Miscellaneous.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3097, 21 January 1879, Page 1

Miscellaneous.

Lord Ciuude Hamilton, M.P., in addressing bis constituents at King's Lynn recently, said that upon the surrender of the J3Uek Sea clause in the Treaty of Paris, Russian intrigue commenced to oblain additional territory. Referring to the Afghan difficulty, lie said the Arueer, on two .occasions, had made overtures, wlien ihe lav; Government whs in .office, .for an ailiaiice with England. TJie. present difficulty was ; simply a 1 legacy inherited (rota Mr Gladstone's GovernA prelinjinarymeeting whs held at the Mansion 1 i ouse, Dublin, on November 19, to appoint a committee to carry out a generally expressed wish to make some suitable presentation from Ireland, to the Duk(.-q!'Connaughton his Royal Highness' npprouching marriage. On the motion of tho Duke of Leinster, seconded by the Alarquis of Dro^heda, the chair wastaken by the Lord Mayor. Sir. John Barrington, Lord Mayor elect, moved, "That a token of respect and affection be offered to Colonel his Uoynl Highness the JDuke of Connaught on tho occasion of his Koyal Hiuliness's a|)proaching innrriage, and that it take the sliapeotH national present from Irelnnd, liis lioyal Highness taking

his distinctive title from a province of our country, in which he has resided, served as a soldier, and endeared himself to all classes." The motion was seconded by the Duke of Leinster, and carried unani•mously. Treasurers were appointed to receive subscriptions, and a very influential committee formed, and it was resolved that the subscriptions should be limited to £1 as the maximum, but that sums down to Is should be accepted, so as to leave the proposed testimonial open to every Irishman. In the Queen'a Bench Division, on November 19, before Lord Coleridge and Mr Justice Mellor, an appeal was heara against the conviction of some gentlemen of Somersetshire for trespass and assault while hunting with the Vole of Tauntou hounds. The appellants, Mr Paul and others, were crossing the field of a small farmer named Summerhayes, wben the son of the latter forebade them coming on the land, and a struggle followed, during which Mr Paul struck young Summerhayes more than once with his ridingwhip. The other gentleman also assaulted him. He summoned them for an assault and trespass, and the justices convicted them on the ground that there wa* no evidence to satisfy them that a fox had been seen on the day in question. Lord Coleridge, in giving judgment, after disposing of one or two minor points raised, said that with regard to the real question in the case, he was of opinion that fox-hunting could not be exercised adversely to the owners of the land. No such right existed. Foxhunting must be carried on, like all other sports, subject to the general rights of mankind, and with reference to the ordinary and established rights of property. There was nothing to justify a field of fox-hunters entering a gentleman's garden tramping it down, and destroying the flowers and plants. No such right exists at common law. The appeal must, therefore, be dismissed. Mr Justice Mellor concurred, and the conviction was accordingly confirmed. Colonel Lloyd Lindsay, the Financial Secretary of the War Office, speaking at Abingdon a day or two since, justified the delay resolved upon by the Government in respect to Afghanistan by saying it was essential that it should be perfectly clear 'what was the object of the war in which England was about to embark. The ultimatum to the Ameer no doubt expressed plainly the position he must occupy for the future. It informed him that the [Russian Embassy at Cabul must withdraw, and that he must proceed on lines which he undertook to carry out in former days, and adhere to what Mr Gladstone had stated—namely, he must not enter into an alliance with Russia, but must preserve a neutral attitude. It was only right, and only like England, that she did not enter into a war unless the object of it was plain. A plain, simple message sent by England to the Ameer of Afghanistan could not but have a beneficial effect, not only on the Ameer himself, but also on the independent princes of India, who, of course, were now watching our 1 aotion in these trying times. A lamentable accident, resulting in the death of two gentlemen connected with the North Staffordshire Mining Institute, occurred a few days ago at the Sandwell Park Colliery, near Birmingham. Some seventy members of the Institute in question had come by invitation on a special excursion from Stoke«on-Trent to visit the colliery. The party were returning from the inspection of the workings, which . were illuminated for the occasion, when a most unforseen disaster occurred. It appears that some of the party, in their eagerness to reach the surface, bad preceded the manager and entered the cage before his arrrival at the pit shaft. The man who was in charge, without waiting for instructions, gave the signal to ascend, and the cage was drawn up without any sufficient protection round the deck. T-he cage had risen only a few yards, when 'one of the party, Mr William Arnold, of the firm of Arnold and Garside, railway wagon builders, lost his balance in some unaccountable manner, and fell out of the cage, dragging with him his next neighbour, Mr George Barker, mining engineer, of Kidsgrove. Mr Arnold fell upon the metal surrounding the sump at the bottom of the shaft, and died almost instantaneously of a fractured skull. Mr Barker fell into the sump, which contained but little water, and sustained injuries of so serious a character that he died in about two hours after the accident. Both gentlemen were in the prime of life, and Mr Barker leaves a widow and a large family.