8 OCTOBER 1853, Page 2

Ortroinilio.

At a meeting of the Court of Common Council, on Tuesday, Mr. Wallis, the junior Sheriff; was formally summoned, and conducted to his seat in the Court. Mr. Gresham wanted to know what had become of the directions to discover the person or persons who had been instru- mental in bribing the three men convicted of personation at the late elec- tion of the Chamberlain ? The City Solicitor explained, that he had advertised for evidence, but had not been able to procure any. The man who hired them was perfectly well known, but no legal proof could be obtained against him. The evidence of the three men would be worth- less, as they had been convicted of perjury.

The autumn session of the Geological School of Science was opened on Saturday, at the Museum of Practical Geology, in Jermyn Street. Dr. Forbes, the President of the Geological Society-, delivered the opening lecture. His theme was the educational uses of museums ; and he handled the subject so as to show that museums, unless connected with a system of public teaching, are of little use. He instanced the success which has attended the working of the School of Mines in connexion with the Museum of Practical Geology ; gave "unmixed praise" to those students who have passed through the first two years' curriculum ; and told how many of them are now filling lucrative and honourable posts. Nor was he less complimentary to the artisans who have with earnestness and intelligence made the best of the opportunities afforded by the insti- tution; but he reproached the middle and higher classes with neglecting the opportunities for scientific instruction thus held out to them.

"The occult science of table-turning, which now occupies the place that astrology did in former times, is regarded by them in so serious a light as to prevent them from turning their attention to the cultivation of the zo- ological, mineralogical, chemical, and biological sciences. When we con- sider the large class of so-called educated persons, who, instead of being the supporters of true science, run after such things, need we wonder at the suc- cess of public follies ? Yet if we apply to them the term unenlightened, it would give mortal offence. Nothing more clearly indicates the necessity of the State taking the initiative in the general diflusion of scientific know- ledge than this fact."

The large audience included, among many persons of scientific reputa- tion, Sir Roderick Murchison, Sir Henry de la Beche, Sir Charles Lyell, Professor Baden Powell of Oxford, and Mr. Rennie.

At a meeting of the Zoological Society of London, on Thursday, it was stated that during September, 44,961 persons had visited the gardens in Regent's Park ; and during the year, no fewer than 358,317,—a large increase over those of the preceding year. The most important addition to the gardens is a fine specimen of the South American ant-eater.

At the Middlesex Sessions on Tuesday, Buck and Lee, the men who bur- glariously entered a home at Hackney, and who were both seized by Mrs. Bastable, though one escaped for a time, were convicted of burglary and as- saulting Mrs. Beatable. They were sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

On Wednesday, Thomas Bartlett, horse-slaughterer and boiler, was in- dicted by the parish-officers of South Mims, for creating a nuisance near Barnet. The results of Bartlett's operations are most offensive and danger- ous. He eventually pleaded "guilty," and promised to abate the nuisance. The Assistant-Judge advised that it should be removed altogether : he would defer judgment till the 16th November, and if there then remained cause of complaint he should inflict an exemplary fine—he had found that effectual in other eases.

The inquiry into the mutiny on board the Queen of the Teign was resumed before the Thames Police Magistrate on Tuesday. Mr. Bodkin attended by order of Lord Palmerston. Mr. Stooke, the master, and the two English seamen, were first placed at the bar, on a charge of killing five Lascars. The only witness at all adverse to them was Fairfold, a sailor ; but his cross- examination, and the evidence of others, showed that he was a discontented man' and probably mixed up in some degree with the mutiny : Mr. Stooke had ordered him into irons for complicity, believing that he had undertaken to steer the ship to California, if the Lascars seized it. Mr. Treatt, the chief mate, and Mr. Cumming, second mate, detailed the occurrences on the night when the Lamas were killed ; fully proving that a most desperate attempt to murder the officers had been made by the Iss,.ra. Both mates received numerous wounds. Mr. Yardley considered that it had been amply shown that there was a mutiny ; the only question now was as to the necessity for killing the five men—the question whether there was any excess of violence. After a conversation with the counsel on both sides, he further remanded the aroused, that there might be the fullest investigation of the merits of the case.

