The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-05 00:00:00

•yari, ant Witness toll him he sl-.ould not leave the place, and
that he (wittiegsj i-,•puld give
ihirc into custody. The prisoner
merely replied,
" I very we,:?"ond requested he would allot'
him to go lunge for his jacket. Witness cermined him to go
as he requested, expecting of cotrite that he WOUit: come back,
but witness saw nothing of him ft, rat that time until thii Morn-
ing, when he came to the premises and witness then sent for
a constable and gave him into custody. When he saw the
policeman he laughed. Finding he prisoner had kept out of
the ista,y, ttitness had called at thc., prisoner's lodgings, and left.
word, its fit wits hot at. haute, that finless he came forward wit-
ness would send a pilliteritatt after him.
John Williams said ho had betn employed in assisting the
prisoner in finishing the slide for me ettgifte, and on Monday
night he had occasion to get upon the top of the boiler, and
finding that there was no water in tt, he, addressitig the priso-
ner, said, " lrllott there's no water in the boiler;'' upon
which he replied, " No, I :Itould think not." On Tuesday
morning, a little before ten he (witness) was in the
saw-house, when the prisoner cssne itt there and went past
him, and was returning, when tl,l explosion Wok place. At
the time the prisoner exclaimed, " Oh ! what's that ?" and
the witness replied, " It's the holler that's burst, and you must
Ittimiv it is." In reply to a ques'inn from Mr. John tun, the
witness Said that on Monday the stoker tried the cocks in front

of the boiler, WI P.m(' there NN as no water oil.
The prisoner declared be could not account in arty ray for
the accident, but was satiAed b. was not for want of a good
supply of water. lie further said tint/ he was perfcctiy inner-
cent of the charge, and that it was quite impossible he could
have thought of anything so wick..d, as he endangered his own
life, a, much, if not more, than any other ; and for his cit?,rac-
ter's sake, as an engineer, would Jot have wished the thing for

a thousand pounds:
Alr. NORTON observed the ease should undergo a much
more minute investigation, and remanded the accused to a
future day, consenting, however, in the meantime, to take bail

for his future appearance.
THAMES-POLICE.
It is now Imre than twelve months since this Court was
opened for the transaction of pub is business, yet malting can
be so disgraceful as the state of each arid every of the passages
by which it is accessible. The approaches north and south by
Charles street and Arbour-square when the weather softens
in the slightest degree, are all bet ankle deep in mire, whilst
the two other modes of access, 0.,e leading from the Court to
tha Post-office, are altogether i-epassible except by wading
knee-deep through the slough. Jp to last summer a stagnant
pool, reaelii,,g from the footway ^u either side, lay directly in
front of the entrance to the Court. By way of remedying
this the_wat,r the water was bale(' out, the soil was dug up and
carted away, and a parcel of loose shingle, without a particle of
binding material, was thrown into the hollow. The conse-
quence is, there being no drainaee, all the moisture in the
neighbourhood oozes into the holl-w in which the loose shingle
is deposited, and the unhappy wight who hopes to escape from
the mud by stepping on the stones feels his footing give way,
and finds'himself suddenly immersed in the eubjneent pool,
wondering the while what motive +he constructor of a trap can
have, the only produce of which is the increase of catarrhs.
Wo to the confiding waggoner Yrio, trusting to the seeming
solidity of the way, ventures his t ?am upon the passage ; once
floundering in the slough of despc4d, nothing short of unload-
ing will unable him to get out. '.t is amusingly provoking to
see the manner in which the prisrn van endeavours to obviate
the difficulty. The driver, a very decent whip, takes a certain
over-righting, the gates are openeJ, the passage cleared; an I,
whack, whack, whack, the animals—excited by whip and
voice,
" As when the swift Camilla scours the plain,"
evade the dangerous quicksand acidst the applause of those
who regularly twice a day witness the extraordinary feat vtith
undiminished admiration.
On Monday last one of het 111.4esty's justices of the peace
had a narrow escape of being swallowed up in the earth, like
the Roman Curtius. Though aw ire of the danger, from the
experience of every day, as well as from former disasters, Mr.
Broderip, on the first day of the ~ew year, ventured to escape
the mud by driving up in a light cab, but just as he got in
front of the magisterial entrance dsiwn sank the vehicle through
the superfieies of loose shingle i,ito the subjacent hog. The
horse, in endeavouring to save nimself from a similar fate,
made a bound on the asphaltic .00tway and slipped. The
kicking and plunging of the animal, who was with much diffi-
culty treed from the harness, were more alarming than danger-
ous. The magistrate was immediately rescued from his un-
pleasant and almost ludicrous post'ion, and the cab, which was
stuck fast nearly up to the naves of the wheels, was, with much
labour and the efforts of several arong men, ultimately placed
on terra firma. Scarcely a 'lay passes without scenes of this
sort. Comment is superfluous.
Mr. BALLANTINE acknowledged the receipt of 51. for the
ioor-box, from " A. A."
UNION-PALL. _

