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atwut tlte WutUi. j
atwut tlte WutUi. j Here is an interesting extract from tfce Life ot J. K. j Brunei, written by kis son::— I I have passed Sallusc some time, but I am sorry to say I did not read all, as Dr Morell wished me to get into another class. I am at present reading Terence and Horace. I like Horace very much, but not as much as Virgil. As to what I am about, I have been making half-a-dozen boats lately, till I have torn my hands to pieces. I have also taken a plan of Ho-, c, which is a very amusing job. I should be very muck obliged to you if you would ask papa (I hope he is quity well and hearty) whether he would lend me his long measure. It is a long eighty-foot ttpe he will know what I mean. I will take tare of it. for I want to take an exact plan, though this is pretty exact I think. I have also been drawing a little. I intend to take a view of all (about five) the principal houses in that great town Hove. I have already taken mJ or two. From the reports already received it is much to be feared that the scientific observation of the total eclipse of the sun ■OH the 22nd of December, ao; a whole. has not proved a very great success. Around the chief point of observation in. the island of Sicily the weather was ex- tremely unfavourable, but notwithstanding this some sub- stantial results have been obtained. Mr Loekyer, the leader of the Sicilian detachment, briefly reports that the American observations of last year are confirmed. The Spanish detachment had exceptionally bad weather. The corona was seen for nearly three minutes con- siderably over the duration of totality but the clouds seem to have destroyed all chance of detecting any except atmospheric polarisation. The observations with the spectroscope were also greatly interfered with, and the best instrument was'rendered entirely useless. At Areas the observers had better fortune, and at Xeres, the station of the American expedition, there was a break in the clouds which lasted somewhat more than half of totality. Lor,l Lindsay's party, who went near Puerto, on the mainland opposite Cadiz, seem to have had the most favourable weather, and they obtained some good photo- graphs and pictures of the con'na. The Algerian party, according to report, set-in to have been quite excluded by he clouds. The New York papers report a lecture by Mr Emerson on the Early Puritans. In closing his remarks, Mr Emerson referred to England and to American relations with England. He said- Kngland has a great deal of cheap wit upon America. he dislikes our manners, gives us kiiid council, and is often quite right in her criticisms; we make the same ourselves. But is this the real opinion of England which we read in the London Times, Punch, an,1 other journals? I think not. I rather choose to read liritish opinion maiulyîn the immense immigra- tion (,f English penplt to these shores, the immense commerce that is carried on between London anil New York, the immense investment of liritish capital in this country. (Applause.) The American sits secure in the possession of his vast domain, sees its inevitable force unlocking itself in elemental order day by day and year by year, looks from his eoal-tields, his wheat-bearing prairies, his gold mines to his two oceans on either side, regards with security not only the annexation of English colonies, but -the annexation of England. ¡!Treat appl:lI!.sO.) En;Iand hn" long been the cashier of the world, but the English merchant must soon pass from India by the Pacific 'Kailro.rd, and must make his exeliames in New York. This is lint a type of many •other changes. AW' read without pain what they say to the ad- vantage of England and to the disadvantage of America, for are we not the "Percy is tut the facta' good my Lord." (i,zi,i,liter.) England has made herself the founder of her colonies—educating the native population in good schools, putting them in good employment, aiming to put them in a con- dition to tend their own affairs. England should say, "Go; I have given you English etiuality, English lawu. manners, and customs; de-Anglicise yourselves if you can." We see for our- selves that her own foreign interest is to assure herself at all times of the friendly relations of America, which is one with her by speech, by religious equality, and by equal civilisation. In all the dangers which are likely to threaten her from other nations, America is sure to sympathise with her, and extend a protection as noble to bestow as to receive. It i4 vaiia to hope that Mr Cardwell's critics will be- lieve in anything he says or does, but the following state- ment which lie gives in a letter to Mr Gladstone, with respect to the number of breechloaders in store, may help to caltn the fears of some timid souls Jsnider rifles and carbines: — At home stations Oil the 8thof August, ls70. 231,240 At foreign stations, including India, by the htest accounts f.3,039 Total number of Snider arms in store.. 234,279 Carbines and muskets of other descriptions — At liouie stations 1G 500 At foreign stations 'l44 300,923 Why will many French sympathizers in this country persist in making themselves ridiculous or offensive? They have a cause for which a good deal may be said, and with which a large number of thoughtful men sympathize; but it is enough to drive ordinary men to the other side to hear Mr Merriman and his friends. At the recent meet- ing in London, we read Sir Men iman proposed that Mr Gladstone should go forward and bursting the trammels of precedent, should declare to the relatives of the ^ueeu that they should be shut out from her social communion, and that Buckingham, Windsor and the other palaces should be closed to them if thev refused to show sympathy with the suffering French people. That is the ludicrous side. At the same meeting the fol- lowing offensive conversation passed ° Dr Kenealy, Q C., in supporting the resolution said he wished the French had hanged ten Prussian soldiers for one Franc-tircur. A Voice—Better hang the wooden-headed King. Br Kenealy—Well, I would not be sorrv to see him on the gallows. (Oh. and cheers.) The speaker then referred to the sinking of English ships at Havre, and exclaimed, "Oh, for one hour of Chatham, Nelson, or Cromwell "—(cheers)—adding that when the facts of this affair became known there would be -Teat indignation excited throughout the length and breadth of the land, because our Government had made no remonstrance. A Voice—Let us sink sixty Prussian ships. (Laughter.) Dr Kenealy I wish you were Prime Minister,'sir, to do it. (Laughter.) Now the fact—which Dr Kenealy, as a lawyer, ought to have known—is, that the Prussians acted legally in sink- ing the ships We are almost all beginning to wish the Germans would follow: higher motives than ever actuated any nation, and moderate their demands but this un- reasonable advocacy will alienate rather than win the sympathies of England for Frtnee. The style in which the Standard writes is not much better. France mi "lit be an Arcadia, from the following description We might expatiate upon the absurdity and injustice of Mon- ifving Paris with Fiance—as much of an absurdity and an in- justice as if we were to persist in identifying England with London, or America with New York—and we might—we say it regretfully-contrast the life of provincial France with the life of provincial England dismally to the disadvantage of our own favoured country. In no other region of the habitable globe are there purer ideals of domestic existence and family virtue to be met with than in France. Only let us set in juxta-position the atmosphere in which the French labourer or mechanic and the English representative of the same order have their being. Large capitals can never be Edeiis of puritv. Their life is and must be more or less artificial What Paris'is other capitals are and worse wIllIe to the provincial life of France there cIiii, something of delicacy and refinement which we mav look for Tu vain elsewhere. Now that conservatism is throwing John Bull over, and holding France up as a model, what a fate must be ours This war seems as fatal to common sense here, as it is to human life over the water. Witness these ravings about France, and the disgraceful clamour about war and war- like armaments which we have heard of late. We are apt to imagine that the spectacle of a dissenting clergyman preaching in a Church of England pulpit is a novel one but the last century was not a!to:'eth"r out these encouraging signs of corning union]'' The Rev- Andrew Fuller, a well-known Baptist divine, ,,ive. Dr Ryland an account of how he came to preach in Bray- brook Church. A young man who was dead had ex- pressed a wish that Mr Fullei should preach his funeral sermon, and the chapel was too small. A proposal made by Mr Fuller in pleasantry, that the church might be lent,_ was seriously taken up, and the clergyman was applied to. Mr Fuller's narrative continues— I have no objection,' said the old man (who is a "ood-tem- pered man, but lies under no suspicion of either evangelical sentiments or of being righteous over-much), 'if it could be done with safety but I reckon it would be unsafe.' Mr B. took this for an answer in the negative. But the same day the old clergyman rode over to Harborouizh, and inquired, r suopose of some attorney. He was told no ill consequences would follow towards him if any, they would fall upon me. He hen cme back, and, jusc before the funeral, told Mr B. what he had learned, I do not wish Mr F. to injure himself: but, if he chooses to run the hazard, he is welcome to the church- Mr B. told me tlils. We then carried the corpse up to the church, and the old man went through the service out ,,{ doors It was nearly dark, very cold and damp and about five hun- dred or six hundred were gathered together. The meeting- house would not hold above one hundred, and I should have taken a great cold to have been abroad. I did nnt helieve the at- torney s opini.'ii toa they could hurt me, unless it were through the clergyman. r, therefore, went up to him, thanked him For his offer, and accepted it. He stayed toheArnw i, r ,™ truly say I aimed and longed for his salvation Aft' he shook hands with me before all the people saving T ? you, sir, for your serious pathetic discourseMX :f,hank sequences will befall either thee or me.' Next ,Tr ™j}} c™- him some miles on my way home. 