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¦ . -r* -'- " . ¦ ':' , ? • THE LEADER. ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mi S C K L L A N K O U «. Extraordinary ...
B , therefore , in all probability , an addition to our list of telescopic variable star . ^ to oPOtiTAN Boabd OF WoBML-The chairman of the new Metropolitan Board of Works was elected at a meeting last Saturday , when several candidates were proposed . The following is the original list : — " Mr . James Baker , Mr . G . R . Booth , C . E . ; Mr . G . H . Buckton , Mr . William Burcb , Mr . G . F . Carden , feir C . De Crespigny , Bart , Mr . William Corrie , Mr . Deputy Harrison , Mr . T . Hawes , Mr . R . Jebb , Mr . W J . Neale , Mr . G . Offor , Hon . Josceline Percy , M . P ., Mr . J . A " . Roebuck , M . P .,. Mr . Arthur Rose , Mr . Arthur Symonds , Mr . John Thwaites , Mr . Thomas Turner . " From this list , the names of Mr . Baker ,
. Mr . Booth , Mr . Buckton , Mr . Burch , Sir C . De Crespigny , Mr . Neale , Mr . Offor , and Mr . Symonds , were afterwards expunged , for want of proposers , or on account of their proposers and seconders not being prepared to support them with their votes . Sir John Shelley was liberal in his offers of proposing and seconding , being ready in any case where the accommodation was wanted ; a course which was more than once objected to by Mr . Hows , as making a burlesque of the . whole affair . Mr . Roebuck , in addressing the meeting , made a species of defence of himself for doing that which be had never done in his life
before—soliciting a paid office ; but he said he had been asked to come forward , and added that he regarded his experience , first of the law and then of legislation ( more especially with reference to the Sebastopol Committee ) , as peculiarly fitting him for an office which would demand the reception and the nice balancing of apparently opposing facts and arguments . Upon the names being put to the vote , it was agreed that those having the smallest number of votes on each of the seven shows of hands which were to be taken should be struck out of the list . The final result was the election of Mr . Thwaites by thirty votes .
In the same meeting , Sir John Shelley intimated nis intention of resigning his seat as member of the board . He had felt bound , in consequence of certain circumstances which had transpired with reference to his election in the parish of St . James , to maintain the decision of the vestry , which he believed to be legal and right ; but now he thought it better to tender his resignation , as the circumstances to -which he had referred rendered the matter doubtful . ' The board , having determined to hold its first legal meeting on the " 1 st of January , adjourned after a sitting of nearly five hours .
Australia . —The Legislative Council has assented to acts granting duties of customs and altering the duties on colonial spirits . By the former , all goods imported for the use of her Majesty ' s service are to be exempt from duties and imposts of every description . The act to alter the duty on colonial spirits , enacts that , in lieu of the duties now payable upon spirits distilled in the colony , there shall be paid upon such spirits , when made * or distilled from sugar which shall have paid Customs' duties , for every gallon , 6 s . 5 d . Upon such spirits , when made or distilled wholly , or in any proportion exceeding ten per cent , of the whole , from materials which are not subject to any duty of Customs , for every gallon , 7 s . —A great increase of briskness is noticeable in the wool-market .
Serfdom in Scotland . —The Duke of Argyllgenerally known as " the model Duke of Scotland "has recently been guilty of a moat outrageous piece of despotism over the poorer inhabitants of the island of Tirree . The Glasgow Times indignantly calls attention to this aot of slave-driving , and quotes the following placard , posted on the church-doors of Tirree , as evidence of the truth of what it states : — "Notice is hereby given , that , after this date , no tenant paying under £ 30 of rent is to be allowed to use whisky , or any . other spirits , at weddings , balls ,
funerals , or any other gatherings ; and all offenders against the terms of this notice will be dispossessed of their lands at the next term . By order . ( Signed ) Lachlan Macquarie ( factor ' s clerk ) . —Island House , Nov . 16 , 1865 . ' The darkest of the dark ages could hardly surpass the unblushing tyranny of this order . And the worst of it is , that it indicates a general condition of things in the island of Th-ree , which is at one © startling and humiliating . The islanders are evidently regarded in tho light of mere goods and chattels .
Serfdom in England . —Considerable indignation lias been exoited in the North Riding of Yorkshire by the Duke of Northumberland having lately introduced very stringent articles of agreement for the cultivation of his farina—articles which he requires his tenants ( who are mostly yearly tenants ) to sign , on pain of quitting their holdings . This proceeding has already led to the discharge from , hia farm of Mr . William Wethorell , of Kirkbridgo , a leading agriculturist in the north of England , who very recently received the Duke ' a own prisso for tho best cultivated farm in the district , the priiee being accompanied b y speoial commendation from the Duko . A meeting haa been held at Richmond , Yorkshire , for tho purpose of denouncing the Duke ' s return to " tho principles of feudalism and erfdom . " Tjhb Wkstbbn FiBHBBlBS . —The pilchard fishery is
now drawing . to a close . At New-quay , on the Cornish coast , the boats have been taking from 500 to 2 , 000 fine herrings each during the past week , which have sold at 2 s . 6 d . and 3 a . per hundred of six score . At Love , the herring fishery during the last three weeks has been very successful . Upwards of 100 , 000 have been taken , a larger number than has been known for forty years . They have been sold at 2 s . and 2 s . 6 d . per hundred . At St . Ive ' s , the driftboats have captured from 500 to 27 , 000 per boat per night , which have been disposed of at 2 s . perlmndred of six score . There have also been large catches on the Devonshire coast .
