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. KINDRED.
KINDRED. OCR own, our own. Time's heavy hand strikes hard, Absence lends fatal strength to circumstance 01. t paths by slow forgetfulness are barred Old sympathy is chilled by cruel chance. Suv loves shine down the fairy breams we saw New friendship's early vows obliterate Till half the happy bonds, our childhood's law, fade for the waning life, or soon or late. Yet touch a chord by kindred feeling known, Call on echo deep in kindred heart, Bi-ivd will assert an innate power its own, And wake the spirit for the champion's part. Oiir Jwn, our own. God-given, holy chain, Liuked as mere babies on our mother's knee, S >! !ered by mutual hope and joy and pain, lle.Lching from birth unto eternity. —Ti. 't/s Magazine.
„ PtoaD &r.
„ PtoaD &r. To 'link well is the way to act rightly.—Paley. R- .on is the test of ridicule, not ridicule the test of truth. — ■ •>>urton. A" like snow, the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon 11 id the deeper it sinks into the mind .—Coleridge. Ti;- are the signs of a wise man—to reprove nobody, to prai,, nobody, to blame nobody, n r even to speak of himself as an uncommon man.—Epictetm. Tiii3 study of literature nourishes youth, entertains old age ad.v prosperity, solaces adversity, is delightful at home, un- obt ve abroad, deserts us not by day nor by night, in jour- ney nor in retirement.—Cicero. Il-'i-yy is he who is engaged in controversy with his own pas- sions, and comes oft superior; who makes it his endeavour that his follies and his weaknesses may die before him, and who daily meditates on mortality and immortality.—Jortin. It no small commendation to manage a little well. He is a g i waggoner that can turn in a little room. To live well in iiiance is the praise of the estate, not of the person. I will = uuly more how to give a good account of my little than to i-e it more.—iJithop Hall. T c; and elegance, though they are reckoned only among the mailer and secondary morals, yet are of no mean import- ance the regulation of life. A moral taste is not cf force to urn ice into virtue but it recommends virtue with some- hin;, like the blandishments of pleasure. Burke. T'.e centle mind is like the smooth stream, which reflects ever object in its just proportion and in its fairest colours. The iolent spirit, like troubled waters, renders back the ma; i of things distorted and broken, and communicates to hei i :011 that disordered motion which arises solely from its ov n sritation.—Blair. It i s not scholarship alone, but scholarship impregnated with elit1 "1, that tells on the great mass of society. We have no aitl n the efficacy of mechanics' institutes, or even of pri- irar. 'Jd elementary schools, for building up a virtuous and auditioned peasantry, so long as they stand dissevered no the lessons of Christian piety.-Chalmers. BI says he was almost knocked flat the other day by sud- den i. reflecting that Learly all the pretty girls are but incipient mot.rs-in-law. A an, staying at a boarding-house, tells the story that in a rece.. thunder-storm, the warring of the elements was ao awe- insp; ug that the hair in a dish of butter in the pantry turned com;i>-tely white during the night. >i• -L only is Barnum's cannibal on strike, but his new "orilla is si ■ i-! considerable trouble, because the great showman in- sists iat the animal must not swear when flies worry him, es- pecial y if ministers or their families are standing in front of the c ige.—American Paper. Dur ng a trial in South Wales to test the validity of a will, it w i proved that in 1867 the testator became impaired in in- telle to such an extent that he went to the post-oftice with a post '-stamp on his forehead, and requested to be sent by mail i a place he mentioned. ..re you going into the country to study the book of nature dur ug this beautiful summer weather?" asked a bombastic gen inan of a lady friend. She wittingly replied .Not yet; I am waiting for the autumn to save me trouble of turnin" the leaves." ° L< < :CAL BUT IMPOSSIBLE —A man being arraigned before a mag irate for obstructing the street, his counsel attempted to trear 'he offence as a trifling matter, but the justice crushed him >y sternly asking, "If everybody should obstruct the stret- how could anybody get along?" A,' 'ressing a Temperance society one Sunday evening, a spea- r expressed the broad conviction that "next to Beelze- bub alself, Bacchus, inventor of spirituous beverages, brought mnri in and misery on the human race than any other indl- vidu f whom Scripture gives us any account." An advertisement in an Irish paper setting forth the many cony uiences and advantages to be derived from metal window sash, i, among other particulars, observes that, "these sashes woul ) iast for ever and afterwards, if the owner had no fur- ther i.se for them, they could be sold for old iron." Mo..R""RUL ALTERNATIVE.Unless you give me aid," said a beg'ur to a benevolent lady, I am afraid I shall have to resort ti. something which 1 greatly dislike to do." The lady hand. d him a shilling, and compassionately asked, "What is it, p< r man, that I have saved you from V Work," was the mournful answer. Excited Wife (to her husband): "Do you not admit that woman has a mission?" Cool husband: "Yes, my dear, she has -fwimission." Great confusion in the domestic circle, and the husband calls on the family surgeon for a plaster for his head, wounded by accidentally hitting it against the edge of an open door." HALF AND HALF.—" What are you hallooing about, Bill?" said a mother at the stairs foot one evening, after her two boys had been put to bed. Please, mother," said Bill, "Jem wants half the bed." Well, let him have it, and you take the other half." "Yes mother, but he will have his half out of the middle, and make me sleep on both sides of him." MIGHT AND MAIN. -Lord Charles Somerset was tellin- a long story about his walking in the woods at Cape Town "Africa one day, when he same suddenly upon a huge shaggy lion' Thinking to frighten him," said the noble lord" I ranat him with all my might." "Whereupon," said another interrupt- ing. he ran away with all his mane." "Just so," said his lordship. So censure can be too harsh for that wretched man who being married the other day, put the wedding ring into his mouth when the seryce began, that he might find it at the proper moment. That moment arrived. The minister winked for the ring. The trembling bridegroom gave an obe- dient start, a sudden gulp-and the ring had disappeared down his unlucky throat. DOMESTIC CONCESSIONS.—" I found it very inconveniet, and a great loss of time," said Chateaubriand, to dine before seven o'clock. My wife wanted to dine at five o'clock, and in- sisted upon that hour. After many arguments and many heated discussions we finally compromised upon six o'clock-an hour which was very inconvenient to us both. This is what they call domestic concessions." The progress of the English tongue is something wonderful. It seems to be spreading throughout all lands, and to have gone forth to the uttermost parts of the earth. Professor Deandollo brings out this fact with great power in his recent work, The History of Science," declaring his decided conviction that "in perhaps 50 years the English language .will be spoken by 860 i millions of mankind the German by 124 millions only; and ] the French by no more than 69." ] A COMPLIMENT SPOILT.-An editor of a Yankee paper re- cently wrote: The editor of our contemporary is a cold- blooded villain and a liar. If this is libel, let him make the most of it. The editors penmanship is not the most easily read of writing, and the sentence appeared in print thus: "The euchre was trumpery in a cotton-headed million and a lion. Jim Libby bet snakes the most of it." The editor was in a pleasant frame of mind when he read the sentence. Some- how steak and toast lost their savour that morning. FAINTING STATISTICS.