311isallautau.
- The new Rules and Orders in Chancery were published on Wednesday. The .Daily News describes, in a way to be intelligible to unprofessional readers the changes in the practice and course of proceeding in that court, which they will effect.
"Let us endeavour to place before the lay reader the general effect of the alterations in a chancery-suit effected by the new general orders, and the act to amend the practice and course of proceeding in the High Court of Chancery' on which they are founded, and of which they are the comple- ment. Hitherto the complainant has commenced his suit by filing his bill of complaint written on parchment, and summoning the persona against whom he proceeds by means of writs of subpcena to appear and defend them- selves against his complaint. Beyond the fact that a bill had been filed, which he was required to answer, a defendant in a chancery-suit could know nothing of the nature of the proceeding against him until he had taken, at considerable cost, an office-copy of the bill ; and practically each defendant had to take an office-copy. Then, after an interval of time—though shortened of late, still needlessly long—the defendant must put in his answer to the bill, though perhaps he admitted or denied all the allegations -of the bill, or per- chalice had no knowledge, one way or the other, about any of them. But know he little or mueli about the questions asked, the defendant must answer,- for the practice under a modern general order, of serving a copy of the bill, had only a limited application. Then of every answer, useful or useless, the plaintiff had to take an office-copy ; and the accumulation of paper in suits in- volving many details, or much documentary matter, or to which there are many defendants, often becomes perfectly frightful. Then the power a plaintiff had to compel a defendant to set forth in his answer in so many words, lengthy accounts and documents, was constantly made an engine of much oppression. In a ease within our own cognizance, involving some dis- puted mercantile accounts, a defendant, after some ineffectual opposition on the ground of expense, was compelled to set out in a schedule to his answer mere copies of accounts from his books—the books themselves having been produced to the plaintiffs, and who had the original accounts, as delivered, in their possession—of which the stationer's charge for making a single copy amounted to 1201.
" When a chancery-suit is commenced after the al of November next, the plaintiff will prepare his bill according to a concise form given in the new orders; which he must have printed on writing royal paper, quarto, in pica type, leaded,' with blank paper of the same kind interleaved ; and this is to be filed with the Clerk of the Records. Instead of serving a subpcena, a mere writ of summons, the plaintiff must then serve each defendant with a printed copy of the bill, on which is an endorsement informing him when he must appear, and the consequences of his non-appearance ; such copy having been authenticated by the stamp of the Record Clerk. The bill is to contain no interrogatories ; but if the plaintiff requires an answer from any defend- ant, separate interrogatories may be filed for the examination of the de- fendant within eight days after the time limited for the defendant's appear- ance. Each defendant is entitled to demand ten printed copies of the bill from the_plaintiff, at a fixed price, one halfpenny per folio of seventy-four words. Thus the bill having been once printed, all the various parties to the suit have the benefit of this convenient form in every stage of the proceed- ings; and though in some cases the first cost to the plaintiff of printing the bill may rather exceed that of a single written bill, yet in the end—the un- successful, as a rule, having to pay ultimately all the costs—the saving at the termination of the suit will most likely be very considerable. If amend- ments or additions are required to be made to the bill, they are to be printed and served in the same way as the original. The orders give a concise form for answers. But if no answer is required by the plaintiff, or thought ne- cessary by the defendant, he merely files a replication, and leaves the plain- tiff to prove his case in the best way he can. At the end of three months, if the plaintiff has not proceeded with his suit effectually, so as to bring it to a bearing, the defendant may move to dismiss the bill for want of prosecution ; when the court may make such order as may be just and reasonable. Thus, a defendant can never have a suit hanging over him more than three months, unless there be substantial and active proceedings in the cause. "In many cases the object is to get a speedy hearing ; probably there is little or no dispute as to facts, and all that is wanted is the decision of the court on legal questions. In other cases, again, prompt decision is of the essence of justice. This is now provided for : when the defendant's time for answering has expired, the plaintiff may move for a decree, giving a month's notice and previously filing all the affidavits he means to use, and giving at the foot of his notice a list of such affidavits. In fourteen days the defend- ant must file his affidavits ill answer, giving his opponent a list of them, who has seven days more to file affidavits, which must be confined to mat- ters strictly in reply.' "When no such motion for a decree is made, but issue is joined, either party may give notice of his intention to examine the witnesses orally, when that mode of taking the evidence is to be adopted ; but where neither party requires oral examinations, the evidence will be given by affidavits. "Not to pursue farther at present the details of the new course of pro- cedure, it will be obvious, that with the reciprocal power plaintiffs and de- fendants will have of forcing on suits to a termination, and with the ne- cessity both parties will be under of proceeding. promptly, a chancery- suit will take no longer time than may be due to the substantial merits and difficulties of each ease. When to this we add the abolition of the Master's Offices, and the substitution of the judge before whom the whole cause has to be heard, as the functionary by whom all incidental questions arising in the progress of the suit are to be decided, and the great reduction of fees payable by suitors, we may fairly anticipate that the Court of Chancery will be 'deemed, much more generally than heretofore, a fountain of prompt and speedy justice."
