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Leader (1850-1860), 6th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 346, Untitled Article

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    • POSTSCRIPT. Saturday, July 6
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      Untitled Article

      Gorham on this new and preliminary point . Judgment is under deliberation . Workmen have removed the massive iron gates at St . Paul's Cathedral , facing Ludgate-hill , not , however , it is stated , for the purpose of carrying out the projected improvements , but for repair , and new foundation stones are being laid down . The Ancient Fraternity of Freemasons have , it would appear from an advertisement in to-day ' s Leader , determined on showing the practical tendencies of their noble art . The convivial and social qualities of the Craft have

      ever been conspicuous , their benevolent and brotherly principles have a world-wide reputation . It remained for them to give society a proof that they were not unmindful of the claims of scientific investigation and practical improvement , and that desideratum they have determined worthily to supply in the proposed Panopticon , which has received the sanction and support of a Royal Charter ; and from which , not only the Brethren but the public will , we doubt not , derive both amusement and edification . We trust , also , that the shareholders will find the undertaking a source of profit to themselves .

      The Dahlia steamer , -while on her way down the Thames , on Saturday night , ran down a skin containing six persons , all of whom were instantly immersed in the water . Two of them were saved by the owner of a wherry who was fortunately passing at the moment , one swam to the shore , and a fourth clung to one of the buoys till assistance came . The other two were drowned . The half-past seven railway up-train , heavily laden with passengers , was stuck fast in the Blackheath Tunnel upwards of three quarters of an hour on Sunday night , there not being sufficient steam power on to move it backwards or forwards .

      The Queen has been pleased to remit the un expired term ( rather more than three months ) of the sentence pronounced at the Old Bailey in 1848 upon Fussell , who with others was convicted of sedition , and he will be discharged as soon as he provides the sureties required by the sentence . The term of imprisonment to which Ernest Jones was sentenced will expire on the 11 th instant . An experimental trial for the purpose of proving the efficacy of the patent safety steering wheel took place

      on Thursday , under the superintendence of Lieutenant Aitcheson , R . N ., on board the Starlight river steamer , to which the patent wheel , by permission of the company to which she belongs , had been fitted . A numerous company of naval , scientific , and other gentlemen , attended by invitation upon the occasion . From the experiments made it was obvious that the power and control of the helmsman over the rudder are vastly increased by this invention , and that the risk of accidents in heavy weather is almost entirely obviated .

      Alexander Scott , a police constable , died from the effects of chloroform , while undergoing an operation , at Guy ' s Hospital , on Wednesday week . The chloroform was administered to him at his own urgent request , as he said he could not bear the pain of the operation . Mr . Cock , the surgeon who performed the operation , tried to dissuade him against using it , as he thought there was always danger attending its use , but the patient insisted on having it . In giving his evidence , at the inquest on the body , Mr . Cock said they ought to know the danger and great risk attending its administration . In many cases where chloroform had been used he had waited with breathless anxiety for the recovery of the patient . Mr . Green and a Mr . Iiush ascended in a balloon from

      Vauxhall-gardens , on Saturday evening , at a quarter to eight o ' clock . The balloon rap'dly attained a great elevation , and took an easterly direction . At a quarter to nine o ' clock it passed over Gravcsend , and soon afterwards descended in the river near the Jenkin buoy . A barge which was at a short distance from the spot made towards it ; the crew succeeded in rescuing both Mr . Green and Mr . Rush from the balloon , which was rapidly floating down the river . The revenue cutter Fly also proceeded to the rescue , and having grappled the balloon found it impossible to check its progress , until , by discharging muskets into it , they made vents for the escape of the gas . It then collapsed , and was placed with the

      aeronauts in the barge , and taken to Gravcsend , where it arrived about four o ' clock on Sunday morning . The premises belonging to Mr . Cullingworth , lithographer , 22 , Southamptopstreet , Strand , took fiie on Wednesday morning at six o ' clock , and in spite of all that could be done the flames were not extinguished till they had nearly consumed that building and the two on each side of it . The total loss is estimated by some of the firemen at nearly £ 2000 . A female in the upper part of the premises had a narrow escape . She was not aware of the outbreak until her room became so full of smoke as to nearly suffocate her . By a desperate effort , however , she succeeded in escaping below .

      Untitled Article

      " A young lady of superior connection , " who advertises herself in the Evangelical Magazine of this month as being desirous of a re-engagement as governess , adds , *• Members of the Evangelical Alliance preferred ! " The public walks ( twenty-five miles iu length ) around the improving and busy town of Nottingham were opened on Monday . The ceremony was not so numerously attended iih might have been expected , owing to the badness of the weather . No less than 500 , 000 mackerel were caught on Slapton Sands in one- duy last week . The whole bay for five miles seemed alive with fish . The most extraordinary catch made by a single boat was that of a man named ( lardimr , who landed 150 , 000 . They were sold as low us HJxpence for a donkey load .