'I like chari'tv s-iirl^Y Christians should be charitable to one another.' f 'i. V(. ,lp j nothing since, and expect to hear no more about it "eam The Liverpool Town Council, as became the rulinTbodv in a great city, devoted much time and expenditure of parochial eloquence, last week, to the important question—Whether or not a Mayor of Liverpool would be degrading himself to dine publicly with the scavengers of the borough ? Mr J. G. Livingston thinks it would be a dangerous thing for him to patronize such humble crea- tures as scavengers "officially." It would "let in the thin end of the wedge," and be the beginning of that levelling period when labouring men can dine with Lord Mayors without feeling overjoyed. Happily, for the credit of the Liverpool Town Council, all the members are not so snobbish. At the meeting in question, a former Mayor (Alderman Dover), in a spirited speech, vindicated the countenance "f the scavengers, saying that to elevate thewor^ng classes those above them must mix with them. ine day oefore he had entertained the scavengers he had entertained the Grand Jury, and he did not feel elevated by the presence of the latter, or lowered by that of "he former, nor did he feel that the office of -Nfalvor was degraded by association with deserving working men Ihe trial of the Norwich petition alms another bW at »f* -a&J can W Mcum) in .p.ietoS' strange instance of the conservatism f W A contemporary says-- OUr 111:ititutions. At the last election there was a meeting of t mitteeof Ku-ssell and Tdlctt, to arrange means } J0int show of hands. Great stress was placed on the shoVoTfem IG although, tor our own part, we could never see that it i a anyone but timorous people, who preferred to stayVI'lflue!iml the day of an election rather than run the risk of gkting'their heatis broKcn by a lured in,.1. of rnffi uis. At this meeting v- W. Russell an 1 Mr T.Uett attended, but it does not appear^ the evidence that the hitter took any part in the discussion. Mr Coak, a solicitor, in the course of his evidence on Friday, said that when the question of the show of hands came on for (lis- cussion. Sir W Russell said, It is a serious matt?,-whatdoes it involve I AVituc-si, wita one eye steadily fixed on the monev consideration, and the other firmly closed to the le-al view of the question, frankly admitted that at other elections it ha l cost t ,o or -40. t Sir W. Russell was not thinking of money, and asked .t it were .egal, whereupon the legal adviser of the com- mute*; (Mr Coals; declared that "it would not void the seat'- TMW? there?''r.e arranged to secure the show of hands." Mr Tillett was .s.tting close to Sir W. Russell when this interesting Con\eis ition toon place. There is, therefore, no doubt that fr? j ksw fer til- proposed expenditure. The question is, is it legal 1 c. fcribottuuu not to vote, "but to show then hands," toss their ca|*s in-he air, and with all the fervour of unbought patriots, to shunt, Snooks for ever," or "Noodle for ever," as the case may be ? Fer-haps, if to buy the show of hands" proves illegal, the ceremony may be itself abolished.
(6tttcrltl. i—•—■—-———
(6tttcrltl. — •—■—-——— The, Princess of Wales is an accomplished skater. There is all agitation in Texas for the annexation of Mexico. The death is announced of a famous old cricketer, Stephen Walter, of Lord's, better known as "Old Steevie." The inventor of the Soper rifle has received an order to make S.-OOt- 4: this military breech-loader. There has been a great Hood at Rome. The Corso was so deep in water that horses could not be driven along it. Some Catholics regard the flood as ajudgment. The Liverpool coroner has held an inquest on the body of a woman unknown, who was frozen to death in an entry, in Hopwood-street, Liverpool. The Local Board of West Derby, Liverpool, have determined to memorialize the Home-Office to obtain powers to acquire land for the utilisation of sewage, under the Lanll Clauses Con- solidation Act. < •< The sentence of death passed upon Ed warti Greatly at the recent Ianchester Assizes, for the llmnler of his wife, in Salford, lias been commuted to penal servitude for,life, The Itoyton magistrates have committed to prison for a month Amos Ashworth, who had refused to pay his 1870 subscription of :t:1 to the .'ilst Lancashire (Oldham) Volunteers, to which he was liable as he had failed to make himself efficient. It is thought probable that the postal card system will be ex- tended to the Continent. Already the Prussian Government has entered into arrangements with several other Continental Governments, and is also negotiating with our own in order to diffuse the benefits of this invention. The Canadian Scotsman states that the Campbells of Canada have resolved to contribute to the "clan" subscription _for_a marriage gift to the Princess Louise, and have taken action in the matter. The London police authorities have intimated to confectioners and others that drawing for prize cakes is illegal. Several pro- posed sweeps for monster twelfth cakes have thus had to be abandoned. We learn by a telegram from Constantinople that Prince Charles has informed the Porte that he had -no intention of withdrawing from the stipulations imposed on Rouniania by the Treaty of IsoO. 011 one of the pools at Handsworth, Mr Knibb was removing ice from the pool to the ice-house, when he got into.the water, Fortunately he had with him a large dog, which sprang into the hole, and laid holll of Mr Knibb by the shoulder, dragged him to the surface, and held his head above the water until assis- tance came. A young woman named Catherine M'Pherson, while endea- vouring to recover a stray cat whidl had one out of an attic window in a house five storeys high, in the western district of Glasgow, lost her balance and fell to the street. 1'lie only- injury she sustained was a severe sprain to one of hev andes. Tim coroner's inquiry relative to the explosion at the ammu- nition works "f Messrs Ivyiiock and Co., near Birmingham, has terminated in :t verdict of "Accidental death." The jury, how- ever, recognized the necessity of ample precautions being taken to guard against the recurrence of such accidents, and made a recommendation to that effect. The other morning, a fire broke out on board an Italian vessel, named Oincetti Zilreo, at North Shields. When it wis extin- guished six men were found in the fovcastle, three of them dead, and the others insensible. The latter are not expected to recover. The men are supposed to have been suffocated'by a charcoal tire. = -= 'i At Ilanlev, a labourer named Tomkinson, who had lately shown evidences of mental derangement, turned his sister out of doors, locked himself in the house, and then, with a hatchet, chopped off hi left hand. Some neighbours forced an entrance, Iaiitl led the wounded man to the police station. A large white bear, the property of Mr Warner, of the" elsh Harp, llendon, escaped some three weeks since from its den, I tllrough },ein,g terrified by the bull's-eye lantern of a policeman. The animal wandered over the Harrow country, and it was feared that lie might become ferocious by hunger and the frost. It has transpired that the late Lord Walsingham perished by his own hand, His lordship cut his throat. A coroner's jury returned a verdict to the effect that the noble lord killed himself while in a state of mental derangement. He had locked himself in his room, and the door had to be forced before the sad event was discovered. The cause of death was at first kept secret, but it was impossible to avoid an official investigation. We learn from the Leeds Mercury that the Yorkshire Board of Education are organising a series of conferences to consider the state of certain charitable bequests in the county, with the view to their