
shillings and costs for leaving their cabs on the stand in
Piccadilly unattended.

POLAR SEA EXPEDITIONS_ AN
POLAR LAND JOURNEYS.
These are two letters sddressed to Sir John Barrows
Bart., Secretary to the Admiralty, by Dr. King, a
medical officer in her Majesty's service, to whom we
were indebted for former contributions on the same
subject, published, res[ectively, in The Sun-of Fe-
bruary 15, November 15 and 30, in the year
1836. The views therein hazarded on important
geographical and physical features of the remote coasts
which were the objects of British exploration, as proba-
ble, appear to have been largely confirmed by the results
of the actual surveys subsequently executed ; a fact Bt
once honourable to the sagacity and observation of our'
author, and entitling any future speculations of his
on similar topics, to an attentive reception by the
public. To this extent the letters before us may
claim similar commendation with the earlier papers
above noticed ; but we could wish that in address. ng
Sir John Barrow a little more of the suaviler in mo,lo
had been adopted. The first letter commences with'
" a careful digest of the services" performed in this
line of geographical enterprise since 1818, when Sir
John " first entered on that field of research." The
author appears to us to speak disparagingly of
the merits of Captain Sir George Back's
most generous and remarkable voyage, and
in subsequent passages to attach far more
value and authority to Captain Sir John Ross's
quarto, than we are apt to think it will ever m-
tnand with the public. There is little consideration
shown for the highly importar.t additions furnisised
by Sir Edward Parry to Polar hydrography. The
merits of that ill-rew added and most intelligent officer,
the late Captain Lyon, are indeed casually adverted
to ; but the great performance of the boat's crew dis-
patched under orders from Captain Beechey, R.N.
along the shores of the Polar Sea to meet, if possible,
the land expedition of Captain Franklin, advancing in
an opposite direction from the mouth f the Copper-
mine or, it might be, the Mackenzie River, is passed
over in absolute silence. The " Blossom's boat" is blot-
ted out of this record. Yet wefully concur in many of.
the important positions which the author takes up
The various services in the attempts to " solve the pro-
blem of a North Polar passage between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans," are thus smartly summed U J :
" The Polar Sea Expeditions amount to ten, the Polar
Land Journeys to three ; seven out of the ten Polar Sea
Expeditions may be briefly described :—Captain Lyon's
expedition was modestly called by him ' an unsuccess-
ful attempt to reach Repulse Bay;' in the body of the
narrative of Captain Back's expedition will be found the
same tale which Captain Lyon told on his title-page ;
Captain Ross returned, after four years' wintering, with-
out advancing a step towards the object in view; Cap-
tain Parry failed in his attempt to reach the Pular Sea
by Regent's Inlet, as well as Behring's Strait, to the
Pole ; Captain Beechey saw the Polar Sea, and that is
all ; and Captain Buchan was nut so fortunate as Cap-
tain Beechey."
Notwithstanding our regret that more courtesy and
temper have not been demonstrated by the author to-
wards Sir J. Barrow, in parts of these letters, we must
go all lengths with him in the just reflections involved in
his argument, to show the original error of some of
the Hon. Baronet's conclusions, and the characteristic
tenacity with which that functionary persisted in
such error. We can find room for the following ex-
tract only :
" The great difficulty in the way of these various at-
tempts, all know, was ice, but no one, not even the
author of the Chronological History of Arctic
Voyages,' has inquired where was it found, and where
was it not found, and, therefore, where was it for the
future to be avoided. That which forced itself, especially
upon Sir Edward Parry's mind, was the fact
of the ad-
herence of ice to those shores which had an eastern
aspect, while those of an opposite character were free.
I have tested this fact in connexion with the movements
of the various Polar Sea Expeditions which have been
set afloat since 1818, and I find that in every instance
the difficulties arose from the same cause—the clinging
to lands having an eastern aspect. It may be as well to
mention them, for facts are always worth repeating. Sir
Edward Parry, in his second expedition, made attempts
for two successive summers, to penetrate the eastern
entrance of the Fury and Hecla Strait, and
failed ; and, in his third expedition, he lost the
Fury while pushing his way along the' eastern land
of North Somerset. Sir John Ross, in his second
expedition, was four years advancing four miles
along the same eastern land, and was at last obliged to
abandon his vessel. Captain Lyon and Sir George Bark
made separately unsuccessful attempts to reach Repulse
Bay, which has an eastern aspect.
" How, it may be inquired, is this general difficulty to
be avoided? By doing, from experience, that which
Baffin and Ross did from instinct, by taking the road,
which is fairly open to us—the lands that have a western
aspect. The difficulty then is clearly one of our own
seeking, and no longer presents an insurmountable bar-
rier to arctic research.'
It is always a welcome labour to do homage to
those matchless displays of British intrepidity, courage,
and humanity, physical powers of endurance, and
moral fortitude, which were so nobly developed in the
two overland expeditions of Sir John Franklin and
his party, and the successful completion of the tra-
verse from the shores of the Polar Sea to the eastern
coasts of Behring's Straits, at the northern extremity
of the Great Pacific Ocean, by a traveller whom our
author justly eulogises as " great "—the prematurely
deceased Mr. Simpson, with his gallant comrades of
the North-West Company's memorable enterprise:
" And now let me call your attention to the other ser-
vice which has been at work upon this interesting gpli?,_
tion. I mean the Polar Land Journeys, those fruitful
missions, but for which Tou would have been deprived
of some one or another of your favourite Polar Sea Ex-
peditions. A short survey of the Polar Land Journeys
will afford a standard of comparison with the Polar Sea
Expeditions, and develop the true position. The pub-
lication of the travels of Hearne, the fur trader, for
which we are indebted to a Frenchman, demonstrated
that the Polar Sea could be reached overland by way of
Canada, and the success which attended the first Govern-
ment expedition, proved that the opinion which had
been formed, was in every way correct. The distance
between the Coppermine River and Point Turnagain, as
Sir John Franklin named the point of his retrograde
movement, was thus made known to us. A second ex-
pedition added the distance between the Mackenzie and
the Coppermine, and as far westward of the Mackenzie
as Foggy Island, which far suppassed in extent the pros-
perous voyage of Sir Edward Parry, in 1819 and 1820.
A third expedition eclipsed all, and left to be surveyed
but a small portion of the North American boundary
of the Polar Sea ; in that portion, small as it is, rests the
problem of three centuries.
" Is not this sufficient encouragement to send a fourth?
The fruits of the ten Polar Sea Expeditions will not ba-
lance with those of the last of the three Polar Land
Journeys ; and the harvest of the first and the !feast suc-
cessful of these interesting missions is greater than that
which remains to be gathered, while in expenditure the
three Land Journeys have certainly not cost more than
two, if one, of the ten Polar Sea Expeditions. Even the
little that has been done by the Polar Sea Expeditions
is of doubtful character. Bank's Land, North Somerset,
the North Georgian Group of Islands, and the boun-
daries of Barrow Strait are still problems ; they are the
lesser puzzles which I have mentioned. It is not so
with the labours of Franklin, Richardson, and Simpson ;
the footing they made is permanent, while Croker's
Mountains have dissolved, and islands threaten to be
continents, and continents islands, the natural conse-
quence of discovery in ships."
The second letter is ingenious and acute ; but we
have no more room for extracts.
P---