—It has been ascertained that during the last five months five hundred and forty young ladies fainted OB various occasions. More than two hundred fell into the arms of young gentlemen; forty were caught by their aunts and grandmothers; and only one had the misfortune to fall on the floor. She, however, picked out a soft place to fall upon, and was providentially received by an otto-man.— American Paper. A DIFFERENCE.—When a woman has a hen to drive into the coop she takes of her coops with both hands, and shakes them quietly towards the delinquent, and says: Shew there." The hen takes one look at the object to convince herself that it's a a woman, and then stalks majestically into the coop in perfect disgust of the sex. A man don't do that way. He goes out of the door and says, It's singular that nobody in the house can drive a hen but myself," and picking up a stick of wood, hurls it at the offending biped, and observes, "Get in there, you thief The hen immediately loses her reason, and dashes to the opposite end of the yard. The man straightway dashes after her. She comes back again with her head down her wines out, and followed by an assortment of stovtwood 'fr^t3 and coal-clinkers, with a much-puffing, and a very man in the rear. Then ske skims up on the stoop, and unde7the barlf and over a fence or two, and around the house, and back aeai'n to th« coop, all the while talking as only an excited hen can talk and all the while followed by things convenient for handling and by a man whose coat is on the saw-buck, and whose hat is on the ground, and whose perspiration and profanity appear to have no limit. By this time the other hens have come out to take a hand in the debate, and help dodge the missiles-and then the man says every hen in the place shall be sold in the morning, and puts on his things and goes down the street; and the woman dons her hoops, and has every one of those hens housed and contented in two minutes, and the only sound heard on the premises is the hammering by the oldest boy as he mends the broken pickets. PERSIAN ETIQUETTE.—Among other customs enforced by Persian etiquette (says a contemporary) is the rule that where a superior dines with an inferior the latter brings in the flrst dish himself- a practice not without precedent at Western Courts. The bringing in of a dish is, however, in Persia no light undertaking, and requires considerable skill, strength, and practice, for the manner in which the operation is to be per- formed is, especially at Court, strictly described. The dish or tray must be held at arm's length, carried perfectly horizontal, and deposited precisely in the right place at once. Some ludi- crous stories are related about this practice. One old gentle- man with a magnificent beard had to bring in a large tray con- taining several dishes, and place it in front of the Shah. The iii«* T8? heayy.tfle bearer feeble, and, to make matters worse, about to deposit it a candle, which he had not was i. u"? 81-6 to his magnificent beard. For a moment he elsewhere utmo?t perplexity. To put down the tray quired 8omedpH^i4?ppomted Place—an operation which re- hischerishtedbetuvftvS-W outJof the Question. To allow was equal to the occasion ""A impossible. He a dish of curds whic?fstm>d^ls fla°ung beard into his task, much to the amUum he CaImly completed holders. applause and amusement of the be-
THE PILGRIMS TO lIIECCA AND…
THE PILGRIMS TO lIIECCA AND THE BLACK GIANTS. Clearing the Sumatra coast, we stretched across to the Bay of Bengal, toward Ceylon, overhauling a number of neutral ships by the way. Among others we boarded a large English ship, which had a novel lot of passengers on board. She was from Singapore, bound for Jiddah, on the Red Sea, and was filled with the faithful follow- ers of Mohammed, on a pilgrimage to Mecca—Jiddah being the nearest seaport to that renowned shrine. My boarding officer was greeted with great cordiality by these devotees, who exchanged salaams with him, in the most reverential nmnner, and entered into conversation with him. They wanted to know, they said, about those black giants we had on board the Alabama, and whether I we fed them on live Yankees, as they had heard. The j boarding-officer, who was a bit of a wag, told them that we had made the experiment, but that the Yankee skip- pers were so lean and tough, that the giants refused to eat them. Whereupon there was a general grunt, and I as near an approach to a smile as a Mohammedan ever makes.-Captain Jemmesy Adventures Afloat. HOW WAVES ARISE. The strongest storm cannot suddenly raise high waves, they require time for their developement. Fancy the wind blowing over an even sea, and it will set water- particles in motion all over the surface, and thus give the first impulse to the formation of small waves. Number- less oscillations unite their efforts, and create visible 1 elevations and depressions. Meanwhile, the wind is constantly setting new particles in motion long before the first oscillations have lost their effect countless others are perpetually increasing and gradually rising mountain- waves, until their growth is finally limited by the coun- terbalancing power of the earth's attraction. As the strength of the waves only gradually rises, it also loses itself only by degrees, and many hours after the tornado has ceased to rage, mighty billows continue to remind the mariner of its extinguished fury. The turmoil of wafers awakened by the storm propagates itself hundreds of miles beyond the space where its howling voice was heard, and often, during the most tranquil weather, the ag tated sea proclaims the distant war of the elements. The velocity of waves depenfislnotzonly on the power of the impulse, but also on the depth of the subjacent waters, as I have already mentioned in the preceding chapter. For this reason as increased velocity augments the power of the impulse, the waves in the Atlantic or Pacific, the mean depth of which may be estimated at 12,000 or 18,000 ft,, attain a much greater height than in the comparatively shallow North Sea. The breaking of the waves against the shore arises from their velocity dimin- ishing with their dtpth. As the small flat wave rolls up the be .0\ it front p rt, retarded by the fiictioi of the ground, i, s Ion overtaken by its back, moving in swifter progression, and tliu; ari-es its graceful swelling, the toppling of its snow-white crest, and finally its pleasant p tttle among the h ngles of the strand. This is one of t ose pictures cf nature which Homer describes with such inimitable truth in various places of his immortal poems be paints with admirable colours the slow rising of the advancing wave, how it bends forward with a graceful curve, and, crowning itself with a diadem of foam, spreads like a white veil over the beach, leaving sea-weeds and shells behind, as it rustles back into the sea.