reorganisation. The value of these endowments is believed to be very large, and the first object of the conferences will be to appoint local committees to investigate and report thereon. As a foreshadowing, we presume, of the time when the lion ami the lamb will lie down together, an American paper mentions the important fact that some of the Masonic bodies in Boston have both coloured and white members. It is gratifying that the Freemasons of Boston have at last recognised the negro as a man and a brother and we hope other bodies will show equal good sense. Those who in quarrels interpose, sometimes come out with more than a broken head or a safe axiom, which was singularly illustrated at Edinburgh the other day. An old man, who had only one eye, saw two men fighting in Clerk-street. lie was a man of peace, and interfered, whereupon one of the com- batants knocked out his only eye the other having been des- troyed in a similar manner twenty years ago. The Lancet points out that, although Miss Garrett will by marrying forfeit her position at the School Board, "she does not necessarily preclude herself," says that journal, from con- tinning to practise medicine." If she succeeds in combining the two functions of mistress of a household and medical prac- titioner, she will have performed a feat unprecedented in pro- fessional history, and added another notable incident to this annus mirabilis.— Miss Garrett will not forfeit her seat. The Truck Commission elicited some strange evidence by its in- quiry at Birmingham. On Wednesday the chairman of the Xail- makers' Association estimated that 14,000 out of 20,000 naihnakers work" at truck;" and the manager for a Dudley firm of nailmakers sai,1 that out of sixty firms in his neigh hour- hood, twenty to twenty-five pay by truck. The respectable firms had tried since 132 ) to put down the system, but they had been thwarted by the apathy of the men themselves, whose pockets are fleeced by the system. A sad accident occurred the other day, at Land Hill, Ken- tucky. Dr A. P. Pownall, of that place, having lately married a Miss Marv J. Wilson, notified the Rev. J. B. Hough, pastor of the Baptist Church, that he desired to become a member of his congregation. In oler to render the ceremony of baptism as imposing" as possible, the doctor, ill company with the pastor, walked into a creek in the neighbourhood, but the former not knowing how to swim, got beyond his depth, and was swept under a floodgate, and drowned in presence of his young wife. Mr John Turner, the man who was given into custody for assaulting two ladies in a railway carriage while they were travelling from Dudley Port to Birmingham, was tried at the I Staffordshire sessions. He said, in defence, that the women, who, it will be rccollectcd, jumped from the train while it was travelling, had got up the charge for the purpose of extorting money from the company. He defended himself, and the jury acquitted him. The Civilian states that the Government has determined to relinquish the patronage of the Customs and Inland Revenue- two of the largest departments under the Crown. At first the appointments of second class assistants of Excise and outdoor officers of Customs were included in the operation of the scheme of open competition, from which, however, they were withdrawn in October last. They have now been restored to Schedule A of the Order in Council. This last act of the Treasury will throw some 8,000 or 0,000 appointments open to the public. A large meeting of the Working Men's Peace Association was held in London last week, to protest against war. The meeting agreed to the adoption of an address and memorial, sy mpathising with the sufferings of the French people, and repudiating the idea of an armed interference in the Franco-Prussian war. The address was agreed to, and a vote of thanks was passed to the Earl of Derby for his recent manly and peaceful utterance at Liverpool." Mr Lucreft and Mr Galbraith are connected with the movement. The King-elect of Spain seems to have been received with great enthusiasm in Madrid. Whether it was a mere "spurt," born of a temporary reaction, brought about by the murder of Prim, or a solid demonstration of goodwill, remains to be seen. The King has adhered to his promise to consult Spaniards only in the formation of his Government, and he has taken into his confidence such men as Prim himself might have chosen. It is said that he has consulted Senors Rivero, Rios, Canovas, Rozas, Gorrila, Olozaga, and Cruz. One great name in Spain is missing —Castelar but as Castelar is an avowed enemy not only to the King-elect, but all kings, whether elected by the people or kings by "divine right," this is not to be wondered at. O'Donovan Rossa, Devov, M'Clure, Shaw, and O'Connell, five convicted Fenians, have had their various sentences of' im- prisonment remitted on condition of their leaving and never re- turning to England. The Government pay their fares as first- class passengers to New York, give them an ample outfit of clothes and necessaries, besides £5 each on landing. Rossa ami ) M'Clure, it may be remembered, were sentenced to twenty years, Devoy to five years, and O'Connell to four years' ini- prisonment. The Fenians left Liverpool on Saturday- by the Cuuard mail steamship Cuba, and on the vessel calling at (iueenstoyvn there was a demonstration. One prisoner— "General" Halpin— refuses the Government terms "on leal grounds." The week before last we referred to a case in which two married ladies and their husbands were committed to prison by Vice-Chancellor Bacon for conspiring together to marry a yvaril of Court to the brother of the two ladies. The intended hus- band has since surrendered himself to the tender mercies of the Court. His two sisters and their husbands, after a fortnight's incarceration, have now been released, but the wretched lover still lies in durance vile within the walls of the "Tufnell- park Villa," where his Christmas pudding lias been a "Holloway pill," and his New Year's Day anything but a happy one. It'is now reported that further proceedings are shortly to be taken in the course of which the veil of secrecy which has hitherto en- veloped this case will be somewhat rudely torn aside, when the public will be advised of a very sad and most romantic story The fair fnncre is well known in a fashionable watering-place in 1,,tce in the yvest of England, and the object of her affections is a young and gallant naval officer. The story of the elopement, it's iretsoiis, and its results, ought to be told.—Law Journal.
Advertising
HOLLO WAY'S PILL.S AND OINTMENT.—During piercing winds and excessive variations of temperature every one is more or less liable to internal and external disease. Throat, chest, liver, bowels, kidneys, and skin all suffer in some degree, but may be relieved by rubbing in this Ointment, aided by proper doses of the Pills, for adminis- tering which full directions accompany each box in truth, any one who thoroughly masters Hollowav's "instructions" will, in remedying disease, exchange the labour of all hour for the profit of a lifetime. All bronchial, pulmonary, and throat disorders require that the Ointment should be thoroughly well rubbed upon the skin tyvice a-;lay with considerable briskness, and great persistence and regularity. MR THOfAS CAKJ.VLE ON VEHSE WRITING.—A cha- racteristic protest against the writing of verse is to be found in a letter from Mr Carlyle to Air W. C. Bennett, Lili.L)., which the latter gentleman has printed in a collec- tion of "testimonials" made to further his application for the secretaryship of the London School Board. Your name hitherto,' says Mr Carlyle, "isknown to mechieflv as associated with verse. It is one of my constant regrets, in this generation, that men to whom the gods have «iven a genius (which means a light of intelligence, of courage, ana all manfulness, or else means nothing) will insist in such an earnest time as ours has grown, in bringing 'out thelr divine gift in the shape of,-verse, which now no man reads entirely in earnest. That a man has to brin^ out his gift in words of any kind, and not in silent divine actions, which alone are fit to express it well, seems to me a great misfortune for him but that he should select verse, with its half credibilities and other sad accompani- ments, when he might have prose and be wholly credible, if he desired it this I lay at the door of our spiritual ri teacher, (pedants mostly, and speaking an obsolete dialect), who thereby incalculably rot the world making him who wight have been a soldier and fighter (so terribly wanted just at present) a mere preacher and idle singer. This is a hxed perception of mine, growing ever more fixed these many years and I offer it to you, as I have done to many others in the like case, not much hoping that you will believe in it all at once. But, certainly, a good, wise, earnest piece in prose from vou would please me better than the musicallest verses could." This was written to Mr Bennett some years ago in acknwledgment of a letter and sonnet which he had sent to Mr Carlyle.
