Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1890-07-12 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

TRINITY HOUSE. Though it is one of the most ancient and wealthy of those City companies that have been subjected to so much fierce criticism of late years, not even the most iconoclastic reformer, we fancy, would deny that Trinity House justifies its existence by its admirable care for those who go down to the sea In ships, or would think it wise to replace it by some newfangled board " or" department." The Honourable Corporation of the Trinity House, or, as it is styled in Its original character, The Guild, Fraternity, and Brotherhood of the Most glorious and undivided Trinity," dates its existence back to the reign of the Seventh Henry, its original functions being confined to pilotage. Bluff Bing Hal gave the association and charter, which was confirmed with certain modifications by Edward VI., Mary, Elisabeth, and James 1., the instrument of the last-named hillg settling the brotherhood as it is now. It consists of a Master—the Duke of Edinburgh at present holding that position —f our Wardens, eight Assistants, and 15 " Elder Brethren," selected from retired commanders of the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine, with the Prince of Wales and several leading statesmen in an honorary capacity. It has the superintendence and management of all lighthouses, light ships, buoys, and beacons in England, , Wales, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, and Heligoland, and also controls the Commissioners of Northern (Scotch) Lights and the Commissioners of Irish Lights. It is also entrusted with the licensing and super. vision of pilots, the dredging and supply of ballast for the Port of London, and the examination of the naval pupils at Christ's Hospital, and it supplies two nautical assessors to the Admiralty Court as occasion may demand. Its gross receipts average £250,000 per annum, being chiefly derived from the dues on ships for the use of lights ; but these dues are fixed at minimum rates, and say profits that Trinity House makes are promptly paid into the National Exchequer. The first lighthouse order the management of Trinity House was erected in 1680, all lights existing before that time, and many since, having been erected by private enterprise and maintained by the dues levied, under patent from the Crown, on passing ships. A speculative man," says a writer on the subject, "would propose to erects lighthouse just as he might propose to sink a coal mine. If there was a dangerous rock at sea in front of a seaport, any , man might propose to the Trinity House to erect a building there for the purpose of guiding ships, In which case he was allowed to levy dues on the ships that passed, or, if he had political influence, he might use it for the purpose of obtaining a lighthouse." All private lighthouses were, however, taken over by Trinity House under an Act of 1836, and it proved as bad a bargain as the Government purchase of telegraphs at a later season, the price paid for several rickety and dilapidated stroctures being equal to five or six times their prime cost. The Deputy Master and the active Elder Brethren meet every week, and committees sit almost daily, for there is plenty of work to do. On all State cceasions the Elder Brethren wear a uniform which is very similar to that of a captain in'the Royal Navy, the main difference being that the facings are red instead of white, and every Trinity Monday the Corporation marches is procession to the parish church of St. Glare's, Hart•street, where a special sermon is for their benefit.  30 Bray (Wicklow) Petty Sessions, Thomas Byrne, nior Moody, aged 30, a house painter, was charged with the wilful murder of Elizabeth Grundy, at Greystones, on' the 26th ult., by shooting her with a revolver. Catherine Grundy, deceased's sister, said that the prisoner entered her shop, saying, "Good morning:' Then she beard a shot, and her sister , called out, "I am shot.' The prisoner held her sister behind the counter, and witness opened the door and released her. Elizabeth ran across the road to the house of Mr. John Redmond, Byrne following and firing two more shots. The woman died three days afterwards. Her sister had previously told witness that the prisoner had asked her to marry him, but she wanted to have nothing to do with him. The prisoner was committed for trial. DIANOOOS are very much in the fuhloo. At the State ball recently the bodices of many of the douses were almost covered with the gems.