      The Duke and Duehe » s of Bedford havo recently erected itixly-four new cottages at the entrance to the town of lavistock . Each coitage consists of five rooms , together with a supply of water , and is well ventilated . There arc also adjoining each cottage an ash-pit , privy , pig ' s-house , and a yard for drying clothes , together with a garden ; for all of which accommodation each tenant

      has to pay one shilling and sixpence per week . There were between one and two hundred applicants for the cottages . At the archidiaconal visitation at Hertford last week , the archdeacon said it could not be too extensively known that if there was a vacant seat in a church , and any parishioner was unaccommodated , he might complain to the churchwardens , who could not refuse to place him in it . Except in the case of a faculty , which was extremely rare , no man could claim a pew as his own . He might have paid for its erection , but that gave him no right over any more seats in it than his family actually occupied . Mr . Dyce Sombre has printed in Paris , and circulated , in London , a pamphlet of 590 octavo pages , to prove his perfect sanity . __ _

      The eldest son of Mr . George Gubbins , Miltown , Bruff , was accidentally shot by his brother last Friday , while incautiously handling a fowling-piece , and the wound is believed to be fatal . —Limerick Chronicle . A large portion of a beautiful wooden bridge , nearly 320 yards in length , over the Esk , an estuary of the sea , on the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway , was destroyed by fire on Friday morning week . During the whole of last week the officers belonging to Chester Castle were unable to lock the gate leading to the Little Roodee . On Friday they got a smith to take off the lock , when , to their astonishment , they discovered that some bees had lived in the lock , and that every ward of it was filled with wax .

      A small shock of an earthquake was felt last week m Comrie , that village so renowned for its earthquakes , accompanied by a loud rumbling noise , which appeared to proceed from under the houses . An alarming accident occurred at the terminus of the London and North-Western Railway , in Lime-street , on Wednesday . A " cheap trip" had been got up in Staffordshire , and a train , consisting of twenty-two carriages , containing probably 500 or 600 persons , started from Uttoxeter in the morning for Liverpool , which it reached at noon . Tn going down the Edgehill Tunnel the North Staffordshire guard , being ignorant of the

      decline , is supposed to have neglected the due precaution ; the consequence was that the train , which was an uncommonly heavy one , emerged from the tunnel at a frightful velocity , and struck against the strong stone wall separating the terminus from Lime-street with such force that the buffers actually fractured one or two of the large blocks of freestone of which the wall is constructed . The passengers , of course , were precipitated from their seats , and about fifty of them sustained contusions more or less severe . The principal casualties consisted of blackened eyes , cut lips , and broken noses . Fortunately , no lives were lost nor bones broken .

      Untitled Article

      The harvest accounts from all parts of Ireland continue to be of the most favourable and cheering character . Every sort of produce for human use is described as nourishing almost beyond all former example . In all the markets the finest potatoes are already selling at Id . the lb , and in some places 2 lbs . for l £ d ., and it is fully anticipated that very shortly 14 lbs . will be had for the same money . No less than sixty-three persons , all in comfortable circumstances , left Clonmel on Thursday week for Waterford , there to embark for the United States . It is said that emigration from all the neighbouring districts is on a similar scale .

      The union of Bantry , in the county of Kerry , is described to be at present in a frightful condition . The workhouse is greatly overcrowded with paupers , although there are four large corn stores in the town adopted as auxiliaries , besides another large building at Four-mile-Water . A virulent typhus fever has lately broken out in the town , and amongst the victims already are Mr . Lloyd , the Poor-law Inspector , and the porter of the establishment , from whom Mr . Lloyd caught the disease by going to visit him . Although there has been a considerable diminution in

      the numbers receiving relief throughout Ireland , there are various unions in which the poor-rate is still a ruinous and an intolerable burden . In the union of Callan ( extending through a portion of the county of Kilkenny and that part of Tipperary where the insurrectionary movement took place in 1848 ) , the poor-rate is still enormous in several electoral divisions . For instance , the rate just struck by the guardians is 9 s . 6 d . in the pound in Ballingarry ; 10 s . in the pound in Farrenrory ; 7 « . in Crobane ; and it is nor less than 13 s . 6 d . in Ballyphilip . In the other divisions the rate is lower , ranging from 5 s . Od . to Is . 4 d . in the pound .

      Notices have been served upon the relieving officers by the managers of the Martin estate , of their intention to evict a vast number of unfortunate creatures now residing on this property . The number of houses from which the inmates are to be cast out is 276 ; but , on account of the previous evictions in the same quarter , several families reside , in many instances , under the same roof ; so that we conceive it is a moderate calculation to estimate the number of individuals about to be subjected to all the tortures of extermination at 1500 . In one fell swoop a number of paupers will be made sufficient to fill one of our largest workhouses . It is a curious fact thut , out of this property , not a farthing of poor-rates has for a long time been collected . —Ualwiui Vindicator .