gatitirai
gatitirai Mr John Martin, nationalist, has been returned for the county of Meath. His opponent was Mr Plunkett, ultramontane. The liberals of Newry, it appears, have determined not to oppose the election of Lord Newry. It is asserted that his lordship has promised to be a colourless politician. The Right Hun. W. Monsell has accepted the office of Post- master-General, vacant by the appointment of the Marquis of Hartington to the Secretaryship for Ireland. Mr Otway states that he resigned office because he was unable to concur with the Government on an important question of foreign policy. He will make an explanation when Parliament meets. The Birmingham Past says Mr Stansfeld refused to accept the Postmaster-Generalship without a seat in the Cabinet. The Postmaster-Generalship without a seat in the Cabinet. The salary ( £ 2,500 a year) is £ 500 a year more than Mr Stansfeld receives as financial secretary ofthe Treasury. The story that a number of Mr Gladstone's constituents were memorialising him to resign his seat turns out to be little better than a hoax. On seeing the statement, the Daily Tele/jraph at once sent doyvn to Greenwich in order to ascertain the facts of the case and we find that, while the movement is unknown to the liberal party, it is emphatically disclaimed by the leading conservatives of the place. The address, we believe, originated with an obscure clique of Conservatives, who hope to derive some advantage from the distress in the town, and from the discon- tent which is the assumed consequence of that distress. But the only copy of the document seen by our reporter had no signature at all." Air Holyoake, in a Je'ter to the Baifoi Nellw, points out that in the name of a large meeting held in London in favour of France, he addressed Mr Gladstone, and reminded him that Lord Palmerstoii, as head of the Government of that day, had slioyvn great alacrity in acknowledging the Empire. Nir Gladstone," says Mr H., "ansyvered with a fact not known to many, or not recalled by many who should know it, or it would have great weight with both French and English publicists, that 'Lord Palmerston's Act was followed at once by deprivation of office.' This fact, lie thinks, should relieve the British Govern- ment of all suspicion of being more fastidious in the case of the Republic than that of the Empire. What could England do more than dismiss the Minister who recognised a Government which the French people had not by voice or vote accepted < Mr Gladstone has gone as far in recognising the Republic as y Republicans can consistently ask kim. If we recognise any Government until the vote of the nation has appointed it, in Mr Holyoake's opinion we shall be compelled to acknowledge one day some military despotism which may impose itself upon France or any other nation. Not by liberals or republicans can this risk he run, nor this sacrifice of a principle of the future for the advantage of the present be sanctioned."
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cultural A Kerry paper mentions, as an instance of the confidence which the new Land Act has created in the tenant-right of farms held by parole agreement, that a sum of £ 4(i5 has been given for the interest of a farm of forty-two acres, not held under lease, at public auction at Kenmare. Lord Vernon was last week elected President of the organization for supplying seed to the peasant farmers in those portions of France which have been overrun by the German armies. The subscriptions already received amount to £ 1,370. THE TAXATION OF FARMERS.—At the Preston Epiphany Quarter Sessions, Mr Thomas Wilson, officer of Excise, appealed, on behalf of the Commis.sioners of Inland Revenue, against the decision of Mr Heelis and others, justices of Burnley, wht), on the 31st October last, excused Mr James Hartley, farmer, of that place, from the pay- ment of an assessed tax of 10s. Gd., upon a horse used by him. Messrs Colbett and Gorst, instructed by Mr Twelly, clerk to the Inlawlltevenue of London, were counsel for the appellant and Mr John Addison was for the respon- dent. Mr Cobbett stut 'd that the respondent farmed 156 acres of land, and kept 50 cows and three horses. Besides carrying on the ordinary business of a farmer, he employed a horse for the retailing of milk in Burnley, and the ques- tion was whether he was not bound to take out a licence for that horse, and pay the duty of 10s. (kl., the animal not being employed in husbandry. Mr Addison said the milk was not hawked from door to door, but was simply delivered to the respondent's regular customers, and he argued that to dispose of the produce of the land, the milk, in the manner lie described, was just as much a part of husbandry as the actual tilling of the land. He was not carrying on the business of a dairyman but was simply getting rid of his produce as a farmer, just as another might send his carrots or turnips to market. The milk was just as much the produce of the land as those products would be, and the horse was therefore employed in husbandry. He handed up two or three law reports to show that the judges in the superior courts had taken this view of the case. Mr Gorst knew that the farmers in Harrow sent their milk to London, where horses were employed in retail- ing it,.and those horses were taxed. If the respondent had sent his milk to Burnley in the gross, the horse carrying it would not then be taxed, but if he chose to retail it him- self, then lie was liable to the tax. The Chairman (Mr T. B. Addison) said it appeared to the Bench that the selling of the milk was part of the respondent's business as a hus- bandman. Therefore they agreed with the justices below, that the horse must be exempt from the tax. Mr Cobbett asked for a case for the Court of Exchequer. It was a. case in which the Crown was very much interested, because thel c wire other parties who had paid the tax under similar circumstances. Mr J. Addison—They won't get there money back from the Crown, we may be sure. (Laughi cHe opposed the:application, because he under- stood that his application for costs would be useless, the Court having no power to grant them, and if the respon- dent had to fight the case in the Court of Exchequer he would have to bear all his own expenses. The Chairman slid he did not think it was a proper case for the Court of Exchequer. THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. A few weeks ago the above society expressed a wish to hold their annual meeting of 1872 in some part of South Wales. Consequently a special meeting of the Newport (Mon.) Town Council was held, to take into consideration a proposition to subscribe a slim of money in order to induce the committee to fix upon Newport as the place of meeting in that year. The Council expressed a unanimous desire that the society should be afforded every inducement and facility to hold their meeting at New port, and it was resolved that a sum of £ 500 should be subscribed by the Corporation towards the holding of the show in the town in 1872. It is understood that a local subscription of about £ 2,000 will be required, and therefore a town's meeting, and a meeting of influential county gentlemen, will be held to make up the remaining £ 1,500. Cardiff is also bidding for the show.
,fntt, inul jntdt!21.
,fntt, inul jntdt!21. Spoil the roil and spare the child. Train up a child in the way it should go, and when he's of age he'll go it. Children pick tip words as pigeons peas, and utter them again as God shall please. Tell a miser he is rich and a woman she is old, you will get no money of him or kindness of her.- Wychei-ley. Why is the earth like a blackboard ?—Because the child- ren of men multiply upon the face of it. An old farmer said of a minister whose sermons were much wanting in point, Ah, yes, he's a good man, I dare say, but he will rake with the teeth upward." One of the sufferers by a late railway accident was rushing wildly about, when some one asked if he was hurt. No," he said, "but I can't find my umbrella." We must not come from the field of charity because of frauds, any more than we come from the field of battle be- cause of wounds.—Lynch. MIXED.—Suppose a fellar that has nothin' marries a gal what has nothin', is her things his'n, or his'n lier'n, or is his'n and her'n his'n HARD HIT. Come, don't be timid," said a couple of foolish snobs to two mechanics, "sit down and make yourselves our equals," We'd have to blow our brains out to do that," was the reply. To CURE DYSPEPSIA.—Close all the outer doors of a four-story house, open the inner doors, and then take a long switch, and chase a cat up and down stairs till she sweats. CAUSE AND EFFECT.—A French paper asserts that 7 per cent, of lunatics are made so by the employment of hair dyes. This is evidently a confusion of cause and effect for no one who is not already insane would use hair dyes. A poor man went to hang himself, But treasure chancod to find He pocketed a miser's pelf And left the rope behind. His money gone, the miser hung Himself in sheer dispair Thus each the other's wants supplied And that was surely fair. With plenty of money, with warm clothes, and a good house, a hard frost has its charms; without them it is not quite so agreeable. For my part I confess that I never have seen a paterfamilias with his coat tails raised, bask- ing himself before his fire, and prating about the delights of winter, and the healthy glow which is caused by a sharp frost, without feeling an irresistible desire to strip him stark naked on the highest peak of Mont Blanc, in order to enable him to learn by experience what winter means to thousands of his fellow-creatures.
| AMERICAN ITEMS.
