ENGLISH NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 53, 10 January 1852, Page 2

ENGLISH NEWS.

Law and Poijce.—By one of the statutes passed last session, the salaries of the Chief Justices are fixed, for the Queen's Bench, at S,OOO/. per annum, for the Common Pleas, 7,0001. Lord Campbell and Sir John Jervis both took office on these salaries.

At the assizes at Croydon, a gentleman na\ned Saltan brought an action against Mr. Be Held, the superior of the Eoman Catholic Society of Eedemptionist Fathers, New Park Road,"Clapham, for a nuisance occasioned by the continual ringing of their chapel bell, which commenced at live in the morning-, and continued with slight intervals through the day. In summing- up, the Lord Chief Justice pointed out the law of the subject. First, with regard to the right of using bells at all : — "By the common law, churches of every denomination had a fall right to use bells, and it was a vulgar error to suppose that there was any distinction at the present time in this respect At the same time, those bells might be undoubtedly madeuse of in such a manner as to create a nuisance, and in that case a Protestant Church and a Roman Catholic one %vere equally liable. He would now tell them what in his opinion, in law, constituted a nuisance. The mere fact of ringing bells so many times in the day, did not in itself constitute a nuisance ; the nuisance must be of an enduring and substantial character, not such as would give offence and annoyance to a nervous mind, but which was calculated to cause permanent inconvenience and disturbance to men of ordinary mind and nerve. The jury would say whether the evidence satisfied them of this in the present case." The jury were in deliberation about two hours, when they returned into Court, and gave a verdict for the plaintiff—damages 40s. Upon the application ot the learned counsel, his lordship said he thought it was a case in which he ought to certify.

The High Sheriff of Norfolk has again been in a difficulty in endeavouring to obtain a hangman for Mary Emily Cage, Calcraft being engaged on the day fixed. He applied to the Home Secretary to change the day, which Sir George Grey refused to do, and the High Sheriff has since done so on his own respon- . -*i: "notorious beggar, of the " shabby genteel" class, was sent to the treadmill for three months for assaulting a policeman, who took him into custody on seeing him begging, and knowing his character. He was at the time shamming lameness, had 17s. in his pocket, and a diary, containing the following entries :— "Jnly 10th—Galled at the Bishop's in the square —no go ; the old chap smells a rat—Jem has been too fast. From the Bishop, went to Miss C.'s —better luck—done her for a 'fiver.'—(Mem. not try the decayed gent, again.) July 20th —Received a letter from the Duke—won't do—the corporal is not known—game spoilt there. August 11th —Called at Lansdoivne House—caught sight o/ Horsford and made a bolt of it. Received 101, from Brighton, —sent Poll to the parson's—got 21.; sent 21. 2s. to Jem in the cage." There were at least fifty other entries of the receipt of money, in sums amounting to about 60/. Miscellanea.—The crops, including the potatoe, promise well throughout Ireland, and are shewing signs that English and Scotch investments in land there are progressing. By a report made to government, it appears that while the number of buildings has diminished, the acres under cultivation, and cattle,and produce of every sort, have increased. In parts of Ireland, where, before the famine, there was a redundancy of poor and crowded workhouses, harvesters are not now to he obtained at seven or even nine shillings a week, enormous agricultural wages in Ireland. So we may see how good results from evil. Independent emigration from Ireland still proceeds on a considerable scale, and it is probable, after the completion of the harvest, that vast numbers will take their departure from all parts of the country. One of the most extensive proprietors in the county of Monaghan has made arrangements to send off 2,000 persons from his estate to America during the present year An emigration agent in Dublin has entered Hi to a contract for the conveyance of 1,500 of the number, some to New Orleans, a portion to New York, and others to Quebec, and the rate per head is 41. 10s. A public meeting, i» connexion with the fifth anniversary of the Evangelical Alliance, was held m Lxeter Hall on the 22nd of August, the Honourable A. Kitmaiid in the Chair The

Rev. Baptist Noel, Mr. Kuntzey, from Berlin, Dr. Grandpierre, of Paris, Professor Baup, of Lausanne, and. Mr. F. Olaff Neilson, a refugee from religious persecution in Gothenburg, were the chief speakers on a topic proposed by Dr. Cox, expressing- great thankfulness for the present success of the association, though regretting that its hopes and anticipations had not been fully realised. Dr. Grandpierre gave testimony on the progress of the Evangelical Alliance Union in Paris, and drew further hopes for the future in other countries from the effects of the Industrial Congress in London.