The Shipowners Society of Sunderland have stated a list of grievances, in the shape of a report from a sub-committee appointed in July last.
The Committee report that they consider the Mercantile Marine Act has with two exceptions failed. The exceptions are, the examination of masters and mates of vessels now required by law, and the establishment of a local Board in constant communication with the Board of Trade. The next section of the report is as follows-
" Your committee are of opinion, that it would exert a much more salu- tary influence over British seamen than can ever be accomplished by any ar- tificial system, if perfect liberty were given to the shipowners to man their vessels with British or foreign seamen at their discretion ; and they further think that the shipowners are entitled to demand this as a simple act of jus. tice, inasmuch as, since all protection has been denied to them, the same principles, if just and expedient with regard to the employers, must be equally just and expedient with regard to the employed. Your committee most decidedly hold that there can be no competition fairly carried out by British as against foreign shipowners, unless the British shipowner be at liberty to go into the labour-market of the world and hire his crew from whatever source he can most advantageously procure them." They next demand a revision of the Pilotage Acts. The special griev- ance pointed out is, that under the existing laws, the employment of regular pilots to take ships in ballast out of the Thames is enforced ; and the committee think that this should not be required when the master of the vessel has been examined and is fully competent as a pilot.
They also deprecate the use of set compulsory signals to avoid collisions ; contending that technical rides and artificial contrivances for avoiding collision rather aggravate than lessen the mischief. They ask for a repeal of the stamp-duty of five shillings on charter-parties. Tolls, light-dues, and consular charges, are also complained of. The two concluding pars- graphs are general in their remarks.
"Your committee have further to complain, that while this country has opened its ports freely to every nation in the world, other nations take ad- vantage of our generosity, but refuse to reciprocate. Of this France is a notable instance : Spain is another. Your committee recommend the selec- tion of individual cases in which the iniquity is apparent, and let these be set forth in detail for the information of the Legislature and the public, in order that the question may be fairly raised and considered, whether it is expedient for this country to continue to other nations the enjoyment of privileges which they pertinaciously refuse to us. "But if the shipowners of the United Kingdom have a right to complain when other nations impose distinctions to the disadvantage of British ship- ping, how much more reason for complaint is there when such distinctions are actually made by our own Government ? A case has been stated to your committee that came recently within the personal experience of one of its members, in which, while a British emigrant vessel, taken up by the Go- vernment, had to be surveyed by the Government Inspector, at a cost to the owner of 321., a foreign vessel was at the same time taken without inspec- tion; thereby making a distinction in favour of the foreigner to the extent of the fees payable on the survey, besides the invidiousness of the British Government accepting a foreign vessel on more favourable terms than one of their own."
The King of Prussia has been at Stettin; where grand reviews of the second corps of the Prussian army took place last week. A sham siege of Magdeburg is now proceeding, and it will occupy a month.
The Prince of Prussia was thrown from his horse during the Stettin review, but not much hurt.
The Duke of Cambridge, who is travelling in Germany, arrived at Berlin on Saturday last. He "assisted" at the reviews at Stettin last week, riding through the field on the right hand of the King of Prussia.