AMERICAN ITEMS. The bride in a recent Connecticut wedding was not thirteen years old. An American paper states that in Detroit, Michigan, fashionable young men have taken to wearing ear-rintrs. Henry Ward Beecher recently received a five hundred dollar marriage fee. An American paper says that in Chicago bonnets are worn high, with a reef in the maintopsail, and a spanker over the chignon." AN OLD MASTER.—Pennsylvania has a pedagogue ninety-six years old. He is one of the old masters. A RisE iN LIFE.—The New York World mentions that Mr James Dawson, who began life in the humble capacity of Speaker in the Mississippi House of Representatives, has risen to be police reporter for a New Orleans news- paper. Ax AMERICAN SPORT.—"A 'rooster' is the American term for the male bird among poultry. Many roosters have been provided for the match—fine strong fowls. Each competitor seats himself on a log cf wood with his feet against a board. He first deposits a dollar, and then takes one of the roosters, places it between his legs with the head downwards, and seizing the feet of the poor fowl, pulls with full force. If he succeed in pulling the legs or the rooster clean off he will win the bird if not he will lose the dollar. Few succeed in the attempt. I notice that the fowls, though subjected to such severe torture, do not make any noise, and I ask Dr Scheminerhorn the reason. They can't,' answers the doctor. They are too much absorbed.' I conclude that eighteen years of life in the mountains is not favourable to fine feeling and am not sorry when the time arrives for me to remount another coach and start for Virginia City."
Advertising
Many of the noblemen and gentlemen of Ireland, who fought gallantly for the National Church," now that it has been dis- established, have come forward nobly in aid of its funds. The latest list of contributions commences with a donation of £ 20,000 from the Karl of Egmont, £ 0,000 each from Lords Abercorn and Clermont, £ 5,000 from the Duke of Devonshire, C3 000 from Messrs Kintihan, of Dublin and London, Mr Mulholland (Belfast) 42,00,9, with a number of sums of £ 1,000 and £500.
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1 The Aberdeen Presbytery of the Free Church has adopted un- animously a protest against Mr Gladstone's letter on the Pope's independence. Professor Maurice has accepted the living of St. Edward's, Cambridge, offered to him by the Master and Fellows of Trinity Hall. At the third of the special prayer meetings, held at the Free- mason's Hall, London, one of the gentlemen who offered prayers was Count Bernstorff, jun. A man has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and then to tind sureties for good behaviour, at the Hampshire Quarter Sessions, for selling the "Confessional Unmasked." Mr Donnelly, Registrar-General for Ireland, has issued a circu- lar to the clergy of the disestablished Church, directing them to erase from the marriage registers the words "Church of Ireland,' and to substitute the words "Protestant Episcopal Church of Ireland." Many of them have returned for answer a tiat, and not ovr-polite refusal to comply with this order, which, they maintain, asks them to falsify the title accorded to the Church even by the Act of Parliament by which it was disestablished. The Rev. Llewellyn I).ivies has contributed a very interesting article to the Contemporary Re view, on "The Debt of Theology to Secular Movements." Amongst other points, he instances what the advance of democracy has done to correct the old vieyv of the mind of God given by theology; and he says that while the regard to the principle of order remains we can now see a new power in the revolutionary doctrines of the New Testament," and men no longer venture to quote its teachings in favour of aristocratic assumptions. Mr Spurgeon has written to the Record to say that lie has no doubt he did pray, on Christmas morning, for the Church of England" and other apostate Churches." But he is willing to explain words which, out of their connection, may or may not convey the same meaning. "As I look around me," he says, I am horrified at the widespread Popish teaching of the Established Church, and am at once surprised and indignant at the degraded form which its superstition is assuming—equalling, if not exceeding, the idolatry of the Church of Home. This pestilent influence is carried far and wide by an able priesthood and a most active and prolific press. In view of the fearful mischief which your Church is thus doing, I do not feel that it is more than the truth to say that she has apostatised from her Protestant position. It is as painful to me to use the expression as it can be to others to hear it. At the same time, I can never forget the many gracious and faithful men who remain in this Church, nor can I cease to pray for them."
IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA.
IMMIGRANTS IN CANADA. SIR. The favourable reception of former etter con- strains me to again ask your indulgence. The dollar is fixed in Canada at 4s. 2d., and passes for os. currency that is, 1 dollar (equalling our 0s* 3d.) will purchase 7s. Gd. worth of articles. All the subjoined items are in English money. As housekeeping is a third cheaper (and almost half in the country), the wages, though ap- parently somewhat equal to ours, are in reality, more valuable. The voyage of 11 days from London to Quebec, costs £7 Gs., steam-boat, JM Gs., half-price under 8 (sailing vessel t4); 12. Gd. rail to Liverpool; ship's kit. The Canadian Government has hitherto granted free passages from Quebec to wherever the immigrants go to. Labourers get generally 4s. 2d. per day Farm ditto, GOs. per month, with board and lodging; Rough carpen- ters, 5s. 3d.; Joiners and Painters, GR. 3d.; men accus- tomed to draining works, 7s. Gel.; Tailors, Engineers, Plasterers, Bricklayers, and first-class Shoemakers, 8s. to 10s. trades Unions do not exist to any extent. Each is paid according to his individual worth. A Boss' is the foreman, often the master. Young girls 'Helps,' obtain lGs. 8d. per month Housemaids, 25s., Cooks, 33s. and upwards, with excellent board, and very kind treatment. Provisions are cheaper in the country than in towns. Mutton ranges from 3d. to od. per lb.; Beef, 4d. to lid.; Pork, 4d. to 7d.; Sheep's heads with et ceteras, 2e1.; Bacon, 7d.; Flour, Gs. per 100 lbs.; 41b. loaf 5d.; Potatoes, Is. 3d. per bushel Apples (abundant), Is.; Butter, 10d.; Cheese, 7d.; Pure Milk, 2\d. per quart.; Tea, 3s. 2d.; Sugar, o^d.; Fowls, Is. each; Ducks, Is. 8d.; Turkeys, 2s. Land is more or less valuable according to locality. The Free Grants of 200 acres, and 100 to all over 18, are being fast taken up. Fair farms can be bought for to EG per acre. I was offered two in the county of Norfolk the one for £ 1,;>50, with 230 acres—the other with 280 acres for £ 1,350, this let for £ 75 per annum. Just out of toyvns they run about £13. In towns, £83 and upwards per acre. Mr Hutton (an authority) states £ 2G9 may be re- alized by farming in two years, on an outlay, of £ 680. House-rent is lGs. per month, with garden, in towns. In villages and in the country most possess their own dwellings. A shanty costs about £ 20. Most log-huts, barns, etc., are fixed up by Bee' parties. The system of free schools is highly prized, Grammar Scholars pay 4s. 2d. per quarter. The Universities are good and very reasonable. In 18G8, Ontario had 4,8S2 schools, with 435,000 scholars, costing £ 400,000 per annum. Clothes are dearer than in the Old Country, but are more suitable and wear better. Board and lodging (meat twice per day), cost 12s. Gd. per week. The cold is severe but not destructive the mortality is 1 per cent. The ex- tremes of cold and heat range in Toronto, from 9 below zero (January), mean for month 283, to 94" (August), mean G8°; annual mean 44J The weather is favourable between 8 and 9 months. The houses of the upper and middle-classes (a very social and hospitable set) are very snug and cosy. On New Year's day all friends visit each other the ladies staying At Home' and 'receiving.' The instances of prosperity I met with were numerous, probably three-fourths of the upper and middle classes have risen from very small beginnings. The humbler classes generally have money in the banks. There are no workhouses or stone yards. All grog-shops are cloned from 10 p.m. on Saturday night till 7 a.m. on Monday (all Sunday), and with marked good results. The Canadians--a manly and independent body-are enthusiastically loyal, and our beloved Queen has no sub- jects more deeply attached to her and the country. Of course there are drawbacks (and what country has not?) but they are counterbalanced by the prosperity which awaits the sober, industrious, and persevering. I am, Sir, from personal observation, most thoroughly satisfied as to the benefits of emigration. Canada is a good place for a poor man. I should dearly like to see Emigration Clubs (with weekly payments, &c.) and societies established in most parishes, for I am convinced that no other mode is so efficient and permanent to relieve the able-bodied poor as Emigration to our Colonies I am afraid the Dominion Government are too apathetic in this matter. Thanking you, Sir, for your kindness and advocacy, and earnestly inviting subscriptions to aid 200 poor but deserving members of my parochial Emigration Club to emigrate, I remain, Sir, yours respectfully, A. STYLEMAN HEKRIN-G, Incumbent of St. Paul's Clerkenwell. 45, Colbrooke Row, Islington Green, N.