—From The Sea and its Living Wonders." A WOMAN'S MEMORY. Among the scores of pleasing and instructive discus- sions which have arisen between Bench and Bar during the Tichbourne case, and which may hereafter be advan- tsg ously detached from it and published under the title of Obiter, has been a dialogue upon memory in woman. Dr. Kenealy alleged that the features of a man, and such like things, do not fix themselves so much on the mi ds of men as they do on those of women. The Lord Cnief Justice could not say that such was the result of hi< ex- perience. Dr. Kenealy insisted that women were best at recollecting mere externals. If a lady went to a ball she would describe every dress there. Yes," said the Lord Chief Justice, but there she is on her own ground." "If she goes to a dinner party," continued the advocate, she will describe the china, the silver, and such like things." "Bectuse," replied the Lord Chief Justice, ever ready with a good word for the gentler sex, those are matters connected with domestic eco- nomy," and therefore, by inference, things most proper for woman's attention. Dr. Kenealy was silenced, but it was not his business to be convinced. We cannot understand how anybody but the jury and the defendant can consider this trial a bore. Never a week, seldom a day, passes without what Artemus Ward calls an eppy sode of social interest. Here, for instance, is thrown out a subject which will afford very agreeable seaside debate, perhaps pleasant incrimination. Families will find harmless yet animated diversion in bringing Sir Alexander Cockburn's theory and Dr. Kenealy's into comparison, with anecdotes and illustrations flavoured by mild malice.—Notes by the Way. a GREAT MBN. Dr. Kenealy lately said at the trial, the defendant is a kind of phenomenon. You may live many years longer, and yet you may never again see a man of his weight, except among those who are exhibited for money. That excessive fatness must have affected his memory.-The Lord Chief Justice: Have you any authority for your statement, Dr. Kenealy ? My impression is, that there are very stout persons who are as remarkable for their shrewdness as any thin ones.-Dr. Kenealy I have always understood that dulness and fatness went toge- ther. The Lord Chief Justice I could give one or two instances of persons remarkable for their fatness and their intelligence.—Dr. Kenealy Falstaff, no doubt, was a remarkably shrewd and witty man. Still, if you carry back your recollection to your school days, you will find that the fat boy was the dull boy.—Mr. Justice Lush But Roger was not the fat boy.— Dr. Kenealy I say that the fat boy at school was the dull boy. He might be very much liked, and he might be looked upon with pity and compassion, but he never could learn. At least that is the popular impression.-A Juror There are one or two fat men on the jury.-Dr. Kenealy I don't think there are. I don't see any; and very glad I am of it. The Juror: Why, look at our Foreman ?-Dr. Kenealy Let none of you delude yourselves into the idea that you are fat men. -The Lord Chief Justice I will not speak of living men, but I may remind you of Sergeant Wil- kins.—Dr. Kenealy No doubt, my lord, he was a big man, and had large bones, but I should not have called him fat.—The Lord Chief Justice Then I remember Mr. Harrison, Q.C., who was remarkable for his obesity, and yet a more sharp-headed man I never met with.- Dr. Kenealy I would rather argue the case of the lean men with your lordship. I venture to think that if you went through the Bench of England, you would find more lean men than fat. -The Lord Chief Justice That is because we work so hard.—Mr. Justice Lush If we tiave many more such trials as this, we shall be more lean than we are.-Dr. Kenealy Yes, my lord, but you will be more intellectual RAILWAY TICKETS. At tne neaa-quarters ot each company it is of course necessary to keep a sufficient store to supply the wants of every station. At stated periods the clerks in charge of stations send a requisition for such tickets as will enable them to meet every requirement of passengers. These tickets are numbered from 0 to 10,000, and are sorted with the utmost care. As the booking-clerk has to account for every ticket as so much money, it will readily be understood with what vigilance the tickets have to be counted, and how necessary it is to watch lest any of the stock should be misplaced. A general stock of tickets is placed in drawers according to their conse- cutive numbers, while those for immediate use are placed in cases containing a number of compartments in the order of stations and classes, the lowest number being placed at the bottom. The compartments are placed in rows, or subdivisions, and under each row a piece of slate is fixed on which is inserted the number of the ticket next to be issued. The bottom ticket in each com- partment is made to project, so that after the departure of any train the clerk can see at a glance to what stations tickets have been issued. When the booking for a train has been completed, the names of the stations to which passengers have booked are written in a book, and the numbers are arrived at by deducting the numbers on the slates from the next numbers to be issued. At the ex- piration of every month a return of all tickets sold has to be sent to the accountant's department. In order that this return may be correctly made out, a record is taken of the next or closing numbers of the tickets to be issued on the last day of every month, and these figures are the commencing numbers for the next account. For instance, suppose that on the morning of the 1st July the next third-class ticked to be issued from London to Leeds is number 500. If on referring to the number again, July 31, it is 950, it follows that 450 tickets have been issued. The tickets are far from being done with, however, when they are given up by the passengers to the collectors; they have yet to perform an important part in the settlement of railway accounts. At the close of every day all the tickets collected have to be arranged aCC0+iTn^ respective numbers and stations, and we then sent to the head-quarters of the company for examination. These are compared with the return of tickets issued, and should one be missing an explanation is at once asked for. Those tickets, moreover, which have been used for travelling on more than two com- panies lines, have to be forwarded to the railway clear- ing-house, so that the Proportion of the fare due to each may be duly jotted, A plan haa recently been adopted at many important stations of impressing on the tickets certain numbers when they are examined by collectors, to denote the route by which the passenger has travelled. For instance, at the London and North-Western Station Rugby, the figure 2 is used; at Shrewsbury, 4 at the Midland Station, Gloucester, 19 Derby, 22 and so on. —ZeMWC Hour. SMOKING IN PERSIA. The Persian pipe is composed of a brass or silver or even gold enamelled head, which contains the tobacco. This is principally grown at Shiraz, and lacks the pungency of the American or Turkish plant, and it is generally smoked in Turkish harems indeed, we have heard it whispered in scandal-loving circles that it used to be the fashion in India for ladies to smoke the hookah. The tobacco is well wetted, and then the moisture is partially squeezed out of it in a piece of linen. Then about a handful is placed in the bowl of the pipe, and come lumps of live charcoal are placed upon it. The head fits upon a perforated stem of wood, which in its turn fits into a (generally) globular- shaped vase of silver or brass, this penetrates into water, with which the globe is three parts filled on one side of the vase there is another wooden stem ending ia a mouth- piece. Then by inhaling the smoke from the head of the pipe through the water into the lungs the operation is perfected. The inhalation keeps the charcoal alive, which burns the tobaeco and allows smoke to generate. The smoke is puffed out of the smoker's nostrils, and at first induces a species of gentle intoxication not provided against by the "Permissive Prohibitory Bill" of Mr. Lawson; but after the first few times of smoking this wears off, unless the dose be long continued. -Gentleman's Magazine. EARLY RISING. The philosophy which urges the excellence of early rising has been very rudely and successfully shaken. Charles Lamb has shown that there is as much excess in rising with the lark and lying down with the lamb as in the practice referred to in Moore's song, which recom- mends a lengthening of our days by taking a few hours from night, my dear 1" That philosophy was shaken in the early days of the world by two sleepy children who came under the rebuke of vigilant fathers. My son remarked one sire, I once found a piece of gold by rising early!