Yesterday Thomas Groves, adiminutive boy, 10 years o
age, a foundling, was brought befi..re Mr. Cottingham, charged
with being found in the area of a house with an intent to com-
mit felony. The investigation ex-iibited the incorrigibly vici•
ous habits of a boy seldom cqualle J.
It appeared from the statement of a Mrs. Groves, the wife of
a wharfinger in very good circumstances, that several years
ago it was announced in the newspapers that a child was aban-
doned by its unnatural parents, and left in a basket at the gate
of one of the metropolitan workhcases. Mr. Groves's former
wife being apprised of the circumstance, and being inconsolable
for the loss of her two children w.. 0 died about that period, on
being made acquainted with the SP9OVe circumstance, and with
the sanction of her husband, applied for and had the foundling
delivered up into her charge. The child was adopted by the
persons named, and at a proper age was sent to school, and, in-
deed, had every attention paid to ;t; Mr. Groves intending to
spare no expense in the education .1 his foster child, as he usu-
ally termed him. The boy, however, as he grew up, exhibited
many bad qualities, was in the habit of pilfering from his school-
fellows, and committing other pett r thefts. Every means were
adopted to. break him of such vicious habits, but all to no
purpose ; and frequently would ',se abscond from the dwell-
ing, of his protectors and go wandering about the town, and
pil.ering whatever he could lay his hands upon. Not a work-
house in London but he had been the inmate ot, being usually
found in the streets almost naked, .4nd not one word he uttered
was to be believed; in fact, he meanie so incorrigible, and
robbed his protectors so often, that they found it was quite a
hopeless task to produce a reformation in so hardened yet so
youthful a character. On a resew. occasion, he decamped from
home having first broken open a chest of drawers, from which
he took some silver, and he was n-st heard of from that period
until the preceding night, when a policeman on duty in Allen-
street, Lambeth, hearing a noise in the area of a house, on
casting his bull's-eye lantern down the railings saw the prisoner
crouched up underneath a meat sa f.e, and he got there evidently
for the purpose of breaking it °per.. When he was discovered,
as usual, lie told a number of falsehoods, but it was at length
found that he had been away from 11r. Groves's house for some
days, and that. in the interval he had parted with his clothes,
and had scarcely any covering upon him.
Mr. COTTI NG AAL said he shodd commit the prisoner for a
month, and suggested that when the boy came out of gaol, if
lie returned to his bad habits, it .could be then incnmbent on
Mr. Groves, if he was robbed, again to prosecute him, and on
his conviction the Judge, prob..bly, instead of transport-
ing him, would send him to the ;rison in the Isle of Wight,
where he would be taught a trade by which he could earn an
honest livelihood when he came (eat.
The prisoner, who appeared quite unconcerned during the
recital of the above circumstances, was then committed.