A GHASTLY SCENE. ~
A GHASTLY SCENE. The Daiht News correspondent on the east of Paris accompanied the German detachment which took posses- sion of Mont Avron. He thus describes the scene— Working alyvays round to the left, we reached the crest of the hill on that face of the plateau which looks out on Montfermeil, and where the summit is marked by the batteries. Once inside them, there met our eyes one of the weirdest scenes that imagination could conjure up. Ground ploughed with shells, embrasures stove in, parallels all but obliterated, and yet not a single cannon left behind. But if the French have removed their cannon, they have left their dead. One slides and stumbles over a little ice pud- file. The ice blushes up red in his face--it is frozen human blood. Behind the batteries and inside the breastworks the dead lie thick. Dead No man who has long followed this war but must be so familiar with the aspect of slain men that the original thrill and turn of the blood at the sight is a memory of the past at which he all but smiles. But the terrible ghastliness of these dead transcends any- thing I have ever seen or even dreamt of in the shudder- ing nightmare after my first battlefield. Remember hoyv they were slain. Not with the nimble bulletof the needle- gun, that drills a minute hole through a man and leaves him undisfigured, unless it has chanced to strike his face not with the trenchant sabre cut of the dragon, not with the sharp stab of the bayonet, but slaughtered with mis- siles of terrible weight, shattered into fragments by ex- plosions of many pounds of powder, mangled and torn by massive fragments of iron. There lay behind one of the embrasures a form utterly headless—I suppose the shell had struck the hapless being full in the face and carried h jad and throat before it in its fierce rush. The guillotine could not have performed the operation more cleanly. But what need to dwell in detail on such a topic ? Let it suffice that there lay the unburied and abandoned dead among the snow stained with their blood and with the de- pressions in those ghastly faces turned up to the calm moonlight, drifted up by the snowfiakes which had fallen since thev had been shot down. When will they be buried? When will these wan faces cease to look up'into the ejTes of the moon, in silent but eloquent protestation against the institution called war ? When will the stray human fragments over which one stuinbles as he goes be gathered together and their ghastliness be hidden beneath friendly earth ? Not yet. Men will not dig graves as j if they were blasting tunnels, and the earth is as hard as the bowels of Mont Cenis. The corpses on Mont Avron must lie there till a thaw comes. How long after it would be rash to prognosticate. That gruesome group in the camp here who had been sitting round the fire when the shells came and burst in it and blew one and all of them intothe other world must remain as it is-a horrible mockery of conviviality, for a time at least. To look at the group from a little distance one would conclude that its members, lying or seated in a circle, were hobnobbing genially round a common pot or eating out of one dish. Come nearer and look inside that ring of squatting men, or what once were men. I care not how inured you are to sights of horror, you will turn away sick and scared from that cir- cle of carna reo Great God that man should be able so to mangle his fellow man made in thine image
[No title]
Mr Charles Jones, studgroom at Brvnvpys, has been lliC'les .r ones, distributing coals to poor people at Shrewsbury. The Rev. Richard Gwyn, of that town, has been doing a similar good deed. Iolo Trefaldyvyn, the winner of the Liverpool G ordovic Chair Prize, was entertained by some of his friends as he passed through Chester on his way home. Several bards were present, and delivered poetical addresses. THE SeLTAN AND THE POPE.-The most wonderful event of the annus mirabilis just past has still to be re- corded. We had thought that no marvel could surpass the spectacle of those old foes, Garibaldi, the hero of Aspromonte and Montana, and Charette, the commander of the Pontifical Zouaves, fighting for the same cause. But a still more portentous event has occurred. The Sultan has sent the Pope a silver casket containing 20,000 francs." Was there ever anything stranger in the history of the world ? The Grand Turk making presents to the Sovereign Pontiff. The thing is incredible, and yet it is true and, what is more, we believe that Pius IX. has actually ac- cepted the offering of Abdul Aziz. We ask ourselves with amazement how it can be possible that the Sultan should be making gifts to the Pope, that the facts should be reported by our contemporaries in a single line, as though it v'ere the most ordinary incident -of the world.— Olole. 1
lipp At $b dh.
lipp At $b dh. Mr Watkin Williams, M.P., has been assisting the poor and unemployed at Wrexham, The death of Lady Dinorben, who was well known in North Wales, is announced. The Chester city prisoners are to be sent to the county prison, and the city gaol will most likely be abolished. The Conservative Banquet at Shrewsbury is to held on the 31st inst. A child died from the severe cold, a few days ago, while traveling from Hanley to Flint. The Earl of Powis is a contributor of E50 to the central fund for the relief of the distressed French farmers by supplies of seed, &c. The Snider rifle has been distributed to the members of the 7th Monmouthshire Volunteers, the first corps in that district to whom that weapon has been furnished. The Wrexham subscriptions to the University College for Wales amount to £ 500. Mr Peter Walker has given £ 60, Mr William Overton C50 and Sir R. A. Cunliffe £50. A committee nominated at a meeting called by the mayor, has been established at Shrewsbury to administer relief to the poor during the cold weather. The following appears over the door of Caerwys railway station Hair collector." It should be "Gilbert Hair, collector." A few days ago a child of eight or nine months, almost naked, was found lying in the snow at Nantyvich. The foundling was taken to the workhouse. The Rev. W. Ambrose of Portmadoc has been suffering from a slight paralytic stroke but his voice is not affected, and his friends hope he will soon be able to resume his ministerial duties. The Lord Bishop of Hereford has collated the Rev. William Morgan Rowland, M.A., vicar of Bishop's Castle, to the Prebend of Hinton, in the Cathedral Church of Hereford. George Herbert Haslam, who was charged at the Shrop- shire Quarter Sessions with giving a false certificate of vaccination at Drayton-in-Haies, was acquitted. The jury found that the false certificate was not made out wilfully. Fresh orders have been issued by the Education De- partment for the election of School Boards in twenty-six boroughs in England and Wales, including Brecon, New- port (Men.), and Pwllheli. 0 Civilization hardly seems to have penetrated as far as Festiniog. The letters, we are told, arrive there in most irregular fashion, and one day the bags were seen lying for four hours at Afonyven station The Rev. A. S. Prior has left St. George's Church, Wolverhampton, for six months, and the Rev. J. R. Selwyn, the bishop's son, is now in charge. It is hoped that peace and unity will be restored to the divided con- gregation. Mr Prior has found temporary duty near Hastings. Dr Massingham, writing to a contemporary, gives a parody on a well-known Sunday-school hymn. The doctor's parody begins— We won't give up the Bible In rate-supported schools. j A Mr Talbot, of Hadley, has discovered a novel objec- tion to penny readings. He says that young men meet many young women there who do not make suitable wives What about the unfortunate young women that meet young men who would not make suitable husbands? Five deaths took place at Wrexham workhouse last week, and there were five funerals on Wednesday. The great cold was the cause of this excessive mortality although every protection against it is afforded at the workhouse. Thomas Milne Whitwortli, an inland revenue officer at Chester, hung himself in his back kitchen at an early hour on Saturday morning. His mind had been affected by the death of a son. At the inquest, a verdict of "tem- porary insanity" was returned. J t the Cheshire Quarter Sessions the chairman, Mr Lee Porcher Townshend, was presented with his portrait by his brother magistrates and other friends. The sum sub- scribed was £ 1,200, and the surplus was to be handed over to Mr Townshend, to use as he thought proper. On Christmas eve a number of ladies were engaged in decoratingSt. George's Church, Llandudno, yvhen the parish warden appeared, and prohibited them from proceeding with their work. As lie did not behave in the most courteous way, the ladies beat a retreat. The rector sub- sequently had some of the decorations prepared for St. George's used at Holy Trinity Church. Mr Henry Lumley, Poor-law inspector, attended at Conway, last Meek, to enquire into the payment of guardians. A considerable number of guardians stated that they were paid in sums ranging from B2 10s. to £(i, and it was explained that guardians had to go long dis- tances, and would not serve without payment. The practice is