The Duke of Parma is gone to Vienna, invited thither by the Emperor of Austria, ostensibly to witness certain cavalry reviews.
According to the Gaeeta Maar, the Queen of Spain is again in an "in- teresting condition."
Death has carried off another Noallles. Count Antoine, son of the Duke de Poix, and grandson of the Princess de Poix, has just died of an attack of apoplexy, at the Chateau du Val.
The Archbishop of Paris arrived at Stutgard on the 23d, on his way to Vienna.
The ifoniteur denies that the monu set t to the Duo d'Enghien has been defaced, as the Times lately rep -ted. It has only been removed, because "it broke the symmetry of the autiful architectural lines of the temple built by St. Louis." This was done without consulting Louis Napoleon—at least so writeth the Moniteur.
Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, at Modena, presented his credentials on the 18th August, as Envoy Extraordinary from Great Britain. He likewise presented a private letter from Queen Victoria, to her Royal Highness the Duchess.
The historian Ranke is now in Brussels, consulting the archives of the state for facts relative to French history in the seventeenth century. A monument to Titian was inaugurated at Venice on the 17th August, by the authorities. The great painter is represented surrounded by the Fine Arts ; below him are images of the fifteenth and nineteenth cen- turies; while the basement is adorned with bas-reliefs of five of the artist's most famous pictures.
Mr. G. P. It. James, the novelist, has been appointed Consul at Nor- folk in the United States.
Alderman Salomons arrived in Paris on Thursday, for the purpose of negotiating with the French Government the repayment of the deposit made by the ancient Bordeaux and Cette Railway Company.
George Henry Boscawen, Earl of Falmouth, died on Sunday morning, at his residence in St. James's Square. He was born in 1811. He is succeeded by his uncle, the Honourable and Reverend John Evelyn Bos- cawen, Prebendary of Canterbury.
It is reported that Mr. Feargus O'Connor's health is rapidly improving under the new regimen to which he is submitted, in a lunatic asylum.
The following important notices have just been issued by the Commission- ers of Customs, under date of the 28th August. " The Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs, hereby give notice, that directions have been issued to the officers of the customs in the United King- dom, that whenever they seize or stop a vessel, boat, or goods, they are to furnish the owner, when he is known, or his agent, with a written notice, specifying the grounds of detention.
"The Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs hereby give notice, that they will be prepared, in any case of seizure in London under the Customs laws, upon application being made to them in writing, and where the owner of the goods, &c. may be desirous of such a course, to appoint one of the members of the Board to take the evidence on oath of the merchants or other parties claiming the property, on the one side, and of the detaining officers on the other, supported by that of any witnesses that may be necessary for the proper investigation of the case, and to report the same for the Board's de- cision; agreeably to the practice at present observed in Cases of complaints by merchants and others against officers."
Etna in eruption was witnessed by an adventurous party of Englishmen and Englishwomen on the 20th of August. Captain and Mrs. Hallett, Lieu- tenant Finch, Lieutenant Ravenhill, and two ladies named Sankey, were in Sicily from Malta. They set out for Etna from Catania, at eight o'clock in the morning ; and reached the Bosco, where they donned their lighter clothing, at eleven. Here they were warned not to pro- ceed, as the wind was blowing a stiff breeze. Regardless of the ad- vice of the prudent guides, they pushed on; but had scarcely gone two miles from the Bosco when the eruption ensued. The huge crater below Etna, called the Colossi, glared awfully.; Etna almost at the same time belched forth fire and ashes ; and the travellers were obliged to change their course. In their progress they were overtaken by a hurricane, which blew down both mules and riders, rolling them over on the sand, and carrying them to the very edge of the crater. "For the gentlemen to descend in search of their companions was the result of a moment's decision. At this time the scene was indescribably grand : heaven and earth presented one magnificent glare of light ; Etna above vomiting its sulphuric flames ; the Colossi below belching forth its dense masses of smoke, lurid from the furnace below ; the huge mountain pouring out from its interior prolongued moan- ings—Twithout the hurricane roaring in all its mighty and awful majesty. Crawling on their knees and hands, unable to face the violence of the hum- cane, the gentlemen sought thg ladies; who were not discovered and col- lected together tall filter a search of twenty minutes. They were then placed under columns of lava, their light clothing literally blown off their backs; and a pyramid of living beings was formed around their them for the safety and protection. As by magic the scene suddenly changed. An earth- quake shook the land. Up jumped the guides, bawling their unmusical Avanti! avanti !' (' Get on' get on !') Mules broke from their keepers,
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and were abandoned to their fate; the hurricane increased in strength: the scene around was too majestic for contemplation, too diversified for descrip- tion—in ten minutes the little party had fallen from sheer exhaustion on the pointed lava. To face the wind charged with sand and small stone was be- yond their power. In this manner two hours passed away, and most anx- iously did they look for the approach of dawn." Continuing the story from the narrative above quoted, which has been furnished to the Malta Mail by one of the travellers, we find that they walked safely back to the Bosco, reaching it about seven the next morning. Their return to Catania was looked upon as little leas than a miracle ; since the flow of lava had been very great, and the general eruption awfully splendid.