_ EDESTRIANISM.—The celebrated pedestrians, Wil-
liam Jackson (the American Deer), of Norwich, and
William Sheppard, of Birmingham, the competitors in
the late great running match for 2001., which was won
by the former, have been backed again for 100 L to run
five miles, the friends of Sheppard conceiving that his
powers endurance and speed are equal, if not superior.
to those of Jackson at a shorter distance. In the pre-
vious contest they were matched to run for an hour, but
Sheppard broke down when within about four hundred
yards of the tenth mile, and his adversary, continuing
his course till the expiration of the hour, consequently
won the match. Another great match is on the tap
between Maxfield (alias the North Star), of Slough,
Jackson, who defeated Sheppard, and John Davies. Li
Welshman, for 1501. (501. aside), to run a mile on aturn.
pike-road ; the match to come off on the 11th of ihe en.
suing month. Sheppard offered to stake 701. to the 504
posted by each of the others, for perzniaeion to run in
the match; but this, it is said, has been refused.
, and is trithiiii
PEDESTRIANISM.--A race between John Handle
y;
of Nottingham, and Thomas Needham, of Radford, a dis-
tance of three hundred yards, will come off next Monday
week. This race will excite much interest, both partiel, being well-tried pedestrians. Although Handley him
hWeresudmopeto.
acquired .a great name, as a long runonfewrhic.
under the veteran Tom Middleton, his opponeut • ,Isa
l ua, rat ecronr,pt
favourite amongst the " knowing ones:, The is
to
be run for is 20/. on each side ; 20/.
sited last Monday night.—On Monda I for 10t, between Pipes and
trians, came off on the Derby-road,wo amateur joedea.
won'easily.—Nottinghani Review . when the formes
Foot, consisting of 3 sergeants
MILITARY INTELEIGENCE.--CHATHAM, JAN. 22.---
This morning a deta
oyraals:anadmiCale rracan racer
of the I lth Regiment of
and file, with 1 supernumerary, left their head-quarters
at the Artillery Barracks, Brompton, near Chatham.
en route for Deptford, where they embark on board the
Mountstuart Elphinstone, convict ship, 611 tons burden,
which vessel will drop down to Woolwich, to take tri
convicts for Van Diernan's Land. The detaches ent
which is to form a convict guard, is under the eor,imant '
of Major John Cassimir Harold and Ensigr, Hunter
(both officers are of the same corps). Sever. women and
15 children accompany the troops. There is a report it
the garrison, that the remaining part of the 11th will be
sent out altogether to the colony, instead of being
draughted out in detachments as convict-guards, as more
troops are required in that island. 74th. Four Company
depot at this garrison will be removed to Canterbury it
the early part of next month; and the Four Company
depot of the 46th Regiment, now at Dublin, will arrive a
this garrison to do garrison duty.
THE GREAT BRITAIN.—This leviathan of the dee' i.
made another very successful trip down Channel *or:
Monday, as far as. Ilfracombe. We understand that her
speed was never less than 9i knots, and on her retrirz
reached as high as 14. To-morrow (Thursday, -the
citizens of Bristol will have to bid a long, and (we fear
a last farewell to this pride of their port, as she starts,,
a trip to London, there to become the " eynos-Ato ci
wondering eyes" previous to RlyinE on her statift be
tweenLivenfool and New York.--lirisiol GaottA

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