for the assistant-overseer to pay the money out of his salary, in fixing which the payment is taken into account. At the last Holywell County Court a farmer sued the L. and N.W., and other railway companies for not affording him sufficient accommodation to cross a line, which inter- sected his farm. He had been offered a key to the gates of a level crossing, but refused it, as he said the way was a public one. The defendants shewed that they were authorized by the Act to do what they had done, and judgment went for them. Lord 11. Grosvenor, M.P., and Mr Raikes, M.P., were present at the annual dinner of the clerks and assistants of Mold last week. Lord Richard said he believed the people of England would say we required more military preparation than we had now, but he hoped the question would be taken up moderately in the House of Commons, and with regard for Mr Lowe's budget, which promised so magnificently. T Mr Cooke, a plumber, living at Ludlow, was sitting by the fire, the other day, during the frost, with his wife, when the boiler, a self-acting one, burst, and they were blown to the other side of the room. Mrs Cooke received fatal injuries, which led to her death two days after- wards 'Mr Cooke was seriously hurt, and the room be- came a wreck. Householders should carefully inspect their boilers during frosty weather. This is not the only fatal accident of the kind which has recently occurred, and many boilers, we fear, are so constructed that an ex- plosion is not improbable. Safety valves should be an indispensable part of a kitchen boiler, but even then it re- quires great care in frosty weather- The Rev. S. H. Macaulay, referring to extracts which have appeared from the Hon. K. Stanhope's report on the condition of women and children employed in agriculture in Shropshire, says his statements are incredible, and pro- tests against the practice of sending young gentlemen about the country at railroad speed, to make enquiries into j matters about which they are wholly incompetent to form a right judgment, and still more against placing the lea.st dependence upon the blue book which is manufactured at great expense to the country from materials as utterly worthless as the contents of their note books generally al An action for libel was tried in the Swansea county court last week. The plaintiff, Mr Thomas Hanrahan, an excise officer at Swansea, claimed £ 500 damages from the i defendant, Mr H. W. Williams, the proprietor of the Cambrian newspaper. The libel complained of was an anonymous letter in that journal, asking whether it was true that "an open-air meeting on 'peculiar' principles was held on Sunday evening last, near Greenhill, such me-tin, being addressed by a 'Government officer resident in Swansea, "if such be true, and of which there is no reason to doubt, there is no time for the authorities of our town to look to it." The plaintiff said he had no doubt the letter referred to him, but he had no "peculiar" views or principles. The defence was that the letter was not libellous, nor was it shown that the plaintiff had received any injury from its publication. The jury, after a short consultation, gave a verdict for the defendant. The question of the legality of "beating nets" came before the Special Fishery Commissioners at Ross last yveek. These nets and their use are thus described— Three men. with a boat, take a trammel net, which is a net of the ordinary salmon mesh, with another net on each side of it, of larger mesh, viz., one foot from knot, or four feet round. The one end of the net is dropped on shore, and held there by a man or boy, or pegged to the ground, while the rest is taken by the boat and swept round, a semi-circle of the net being drawn to the shore again,'about fifty yards beloyv. The net is used at deep places of the river, where it is known or believed that fish aielyinr. Men then beat the water with poles, and so cause the fish to rush against the net, when they are meshed in the net and caught." The question before the Commissioners was whether the nets were "fixed engines" for taking salmon.—The Commissioners decided that they were not, but said—In coming to this decision we do not give any opinion as to whether the net offends against the Salmon Fishery Act on another ground, viz., as being a trammel net, that is to say, a series of nets, one behind the other. That is a question which it will be for the justices of the peace to decide when the question is properly raised before them.
THE TRUCK COMMISSION.
THE TRUCK COMMISSION. The following evidence from the lluabon district was given before the commisioners at Birmingham last week —Mr Henry Richard Bowen said I am by trade a collier but am out of work at present. I have taken a great interest in companies' shops for 30 years. For the last five or six years shopkeeping companies have not em- ployed me, because I have been conspicuous in speaking against them. Many years ago I worked for the Ruabon Company, but I took an active part in the truck matter, and was not allowed to work there I was told so by Mr Evans, the agent. I have not taken an active part in strikes. Years ago there used to be payment in North Wales by notes or tickets a certain number would have to go to the shops on a certain day, and perhaps loO or 200 women would have to go and wait their turns. The shop opened at eight, and they would go at five, and wait there in all kinds of weather. I have seen it at the British Iron Company's shops. It is better of late years, since action has been taken against the shop. The companies shops are diminishing, but the butty truck system is growing to a «-i«rantic height. On the whole, I think the companies' shops are most detrimental, because of the distances the women have to go, and the time they have to wait. For- merly a note was given and taken to the shop, and money was given by a clerk, and then the money was handed over to the shopkeeper now, they pay in cash at the office, but if the men take the money away from the shop f" slope"), there is no order for cash next week. I know the Wynnstay Colliery that is what we call the British Iron Company. The truck system is not prevalent in Flintshire and North Denbigh. I have worked where they have weekly payments, and the people thrive and do better, and pay their way. Mr William Pritchard said I live at Rhos, near Rua- bon, and am a butcher. I know that men employed by the British Iron Company take goods to sell. They speak about the company's shop it is the cry of the country. The articles re inferior. Notes from butties are brought into Rhos to the tradesmen, and the butties get from Gd. to Is. Gd. in the pound discount. I do not get the notes myself. Mr William Griffiths said I am a shopkeeper at Rhos. The system has changed the last three of four ye are, «K'ing to a successful presecution. The butty system is a greater evil in our neighbourhood than the companies' shops. I have had notes from butties within the last two years the butties expect a poundage, but I do not give it. I do not think there is much difference of late years in quality and price between the goods of the Ruabon Company and the' shops, owing to the stand mide by the workmen, and to the prosecution; but there is an understanding that the men must deal there. Before the men made a stand the sys- tem was very bad. Sometimes a manager will take a farm and will let it out that he would like to sell the farm produce, and if the men do not buy it they do not ly w fairplay in the work. I hear that from the men. Mr George Thompson, local manager of the New Bri Iron Company's Works, at Ruabon, said We etcr 1,300 men. The pays are monthly, four weeks in months, and five weeks in the 3rd month. There. intermediate fortnightly sists" or assists. Every "W on different days, some departments one day, and sol another, have the privilege of drawing money, and 0" of the men take advantage of it. In the year 1809 » o total gross amount of wages paid was t. 78 and in" first six months of 1870,' £ 30,150. The am Hint of Wf- paid on cash pay days in 18G9, was £ 1('»,125, and in*1 first six months of 1870, 69.114. The amount of advaDf; or draws in 18(59, was £ 35,000., and in the tirst six mou of 1870. £ 19,404. I do not think there are many l companies who keep shops in North Wales. The men cO' for their draws to an office set apart for the purpose,^ we have a clerk who pays them their advances. The off is 300 or 400 yards distant from the shop. The men not in the least expected to spend the whole or part; their draw at the shop. They are perfectly at liberty' spend their money as they like, only we do not like to ? them spend it at the public-house. There is no undt standing that the men shall spend their draws at the sbf' Shopkeepers coine to our works with placards announO' the prices of their articles. Is there any expectation orunderstandin in your ",(1 that some portion of the draw is to be spfnt in the shot —There is no understanding whatever. Do you draw a distinction between an understandjl and expectation ?—Having a shop we h.v e an expectant that some of the men will spend monev there, but there no pressure whatever. The existence of the works is an element in Induce you to keep open the shop ?