The Pope and the Irish Priests . —According to the competent authority of the Nation , the perilous principle ( as it is called ) which the Ossory ( Bishop Walsh ) discipline had introduced , and against which the late Mr . Lucas had vainly contended , has completely gained the mastery in the court of Rome . This information has reached to such a state now that the disheartened organ of the malcontents can no longer hesitate to declare that a positive prohibition of Monsignor Barnabo forbids nine or ten of the best (?) priests of Meath from attending political meetings in Dxiblin . " Dr . Cullen is , of course , the party suspected of this overt act of treachery , and by the introduction of the sharp end of the wedge the Nation recognises the initiative of a principle which destroys Dublin as the political capital , which it always has been to the popular party since the Catholics first began to agitate . —Times .
Division op the Diocese op Durham . —The Ecclesiastical Commissioners , it is said , have reported in favour of a division of tlie extensive diocese of Durham , but have left for further consideration whether the new see shall be established at Newcastle or Hexham . Loss op Life in the Medwat . — Lieutenant M'Donald , Lieutenant Eden , Lieutenant Battine , and his brother , of the Engineer barracks at Brompton , Chatham , went out rowing in the course of the week before last , and it is supposed , from the fact of the boat having been found driven on the bank of the Marshland , near Kit ' s Hole , and from the gentlemen having been since missed , that they have perished . . They were last seen alive at an inn , which they left a little before six o ' clock in the evening , saying they would row back to the barracks , though requested by the landlady to return by the omnibus .
The Stockton Poisoning Case . — Mi \ Jackson , one of the physicians attending on the late Mrs . Wooler , conceiving that suspicion might attach to him in consequence of the observation imputed to Baron Martin at the close of his summing up , has written to that Judge , advancing several arguments to prove that he could not accidentally have poisoned the deceased lady , and praying for some explanation of the remark said to have been made from tho judicial seat . To this request , Baron Martiu , thinking that the case is one in which he ought to depart from the rule of silence usually observed by judges , has replied by a letter , in which he writes : — " The substance of what I mean to say , and believe did say , was
thisthat , in a case of presumptive evidence imputing the guilt of murder , the law required the presumptions to be the plain and natural consequences following from the facts proved , and that it was not to be made out by fancy orBurmiso or suspicion , but by facts that amounted to proof ; that I had endeavoured in my own mind to arrive at some conclusion on the subject , and that it appeared to me there was no proof against n , uy one ; but that if I were to indulge in mere surmise and fancy , not the prisoner , but some other person , would first occur to my mind . If the entire of what I said upon this subject had been reported , I cannot but think it would have been obvious to any one that I did express what I intended to express , viz ,, no imputation of guilt upon any one , but a strong
illustration of the extreme danger of convicting Mr . Wooler upon any fancy or surmise from the facts and circumstances proved , by suggesting that a fancy or surmise , more plausible than could be entertained against Mr . Wooler , though equally insufficient to bring homo guilt or the suspicion of it , might be directed against another . " It is difficult to see how thia explanation differs , except in a more diffusive mode of statement from the observation originally reported , whioh the Judge now says he did not utter , " nor anything tantamount to it . " BoBides , how can a surmise of guilt , directed against a specific porsou , be said to bo insufficient to bring home a suspicion of guilt ? What is the distinction between a " surmise " and a " suspicion" ?