SUPPLY OF GAS TO THE
METROPOLIS.
Yesterday evening a numerous .end highly respectable meet-
ng of the parishioners of St. Mart: a-in-the-Fields, was held in
the vestry-room of the parish, to take into consideration the
present state and mode of supplying the public with gas, and
to devise, if practicable, some mod, of establishing a standard
and measure for the same.
At seven o'clock Dr. JONES was unanimously called to the
Chair, when he entered upon a luminous exposition of the
nature and qualities of gas, and the manner in which the
various gas societies had it in thei, power to defraud the con-
sumers. He said the meeting h..d been adjourned from the
20thult. to this evening. The grievance which pressed most
h. eavtly upon the consumers was tiff. extremely partial manner
which the revenue for gas was collected, tor one individual
was supplied by contract, while ant.ther was compelled to burn
by meter. in the United Kingd'sm, a sum of upwards of
20,000,000/. was expended in the consumption of gas, and in
London alone the sum paid to it e several gas companies ex-
ceeded 2,000,0001. Such being the case, he thought
that the subject was one of suc:i importance as to require
their particular attention, for in many instances one
consumer paid for the carelessness of another. In a great
many cases the measures were most incorrect, and although
he did not mean to charge any r f the Gas Companies with
any wilful error, yet he should Lay, that when the meters
were put to the test, a vast number ot them were found to vary
fro n one to five per cent., and, in some cases, he could assert,
on his own authority, they varied as much as from oim to
twenty, or even thirty, per cent. The Gas Companies were
completely the arbiters in their own cases, for the consumer
was 'compelled to send the meters be tested at the gas-works.
Again, there were a great many of those meters which were so
constructed that they would not act at all against the Gas Com-
panies, or register the event when a less quantity of gas than
usual was consumed, whilst they v;ere must accurate when a
impressed
r essosme
de something
•like resterGo verquantitynm e ‘rivta ss
tlafunirpn,t
such
c1,h17 haast the wished
Excise
measures; to attest their correctness;
in •.; would not, discontinue its exertions until some such measure
vas carried.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CIIAI,VVICK, in an appropt :ate speech, proposed the
first resolution, which was as follows :—" That whereas the
consumption of coal gas has so much increased of late that it
has now become a necessary article of domestic economy, and
in the United Kingdom yields a y•aily revenue of at least
twenty million pounds sterling, whi sum as not collected im-
partially from the various consumers proportionately to the
quantity which each consumes, some being supplied by con-
tract and others compelled to burn by measure, whereas the
various measures employed by different Companies are supplied
to consumers, and the mode in wt.ch it should he supplied to
them should be subject to one general system of government,
either by Act of Parliament or other legislative interference,
in order to insure to the consumer is supply of gas of uniform
quality, and correct measurement of the same."
The next resolution, which was to the following effect, was
proposed and carried with acclamation :—" That for the
purpose of bringing this subject under the notice of Govern-
ment, a committee be appointed who shall have power to com-
municate (as a deputation from this parish) with the Hon. Se-
cretary for the Home Department, sir J. Graham, and confer
with him as to the best mode of carr‘'ing its object into effect."
The following resolution was ne A carried unanimously :-
4, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that as the gas sup-
plied by various Gas Companies differs materially in purity and
illuminating power, it would be desirable to define and esta-
blish, if practicable, a standard o' purity and illuminating
rower of the gas to be supplied to gas consumers under the
same, or such other regulations, as may appear more applicable,
as are applied to the supplying of spats to the public of a cer-
tain strength."
Messrs. ItarALl. and ONION prol.ased the next resolution,
as follows:—" That it is the opinion of this meetin z, that, it
would be desirable to establish a i_ublic standard of measure
for gas, and to permit no measure far gas to be used by any
Company or consumer, or sold by f.oy measure manufacturer,
unless it hail attached to it an authorised stamp of its accuracy,
according to the standard, as in the case of other measures, and
also in the case of weights."
A resolution that the ininbitanta of the parish of St. Alar-
tin-in-the•Fidds consider it desirahle that they should meet
the other metropolitan parishes, for the purpose of forwarding
the objects of the meeting being passed,
A vote of thanks was passed unar.:mously to the Cl'airrrian,
after which a Committee of twelve was appointed, when the
meeting separated.

DELEGATE IkIEFIING OF COWERS IN MANCIIES-
TER.—A national delegate meeting, or " conference," of coal
miners commenced its sittings in th.s town on Tuesday. The
delegates, to the number of seventy or eighty, assembled in
Carpenter's Hall, Garratt-road. Or. the Wednesday night, in
the same place, a lecture was delivered by William Dixon. on
the subject of the miners' grievances•—Manchester Guardian.
A NEW ORDER.—We remember, in the flourishing
days of architectural monstrosity, to which the Brighton Pavil-
lion and the church in Langbaru-pla .e belong, being exceed-
ingly perplexed by the appearance of a column about to be
raised to its place in a new building. We asked one of the
builders "to what order of architetzure it belonged?" He
answered with great simplicity, " ‘3ir, that is Mr. Morris's
most positive order."..4lrt- Union.