—" Aye rejoined young hopeful, but the man who lost it was up before you." "My son," said the other worthy parent, observe that it's the early bird that catches the worm I do, oh my father," replied the excellent boy also that the worm was caught by getting up earlier than the bird." It has been considered not beneath the dignity of F.M. the Duke of Wellington to hold rank among the philosophers of the bed and, as nobody knew that he had ever delivered himself of an axiom or maxim illustrating bed doctrine, one has been stolen for him, and his grace has been made to wear it as if it had been his own When a man turns in bed, it is time for him to turn out as the Duke of Wel- lington used to say So we are told, as if the field- marshal were always saying it. Now, the phrase was a favourite one with our early archbishops, and it was, probably, not original even on the lips of the very earliest of the prelates, to whom it has been assigned by the Dean of Chichester. -A then ctunt. THE BELIEVER AND THE INFIDEL. Besides, were the difficulties which attend the system of religion more difficult than they are, yet they should take notice that difficulties attend the contrary system also and consider since one must be true, which is most likely to be so. If there be objections against a creation and a providence, are there not greater against supposing that the world could have existed without being created, or continue all this time without a pro- vidence ? If there be somewhat scarce conceivable in the doctrine of a future life and judgment; yet upon the whole, which of the two is most probable, that a wise and good God will finally recompense men according to their works, or that lie will not ? If there be things in the Gospel-Revelation for which it is hard to account, is it so hard to account for anything upon earth, as to how it should come to have such astonishing proofs, internal and external, of being true, if it be really false ? They who think the creed of a Christin so strange and mys- teiious, let them think a while what the creed of an infidel must be, if he would only lay aside his general pretences of imposture and enthusiasm and credulity and bigotry, which thrown at random will discredit all evi- dence of history alike and answer in particular, how, on his own hypothesis, he accounts for all the several no- torious facts, on which our religion is built. I am per- suaded there hath never appeared yet among men so incomprehensible a collection of tenets as this would produce. Men may indeed be too easy of belief but it is just as great a weakness to be too full of suspicion. Reverence for antiquity may impose upon us but fond-. ness for novelty may do the same thing. Undoubtedly we should be on the watch against pious frauds but against impious ones too. For whatever dishonesty the advocates of religion have been either justly or unjustly charged with, the opposers of it Lave given full proof, at least of their inclination to come short of them. Who- ever therefore would proceed in the right path, must be attentive to the dangers on each side.-Archbishop Seeker. THE OYSTER MONTH. On Monday commenced the cycle of months with an "R," bearing destruction both to "the bird" of the air and to the bivalve of the sea. Once upon a time, September and oysters were a month and a dish to be hailed with pleasure and delight. In the reign of Edward I. the price of oysters was fixed at two-pence a gallon, while a man need not be very old to remember them at sixpence a dozen. Sed tempora mutantur—vre are on our way back to the golden age, that is, if gold for every- thing will bring such an age. For this questionable blessing, as in regard to many other things, We are told our ancestors are to blame; they ate so many oysters and so very cheap, that we must eat a few dear. The old fable of killing the goose which laid the golden eggs, is here exactly applicable. The life of the oyster is unlike that of most other living creatures in the fact that where he is born he must live, grow fat, and die. Upon a happy family of oysters there falls the dredge, and in the dredge up they go to satisfy the desires of the omni- vorous man. It is at this point that the cause of oysters being both rare and dear becomes apparent. By dredging for the full-grown oyster, the spat and young oysters are destroyed. So long as the beds are large, and the injury is inflicted at considerable intervals, the real loss does not at once become apparent. For years some hundreds of boats might be seen in Gorey Harbour, in Jersey, all of them engaged in the oyster fishery. The supply seemed enormous, and it was not until many years had elapsed that a cry arose, Where are the oysters gone to ?" and it was found that only some dozen boats could pay their way. Another cause of the lack of oysters is the waste of spat which necessarily takes place from the want of space in the beds for the young oyster to settle in. In the case ef fishes, at least nine-tenths of the spawn never reach maturity and so it is with the oysters. Then comes the question, Cannot some method be invented for making use of this hitherto wasted spat ? The idea of fish culture, started by Monsieur Remy at La Bresse, has been crowned with success, and, assisted by the French Government, Monsieur Coste turned hioi attention to increasing the supply of oysters. Starting with the idea that all that was required to secure some millions of oysters was a resting-place for the spat, he proceeded to form the ne- cessary bed. The expense was a mere trifle, as the only articles required were a foundation of rubbish, in which some strong stakes were thrust. These were encircled with branches for the seedling oyster to cling to. The total expenditure was 230 francs, or 29 4s. Whether or not this included the parent supply of oysters which was laid down we are unable to say. From this bank in four years three fascines out of three hundred laid down were removed, and attached to them were 60,000 market- able oysters. It may, of course, be said that this enor- mous increase was owing to accidental circumstances. But the fact remains that something like 6,000,000 oysters were produced in four years at a trifling expense. With such a supply available, it may seem strange that the price of oysters still remains as high, or, in fact, higher than it was before the artificial breeding of oysters was commenced. Apropos of this we are sorry to be obliged to say that it is much easier to get a price up than to get it down. A noble lord with estates in Galway has been for some years rearing oysters. His beds are crowded, but he refuses to send out more than a certain quantity for fear of lowering he price. In London every advantage is in favour of the dealers. There is only one really avail- able market for fish, and that is Billingsgate. Columbia Market does only the enormous" trade of about ten bushels a day in oysters. We may add that the dealers pull together, which the public do not. The former laugh and grow fat, with very much the same ease as the oyster. The latter grumble, but buy their oysters nevertheless. Oyster culture is, we hope, in its infancy. At Sheer- ness, Southend, Plymouth, Whitstable, and numerous other places, beds, formed very much on the French plan, have been planted, and are already in full operation. Nevertheless, at Whitstable, visitors are asked, and pay, half-a-crown a dozen for natives, while even at the Mumbles (Swansea), a by no means superior oyster costs fifteen pence a dozen on the spot. We should certainly have imagined that, with the very slight frame-work