      Three hundred and fifty emigrants sailed from New ltoss , in the county of Wexford , for Quebec , last week , and amongst them T . V . Car , Esq ., and his family , of Castle Armagh , in the county of Kilkenny . They were all of the most wealthy and respectable class that ever left the county . A most extraordinary reverse of fortune has happened to a private of No . 3 company of the Thirty-ninth Regiment , now stationed in Athione . Uy the death of an uncle in Cuba he has been put iu possession of a fortune of £ 50 , 000 , and two estates in the island . His name is Marryat ; he is only twenty years of age . —Belfast Paper .

      Untitled Article

      In the House of Lords last evening the Parliamentary Voters ( Ireland ) Bill went through committee , after a short discussion , and a division on a motion by Lord Stanley for omission of the clause rendering the registering of voters compulsory , in which Government sustained a defeat , the votes being— For the amendment , 53—against it , 39 Majority against Ministers ,. 14 .

      In the House of Commons Mr . Cayley submitted his motion for the repeal of the malt-tax . His arguments against the continuance of the impost were founded partly upon general objections to the vexatious and inquisitorial character of an excise-tax , and partly upon the necessity of affording some relief to the agriculturists , who were suffering severe distress in consequence of the cessation of protection . He also dwelt at some length upon the injustice of relieving the poor consumer from a burden which enhanced the price of an article that might be classed among the necessary luxuries . The

      motion was seconded by Mr . Christopher . It was opposed by Sir Charles Wood , on the ground that no substitute had been proposed for the very important tax which they asked to abolish . He denied that the returns of the consumption of malt gave any indication that free trade had proved injurious to theproducers . The total quantity had no doubt declined by about one million quarters annually between 1839 and 1849 . But the tables showed that the consumption of wine had fallen from 7 , 000 , 000 to 6 , 247 , 000 gallons , and that of spirits of all sorts had ^ also declined by one million gallons in the same interval . Tea , on the other hand , had increased in

      the ten years from 35 to 50 million pounds ; coffee from 26 to 34 millions ; and cocoa from 16 to 32 million pounds . This change he atrributed to an improvement of the moral habits of the people , which hadled to a happy diminution in the taste for stimulating fluids . He denied that the loss to the revenue occasioned by abolishing the tax would be compensated by an increase of consumption . Mr . Henry Drummond attributed the diminution of the consumption of malt not to the advanced taste for tea , but to the lamentable adulteration practised upon beer , of which he gave some amusing instances . Mr . Bass was in favour of the abolition of the malt tax , although his interest as a brewer would lead him to ask rather for

      an increase of duty . It was the duty of parliament to give the labouring classes readier access to their favourite beverage . If the consumption of beer were not impeded by so enormous a duty , the labouring population would not have recourse to those articles which did them no good—they would not drink slipslop tea and similar articles . Mr . Milker Gibson would rather repeal the taxes on' knowledge than the taxes on drink ; and as he intended again to apply for the former repeal , he should , on the present occasion , for the sake of ordinary consistency , vote against the latter . Mr .

      Spooner warmly supported the motion , strongly condemning excise duties , except when absolutely necessary , and reproaching the Free Traders with having thrown away nine millions of Customs , a portion of which would have enabled the Chancellor of the Exchequer easily to give up this obnoxious duty . As regarded any growing diatate for beer , he utterly denied it , the fact being that , thanks to our present system , the farmer could not afford to pay the labourer a rate of wages which would enable him . to buy beer . Mr . Lawrence Heyworth , Mr . Packe , and Mr . Law Hodges opposed the motion . Mr . Ker Seymer supported it . It was idle to talk of

      freetrade in a country where such an arbitrary | and vexatious imposition as these Excise duties existed . He claimed relief for the agricultural interest , which , under the influence of our present system was oppressed beyond bearing . As to the habit of beer drinking going out , that was all nonsense . Ladies invariably took beer , either with a medical excuse or without one , at their substantial mid-day meal , while the labourers , and their wives too , would be too glad of it , and ought to bo able to have it . Mr . James Wilson denied that the abolition of this tax would benefit the farmer to

      the extent supposed . The increase of importation would nearly neutralize all the gain which the farmer expected from it . Mr . Disraeli , after observing that barley was the principal production of the agricultural labourer , went on to consider the condition of the producer . This , he contended , was one of groat , continued , though not ( on that side of the House ) unexpected distress . He challenged the Government to point out any present hopes ot improvement , lieviewing the several schedules of the national and local taxation , amounting to seventy millions a-year , he declared that the agriculturists paid more than their slime of the one class , while the other was so

      contrived as to cripple their means of payment . Whether the taxes should be collected internally or externally , paid entirely by the subject , or contributed in some degree by the foreigner , was a question which demanded a speedy settlement . Mr . Disraeli

      Postscript. Saturday, July 6

      POSTSCRIPT . Saturday , July 6 .

      Untitled Article

      346 Qttft 3 L Caiiet + [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 6, 1850, page 346, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1845/page/10/