Mb . Batks . —The jurymen who tried Strahan , Paul , and Bates , have addrenaed a petition to tho Queen , praying for the liberation of the last-named prisoner , on the ground that , had the facts stated in his recent petition been known to them on tho trial , they should have acquitted him . Great Bkacon Finn on Maweun Huxs . —It ia intended to light up a nlonstor fire-on tho summit of tho " Worcestershire Beacon , " tho highest point of the Malvern range of hilla , on or about the 1 Oth of January next ; the object being twofold—viz ., the
celebration of the introduction of gas into Malvern , and to test the distance at which the reflection of a large fire on so great an elevation ( 1 , 444 feet above the sea ) would be visible . The beacon fire is to be forty feet in diameter at the base , and as high as may be conveniently carried , being kept together by poplar poles and bound round with chains . Mr . Edwin Lees , the naturalist ; , with , the view of furthering the object in band in a scientific way , has pointed out some of the best places for observation in different parts of the kingdom , and he suggests that , if distant observers are on the look-out , " some interesting points may turn up , and some facts as to very far mountains made out which at present are involved in obscurity . "
He proposes that a flight of signal rockets should announce the lighting of the fire , and that a deputation might reply with other rockets—say from the Brecon beacons or the Long Mountain in Montgomeryshire , though , perhaps the fire itself , on a calm night , might be seen from Cader-Idris or Snowdon Mr . Lees indicates the following elevated spots ( within the horizon , from the top of the Malverns ) as advantageous for observation on the night of the"lighting of the beacon fire : —Burdon-hill , Leicestershire ( about sixty miles as the ci'ow flies ) ; Edge-hill , near Kineton , Warwickshire ; hills near Banbury , Oxfordshire ; the whole range of the Cotswold , from Broadway , Worcestershire , to Stroud , in Gloucestershire , including Clewe , Cloud , and Lechampton hills , Robinshood-hill ,
near Gloucester , & c . ; White Horse-hill , Berkshire , seen over the Cotswold ( another step takes to hill near London ); Alfred ' s Tower , at Stourhead , Wilts Mendip-hills , Somerset , thirty miles below Bristol ;' heights in Glamorganshire ; Sugar Loaf and Skerrid Vawr , near Abergaveriny ; the Kymin , near Monmouth . ; Great D . oward , Monmouthshire ; the Blorenge and Talgarth Beacon , and part of the Black Forest , Breconshire ; the Black Mountains , stretching from Lantony to Hay ; Blackbury-hill , Lady-left , and Dynevor , Herefordshire ; Radnor Forest , Radnorshire ; Moel-y-Golfa , near Welchpool , Montgomeryshire ; hills in Shropshire , Clie-hills , near Ludlow ; Caer Caradoc , the Long Mynd , and the Wrekin ; and Cannock Chace , Enville , Dudley-castle , and Rowlie basaltic hills , in Staffordshire . .
The Civil Service Superannuation Fund . —A correspondent of the Times writes as follows : — " If I mistake not , about the year 1802 or 1803 , the then Prime Minister appropriated a fund which had accumulated for the payment of the pensions of the retired servants of the Crown to other purposes , and from that time until 1823 these pensions were paid out of the consolidated fund . About the latter period , an act was passed , in order that all the civil servants of the Crown should provide , by means of a percentage on their salaries , a fund for the payment of their . respective pensions or ' retired allowance . ' , This percentage was , I believe , two and a half per cent , per annum upon all ' salaries under £ 100 per annum , and five per amount"
cent , upon all that were above that . From that time I believe this percentage has always been paid or deducted from the salaries to the present . About six or seven years since , it was found ; not only that a sufficient fund for the purpose was raised , but that a million and a-half beyond the required amount had accumulated . This surplus at the present time has increased to nearly or quite £ 2 , 000 , 000 sterling . Without inquiring into the justice of the act of Parliament to which I have alluded , have we not a perfect right now to inquire what has become of this enormous accumulated ' excess fund , ' which I conceive , under the circumstances , to be private property , although in the hands
of tho Crown ? " . Wiltshire Reformatory Institution . —Active steps are being taken to establish a reformatory school for this county . The result of the meeting hold some time since at Devizes , under tho presidency of the Marquis of Lansdowne , has been that tho sum of £ 1 , 000 has been subscribed , and very great interest has been evinced in the matter by most of the leading persons of the county . A site for the proposed buikl < ing has been selectod , which is within an h ours journey of Salisbury , Bradford , Trowbridge , Chippenham , Melksham , Devijzea , Weatbury , and Warnnustei :. Human Wild Beasts . —Two men belonging to tno town of Acorington , near PreBton , recently went to a common . strinDed themselves stark nakud , ana
commenced wrestling . For rather more than an horn , they continued worrying each other liko wild nnimais , and at tho end of that time gave in , neither being vanquished . On the body of one , tho torn flesh liunfe from his bones , says a local paper , liko roont n-ow butchers' hooks ; and tho blood pourod down m streamo . A large crowd kept urging on tho combatant . who wrestled for a wager . , . Health ow London . —It was shown in the iam report that London had suffered tfu incroano ol hkm tality , tho effect of cold weather . In thp week tnw ended last Saturday , though the rigour of tho wcatnoi waa not mitigated , but augmented , tho » uinD ? tl ' doatha rogiatored was not quite equal to that oi w prcoeding week , the numbers in tho two periods » " ¦» fng been 1 , 271 and 1 , 2 C 7 . It is agreeablo to o * P
¦ . -R* -'- " . ¦ ':' , ? • The Leader. ...
¦ . -r * - ' - " . ¦ ' : ' , ? THE LEADER . [ No . 301 , Saturday , - ¦ 1244 . - ¦ ' .. . .. . _
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29121855/page/8/
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