ne- cessary for rearing oysters, some large attempt would b« made by private enterprise. How many little bays dot our coast which could add to their attractions a good supply of oysters. Of course there is a certain amount of speculation inlaying down oysters, as in keeping cattle or poultry. Certain denizens of the deep are, we know, as fond of oysters as ourselves, and it is not clear why epidemics should not rage among oysters as well as among human beings. Yet we think that not to rear oysters is just as much a waste of good ground as it would be to allow land to lie fallow for a number of years. The effects of salmon-breeding are, we think, already distinctly visible in the decreased price of that fish. The number of fish placed in rivers has ceased to be the pro- perty of any one man; and the supply in various hands has been sufficient to cause competition. Fish, too, pro- duce a much larger amount of eggs than the oyster does of spat; and in artificial breeding this is a point which must not be forgotten. Oysters, on the other hand re- main the property of their first breeders, and the supply can be kept as much as they like in their own hands. There are these differences. But looking at the existing supply of sea fish and oysters together, we certainly are of opinion that much might be done to reduce the prices of both. With butchers' meat at its present price, there is a greater and greater demand for fish; and we fear that the larger the present supply so much the less will be the future supply. As it has been with the oyster, so it will be with the fish. Now, considering the slight expense of rearing the latter until they are fit to meet their fellows in the sea, it is a question whether the Government might not attempt to restock our home seas. But, with regard to oysters, private enterprise would be sufficient, and we hope that energetic capitalists will step in and meet the great demand.— Echo.
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A correspondent who has been visiting Lydd Church- yard, where the bodies washed up from the wreck of the Northfleet were interred, expresses surprise that the gravestone, though it long ago arrived in the village, has not yet been put up, owing, as he was told, to the non- payment of the vicar's fee. He hopes that if this is not contributed by the relations of the victims, the vicar will not stand in the way of the only tribute which can now be paid to the dead. The question of our Coal supplies is again coming to the fore. At two of the scientific institutions in Corn- wall and the Midland counties the subject has been de- bated, and an opinion expressed that we are much nearer the end of our fuel supply than the outside world dreams of. With regard to the working of coal at excessive depths, it is doubted whether it will not be found cheaper to import foreign coal.
--SWANSEA. POLICE NEWS.
SWANSEA. POLICE NEWS. SATURDAY. CRUELTY TO A HORSE.-Two respectably dressed lads, named David Edwards and William Williams, were charged with cruelty to a horse in Mynydd Newydd Colliery, the property of Messrs. Yivian and Sons. It appeared from the evidence that on the 14th ultimo a boy named Llewellyn was driving a horse and tram from the above colliery, and it got off the rails. The defendants came up, and they were asked if they would assist in putting it on again, but they refused and Edwards then got a small piece of clay in which he placed some powder, and with the assistance of the defendant Williams, he placed it underneath the horse's tail, and then applied a light, which considerably injured the horse. The both defendants were sent to prison for a month, without the option of a fine. Mr. Symons, of Nantyglo, appeared for the defence. OUTRAGE UPON A CHILD.—At the county petty session, a labourer named Thomas Evans, was charged with hav- ing indecently assaulted a little girl, only six years of age, named Edmonds. The prisoner enticed the child into a field, near Bishopstone, and there committed the offence. He was found guilty and sentenced to four months' hard labour. MONDAY. [Before J. C. Fowler, Esq.] ROBBERY.— Margaret Edwards was charged with stealing the sum of JE1 19s. 6d. from the person of a French captain named Diogene Morin. of the Aurelie. The prosecutor deposed that on Wednesday evening he saw the prisoner in Wind-street and she spoke to him, but he could not understand what was said. She came to him the second time and wanted him to go with her in another direction. He refused to have anything to do with her, and she then put her hand in his right hand waistcoat pocket and stole his money, amounting to 39s. 6d. He saw her put the money in her mouth and held her from running away. He told her to give uphis money. She took two shillings out of her mouth and asked him to put his finger in her mouth to feel if there was any more money there, but he was afraid she would bite him. When holding the pri- soner she suddenly gave a start and ran off leaving a piece of her dress in hislband. The money was loose in his pocket. It was about half. past 11 o'clock at night. By the Bench All the money he actually saw with the prisoner was the two shillings, but he saw the cheek protruding as if the mouth was full of something. Cross-examined by Mr. Woodward, who appeared for the prisoner: Had had two or three glasses of beer, but was not at all the worse for drink. P.S. Jones, one of the detective officers of the borough police force, deposed that he apprehended the prisoner on Thursday morning, at No. 17, Brook- street. He charged her with the robbery of Bl 19s. 6d. from a French captain in Pier-street the night before. She said, "I did not steal it-I wish I did. Who is he ? let us see him." I sent for the captain, who was then close by, and on his coming up he said, That is the old —— He then took her into custody. She was searched 'I at the station and one penny was found upon her. P.S. Jones deposed that on Thursday he was on duty at the station, and on speaking to the prisoner she said, "I went with him for a glass of beer. I was very drunk at I the time and I don't remember anything about it." This being the case for the prosecution, Mr. Woodward sub- mitted that the prosecutor had made a rambling state- ment and charge, he not being positive as to the exact amount stolen from him. The Stipendiary ruled that the evidence which had been given was certainly suffi- ciently strong for commitment, and he should be hound to do so whatever the contention of Mr. Woodward. said that after such an intimation from the Bench he should reserve his defence, but he hoped the Court would accept bail. The prisoner was then committed for trial, bail being taken for her appearance WEDNESDAY. [Before N. P. Cameron and C. T. Wilson, Esqrs.] ASSAULT.—-John Williams was charged with assaulting Daniel Williams in Fisher-street, Morriston, on the 28th ult. The bench having heard the evidence considered the charge proved, and fined lIhe defendant 40s. and costs. BAD FRUIT.—Margaret Holmes, a vendor of fruit, was charged with exposing for sale a quantity of plums which were unfit for food. She was fined 3s. 6d. and costs, or in default three days' imprisonment, and the plums were ordered to be destroyed. COUNTY BUSINESS. [!3efore J. D. Llewelyn, N. P. Cameron, and S. S. H. Horman-Fisher, Esqrs.] STEALING APPLES.—David Young, aged 17, was charged with stealing a quantity of apples from the orchard of Mr. H. A. Page, of Ynispenllwch, Swansea Vale, early on the previous morning. The case was proved, and the defendant was fined 40s. including costs, or 14 days' imprisonment. ASSAULT.—An old man named William Phillips was convicted of assaulting a boy named David Davies, on Saturday last, by striking him with a stone, and was fined 40s. including costs, or a month's imprisonment.
