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by the Bench yesterday-namely, what is the contract or liability that the indorser of such a bill takes upon himself? It is this I promise to pay the bill to any one who can claim through my special indorsement, provided the acceptor fails to pay the bill to any person who has a right to demand it." And if you look prospectively into the consequences of the decision one way or the other, which Mr. Bovill pressed upon us at the close of his argument-not at all improperly, I think—it will be discovered that to the special indorser, under such circumstances, it can make no difference whatever who presents the bill, whether it be a person under his indorsement, or under any other indorsement-because, if the bill is paid, there is an end of the question one way; if the bill is dishonored, there is equally an end of the question another way. And with reference to what Mr. Bovill pressed upon us at the close of his argument, it certainly would be extremely inconvenient, as Mr. Crompton observed yesterday, if their were two sorts of presentment, one that was to bind, or to render liable, a certain class of indorsers, and another that was to bind or render liable another class. It would be extremely inconvenient, as it appears to us, in the arrangements of commerce, if there were recognised in courts of law two descriptions of presentment. Upon the authority of the case, therefore decided in this court, and indeed I should observe for myself, from the concurrent opinion which, as far as I know, has always been held universally in Westminster-hall on this matter, ever since I have had anything to do with the profession, we think that the plaintiff is entitled to recover, and that our judgment must be for the plaintiff. I am stating not only the opinion of all the Court who heard the argument, but of my brother Parke, who tried the cause. None of us entertain any doubt on the subject. From the clearness of the case, the total absence of all doubt, and the amount also of the sum in dispute, the whole of which probably would be absorbed by any further litigation, we think that there ought to be judgment for the plaintiff.-Walker and others v. M'Donnell, Court of Exchequer, 1848. Judgment for the plaintiff.

[The above is a verbatim report of the judgment. ED. C. R.]—Ibid

EMBEZZLEMENT.-If a person whose duty it is to receive money for his employer, receive money and render a true account of all money he has received, he is not guilty of embezzlement if he absconds and does not pay over the money; but if he had received the money, and had rendered an account in which it was omitted, this would be evidence to show that he had embezzled the amount. The collector of a water company, as was his practice, gave the prisoner, who was the turncock, three receipts for water rents, desiring him to receive the amounts. On a subsequent day, the collector asked the prisoner if he had received the amounts, when he said that he had, and would pay them over on the following Monday; instead of which he absconded. Held, no embezzlement.-Reg v. Creed, 1 C. & K. 63.

THE ICE TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.

BY N. J. WYETH, ESQ.

From the American Almanac, 1849.

[We extract the following article from the American Almanac for 1849-a work which for value and usefulness cannot be priced. It is sent free of postage for one dollar; and our friends in the country, we sincerely assure them, cannot lay out a like sum where so large an amount of intellectual profit can be derived.]

The ice trade of the United States was commenced by Frederic Tudor, of Boston, in 1805. This gentleman, having previously sent agents to the West Indies to procure information, determined to make his first experiment in that region. Finding no one willing to receive so strange an article on shipboard, he was compelled to purchase a vessel, the brig Favorite, of about 130 tons, which he loaded with ice from a pond in Saugus belonging to his father, and sent to St. Pierre, Martinique.

This first enterprise resulted in a loss of about $4,500, but was, nevertheless followed up until the embargo and war put an end to the foreign trade, at which period it had yielded no profit to its projector. Its operations had been confined to Martinique and Jamaica. After the close of the war in 1815, Mr. Tudor recommenced his operations by shipments to Havana under a contract with the government of Cuba, which enabled him to pursue his undertaking without loss, and extend it, in 1817, to Charleston, S. C.; in the following year to Savannah, Ga.; and in 1820 to New Orleans. In the meantime it had been tried again (by other parties) at Martinique and St. Thomas, and failed, and by Mr. Tudor, at St. Jago de Cuba, where it also failed, after a trial of three years.

On the 18th May, 1833, the first shipment of ice was made to the East Indies, by Mr. Tudor, in the ship Tuscany for Calcutta, and since that period he has extended his operations to Madras and Bombay.