—Yes. Can I take it as a fact that the shop is mainly sflt ported by men who come for their drayy s?—Mainly sill ported by the men employed at the works. Ninety f. cent. of the men have draws. The total sales at the sb in 18G9 amounted to £ 9,253, and in the first six months' 1870 to £ 4,685. The amount received from persons employed at the works is only ab ut £ 30 a year. yvere convicted under the Truck Act about two years af? A man left us who had had goods from the shop, which* refused to pay for. He left us, and summoned us for? wages, and obtained them. The system has been partis^ altered since that time. The men are noyv paid entitf' in money. Mr William Jones, draw clerk at the Ruabon wor said I am not under Mr Wilson, the shopkeeper. WbJ a man comes for a drayv I have entered in a book tb amount he is entitled to draw. The manager of the i1 partment comes every week and puts the amounts do\ in my book. I have been in the office three years. I hftf never stopped a man's draw. Men have come for a drO and found none was there. I do not know whether thi. take their draws to the shop; I never looked to see. make out no list, except the book, which never leaves tf- office. The shopkeeper does not c ome to my office. T*1 manager or foreman never comes to ask me what men haf had draws. It is optional whether the men go to the shfj or not. I think it is proper that the men should go to$ shop. I never told them that they yvere expected toff there, and do not know that the men consider that are expected to go. I have no opinion about it. Tk clerks in my office go to the.shop yvhen they- want from it. The yvord stop," yvr.tten in pencil in the boc* signifies that a man is not to have a draw, probably 'oecav he is not at yvork—never because he does not deal at tP shop. Mr William Marsh, pny clerk at the Ruabon Offio. said Where the word stop" is written in the bookj means that the man has left, or is absent from work, lias nothing whatever to do with his going to the op. Mr G. Thompson, recalled, said I do not think the Mol or their wives who come for draws think t liei- are expectj: to deal at the shop I am sure a great mmy of thein not. There is a system growing up amongst the shef keepers in the district of giving a commission of Gd. in t pound to contractors to put a pressure on those und? them to go to their shops. I believe our shop very m'ljjj! keeps that system in check. Our shop is conducted in$!. most fair manner possible, and the utmost freedom1! given to the men. We trust to the goodness of the artic'/l sold and the moderate price. In the present state of population and their social habits, I think our shop is 0 advantage to the families of the men. T think it is cl^ the women spend their money on their families, and tfr^ many of the men receiving their money on the pay-do take it to the public-house. —
..Sporting
..Sporting The publication of the entries for the Spring Handicap on Saturday has at length broken the dulness of this sevep winter so far as the turf is concerned. Turf anylysts see™ to be yvell satisfied, nearly all the big handicaps shew'i^ an increase. "One hundred and ten names," says ft turf editor of Bell's Life, are doyvn in the Grand Nation i against 88 last year, 90 in 18G9, 79 in 18<>>>. 84 in 18G7, 80 in 186G. Those who have already invested on Primiogo The Colonel, and The Lamb, are at least free from apprehension as to their favourites not appearing amoM the entries. Such old fancies as Pearl Diver, Hall CoIlrt, The Nun> Snowstorm, Scarring ton, Tuseulanum, Bric^' and Hippolyte, are. of course, engaged and so is anotb^ steed of fame over the Liverpool course, namely, CortolvíJJj Tathwell again appears on the list, and is not likely, imagine, to stand at all low down in the handicap and' will be a relief to the minds of many who fancy they kno J something to find that Lymington, New Oswestry, aC Harvester all fig-nre among the entries." The Chester C" has only one entry in excess of last year. 124 names beit4 down while the City and Suburban has 165, and tb Lincolnshire Handicap 142, the added money to the lattet being raised to C500. During the past week skating matches have been I)Iell: tiful, one on the Ouse at Huntingdon attracting no than ten thousand spectators. The course was a mile a quarter long, and the ice tolerably go ki. There we fourteen competitors, who ran in heats, and the decidiJ1 heat was contended for by J. Cross and Smith, the re spective champions of Cambridge and Huntingdon. Smi' went off with a slight lead, but before going a quarter of* miie he was collared by the Cambridgeshire man, and tbl pair kept close together until near the winning post. wileo they came into collision, and fell. Cross -rot up and CO# pleted the course, Smith retiring and claiming the foU" which was not allowed. This untoward affair has led the men being matched for 1:50. In the previous IIeat, Smith covered the distance in 3 mill. 40 see. The Field, in a notice of the reprint by Messrs Rout' ledge, of Nimrod's Life of Mytton," otNls I The present edition, though enlarged, comes to us in the oW familiar form, with the same engravings that delight^ Oxford and Cambridge boys some thirty years ago. AgítlØ and again are we told the old stories about the bear,' the light come and light go,' the never-to-be-forgotten scene,' and all the many mad adventures of the wonderflJ hero. Jack Mytton yvas an extraordinary man, such only this country could have produced, and his brief li'? was a tale worth the telling, and well was it told. At^ yet we remember in our younger days the story left, nc" quite a painful impression, because nothing could paill,00 in that liilev(-n ti me, lbti t a something that told i s it would e uj well that, despite all his goodness of heart, there should be no more Jack Myttons to come after hints" Lord Henry Bentinck, whose influence in the huntill world was perhaps equal to that exercised by his brothef Lord George some years over the racing, died on the day of the year. His lordship had been out shooting of the previous day, and complained of beinur unwell when be retired to rest. He was found dead in his room on the folloyving morning. From a sketch of his life by "Argus," in the Morning Post, we glean that, like Lord George, l>e was a man of very active habits, an untiring deerstalker' and a professed angler. Had he lived he would have beell Duke of Portland. Billiards are looking up in Wale". A very exciting and well-contested game came off at the Golden LioJ1 Royal Hotel Billiard-room, Dolgeliev. last week. Two Merionethshire gentleman J. R. Lloyd Price, Esq., and H. H. Lloyd Clough, Esq—engaged against two Cat" narvonshire gentlemen—Capt. Pearson, and Mr R. Marjr It was arranged that a four-handed game of billiards, 500 up, should be played. Each of the players by giving twO consecutives misses, or by his opponent making a hazard, was superseded by his partner, this plan meeting with more approval than that each should play in turn- Merioneth won the toss, and Captain Pearson started with the usual miss in baulk, Mr Clough in like fashion safely putting his ball under a side cushion. Mr Pearson scored with a fluke, and before he was put out succeeded in 9t, ting 19 to his opponent's 1. Mr Clough then got into formal and the marker called the game Carnarvonshire i'W Merioneth 37, when Mr Clough made a splendid through stroke and for the first time shot ahead. He was soon over" hauled however, as Mr Pearson played remarkably vl A], making a very pretty break of 28, and raised his score to 88 against 55. Mr Price now got in. and v ju,h- cious play increased his score to 81, and afterwards made a nice little break, and succeeded in getting ahead, the game being called Merioneth 115 against 107. Mr Maif here made 2fi off the balls, his all-round cannons being much admired. The game was very even for some time but Mr Clough made a break of 24 his score being noW 34!) against Carnarvon's 305 Mr Marr was very careful, and lessened the difference to 13, when Mr Price got in, and by some beautifully played strokes again widened the breach, the score when he was "outed" being 40G against 359. After some ordinary playing, Mr Marr once more came to the fore and starting with three lucky ones (in all eleven) made a break of 28, and by some brilliant playing succeeded in drawing ahead—Carnarvon, 451 Merioneth, 444. From this point the game was most exciting both sides being extremely cautions, the only difference being tyvo or three between the relative positions. At length Mr Marr got a slight lead, by a splendid six shot, follow- in0 it up with cautious play. The Merioneth gentlemen c mid not pull up, and Mr Marr finished off easily wl en the game was called, Merioneth was 478. The g: me lasted exactly three hours and three quarters. Imme- diately after this, the two chiefs had a set to," in a game of 200 up. Some capital playing was exli b ted, but Mr Clough, this time, carried, away the honours, win- ning by 23. We believe that the return match will be played shortly in Carnarvon. We are given to underst; nd that there is every likelihood of a billiard championship cup for North Wale's. Mr Price, of Rhiwlas has offered £ 2 towards this object, and other gentleman will no doubt subscribe