The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-28 00:00:00

necessity of resorting --to to the proposal we now-recommend to
your adoption, that the grievances of the people should be in-
vestigated and redressed before the supplies are voted.
Councillor PERRY gave an account of the interview which
the deputation, entrusted with the memorials and petition,
had with Mr. Muntz. He said Mr. Muntz seemed to throw
ridicule on the proposal. With regard to the present meet-
ing, he could not help stating with what feeling of indigna-
tion he had beard the statement that the Duke o Wellington
had received about two millions and a quarter of the public
money, for what ?—(Hear, hear.) It was "really awful to
think of it, that thousands and tens of thousands had been
called out to shed their brother's blood, and were themselves
now lying low in the dust of the ground.—(llear, hear.)
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Scholefield, with an ex-
pression of regret that Mr. llifuntz did not support Mr. Craw-
ford on the 6th instant.
It was announced, amidst much applause, that Mr. O'Con-
nell was to be in Birmingham on Friday, when a public
breakfast will be given to him, and a town's meeting held in
the evening, on the subject of Irish affairs' at which he would
be present. The meeting then separated.

FACTORIES.,,

" Bill for Regulating the Employment of Children,
Young Persons, and Women, in Factories."
Brought into the House of Commons by Sir
James Graham and Mr. Manners Sutton. Or-
dered to be printed 6th February, 1844.
This Bill, in its present shape, consists of seventy-
seven clauses, with four schedules of certificates,
forms, &c., connected with its various enactments.
The first clause repeals the 42d Geo. 111. c. 73, the
3d and 4th Will. IV. , c. 109, and the 4th and sth
Will. IV., c. 1, entitled respectively, " An Act for
the Pre.rvation of the Health and Morals of
Apprentices and others employed in Cotton and other
Mills and Factories ;" " An Act to Regulate the
Labour of Children and Young Persons in the Mills
and Factories of the United Kingdom;" and " An
Act to explain and amend". the last recited Act.
Clause 2 is one of interpretation, determining
the legal signification and extent to be attached
to these words whenever they occur in the
Bill, namely, any word denoting a " male person,"
shall be taken to mean a " female" as well as a
male ; and " one person," or thing, any number of
persons or things • to be construed a " child
under the age of thirteen;' "young person," a person
of thirteen and under eighteen, &c. &c. " Month,"
is to mean a " calendar month ;" " night," to imply
from eight o'clock in the evening till six o'clock on
the following morning. The application of the word
" factory " is also carefully defined, together with the
exceptions thereto which are to be noted; as to such
parts thereof, for instance, as are used solely for the
purposes of a dwelling-house, or during the packing
of finished goods; and from this and other parts of
the Act are to be exempted young persons, being me-
chanics, artisans, or labourers working only in making
and repairing the machinery, or any parts of the
factory. Clauses 3 to. 5 enact that no child
under eight years of age be employed in any factory ;
no young person under sixteen to be employed
without a surgeon's certificate-; but children and
young persons may be employed seven or thirteen
days without such certificate. Clauses 7 and 8—
Children not to work more than six hours and
thirty minutes daily, and young persons and women
not more than twelve hours daily. Clauses 9 and 10
enact, that children and young persons shall not be
employed in more than one factory, and are not to
work in the night (i. e. after half-past seven in the
evening). Clause 11 directs in what manner it shall
be lawful for employers to make up and recover, by
the additional labour of children, young persons, and
women, time lost from drought or floods. Clauses
12 and 13—Work to cease on every Saturday after-
noon at half-past four; one hour and a half to be
allowed for meal. times.
Subsequent clauses provide precautions to ensure
regularity in the observance of time ; eight half-
holidays to be allowed in every year; children to
attend school, and occupiers of factory to obtain
school certificates, and to pay school fees. Factories
to be lime-washed, yearly; protection to be provided
for workers in net-spinning flax mills ; mill-gearing
not to be cleaned while in motion ; machinery to be
inclosed or guarded; inspector or sub-inspector to
give notice of dangerous machinery; notice to be
given of any accident ; certifying surgeon to examine
into cause and extent of accident, and report thereon.
All these clauses (from 14 to 24 inclusive) are ad-
mirable, both for the spirit which has dictated and the
details which develope their application. Then next
follow various clauses requiring a registry to be kept,
after a form in the schedule, in every factory ; and
providing for the appointment of inspectors and sub-in-
spectors, their meetings and reports, legal exemptions
(as, from serving on juries) attaching to them, and
arrangement of their offices. Notices to be given to
them by persons beginning to occupy factories ;
certifying surgeons to be appointed by them—duties,
&c., of surgeons in their connexions with factors and
mill owners, and inspectors ; proofs of age as to
youths and adults; inspectors authorised to annul
certificates ; certificates of real age may be claimed,
and to serve for one factory only ; prosecutions for
compensation by inspectors; and application of such
compensations when recovered.—(Clauses 25 to 49.)
Clauses 50 to 54 enact that occupiers of factories
shall be liable in the first instance ; but all com-
plaints for infractions of the Act must be preferred
within two months of the date of the offence. Sub-
sequent clauses regulate the proceedings under this
Act; power to be exercised for recovery of penalties
under it ; authority to judges to compel the
attendance of witnesses, &c. Clauses 58 to
71 set out several offences as infractions of
the Factories Act, assign
the penalties respec-
tively attaching thereto
their application; 72 and, and direct the mode of
73 direct that convictions
be filed among the records of the county, and that
there be no appeal from
such convictions allowed ;
74, burgh magistrates in Scotland to exercise same
powers as justices of peace in England; 75, exception
as to silk mills ; 76 to
proceedings, &c., under this Act from stamp duties.
Act to commence October 1, 1844, but may be pre-
viously repealed by 78, exemption of all deeds,
any Act for that purpose to be
passed in the present session of Parliament.

