POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealander, Volume XXIV, Issue 2618, 7 April 1866, Page 4

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

[Wkpsbsday ] [Refore Tims. Ukokham, Esq , R.M.] ARSON. Edward Bridges was brought up on remand, charged with having feloniously, wilfully, and maliciously set fire | to a certain house in course of erection i in 1 lobsou-strcct. Mr. Wynn and Mr. McDoiiald ap- : peared for (he prosecution. Mr. vVyiin having opened (he case, i and briefly staled the facts, ihe followI iug evidence was taken-: G. I'. Pierce deposed •-. I am the prosecutor in this case. I know the prisoner. As manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company, I effected a police of insurance, called .a buildct's ri.-k, for the prisoner and Mr. Jury, over a building in course of erection by them, for L'i()o. This was ou the 25th of November. 18fio, and was for one I month. The policy having elapsed in duo course, it. was renewed on the J '.Mil January by the prisoner Hridges, in the name of Jury and Hridges for ihe same amount for one month. On the 2(>lh January, the building was burnt down, i I caused a coroner's inquest to be held. The whole of the money was not paid j to the prisoner. He was paid £7O. We did not pay him more, as there were suspicious circumstances connected | with the fire. Cross-«xamined by prisoner : I produce ihe application, which is made! out iu the name of Bridges .and Jury. No other names are used. The second application is the same as the first. 1 produce the two applications. 1 do not ' know under what arrangement the £7O , Wits accepted. You have signed a I receipt for £7O, as it receipt in full of all demands. Mr. McCoskrie has received the remainder. At this siage of the proceedings, Mr. Wynu applied for a remand, which was granted, until Tuesday next. > LARCENY, William Wellard was charged by Alexander Johnson, with stealing one pair trousers, aud one pair boots, from a shop iu Victoria-street. The prisoner pleaded guilly, but said he was under the influence of liquor at the time. Mr. Beckham remarked that this was no excuse for the crime. lie also obseived that three times prior to this 1 e had been convicted of larceny. The sentence was, that he be imprisoned for six months, and kept to hard labour.

The London Express gives tlio following vivid description of Saturday night in a London pawnbroker's shop:—" The shootpulleys and ropes creaked and grumbled on with monotonous regularity, the downstairs bell kept ringing at uncertain intervals, and the rapid running to and fro of the boys with parcels and bundles in their hands—all spoke of the busy state of the shop below. From five in the afternoon, when we visited it first, to eleven at night, when we left it for the second time, the counter was crowded. Sometimes thirty, sometimes a hundred people were there at once, and the appearance and atmosphere of the entire place vrcre not a little singular and exceptional. Festoons of new boots ami shoes, of shirts and chemises, handkerchief'! and caps are suspended by strings from the low ceiling and the wall behind the counter. A gaudy clock, with a coarse picloral face, looks down upon the throng in front of it; cheap sporting pictures framed and glazed, vaunt their own excellence and proclaim their cheapness from the wall beyond, while the casedin window, filled with a heterogeneous mass of articles of dress, timepieces, jewellery, watches, boots, and chimney ornaments, speaks no less than does the pile of many-coloured wraps and coats against which we lean, of the extent and variety of the pledges unredeemed. Nothing is bought for stock here, and all the articles we see here have become the property of their present owner through the time for their redemption having passed by. With the exception of one futile attempt at bargaining'for a shirt, no approach to a sale takes place during one visit. Quite ninety per cent, of those at the counter are women and children, and the object -of all seems to be to obtain their goods and get away as rapidly as possible. Til's perspiring countermen, who lire busily working in a close miasma made up of gas, the effluvia of worn clothes, and human breath, are besieged on all sides. Sometimes they are addressed affectionately as ' Dears;' sometimes defiantly, as 'You there!' —sometimes they are petulantly upbraided, for the beldame speaking has been kept waiting for her pledge. Half the place is open shop, the other half is divided into little boxes, originally meant for privacy, but both of which are now crammed to repletion. Poverty in all its phases is represented. The young work-girl whose bit of shabby finery has been here since Monday take.i it away with the certainty of bringing it back again when Sunday has gone by. Shrewclish-looking, slatternly women insir-t upon having their full complement of bundles, and decline paying for the dress, the trousers, and the bonnet until the fourth pledge, a pair of boots, is produced. Capless, bonnetless children, who, standing on tiptoe, strive in vain to bring their eyes on a level with the counter, have the ticket for their father's clothes handed over for them ; while now and then, at rare intervals, a working man may be discerned in the moving mass of faees, who takes out his garment for himself, paying the sum demanded with a business like air bespeaking long usuage and consequent acclimatization. All this time one of the shopmen remains at, the shoot, and the ringing of the bell to those above, and the shouts of ' name of Blank, one parcel,' ' trousers and dress for Smith,' go on with the regularity of ' make your game' at rouge et noir. Two things are especially worthy of remark. First, the demeanour of the sordid crowd, gin-sodden, tattered, and forlorn as its component parts are is rather jocund than otherwise ; and secondly, that with scarcely an exception the bundles were handed over and the money and interest paid without mention of the amount."

rius enjoy the reputation of having a real liking for dirt; and certainly, the way in which they are kept on some farms would show that their owners are determined to give them ample opportunities for carrying out this liking. No notion can however be more erroneous than this, as none is certainly so productive of loss to the ktflpcr. Let any one not convinced of this try the mode of pig-keeping' —the dirty and the clean—the food in both eases, and other general treatment, being the same ; and the result will show him which ofthctwois the best in the end. A great deal depends on (lie mode in which they are housed. Mr. Raines, of Mills adopts the following : —A large nuthouse is enclosed at the sides, so as lo be warm and drv. The Boor is paved and sprinkled over with burnt clay, and ashes obtained by burning weeds. In this the pigs are fed ; while for resting and sleeping they have a compartment railed ott at the other end, and which is amply provided with clean straw. In another case the principle of box-feeding has been applied, the pigs being kept in a pit, into which the manure from the ox or to-rr stables ami the hor.'e stables is put. The pigs tread this down and enjoy themselves amazingly. In one case, where this plan bus been adopted, the farmer states that his pigs "have given him a profit by their meat, and left the dung—as good as guano —for nothing."— Scottish Farmer.

On Sunday morning '22 nd the congregation assembled in the parish church of Cuckney, Notts, were much surprised by the clerk giving out the following notice:— " I hereby give notice that the Duke of Portland's rent-day will be held at the Swan Hotel, Mansfield, on Tuesday the 31st October;'' and adding, without any pause, " Let us sing to the praise and glory of God.'" It appears that the Duke's agent had requested the clerk to inform the tenants that the rent-day would be on October til, and the worthy old gentleman thought that announcing it from the desk would be the best means of publicity.— English Paper. M Altai ice in a Balloon. —A New York couple anxious to be married, but disgusted with the old style of doing things, ascended in a balloon on the Bth November, and had the ceremony performed in the clouds There was a large assemblage of spectators collected in the lower part of the park, and all the contiguous region, to see the bridal party go up. Only two persons accompanied the bride and bridegroom. The ear, after a very pleasant excursion through the upper air, landed at Mount Yernon, Westchester County, about sunset.