Previously to 1832, the trade had been chiefly confined to the operations of the original projector, although several enterprises had been undertaken by other persons and abandoned. The increase of shipments to this period had been small, the whole amounting, in 1832, to 4,352 tons, which was taken entirely from Fresh Pond, in Cambridge, and shipped by Mr. Tudor, who was then alone in the trade. Up to this time the ice business was of a very complicated nature. Ship owners objected to receive it on freight, fearing its effect on the durability of their vessels and the safety of voyages; ice-houses abroad and at home were required, and the proper mode of constructing them was to be ascertained. The best modes of preparing ships to receive cargoes were the subject of expensive and almost endless experiments. The machines to cut and prepare ice for shipping and storing, and to perform the operations of hoisting it into storehouses and lowering it into the holds of vessels, were all to be invented, involving much

expense and vexation. Many of these difficulties have now been overcome, and since 1832 the trade has increased much, and appears destined to a still more rapid increase for some years. It has also been divided among many parties, and its methods have been further improved, and a knowledge of them more widely diffused.

The ice has been chiefly taken from Fresh and Spy Ponds, and since 1841 mainly transported on the Charlestown Branch Railroad, which was constructed for that purpose. Quite recently, ice establishments have been made at most of the ponds near Boston, and it is probable that in a few years, the product of all these waters may be required to supply the trade. In the year 1839 the great quantity of ice cut at Fresh Pond, and the consequent difficulties which had arisen among the proprietors, as to where each should take ice, induced them to agree to distinct boundary lines, which were settled by three commissioners, viz: Simon Greenleaf, Levi Farwell, and S. M. Felton, Esquires, on the principle of giving to each the same proportion of contiguous surface of the lake, as the length of his shore-line was to its whole border. This settlement was made by partition deed, executed by all the owners, and recorded in the registry of deeds of Middlesex county. Published maps were also placed in public institutions and private hands. These maps show the direction and length of the boundary lines of each owner, and the area. This arrangement has been of great advantage to the parties, and enabled them to secure more ice than could otherwise be taken from a pond of equal extent.

The shipments of ice from Boston coastwise for the year ending Dec. 31st, 1847, amounted to 51,8S7 tons, and were made to the following places, viz: Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.; Georgetown and Washington, D. C.; Alexandria, Richmond, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Fredericksburg, Va.; Wilmington, Fayetteville, Washington and Elizabeth City, N. C.; Charleston and Beaufort, S. C.; Savannah, Macon and Augusta, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; Columbus, Miss.; St. Marks, Key West, Pensacola, and Apalachicola, Fa.; New Orleans and Thibodeauxville, La.; Galveston, Texas.

These shipments were made in ships, 49; barks, 39; brigs, 45; schooners, 125-making, in all, 258 vessels.

The ice shipped to foreign ports during the same period amounted to 22,591 tons, and was sent to the following places, viz: Havana, Matanzas, Trinidad, and St. Jago, Cuba; Martinique, St. Thomas, St. Johns and Mayagues, P. R.; Gaudaloupe, Barbadoes, Trinidad, Antigua, St. Vincent, Nassau, Jamaica, Pernambuco, Demarara, Honduras, Vera Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Mauritius, Isle of Bourbon, Manilla, Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Whampoa, Batavia, Liverpool. These shipments were made in ships, 21; barks, 24; brigs, 38; schooners, 12-making, in all, 95 vessels.

The freight paid during this year is supposed to have averaged as high as $2 50 per ton, at which rate it would amount, on the 74,478 tons shipped abroad and coastwise, to $186,195 There is a great variation in the cost of securing ice and stowing it on board vessels, caused by winters favorable or otherwise for securing it, and by the greater or less expense of

the fittings required for voyages of different duration, or by difference of season when the shipments are made. Taking all these contingencies into consideration, the cost of ice when stowed on board may be estimated to average $2 per ton, which would give for the quantity shipped

There were in 1847 upwards of 29 cargoes of provisions, fruits and vegetables, shipped in ice to ports where otherwise such articles could not be sent,-say to Barbadoes, Trinidad, Demarara, Antigua, St. Vincent, Gaudaloupe, St. Thomas, Honduras and Calcutta,―the invoiced cost of which at Boston would average about $2,500 each,