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FATAL ACCIDENT AT AN AUCTION MART.-On Saturday afternoon, a shocking accident, whereby a boy was killed and several children injured, happened at the Lion Repo- sitory, Shrewsbury. A sale of hunters was taking place, and a number of children had stationed themselves on the top of a pile of old timber-hoarding, old benches, and other articles—in a corner of the yard. A valuable hunter was put up for sale, and its merits as a jumper were about to be tried at a fixed pole. Just as the horse was about taking the leap the children all got to the front, the result of which was, that the pile on which they were standing gave way and precipitated them to the ground. One large piece of timber fell upon the head of a lad of ten years, named Thomas Rarnes, and killed him on the spot. Several others were severely injured. Strange to say, a man in a state of intoxica. tion, who was sitting at the foot of the pile, escaped uninjured. AN END TO SUNDAY TRADING.—The Liverpool Courier states that the Denbigh magistrates have fallen upon a novel method of preventing Sunday trading among the licensed victuallers. There are in the borough only 33 publicans, and last year, when the new Licensing Act was put into force, the bench agreed to fix the closing hour on week days at eleven o'clock if the publicans would give an undertaking to keep their houses closed entirely on the Sunday. This promise was entered into, but gradually one and then another opened his house on Sunday evenings, until at length no less than 18 were open and doing business. Of course the magistrates could not punish the Sunday traders so long as they kept within the time prescribed by the Act, and some discus- sion took place on the subject on Saturday, when the Brewster session was held. Afterwards the magistrates consulted together in private on the subject, and advised the licensed victuallers to try and come to some arrange- ment among themselves as to the course they will pursue in the future. On the re-assembling of the Court it transpired that one publican stood out in favour of having his house open on Sundays, but on the Bench intimating that if he persisted in that course they would order all the houses to be closed at ten o'clock on week nights, he withdrew his opposition. The regulations in force last year were therefore continued for the ensuing twelve months. THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COLLISION.-The ad- journed inquest on the body of Thomas Harvey, the driver of the Bristol passenger train, who was killed in the recent collision with a mixed train near Skew-bridge, three-quarters of a mile from the Salisbury terminus, was held in that city before Dr. Young, coroner, on Monday evening. It will be remembered that the Bristol train due at Salisbury at 4.15 p.m. was 35 minutes late on reaching Wilton, and that a crossing order" had conse- reaching Wilton, and that a crossing order" had conse- quently been sent from Wilton to Salisbury for the mixed train, timed to leave there at 4.35, after the arrival of the Bristol train, to come on, it being understood that the latter would be detained at Wilton until the Salisbury train had arrived there. The Bristol train, however was allowed to leave Wilton at 4.37, the Salisbury train was started at about the same time, and, the line being a single one, a collision ensued, causing the deaths of the driver and the guard, and severe injuries to some of the passengers. Mr. Isaacs, stationmaster at Wilton, stated that he did everything he could to arrest the attention of the driver and guard. Failing in this he rushed into the office to the bell instrument communicating with the switchman's box at Salisbury, and finding from the posi- tion of the block signal the Salisbury train had not started, he gave the block signal four or five times to stop that train, but could get no response. Charles Atkins, the switchman at the Salisbury upper clock house of the Great Western Railway, and Isaac Laily, the pointsman on the South-Western line stationed near the switchman's box, gave evidence of the departure of the goods and pas- senger tram from Salisbury, the latter stating that he heard the obstruction signal ring after the train had gone by a minute or so, and called to Atkins, who was gone across the line to alter the points to let an engine pass. William Morrison, inspector of police on the line, said he had known Mr. Isaacs 14 years his character had been excellent, and the company had great confidence in him. He had never complained of being overworked. The Coroner said Mr. Isaacs on the day previous to the acci. dent had been greatly harrassed by some 5,000 or 6,000 persons who had come to the station for Blondin's fete, and although two men were sent to help him they both went away into the town. Crossing orders" were given only in cases of unpunctuality, but from the number entered in the book it appeared that on this line unpunc- tuality-the cause of most railway accidents-was the rule and not the exception. If the jury believed the guard could have mistaken the stationmaster's reply to a passenger's inquiry about her luggage, All right," as the order for starting, this was one of those unfortunate accidents which would seem to baffle all human fore- thought but if there had been wilful carefessness in letting the train depart heedlessly, the stationmaster would be guilty of manslaughter. The jury, in the absence of sufficient evidence that the stationmaster had started the train, and of proof of carelessness on his part, returned a verdict of accidental death." They thought a better system of danger signals should be established both at Wilton and Salisbury.
B A LIES BY THE SEA.
B A LIES BY THE SEA. (FROM RHYMES OF AN EDITOR.") Clara and Anna an-1 Lillian- Ibree buds of our blossoming tree, Magical ten and nine and seven Playing by the sea. ■ ."Pitting the beach witli naked feet, Splashing in the brine, Writing their names in the white-ribbed sand, To be washed away- like mine *.t Very brave are my darlings now When the wave has rolled away T'iey will meet the dash when the next comes in They will not stir—not they Tory weak and timid now, ua,¡;. \\llen it comes with dash and swirl, And they turn to run with a little scream Andatossofthenyingcurl. Poor Lillian !—fate pursues us all, In many a doubtful shape From seven years up to seven times ten And only the lucky escape She stumbles in her sudden flight, The long wave seizes its prey, And the muslins and ribbons of holiday pride Are limp and soiled for the day. The tide comes highes-higher still, Over the beach it breaks, And it forms in the lower sand within Whole rivers and chains of lakes. Look out, small pets it is closing you round, As some darker fate may do before the steep of an ended life Comes to eyes of brown and blue
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THE aspect of human life, as we behold it, shows a. great population struggling on in the path of improve- ment, by the development of their own resources with- out any help from without. Science is continually in- vading the territory of the unknown, and winning some new frontier land but every advance is based upon a prier conquest of man's own intellect. And has this always been the case ? Is all that we know the acqui- sition of the human mind by its own innate faculties- has it never received knowledge from a source indepen- dent of itself ? There are some who will affirm this. It is the first work of religion to deny it for religion is built up on the idea of revelation. And here the lan- guage of the text (Heb. i, 1, 2), so strikingly comes in for it implies, if you give it its natural force, that there has been a distinct speech of God to His creatures—that at some periods, at one period especially, of the world's history, that which reason may subsequently prove to have been antecedently probable, but could never have confidently predicted, took place, and a communication was effected between us and the world above. The fact that God has spoken, not in man, by illumining man's reason to discover truth, but unto man from without, informing him of verities which he could never have arrived at by the exercise of his own mental powers, is the foundation of religion and this fact, so contrary to present experience, so hard for us to realize, is involved in the expression, The Word of God."—Dr. Woodford, the new Bishop of Ely.
