be Vrobinte53.
The South Staffordshire iron-trade is in a drooping state; partly, it would seem, from the competition of Welsh and Scotch manufacturers, who manage to undersell the Staffordshire makers. Notices have been given to the workmen that wages must be reduced; and in some cases the colliers and miners had already been paid on a lower scale.
The Mayor and some of the large firms of Hull have headed a subscrip- tion for the relief of the workmen of the town, who are out of employment in such large numbers.
The Managing Committee and supporters of the Lincoln and Lincoln- shire Penitent Females' Home held their second annual meeting, at Lin- coln, on Monday the 25th June. The Earl of Yarborough took the chair; and several of the local gentry and clergy were present, with a very numerous general audience. The object of the institution is, not only to provide an asylum for reclaimed women, but to furnish them with employ- ment, and thus to restore them to society. The report contained these statements--
" The number of inmates received during the past year has amounted to six- teen; it having been considered nnadvisable to admit more in consequence of the insufficient accommodation afforded by the present Home. Of these, one, after a long and painful illness, has exchanged this life for another, and there is reason to believe for a better. Another, who has been restored to her friends is likewise without hope of recovery, but enjoying, in the prospect of approaching death, an enviable tranquillity, and frequently expresses her gratitude for the great benefit she has received by her admission into the Home. Four have been pro- vided with situations as domestic servants, three of whom are giving satisfaction to their employers; the fourth, being too delicate for service, has been taught dress-making, and is now obtaining a respectable livelihood. One who, being considered of weak intellect, had been transferred to the Union Workhouse, has since left that establishment, and is now maintaining herself by plain work and washing. Three have withdrawn themselves from the institution of their own ac- cord. The number now within the Home is fifteen: their health is in general good, and their behaviour in a moral and religions as well as in an industrial point of view, very satisfactory." The total receipts of the year from all sources, including 420/. the proceeds of needlework and washing done by the inmates, and the last year's balance of 834, was 1,2721.; and the total expenditure, including 4701. the purchase-. money of the land lately bought for a building-site, was 9411.; leaving a balance in hand of 3311. In July last, the Committee unanimously resolved that the religious superintendence of the Home be intrusted conjointly to a clergyman of the Church of England and a minister of one of the Dissenting congregations; the present sys- tem of religious instruction to be continued under their governance; but every in- mate requiring the attendance of any particular minister to be entitled to receive it. The Reverend Edmund Larken, Rector of Burton, and the Reverend J.Crapps, Baptist minister,.had accepted those offices, and steadily fulfilled the duties.
The proceedings held the interested attention of the audience for several hours, and at the close considerable subscriptions were volunteered.
The death of the Earl of Thanet has given rise to inquiries respecting the dis- posal of the High Shrievalty of Westmoreland, which is hereditary in his family. It is understood that the late Earl expressed, in his will, his intention that the office should pass to the devisee of his Westmoreland estates, who is a French gentle- man nearly related to him. Mr. Tufton has not yet assumed the exercise of the functions of the office, from the fact of its being necessary to procure letters of naturalization, to enable him to heir their property in England. Meanwhile, write of execution are directed to the Coroners. The grant is so far back as 1203; in which year, King John granted the bailiwick to Robert de Vetripont; which grant was confirmed in 1203 by letters patent "to have and to hold of the King and his heirs to the said Robert and his heirs." On two occasions the grant was resumed by the Crown, and the estates of the holders confiscated as the punish- ment of rebellion; but the inheritance was subsequently restored; and, with these two interruptions, the distinguished office has been handed down to the present time in the same family in the regular line of succession. Whether the office is capable of being devised, neither our legal knowledge nor our antiquarian re- searches into the history of Westmoreland enable us to say; but this is certain, though the peerage is extinct, that the shrievalty does not of course lapse. The late Earl has left a sister and nephew, the present Rector of Kirkbythore; and the office may descend to and be executed by a female; for Anne, the Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, held the office of Hereditary High Sheriff of Westmoreland, and at the Assizes at Appleby she sat with the Judges on the beach.—Kendai Mercury.
A commission of lunacy was held at Thirsk last week, to in9uire into the State of mind of Mr. John Bell, the Member for the borough; who, it was alleged, had been a lunatic from the 1st of June last. This was merely the legal form, as it was evident that the unfortunate gentleman's disease was of older standing. Many witnesses—personal friends of Mr. Bell, medical men, servants, and a keeper—were examined. Mr. Bell had a delusion that he was a bird ; he made motions as if flapping wings, and said he was "going to heaven." At other times he thought himself an angel. He declared that his sister had put iodine in his tea and wine. He was subject to paroxysms of rage. Once at dinner he thought he was in his dressing-room, and began to take off his clothes in pre- sence of the company; on another occasion he put the fish-bones in his pocket. He did not recognize old friends. He carried on imaginary conversations with his father, who had been dead many years. Mr. Bell was averse to attend the inquest; an the Jury went to his house to see him. On their return, they found a verdict that "Mr. Bell was of unsound mind, and had been so since the 1st of June last."
There has been serious rioting at West Moor Colliery, near Newcastle. Divers "strikes" among the miners of the vicinity have been going on for some time past. Latterly the men at West Moor turned out; but it seems that others had een obtained to fill their places. On Monday night, a mob of men, some dressed in women's clothes, some in masks, and others with their coats turned inside out, went to the colliery, drove away the miners, threw the carves and other articles down the shaft, gutted the houses of some of the unpopular colliers, smashed the windows of the offices, and assailed the police. A constable hastened to New- castle, and speedily returned accompanied by a body of police armed with cut- lasses. On their approach the rioters fled: they were pursued, and six of the leaders were seized and conveyed to Newcastle; where they have been examined by the Magistrates. As more outrages were expected on Tuesday night, the military and police of Newcastle were held in readiness to afford protection. , Another miner has died from the effects of the explosion at Great Bridge Col- liery—the fifteenth victim. The Coroner's inquest concluded last week. A mine- surveyor stated that the means for ventilating the mine were sufficient if the "dam" had been properly stopped; this the " doggy " should have looked to. ,The "doggy" should not have used a naked light in inspecting the mine. Close to the place of the explosion a Davy lamp was found, the top of which had been re- moved; by removing the top a candle could have been lighted at the wick. Other mine-surveyors corroborated this evidence. The Jury returned this verdict- " That the explosion was occasioned from the want of proper precaution on the part of the deceased doggy,' Pritchard."
By an explosion in a pit at Mosta in Wales, three men were dreadfully burnt, and a fourth was killed. The man who perished was working at some distance from the place where the gas took fire; but the violence of the explosion forced him along the gallery, and he fell downs shaft.
Previous page
