A FRENCH TRAGEDY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVII, Issue 3550, 15 July 1872, Page 3

A FRENCH TRAGEDY.

A fearful tragedy has taken place in the Rue des Ecoles, Paris. It appears that the Count Arthur Dubourg, being suspicious of his wife's fidelity, either owing to auonymous intelligence concerning her conduct, or in consequence of her frequent protracted absence from home, followed, or caused her to be followed, and thus became assured of her culpability. On Tuesday, April 23, the Count being perfectly aware that his wife had repaired to the apartments (at No 14, Rue des Ecoles) where she was to meet her paramour, M. Sylvain des Precorbin, a clerk in tbe Prefecture of the Seine, followed her, asking tbe porter to show him to M. Dutertre's apart ments, saying that he bad a telegraphic message to give him. The porter, after a moment's hesitation, accompanied him to the door of the apartment. Arrived there, the Count knocked and called for his wife. On hearing the voice of the injured husband, Precorbin, at the instance ofthe Countess, mado his escape by a window looking on the tiles. After having reached this height at the risk of being precipated into tho street, he succeeded in reaching the window of an adjoining apartment. At the very moment he left the room the Countess opened the door to hor husband. After reproaching his wife with her conduct in a very violent manner, the Count drew the sword from his stick, and inflicted several wounds upon his wife in the arm, in the breast, in the stomach, and in the thigh. Madame Dubourg fell to the ground, bathed in blood, and her husband went away, closing the door and taking the key with him. Ho proceeded to the church of St Nicholas-du-Chardonnett and requested a priest to go lo her at once and administer tho last consolations of religion. He then constituted himself a prisoner, and narrated every detail connected with the crime. The Countess, however, after remaining some time in a fainting state, was able to drag herself to the window and call for help. Her cries were heard, and people ran from all sides to her assistance. The commissary of police also immediately repaired to the house. When the apartment was entered, the Countess was found on the ground, exhibiting no signs of life. Whilst these* things were taking place, M. de Precorbin, who, as already staled, had escaped by a house in the Rue des Bernardin. hastened to his friend, M. Dutertre, at the prefecture, to apprise him of what had taken placo. M. Du.tertre hastened to his lodgings, and was placed under arrest for some time. JM. Dubourg stated to the examining magistrate that he did not intend to kill his wife ; it was only when he saw her before him half-naked, and as though about I o go to bed, that he was seized with ungovernable anger and indignation. He struck his wife repeatedly, he said, without knowing what he was doing. The crime accomplished, he remained for half-an-hour stupid, halfmad, and, for a considerable time, ran about the streets liko a lunatic. He gave himself up to the police about 8 o'clock. The victim expired on Thursday. M. de Precorbin, it appears, had formed an attachment to the poor lady which she reciprocated ; neither having any fortune, she was forced by her parents to many the Count Dubourg. She appeared reconciled to her fate, and bore a child to her husband some 18 months since. They were living as happily together as could be expected from such an ill-assorted marriage when, unhappily, she met her first love in society. The old flamo burst out anew, and an iutriguo was commenced, which terminated in the dreadful manner described. The lady is said to have insisted that her lover should escape by the window, and then parleying with her husband at the door, elicited a promise from him to use no violence ; but when he found her en deshabille, his fury burst all bounds, and he hacked and hewed her without mercy.

Report by Henry Jackson, Esq., on the completion of Trigonometrical Surveys over Crown Land's in the Province of Wellington, &c.

Survey Office, Wellington, 6th June, 1872. Sir,— I beg to forward to your Honor herewith, a diagram map of the network of principal triangles which compose the Triangulation of the Province of Wellington, executed between the years 1866 and 1870. The Trigonometrical Surveys, which were in existence prior to 1866, could scarcely be included under this nomenclature. They were unscientific in principle, and consequently erroneous in deduction. They merely included within their operations, in a disjointed manner, Port Nicholson Harbor, together with small portions of the Wairarapa and East Coast Districts. A strong prejudice existed at that time amongst the professional men in charge of the Survey Department, against this Trigonometrical mode of Surveying, which was condemned as impracticable in this Province, except at an enormous cost ; whilst at the same time, it was regarded as a scientific theory from which no practical results could accrue. Thus it was not until so recently as 1866, that an organised system of Triangulation was commenced, when your Honor originated and intrusted to my charge the Trigonometrical Survey of the Province, on the completion of which, over Crown Lands, I have now the pleasure to report. I will in the first place briefly sketch the method of procedure adopted in the operations, and then indicate the practical results which have accrued from their completion. As a preventive to the accumulation of errors arising from a multiplicity of angular measurements, and at the same time to limit the character of the Triangulation in its prosecution, to the means at our disposal, it was intended at the commencement of the Survey to cover the Province with a network of triangles averaging 10 miles sides, to form what may be termed the major Triangulation, and that a secondary system of smaller triangles should succeed, taking for their basis these major sides. These principles were followed in the Wairarapa and over a large portion of the East Coast Districts ; but owing to impediments presented by the natural features of the country in some localities, it was found necessary to modify this system either by reducing the size of the major triangles or by increasing them to such dimensions as would have defeated the main object of the Survey, viz :— the speedy determination of a sufficient number of triangulated points for the effective regulation of the chain surveys. The first mentioned course was adopted, and, confining the operations chiefly to the settled Districts and frequently checking the calculated deductions of the triangulated sides by carefully measured bases, a symmetrical network of triangles — which will presently be proved to have harmonised inter se with remarkable precision — was thrown over those portions of the Province which were immediately under sectional Surveys. The entire system of the Triangulation therefore rests upon eight measured bases. It will be needless here to detail the manner in which these bases were measured, beyond stating that the printed instructions for the guidance of the Survey Staff on this subject, were strictly adhered to; that every care was bestowed to ensure concordant results in the several measurements of each base line; and that the unit of measure employed was a new standard chain of 66 feet, by Troughton and Simms. I will now proceed to exhibit in the following table the amount of precision attained in the execution of the work, premising that the severest test Triangulation can be submitted to, is that of comparing the computed length of a verification base line with its measurement.