To these items may be added the profits of the trade to those engaged in it,

Total returns,

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148,956

72,500

100.000

$507,651

It is probable that the commercial marine of the United States has been materially increased by the operations of the ice-trade. A large portion of the vessels formerly engaged in the freighting trade from Boston sailed in ballast, depending for remuneration on freights of cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, &c., to be obtained in more Southern latitudes, often competing with the vessels of other nations which could earn a freight out and home. Now, a small outward freight from Boston can usually be obtained for the transportation of ice, to those places where freighting vessels ordinarily obtain cargoes.-The ice-trade has generally been unsuccessful to places where profitable return freights cannot be obtained, because to such places a heavy freight must be paid on the ice, which it cannot bear ; and also because Southern places, which do not produce valuable exports, are usually unable to consume expensive luxuries. The methods and materials for preparing vessels for the transportation of ice have been various. Formerly their holds were ceiled up at the sides, bottom and top, with boards nailed to joist ribs secured to the skin of the vessel, and with double bulkheads forward and aft.-The spaces thus formed were filled with refuse tan, rice-hulls, meadow-hay, straw, wood-shavings, or like materials. These spaces were made of a thickness proportionate to the length of the voyage, and with reference to the season. The immediate surface of the ice was covered with the same materials, excepting tan. At the present time sawdust is used almost exclusively for voyages of considerable length. It is placed immediately between the ice and the skin of the vessel. This material is obtained from the State of Maine, and before its use for this purpose was entirely wasted at the water-mills, and, falling into the streams, occasioned serious obstructions. During the year 1847, 4600 cords were brought to Boston, at an average value of $2 50 per cord, delivered. The lumber is also wholly from the State of Maine. The value of it is, however, small, in the present mode of fitting vessels.

Almost the whole value of the returns of the ice-trade, including freight, are a gain to this country. The ice itself, the labor expended on it, the materials for its preservation, and the means of its transportation, would be worthless if the trade did not exist.

The prices at which ice sells in places where there is competition

vary constantly. In Havana, where it is a monopoly, it is sold at 61 cents per pound, and there the trade has not increased since 1832, when the shipments were 1,112 tons; while at New Orleans, where it has been sold at from half a cent to three cents per pound, it has increased during the same period from 2,310 tons to upwards of 28,000. At Calcutta the trade commenced in 1833, with a shipment for that port of 201 tons, and the price has never been above 6 cents per pound, and is now about 2 cents. The export to that place had increased in 1847 to 3,000 tons, but probably less than one-fifth of that quantity is actually sold, owing to the great length of the voyage.

The consumption of ice in Boston and its vicinity, during the year ending 31st Dec. 1847, was 27,000 tons, about two-thirds of which was transported to Charlestown on the Charlestown Branch Railroad, and thence distributed through that place and Boston. The remainder was sent direct from the ice-houses, on wagons, to the place of ultimate delivery. Twenty two two-horse and forty four one-horse wagons were employed in the delivery of this ice, for a time, probably, equal to 4 months, at an expense for two-horse wagons of $4 per day, including drivers and tons, or for 22 wagons, $11,880

And for 44 one-horse wagons, at $275 per day, for the same period,

The cost of putting up and securing ice varies essentially with the character of the seasons, but must average, with the rent of the buildings in which it is stored, and the rent of "ice privileges" from which it is taken, and the waste which unavoidably occurs, as much as 55 cents per ton, or, for 27,000 tons, To which should be added the transportation by railroad of 18,000 tons, say average 50 cts per ton,

Total cost,

16,335

17,550

9,000

$54,765

It is retailed at prices varying as the quantities delivered are larger or smaller. It is supposed to average about 13 cents per hundred pounds, or for 27,000 tons $72,000, leaving a profit of $18,135, to be divided among the seven principal ice-dealers.

Ice being shipped and used at all seasons, large storehouses are required to preserve it. Exclusive of ice-houses on the wharves at Charlestown and East Boston, in which ice is stored for short periods, there had been erected in 1847, and previously:

At Fresh Pond, in Cambridge, ice-houses capable of containing

At Spy Pond, in West Cambridge,

At Little Pond, Cambridge,

At Wenham Pond,

At Medford Pond,

At Eel Pond, in Malden,

At Horn Pond, in Woburn,

At Semmer's Pond,

Total,

The ice-houses now in use are built above ground.

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86,732 tons.

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28,000 66

.

2,400 66

13,000

4,000 66

2,000 ""

4,000 ""

1,200

141,332 tons.

In southern

countries, where ice is most valuable, they are constructed at greater

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