The Spectator reports that the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg have thought that the congress of thoughtful and enlightened men drawn hither by the Great Exhibition, is, in " the present time of distraction, confusion, and chaos of theological systems," a conjuncture favourable for a new publication of their own system of belief, as " an ark of safety, security, and peace for the wliole of mankind." Accordingly, there met in the Freemason's Hall, for five hours, a numerous assemblage of ladies and gentlemen from all quarters of "the globe, who hold the tenets of the New Church of Jerusalem, to discuss and. publish a series of propositions embodying their principles. The Tablet states that the Rev. H. Danvers Clarke, M.A.,of Exeter College, Oxford, Rector of Ipingy Sussex, together with his wife and family, has been received into the Roman Catholic Church at Bruges. The same authority also announces the reception of the Rev. J. C. Earle, formerlylueumbent of Christ's Church, Bradfield, Wilts.

The workmen in the employment of Mr. Cubitt, the eminent builder, having some time since requested to be allowed to leave off work on Saturday afternoons at four o'clock, he has granted the request without making any reduction in their wages, an arrangement found to be of great advantage to the workmen, upwards of fifteen hundred in number..

On Sunday, Aug. 31, the extensive showrooms of Messrs. Home and Co.. carriage manufacturers, of 93, Long Acre, fell a partial prey , to a most destructive fire. The premises in question must be tolerably familiar to the me- ! tropolitan public, their bold and lofty Grecian ! facade, bounding the view as one passes up Wellington-street or Bow-street from the Strand, and forming- a striking feature in the street architecture of London. The building was only finished about two years since, and at the outbreak of the fire contained as many as a hundred carriages. The upper part, consisting chiefly of workshops, was completely gutted, and the carriages were seriously damaged by the water that poured in upon them. The preparations for making another attempt to lay down a line of electrical communication at the bottom of the sea, between the English and French coasts, are rapidly progressing to completion. The essential conditions upon which the success of the undertaking have been shown to depend are, in the first place, that the conducting medium should be so securely isolated as to resist the pressure of the immense mass of water to which it will be subjected,and should unite the flexibility requisite to allow of its being easily coiled and uncoiled, with a strength and weight sufficient to enable it to retain its position at the bottom of the sea, and to resist any ordinary violence from the natural action of the waves ; and, secondly, that the points on either coast to be connected should be so chosen that the line between them present no other causes of accident than have been guarded against in the preparation of the connecting line, and that the effect of these be reduced to the least possible amount. The line of communication which is now being manufactured at Wapping will, it is expected, entirely fulfil the required conditions. It consists of four copper wires of the thickness of an ordinary bell wire, cased in gutta percha, and twined with a corresponding number of hempen strands steeped in a mixture of tar and tallow into a rope of about an inch diameter. Another strand similarly prepared is wound transversely round this and finally ten wires of galvanized iron, about a third of an inch thick, are twined round this central core, and form ra solid and at the same time flexible casing. The whole, when thus completed, has the appearance of an ordinary 4.i-inch metallic cable. The machinery by which this is effected is extremely simple! and the work proceeds, night and day, with the utmost regularity. A huge coil is thus being iormed in one continuous piece at the rate of I about \A mile a day, and will finally attain the