Ahalt and Ali, the Lascars originally charged with the Englishmen, were then accused of mutiny. Mills, a seaman, identified these men as part of the mutinous gang; and they were remanded.

A Coroner's Jury sitting in the Middlesex Hospital on the body of James Mason, a man who kept a stall at the corner of Mortimer Street, have re- turned a verdict of "Manslaughter against Titus May and John Wood," the drivers of two omnibuses, who by the reckless manner in which they drove inflicted the fatal hurts.

Two workmen at the new market at Copenhagen Fields had a quarrel, and one of them Hughes, insisted on fighting. At the second round Hughes fell, and he died in a few minutes. His antagonist fled.

Mr. Sampson a master basketmaker, has been 'fined 408. by the Clerken- well Magistrate; for knocking down one of his workmen who had struck for wages. .The assault was committed while the man was earning money near Sampson's house by unloading a waggon.

Twenty-five persons were brought before the Marlborough Street Magis- trate, on Monday, eharged with having been found in a common gaming- house—the Cocoa Tree, St. James's Street. Most of the defendants were military men and gentlemen well known in gambling circles ; they gave fictitious names. The Police entered the house by force ; they were obliged to break down a wall at one place, the door being so massive and well- secured. The delay thus caused gave ample time for the destruction of any implements of gaming ; the Police found none ; and the Magistrate was obliged to liberate the suspected.

Thompson, a letter-carrier in the Pimlico district, has been committed for trial by the Bow Street Magistrate for having unlawfully detained sixty- four letters. Complaints had been made of the non-arrival of letters in the prisoner's district ; he was watched, and eventually seized with sixty-four letters in his hat which he ought to have delivered some days before. The man said it was from sheer laziness that he had not distributed the letters.

George Ballard, a young man of respectable appearance, has been com- mitted by the Marylebone Magistrate on a charge of stealing from his sister a shawl and other property valued at 601. Miss Ballard left her mother and brother in their common residence while she was out of town; in her ab- sence her brother stole the property and pledged it.

The Police Magistrates have been engaged in hearing charges against per- sons who were alleged to have endangered the public health by creating nuisances.

An attempt was made to abate the nuisance caused in the neighbourhood of Friar Street, Blackfriars Road,—the place so well fitted as a home for cholera,—by bone-boilers, horse-slaughterers, and gut-manufacturers : six summonses were taken out by the parish-officers. Two cases were heard by the Southwark Magistrate : a bone-boiler was charged with keeping an im- mense quantity of boiled and raw bones, and a gut-manufacturer was sum- moned for causing a nuisance by his trade. After hearing evidence on both sides, Mr. Combe said, he had no power to interfere, as nothing had been proved to show that there was any extraordinary increase in the nuisance : what defendants had on their premises was merely what they required in trade. Therefore he must dismiss the summonses. After the decision on these cases, the others were not pressed. Mr. Brown, a cow-keeper and owner of a dust-yard in South Street, Wal- worth Common, appeared before the Lambeth Magistrate. It was proved that Brown had a horrible collection of filth in his yard, and also kept swine, to the annoyance of the neighbours and the injury of their health. The Newington Inspector of Nuisances prosecuted. Mx. Elliott fined Brown 208., and threatened the highest penalty if the nuisance remained. The Thames Police Magistrate has acted vigorously in regard to another kind of nuisance brought under his notice by the Police and by an Inspector of Nuisances—the foul state of the cesspools in divers places occupied by the poorest class of Irish. Mr. Ingham ordered immediate remedial measures, at the expense of the owners of the houses.

Mr. Carden the barrister has appeared twice before the Lambeth Magis- trate on a charge of suffering a nuisance to remain in the yards of three houses which he owns in Vauxhall Walk. On the first occasion, he pro- mised to remove the evil ; on the second, he asserted that he had—that there was nothing extraordinary in the state of the yards—that it was all the fault of the Commissioners of Sewers, with whom he could not come to terms about draining the premises into the sewer. Mr. Elliott thought there was no question about the existence of a nuisance ; and the inquiry ended by Mr. Carden paying 168. to the authorities for the use of a pumping-machine to remove the nuisance, with the costs of the summons.