From such consistent agreements repeatedly occurring between the computed length of a side of the triangulation and its measurement, the ratio of error existing, in the work may be inferred with a close: approximation to truth; and, founding upon this assumption, estimate that the mean error of the triangulation is 0.81 links or 6½ inches per mile, which is equal to a ratio of 1:9748. This minute degree of error I attribute to the care which was bestowed on the angular observations; every angle of a triangle entering into the computations having been read off at least eight times on different parts of the limb of the theodolite, and to the system adopted of computing

the triangles combined in a series of polygonal figures, so that discrepant results in tho common sides of each series (if found to be within the probable errors of observations) became susceptible of elimination on differential principles, before operating on the succeeding ones. By reference to the map, your Honor I will perceive that the connections between Wellington and the East and West Coasts respectively, are not as yet satisfactory, that between Wellington and the East Coast being merely the apex of two adjacent triangles, whilst the West Coast connection is formed with very inefficient and imperfect triangles between Kapiti and the Manawatu River. In order, therefore, to obtain a rigid connection, and simultaneously to explore and prepare for settlement a very large area of the Province, a series of triangles of sides, varying from twelve to twentyfive miles, has been planned, as indicated on the map by dot lines joining the selected stations over which the angular measurements are now being taken. The perfect symmetry and large dimensions of these triangles, while forming the desired connections in a rigid manner, are proofs that the character of the work should rank in the first order of Trigonometrical operations. But the means at our disposal will not permit the attainment of the precision usually expected to result from such undertakings, where the greatest refinement is observed. If, therefore, a precision is attained to be equal to, and to confirm the estimate of error I have above stated as existing in the perfected triangulations, I unhesitatingly aver that this will be more exact than is required for the ordinary purposes of surveying, and will preclude the necessity of future similar operations, execpting for the furtherance of scientific researches. In order to illustrate the practical results accruing from the Trigonometrical survey, I must now glance retrospectively at the conditions of the sectional surveys prior to the execution of this work. They consisted of numberless detached works, dependent solely on chain measurements. The errors arising from direct linear measurements over hilly and broken ground, were unavoidably great, and those, when added to the other errors emanating from a diversity of meridians, equally unavoidable in bush country, would have resulted in such a degree of inaccuracy as to render these surveys incapable of combination. Moreover, apart from these inevitable errors, there were others resulting from the incompetency and carelessness of some of the surveyors. The most important results to be derived from the Triangulation may therefore be stated as follows : — The correct exhibition of the relative positions which detached surveys occupy, with a view to their combination; the indication of the accumulated amount of error existing in the same; the infallible detection of errors, and the precluding their promulgation outside their precincts in future surveys. That these important results have been accomplished is fully exemplified by the compilations of the surveys which have been effected in this office during the past two years, and by the fact that our sectional surveys are now being prosecuted with such a degree of accuracy, that chained measurements are rejected as erroneous, when their results, on comparison with the triangulated measures, exhibit a ratio of error greater than one link in every ten chains traversed. It may further be stated that small as the assigned limit of error may appear to be, it is nevertheless a fact that the average rate of error now committed in the prosecution of chain surveys, does not amount to more than one-half of this limit. Another very important result derived from the triangulation is the geodetical deductions of the latitudes and longitudes of its principal stations, with reference to an initial point. In co-operation with J. T. Thompson, Esq., Chief Surveyor of the Province of Otago, I was occupied during the years 1870 and 1871 in fixing astronomically the longitude of my private observatory at the Hutt. The observations were embodied in our joint report to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, dated November, 1871, in which we stated the longitude of the Hutt Observatory to be 174° 57' 40.84" East. I also determined the latitude of the same place by observations on stars with the transit instrument in the prime vertical and with the following result: —