length of 24 miles. The weight of the entire rope when finished, it is estimated, will be from ji 170 to 180 tons. From time to time, as the ' work proceeds, a galvanic current is passed through the wires, and their conducting power is tested by a galvanometer. Messrs. Crampton and Woollaston, the engineers who have undertaken to carry out the necessary measures for establishing the submarine telegraph, have recently been engaged in exploring the coast in i the neighbourhood of Calais, for the purpose of selecting the most advantageous point towards which to direct the line of communication. The starting point in the English coast which has been fixed upou as the most advantageous, o-rfw account of the nature of the beach and the comparative freedom from the danger of ships anchoring in the immediate vicinity, is the South Foreland. The line will be conducted down a shaft practised perpendicularly in the cliff, and along a short tunnel communicating with it at right angles, to the beach, where it is proposed to bury it at some considerable depth beneath the shingle, to the lowest level of ebbtide. The spot selected on the French coast for similar reasons is situated about 4 rftiles to the south of Calais, near the village of Sanngate. Every facility that could be given for establishing the connexion of the submarine wire with the telegraphic station at Calais has been granted with the greatest alacrity by the French Government, as well as by those persons whose local rights had to be consulted before the line could be laid down, and, should the experiment prove successful as far as regards the transmission of the galvanic fluid across the Channel, the communication with Paris will be almost immediately established. The Times publishes the following extract from the K'olner Zeitung, descriptive of a foreigner's first reception in England:— " We steamed it from Ostend to London direct in the Panther, and had a capital passage. At 4 p.m. the boat touched at St. Katherine's Wharf, near the Custom-house. There were about 200 travellers on boai-d, all of them in the best temper and spirits, and elated ■with the novelty and grandeur of the scene before them. None of them had the least-^^ apprehension of the terrible damper which was in store for our enthusiasm. "When the steamer was moored, and a communication with the quay established, the passengers were directed to proceed to a house in the vicinity, where their luggage would be examined. We moved forward, but it was a bad omen that the first welcome on British soil came from a drove of pigs which disported themselves on the quay. On reaching the house (a storehouse) we all believed we must be mistaken in the locality, for the place was chock full of bales, casks, and pondeious packing-cases. It seemed impossible to get through or over these obstructions. We were, however, compelled to climb for it, and thus, clambering over bales and casks, and picking our way among drays and horses, we reached at length the foot of a narrow staircase, which we ascended, and entered the waiting-room. Judge of our astonishment and indignation when this waiting-room turned out to be a loft, full of filth, straw, and remnants of sackcloth, but utterly devoid of chairs, tables, and other means of accommodation. Our astonishment, however, rose to the height of despair when we understood that we were expected to remain from three to four hours in this terrible place. There were at least SO ladies among us, who suffered dreadfully, for the place was as hot and close as the Black Hole of Calcutta. It took the Cus-tom-house officers exactly two hours to remove our luggage from the steamer to the searching-room. At the end of that time (it seemed an eternity to us panting and half-stifled wretches), they opened a small gate, and admitted about ten persons to the searching room. Of these every man or woman had to look for and drag out his or her luggage from the enormous pile of boxes and portmanteaus on the floor. The boxes had then to be opened and submitted to the searchers. When the first batch were despatched another batch of 10 were draughted%v in, just as they could manage to scramble in, with- \> out order or method, and in this manner the busi- "' ness proceeded until 8, p.m., when the last passengers were finally released. These imperfect arrangements in themselves appear as a slight and insult to the continent, but what is still more revolting is the brutality which the stranger must ptijr" up with in the treatment he receives at the ham", of the searchers. John Bull is rather ticklii/.-V"-abroad, and in foreign custom-houses he insists on being treated as a "gentleman." What would Englishmen say if the Cologne Custom-house authorities insulted, pushed, and tormented them in the manner in which the foreign tourist is insulted, pushed, and tormeuted by the English officials. Nor is this all.. When the traveller has opened his box he is asked whether he has any articles liable to duty, and especially whether he has any cigars. Ifhe says " No," his box is at once assailed, everything is pulled out, and turned topsy-turvy. In

the course of this proceeding, the conscientious searcher takes pains to make the victim understand that a small present would go far to expedite the examination. In this way I saw that two friends who accompanied me almost escaped the examination of their luggage by presents of two sixpences and four cigars, lint the crowning feature of these disgraceful proceedings is the stamping of the various boxes and packages, which must be paid for at the rate of Gd. a stamp. Several Frenchmen of our party refused to submit to this extortion, and pretended that they had not asked either for the examination or the stamping of their effects. But the Custom-house officers cut all discussion short by seizing their luggage and locking it up until the .^A'Venchnien, in great wrath, and (I fear) with many strong expressions of disgust, consented to pay. After we were fleeced of another 6d. per package under the pretence of "porterage," we were at length permitted to leave, and to intrust ourselves to the tender mercies of the cabman."