Ballooning has recently been put to some use by two "scientific" ascents from Vauxhall, at the instance of the Kew Committee of the Council of the British Association. Mr. Welsh and Mr. Nicklin were the philosophical ob- servers who went up under the care of Mr. Green. On the ascend occasion, the greatest height attained was about 19,200feet ; the temperature of the air being 7 Fahrenheit, or 25' below the freezing-point. One of the dew-points was 17' below zero. Clouds were not seen above the a5ronauts, although cumuli were observed around, below the level of the balloon. No difficulty of breathing was experienced. Air was brought down from the greatest height in tubes previously exhausted, for future analysis.
Dr. Erb, Professor of Astronomy in the University of Heidelberg, has ob- tained a grant of ground from the corporation of Bamberg in Bavaria, on which he will proceed to erect a high tower, to contain an electric clock, time-ball, and other apparatus, by which this clocks of all the railroads in Germany will be regulated. At the Royal iron-foundery in Berlin, a tent of sheet-iron, 120 feet long and 20 wide, has been constructed as a mess-room for officers in camp : it ' can be transported in a single cart, and put up in half an hour.
The advance of the cholera steadily continues. A letter from Magdeburg, dated August 25th, says—" The cholera has unhappily broken out here. The official announcement has been made to the medical men, and cholera laza- rettos have been established and other precautionary measures adopted." This has been contradicted by the Magdeburg Correspondent. But the dis- ease has reached Konigsberg on one side and Bromberg on the other.
A Hamburg paper mentions that the cholera cases at Warsaw are always more numerous at the beginning of the week than towards its close ; the in- crease being ascribed to the excess in which a great mass of the population indulge in drinking on Sundays. The Lancet continues to expose the poisoning tricks of manufacturers and traders. Vinegar was the last subject of investigation. Out of twenty-eight samples only four were pure • the rest were more or less adulterated with oil of vitriol—in several instances very largely.
The Bombay, from London and Plymouth, is now on her voyage to Mel- bourne with the extraordinary number of 700 passengers, besides a crow of 68. The St. Helena papers which have just come to hand mention that the arrival at that island of the first mail screw-steamer, called the Australian, with 200 passengers for the Antipodean El Dorado, had caused great excite- ment at St. Helena, and numbers of persons were preparing to emigrate. It appears that labour is scarce in the island, and the operatives are badly off.
The clearances from the port of London for the Gold Colonies of Austra- lia during the past week show an increase in the number of vessels ; which consisted of five to Sydney, of an aggregate of 3085 tons, and four to Port Phillip, of an aggregate of 1767 tons. There were also three to Adelaide, Swan River, and Hobart Town respectively, of a joint capacity of 963 tons. The shipments of British manufactures, English and foreign spirits, and goods generally, have been very large ; and the number of passengers has also been considerable, although the press of emigrants is not quite so strong as it was a month or two back. Probably the total for the week was from 800 to 1000. The increase of wages in all parts of England is, doubtless, now in some degree counteracting the movement.—Times.
