t Airtrupulio.
"A deputation from the Association for Suppressing the Practice of Falsely Marking or Labelling Goods for Sale, waited on Mr. Milner Gib- son, on Monday, and stated their case. Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Braley in- troduced them. It seems that the practice of selling "short lengths" pre- vails to such an extent that people begin to think there is no fraud in it at all. Although extending to other things, the frauds are practised chiefly in the cotton thread trade. Mr. Brook handed in a reel of cotton marked as containing 100 yards but only containing 45, and one marked 300 but really containing 200 yards'on'ly'! These marks were forged. Mr. Ashworth said, there were reels sold in which the maker's name was false, the length was false, and the quality was false. Jacconots for lining coats are rolled up very tight, and tied in parcels labelled 20 or 24 yards, but in reality there are only 18 yards ; this is sometimes re- duced to a still lower number. The same thing is done with silk ; not only is the length curtailed, but the name and stamp of some well-known firm imitated. These silks, jacconots, tapes, threads, &c., are sent to
Australia, the Cape of Good Hope—all over the world, in fact, and is England to continue to be stigmatized with these frauds ? Mr. Milner Gibson said he thought they had established their case, and he should be glad if they wouldprepare a clause which would meet it, .which should be considered. He saw some difficulties in the way. He could fancy that 100 yards of bobbin could be made which did not contain 100 yards, but which, by common consent or understanding in the trade, had come to be considered as such, without any imputation of fiend.
The fifteenth anniversary of the Royal General Theatrical Fund, Mr. Tom Taylor in the chair, was celebrated at the Freemasons' Tavern on Monday. Mr. Taylor was supported by Colonel Lindsay, St. George's Volunteers, and Mr. Haliburton. Referred to as "Sam Slick," that gentleman made some loyal remarks on the visit of the Prince of Wales to North America. It will be productive of great good :—
He was not the first of the Royal Family who -had been there. His grandsire, the Duke of Kent, was Commander-in-chief in that country, and in him every colonist found a friend and a patron. Mr. Gladstone, the n)ost eloquent as he was the most reckless of Ministers, might abolish the differential duties with respect to the trade of North America, but the people would still be bound by deferential duties to the English Crown. Of his Royal Highness, the heir-apparent, he would only further say, long might he continue to be Prince of Wales ! (Cheers.)
Mr. T. P. Cooke responded to the toast of "The Navy." He wore a medal in commemoration of the action off Cape St. 'Vincent, on St. Valentine's Day, 1797, in which he took part, which he said, amid the laughter of the company, had been presented to him just fifty-two years after the battle was fought.
Buckstone said the capital of the fund would that night amount to about 12,0001.; that during the first year the managing body had paid eleven annuities, ranging from 301. to 901. each, defrayed the funeral expenses of three deceased members, given 501., with smaller amounts to claimants, had voted 250/. towards building a house for the Dramatic College, and yet they were better off by nearly 5001. than they were months ago. The subscriptions of the evening amounted to 350/. The Artists' General Benevolent Institution held its annual festival at the Freemasons' Tavern, on Saturday. Founded in 1814, to relieve dis- tressed meritorious artists, whether subscribers to its funds or not, "whose works have been generally known and esteemed by the public, as well as to their widows and orphans," it has received donations amounting to 22,0981. Last year, the society disbursed in relief 10281. At the meeting, 7501. were subscribed, the Queen giving 1001. Mr. Gladstone presided, and Earl Stanhope, Mr. E. Stanhope, Sir Roderick Murchison, Mr. Gordon Duff, and Sir Charles Eastlake, were among the guests. It was necessary, he said, before we attempted to make a spe- cial provision for any class, to satisfy ourselves that it had some special -and peculiar claim to that support. It appeared to him easy to make out a special claim on behalf of this institution. A common interest should unite us all;' no man could be dispensed from the duties of the daily performance of life, yet an incapacity for attending to them did attach in sonic degree to the pursuits of the artist, an incapacity "far less cul- pable, and should be visited with far less severity than in the case of ordinary men They seem to stand removed to a greater dis- tance from other classes, not in sympathy, but in ability to accomplish what they wish. So rfar as regards their habits of perception and the exercise of the powers necessary for their art, they seem to me to have a most absorbing power, such as in many instances may disqualify for the homelier operations of the business of life." At the present time, the highest professors of all the arts and all the professions can command handsome remuneration, but there is no labour so ill paid as that which may be called "the labour of educated men in the lower classes of edu- cated men," and art, like everything else, must have among its professors a multitude possessing various shades and degrees of merit.
The propriety of presenting a petition to Parliament in favour of Lord Chelmsford's Sunday Trading Bill was discussed at the Marylebone Vestry on Saturday. The rector, the Reverend Mr. Eyre, deprecated any legislative interference with Sunday trading. The matter should be left to the religious feeling of the people." The present bill, he argued, legalized the sale of poultry and fish—" articles consumed only by the rich," and, "restricted the sale of such articles as were adapted more especially to the use of the poor." The presentation of the peti- tion was negatived by a large majority.
Until the main-drainage works connected with the Thames are com- pleted, perehloride of iron is to be employed as a deodorizer, which will be pumped into the sewers. It is estimated that the cost of the disin= fectant will not be more than 2821/. 38.
The Judge of the Consistory Court, Dr. Twiss, was occupied on Tuesday, with the ease of Mr. Rosier, prosecuted by the Reverend Bryan King, for brawling, quarrelling, and chiding in church ; to wit, the church of St. George's-in-the-East. During one of the many riots there, a clergyman fell down in a fit, and some one called out that it was a judgment of God. A Captain Savage Hall, and a Mr. Blatchford, declare that Rosier used the language, and two other witnesses describe Rosier as prominent in the row. On his side, Rosier brings a shoal of witnesses who made counter statements. Mr. Rosier ciefended himself. Judgment deferred.
George Montagu Evans of Farnham, another defaulting solicitor, has had his certificate refused without protection. He had possessed himself of trust moneys and apuropriated then' to his own use, in building specula- tions, pretending alf the while that he had lent the money to a Mr. Tru- man. Upon being pressed, however, as to who this Mr. 'Truman was, he admitted "There was no such person," "I am Mr. Truman ; don't tell of me." Evans's victims suffered lessee amounting, respectively, to 1901., 300/., 3501., and 20,000/. Mr. Commissioner Goulburn said, that the bank- rupt's conduct had been of the basest and most wicked description. A more cruel and heartless case had never come before the Court—" one more thoroughly replete with wickedness and fraud."
An application was made at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday—on behalf of Eugenie Plummer, the little girl who has been indicted for per- jury at the instance of Mr. Hatch—for the postponement of the trial until next session. The application was granted, and Mr. Plummer entered into his reeognizances for the appearance of his daughter at the trial in the sum of 500/.
According to annual custom, the usual Royal bounties and gate money were distributed to the aged and necessitous poor in the various parishes in and around the metropolis, at the Royal Almoner's office, on Monday.
A statue of Sir Henry Havelock, by Mr. Behnes, is to be placed °tithe eastern side of Trafalgar Square next August.
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