From these data the geographical position of the Wellington Observatory, considered as the initial point of surveys, has been computed to be in latitude 41° I6' 46.84" South, and longitude 174° 48' 49.65" East, and on this basis the geodetical latitudes and longitudes of the triangulation have been computed. The true meridian was determined by astronomical observations at the Hutt Observatory, and at the base line in the Opaki Plain. From those data the true bearings of the sides of the triangulation were arrived at by computation, the Hutt meridian being used for the Wellington and West Coasts Trig's, while the Opaki meridian was adopted for those of the

Wairarapa and East Coast. The two determinations of the true meridian were found to differ by thirty seconds, on comparing the true bearing from Mount Matthews Trig, station to Pencarrow light, as furnished by each determination. This difference may be said to represent the accumulated instrumental errors in the angular measurements of the triangulation between the Hutt and the Opaki, and assuming that these have been gradually accumulating errors, the mean error in the bearings of the sides of the triangulation would be fifteen seconds, or equivalent to six inches per mile, which ratio of error remarkably coincides with that which I have before stated. With reference to the cost of this work, it is necessary, in the first place, to offer a few explanatory remarks. The area of Crown land covered by triangulation is two and a quarter millions of acres. The main triangles shown on tho map are composed of 150 stations; while the minor triangles, which the small scale of the map does not permit of entry thereon, furnish about 750 more stations, fixed with almost the same care and accuracy as the principal ones. As both works have progressed pari passu, and were executed by the same officers, I must summarise the total cost thereof, and thence infer the probable cost of each work. The total cost was £7000, which is in the ratio of three farthings per acre or £8 per station. But as some of the major stations were built in a most substantial manner, (see drawing on map) thereby entailing considerable extra expense in construction and in furnishing the means of transport to reach them ; while as the delays occasioned by the state of the weather, in obtaining observations from them to distant objects, would also increase the outlay per station for the main triangulation — I estimate the increased expenditure to amount to £18 per station, which would give a ratio of one farthing per acre for the main triangles and a half-penny for tho minor. In connection with this report, I desire to diverge somewhat from its legitimate purpose in order to allude to and rebut, those expressions of doubt and scepticism with reference to the value and practical usefulness of this system of surveying, which emanated from certain professional quarters, when on my arrival in New Zealand in 1862, I strongly urged its adoption in this Province. At that time I was not in a position to prove to demonstration the ultimate advantages of the system: but now that it has been subjected to the test of a fair trial, the results show that it is neither fettered with impracticable theories, costly in execution, nor unproductive of important I practical benefits. Although many of the highest professional authorities have commended this work, alike with respect to its principle and execution, yet there are still to be found certain others holding antagonistic views, who stigmatise the precision claimed to have been attained, as either the result of chance coincidences or of a wilful and dishonest manipulation of figures, in order to produce an apparent coincidence in results. Both those charges are absolutely baseless, and can be readily overthrown. To rebut the first charge, it is only necessary to point out that "chance coincidences" are not liable to repeat themselves, again and again, with startling frequency, under totally separate and different conditions as they do in the results of the work to which I have been referring; while with respect to the second, I simply challenge those making it to offer one jot or tittle of proof in its support. In order that the means may not be wanting for this, I am perfectly willing to submit to competent inspection the whole of the original field books and calculations of the work. The successful completion of this work will ensure a high degree of accuracy in the execution of the sectional surveys— a condition on which the secure tenure of land in a great measure depends; and when that, amongst many other important results has been achieved, I may be pardoned for expressing my deep satisfaction that the views I advanced ten years ago in favour of a trigonometrical system of survey, have been so completely justified by the logic of facts and experience. And this satisfaction is largely enhanced by the reflection that the results of the work referred to, justify that confidence so generously reposed in me by your Honor, when entrusting its execution to my care; while it must also be said that had it not been for your Honor's powerful and consistent advocacy of the adoption of the trigonometrical system of surveying in this Province — against strong opposition from professional quarters — and the hearty support which you afforded towards the work during its progress, I should never have been in a position, as now, to report on its successful completion, and to indicate the many important and beneficial results attendant thereon. I cannot here refrain from strongly recommending the adoption of the same system in those Provinces where it has as yet been neglected; because sooner or later, this will require to be done, and the longer it is delayed the more difficult the solution of the problem of "adjustment of surveys" will be found. In conclusion, I beg to bring under your Honor's special notice the ability and zeal which have been displayed by Messrs. A. Dundas, and J, Mitchell, District Surveyors, in the performance of the Field work in connection with this survey; and I also desire to express my acknowledgement of the cordial support which I have received from J. G. Holdsworth, Esq., Commissioner of Crown Lands, in furtherance of this undertaking. I have the Honor to be, Sir, Your most Obedient Servant, Henry Jackson, Chief Surveyor. To His Honor William Fitzherbert, Esquire, C.M.G., Superintendent. [Graphic follows - refer to this newspaper.]

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