Messrs. Tod and Macgregor of Glasgow have built "the most splendid steam-yacht in the world "—the Paid 'Rabane, or "Divine Favour," a ves- sel 180 feet long, 20 broad, with engines of 150 horse power, and drawing only three feet of water. She has been constructed for Abbas Pacha, the Viceroy of Egypt, and is intended for navigating the Nile. Though not ex- hibiting " barbaric pearl and gold" in her ornaments, she is resplendent with gilding, papier mache, rose-wood, paintings, all kinds of carving, mar- ble, damask, mirrors, stained glass, and what not; the produce of the first artists of Great Britain and France. Her hull is coloured green, with gor- geous gilding. In fact, everything about the vessel denotes that she has been constructed to suit the Oriental taste for magnificence, on a plan quite "regardless of expense." The finery, including her painted and gilt hull above the water-line, will be well protected from the sea during the voyage to Egypt.
An anonymous individual has assisted the Chancellor of the Exchequer to "make both ends meet" by sending him 440 postage-stamps.
The expenditure for County and Borough Lunatic Asylums in England and ii`ales, last year, was 207,017/.
A return has been issued respecting the new House-duty. In England and Wales there are 179,234 houses paying the sixpenny duty, and in Scotland 6377; at ninepence in the pound there are 252,213 houses in England and Wales, and 24,095 in Scotland. The total of duty is 707,0161.
At the recent half-yearly meeting of the Great Northern Railway Com- pany, a shareholder complained of the law-expenses : from the commence- ment they amounted to the enormous sum of 750,0001., or 3500/. per mile of railway constructed.
According to the Montreal Gazette, 1108 houses, inhabited by 2886 fami- lies, were burned down by the fire on the 8th and 9th of July. The value of property destroyed is estimated at 340,816/.
Any Militiaman who does not appear at exercise, or otherwise absents himself from duty, if not labouring under physical incapacity, will be liable to a fine of 201., or six months' imprisonment with hard labour.
The three Englishmen who are travelling to Constantinople in a row-boat reached Vienna safely on Saturday last.
An old woman died at Shenfield, a few days since, who had been receiving parochial relief for many years. At her decease it was found she had pro- perty by her to the amount of nearly 1000/.—E88ex Herald.
The last representative of a name celebrated in the annals of 1793, M. Isi- dore Justin de Robespierre, died in June last at Santiago de Chili, where he had .been established nearly sixty years.
Joseph Ady, who was always willing to tell people of "something to their advantage," died recently,—it is said from an illness the result of his im- prisonments for not paying the postage of his letters ; but at any rate it was not at a very premature age—eighty-three.
An acrobat has been killed at Wolcot in the United States, while perform- ing the feat of "walking on the ceiling." He had successfully competed with the flies on the ceiling of the circus, by means of an apparatus fastened to his feet. One of the spectators challenged him to perform on any other ceiling : the challenge was accepted on the condition that a ceiling sufficiently strong to bear his weight should be selected. The Town-hall was fixed upon. While the exhibiter was performing there, some of the plaster yielded to his weight, he fell a distance of eighteen feet, and his neck was broken.
A young milliner has commited suicide at the Falls of Niagara, into which she plunged after denuding herself of clothing. The body was tossed about in the troubled waters below the Falls for a long time, but at length it was recovered by the use of a sturgeon-spear.
Cullen House, the seat of the Earl of &afield, is lighted with gas supplied from Cullen. Last week there was a ball and supper to celebrate the anni- versary of the marriage of the Earl and Countess. At midnight the whole mansion was on the instant in total darkness : the supply of gas at Cullen had become exhausted, the manager having gone to bed.
The Vicar of Frome has laid down a rule never to receive unpaid letters ; and a very good rule it is, but, like many others, it is open to exceptions. The other day a letter arrived, and, being unpaid, was returned according to the rule' on being opened at the General Post-office, it was found to contain a note nofor 1501., sent by a lady admirer towards paying for the reverend gen- tleman's furniture. A communication was made by the Post-office authori- ties to Mr. Bennett ; who gathering some idea of the nature of the contents of the rejected letter, consented to violate his rule, paid the twopence, and received the 1501.-8/Jerk/me Journal.