GAZETTE NEWS.
GAZETTE NEWS. (From Friday's Gazette.) BANKRUPTS. Ceballos, L.M., Lancaster-gate, London, September 12, London. Combes, Edward, West-street, Chichester, wine merchant, September 17, Brighton. Doling, Wm., Grosvenor-square, Stoke-road, Gosport, Southampton, plumber, September 12, Portsmouth. Fisk, Charles, Histon, Cambridgeshire, bricklayer, Sep- tember, 11, Cambridge. Hill, Samuel Brodhurst, Liverpool, merchant, September 10, Liverpool. Horton, Cleveland K., Arlington-street, Piccadilly, Lon- don, September 12, London. Johnson, James, Sultan-street, Camberwell, London, licensed victualler, September 11, London. Rogers, James, Lowther Arcade, Strand, London, fancy goods dealer, September 11, London. Smith, James, Skinningrove, Yorkshire, boot and shoe maker, September 12, Stockton-on-Tees. Summers, William, Liverpool-street, Bevois Town Southampton, grocer, September 9, Southapmton. Tennant, Ann, New Brighton, Cheshire, licensed victual- ler, September 10, Birkenhead. DIVIDENDS TO BE DECLARED. September 10, Sophia Cambridge, Hillside, Clifton- wood, Bristol. -September 15, Matthew Aust Pierpoint, Elworthy, Somersetshire, clerk. (From Tuesday's Gazette). BANKRUPTS. To Surrender in London. Casey, Edwin, 7, Wilson-terrace, Tredegar-road North, Bow, Middlesex, outfitter. Howard, William, late of 252, Bambridge-road, Hackney, now of Bridge House, Park-lane, Deyton, Essex, no occupation, Reynolds, J ohn William, 70, Mark-lane, City, London, wine-merchant. Lutter, Joseph, late of 9, North-buildings, Eldon-street, Finsbury, now prisoner in the City Gaol, Norwich, lately of 56, Aldgate, High-street, Loudon, as carcase butcher. In the Country. Hall, John, jun., 33, Kirkgate, Bradford, hosier. Cook, James, Romford, Essex, mail contractor. Howse, Lewington, Minety, Wilts, farmer. Fish, James Henry, jun., Feltham, Middlesex, getleman. Boutcher, Freak, Huntley Court Farm, Preston-on-Wye. Herefordshire, farmer. Jackson, David, 107, Market-street, Manchester, and of °"> Church-street, Newton Heath, Lancashire, india- rubber manufacturer, trading as the Globe Rubber Company. Rosenswaite, Abraham, 7, Edward-street, Manchester, fur cap manufacturer. Boothroyd, William, Blackney, near Manchester, cigar merchant. Einsllie, John Back-lane, Newcastle-on.Lyne, metal merchant.
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The schooner La Rien, of Dunkirk, for Brest, laden With coal, was run into on Monday, off Dover, by the Poldarden Castle, of Liverpool. The schooner was towed subsequently by the Palmerston to a buoy near the Admiralty pier, Dover. I On Monday John Reid, engineer on board the steam- tug .twver, of Port Glasgow, while oiling the journal of °^f* K Paddles, was crushed to death by the wheel, which had been set in motion by the master, who was unaware that deceased was in that part of the vessel. A great demonstration, to celebrate the selection of ii *saac> a coalowner, and Mr. W. E. Denison, nephew of the late Speaker, as the Conservative candi- TW" J election for Nottingham, took place on Monday, in Colwick-park, the seat of the former gen- tleman. Thousands of people were present. A medical student named Roberts was sentenced to two months' imprisonment and hard labour at Maryle- c.e Court, London, on Monday, for pushing rudely against a married woman, who was walking along ueorge-street, and assaulting her husband and a friend T^8 W were with her. °ccupants of an excursion train on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway were placed in an exceedingly perilous position on Saturday, by the rapid approach of a mineral train. A collision seemed inevitable but the driver of the excursion train had the presence of mind at once to reverse his engine, and thus avoided a catastrophe. "ttle girl who was the subject of an application +b hW 8.'ree^ London, some days ago, has been found in f iTeeP,n8 a woman who had stolen her for the sake ? clothes and hair. The child's parents are in a humble walk of life and her mother was so distressed by her temporary bereavement, that when in Court she appeared to have lost her reason. A correspondent calls attention to the fact that at the Shaftesbury election last week, only 40 electors abstained from voting. The register, nominally 1311 strong, is reduced by deaths, duplicates, &c?, to 1188 the Conser- vatlve candidate polled 603, and the Liberal 534, while + v- i PaP.ers were informal. This close poll contrasts strikingly with the apathy shown in recent contests in other constituencies. CAPTURE OF BRIGANDS.—The Adrianople official jour. nal states that the bandit Halil, who is one of the band which had sacked the house of an Israelite notable of Kar- nobat, and had robbed three French engineers and a jew- eller, has been arrested after having been wounded. A telegram from Slivnieh announces that Halil's companion am has a^80 been taken after having been mortally wounded. The rest of the band has also been captured. Another gang of six has been lately taken, so that for the present at least the district is free from brigands. The Freeman, in reference to the rumoured appoint- ment of Mr. Forster as the successor of the Marquis of Harungton m the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland, de- mands that an Irishman of standing and capacity should be appointed, and says it is a blunder to send over an Englishman to fill so peculiar and important an office. Mr. Forster's appointment would be unpopular with the Catholic party owing to his opinions on the subject of education.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEAR SWANSEA.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEAR SWANSEA. We deeply regret to state that an explosicn of fire- damp, whereby the lives of four poor fellows were sacri- ficed, occurred in the Forest Fach Colliery, Cocket, the property of the Landore Steel Company (siemen's patent), on Friday evening last. Fortunately only a few men were working in the level where the explosion took place or the probability is that more would have been killed. The names of the dead are John Howells, residing at Babell, 24 years of age, married, no children; Joseph Humel, Babell, 23 years of age, single William Lake, Ystrad, 42 years of age, married and eight children; William Thomas, Cocket, 44 years of age, married and nine children. Immediately after the explosion, a party of four, among them the brother of the deceased Thomas, hastened to the stall where the poor men were working, with the hope that they would be in time to render assistance, but were prevented from going far into the stall in consequence of the foul state of the air, and it would appear that the four gallant fellows had a very narrow escape of their lives, for it was with no little