ATROCIOUS MURDER IN FRANCE
A threefold attempt at murder, fatal, however, in one
instance only, was made on Sunday morning last, about
five o'clock, at Perigueux, in
the Loire. M. Desplat, who
kept a public-house in the town, had sold his house and
good-will, and was believed to have received a day or two
before B,ooof. or 10,000 f. in part of the purchase money.
This tempted the avidity of some villains, who deter-
mined to obtain it at any sacrifice of life. Having
armed themselves with a pick-axe, which they procured
from the yard of a neighbouring house, by scaling the
wall, they in like manner, got into the back premises
of Desplat's house, which they entered by the .yard
door. Their first object was to silence a young man
named Regnaud, the only lodger in the house, and pre-
veie. nft hisT hceoymienngterd
toethßeeganssaiustad's roomassistance of Desplat and his
w
floor, and, finding him asleep, struck
fore-
head with the pickaxe, and opened his skull. The
poor youth was killed at once, without uttering a cry;
but, to make assurance doubly sure, they cut his throat
with his own razor. Desplat and his wife slept together on
him on
o n thethse econd
the first floor, and, to execute their project with greater
security, they enticed the husband up stairs, by imitating
the voice of Regnaud, as if in pain, calling for a light.
Desplat got up and came out of his room, but Mid
not ascended more than three or four stairs when he
was felled by two violent blows on the head, which
stunned him, and covered him with blood. Believing
him to be dead, the assassins went into the room, and
attacked the wife ; but her cries brought Desplat's
senses back, and, rallying all his powers, ho went to her
rescue, calling out for assistance. nearing this, the
murderers took the alarm, and fled with no other booty
than the watch of the unfortunate Regnaud, and, even if
they had fully accomplished their murderous design, they
would have gained but little more, for M. Desplat had
not received any part of the sum they expected
to find. Some neighbours came in at • the crisis, and
brought the guard. They found the house deluged with
blood. Desplat and his wife were both dreadfully
wounded, but are not in absolute danger ; the body of
Regnaud, with the head nearly severed from it, had been
covered with his own mattress and bedclothes. It was
taken to the hospital to be submitted to an autopsy
under the eye of justice, in order to obtain and preserve
legal evidence of the cause of his death. Several per-
sons have been arrested on suspicion, and every hope is
entertained by the magistrates of bringing the perpetra-
tors of this brutal crime to condign punishment.—Ga-
relic des Tribunaux.

LIEUT.-COL. NAPIER'S " WILD SPORTS."—Lieut.
Col. Napier, the author of " Scenes and Sports in Foreign
Lands," and other popular productions, has just published a
new work, entitled -wild Sports in Europe, Asia, and
Africa," which will not only be received with a hearty wel-
come by every sportsman, but be found not less attractive to
the general reader. The scenes of the gallant author's ex-
ploits, as may be imagined from the title of his work, are
sufficiently diversified. He takes us from Madras to the
Mauritius, the Cape, St. Helena, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Tangiers,
Malta, Gazo, Syria , Grand Cairo, Alexandria, the Desart,
&c. ; and the list of sports described is equally comprehen-
sive : in shooting, from the wild pigeon and quail, to the
hawk and eagle; in hunting, from the fox to the wild boar
and bull ; besides numerous piscatorial adventures. Inde-
pendently, however, of the sporting details, the many amus-
ing personal anecdotes and sketches of the Colonel's brother
officers and associates give extraordinary vivacity to his
pages. The work is illustrated with some capital en-
gravings.
BANK OF MANCHESTER.—The Committee ap-
pointed at the annual meeting in October last' to investigate
the affairs of the Bank have presented their report to the
proprietors. Having exercised the: utmost discretion in the
estimates placed on the value of the assets, whether in
form of real securities or personal obligations, they had
arrived at so near an approximation to the statements
contained in the report as to justify them in
pronouncing' the balance-sheet exhibited to the share-
holders on the 29th of October, 1843, to have been (as far
a
as could be ascertained) a true and accurate statement
of the position of the bank on the 30th of June in that year.
and ehheeadt theferthe
sa-
tisfaction
The Committee had also examined the bala
n ee
h a l f-y
of endingreporting
thatt
this
o f December,bla balance-sheet 1843,sheet showed a con-
siderable realisation of assets, and consequent reduction of
liabilities, from 440,9361. to 314,7781., during the half-year,
and justified the hope that no further loss would result to the
shareholders of this unfortunate concern than what would be
provided for by the payment of the second Ca—Local Paper.