difficulty that they retraced their steps, and resisted the effects of the noxious air they were inhaling. One of the unfortunate men, Humel, the exploring party found lying against a tram, on which was his safety lamp unlit. From his position it is sur- mised that he was pushing the loaded tram out of the level when the explosion took place. In the course of half an hour another exploring party was formed, and proceeded to the stall, where the above four men were working, and having found them, brought them to bank The inquest was formally opened on Saturday afternoon by Mr. John Gaskoin, deputy-coroner, at the Marquis Arms, Cwmbwrla, but beyond the fact of the bodies having been recovered and identified nothing of impor- tance was stated. The inquiry was adjourned until Tuesday. TUESDAY. The adjourned inquest was held this day at the Marquis Arms, before Mr. Deputy-Coroner Gaskoin. Mr. T. E. Wales, the Government Inspector, was pre- sent during the enquiry, and so also was Mr. Thomas Glasbrook, the manager of the colliery, which belongs t,) the Landore (Siemens) Steel Company, and Mr. William Abraham, agent of the Amalgamated Association of Miners. At the outset, one of the jurymen, D. Lewis, a brother- in-law of Lake, identified the body of that person, as the one the jury had viewed on Saturday evening. Lewis Williams was the first witness called, and said, I am a pitman, working at the Forest Fach Colliery, and live at Weigh. I have worked at the above colliery for eight or nine years. I knew all the four deceased men, and was working in the pit on Friday night last, at the bottom of the straight slant, when the explosion took place, which was between eight and nine o'clock. There was not a very loud explosion, but we felt the wind rush- ing past us. We (myself and the man working with me) judged that the explosion came from the new slant, and immediately made in that direction, when we met the men coming up without light, but I think one man came with a light in a few minutes. We in a conversation came to the conclusion that the accident had taken place either ia No. 7 or No. 8 level, and three of us attempted to go in No. 8. We succeeded in going about 10 yards, but as there was so much smoke we were obliged to turn back. I and another then tried to get up No. 7 level, but we were obliged to return from there also. We waited on the corner of No. 8 level until the smoke cleared. I cannot say how long we waited, but after a short time four of us went in and went on until we came near the furthest end of the level, where there was a loaded tram of coal. We passed the tram, and we found the body of Joseph Humel, lying on the ground close by. We turned his body to see if he was alive, and we saw that he was quite dead. The four of us that entered the level had lights. About six yards beyond we saw the body of William Lake, and a few yards further we found the bodies of William Thomas and John Howell close to- gether. They both were also quite dead. After finding the bodies we returned immediately, as we could not re- main there, the air being suffocating. A short time afterwards we returned to the level and brought the bodies out and carried them to bank. ° In reply to Mr. T. E. Wales, the witness said I only worked on the straight slant, and I know nothing about the other parts of the working. Only on one previous occasion had I been in the new slant. By the Foreman of the Jury About five years ago there was an explosion in this same colliery, but it was not so loud as the one that occurred on Friday night last. On that occasion one man was burnt to death. William Morgan, a collier in the colliery, was the next witness called. Upon being sworn he said: I live at Raven Hill. I have been working there for the last twelve months, and knew the four men who were killed. On Friday night last I was in my stall, which is a new one just below No. 8, where the explosion occurred. A man named James Mandry, was working with me. The distance between my stall and the one where the accident happened is about 30 or 40 yards. Immediately I heard the explosion, which I knew to be firedamp, I called to my partner and caught up my lamp, which was still burning, and walked out to the slant, and there we met two men coming up from below. They had lighted lamps. There was much smoke about there, and we went down towards the in-surrent of air, and after waiting there a short time Lewis Williams and Thomas Davies, the fire- man, came up, and we tried to enter No. 8 level. We judged that the explosion had taken place in the level, because more damage had taken place there than any- where else. The fireman tried to enter, but there was too much smoke. Myself and Williams then went up No. 7, to see if we could get round, but we could not again, as there was too much smoke. Soon afterwards we were successful in getting into No. 8, and the first thing we saw was the tumbled waggon, and lying alongside it Joseph Hum(l, quite dead; and a few yards further into the level the bodies of the other three men. In going into the level, I found Humel's lamp close by him. There was no light in it at the time. The Foreman of the Jury Was it locked? Witness Yes, and it is now in precisely the same con- dition as when I found it. By the Coroner Did not find any other lamps there. Afterwards returned to the stall, and assisted in getting the bodies to the bank. By the Inspector: I was not acquainted with No. 8 stall. I know that the explosion occurred in the stall from the timber having been blown down, and afterwards having been blown from the fence of the level towards the slant, and the bodies having been found there. Did not see any fire only saw the choke-damp. The Inspector Are some of the colliers in the habit of taking lanthorns down as far as the lamp station ? W itness I don't know, sir. I never saw any. The Inspector And you never did ? Witness No, sir. Continuing, the witness said in reply to Mr. Wales The lamp station is at the bottom of the new slant. The lamp I found was locked, and is in the same state as when I picked up. It was about six o'clock when I went down to the lamp station on Friday night. We waited there until the fireman came to meet us there. The fireman told me and my companion that the place where we were working was quite right, so we started. I also heard the fireman say to John Howell and Lake that there was a little gas above the timbers in their place of working. The Inspector asked the witness to endeavour to re- member what the fireman said to Lake, and upon the interrogations being put to the witness in Welsh, he said he understood the fireman to say that the gas was not above the timbers but on a level with the collars." The witness gave conflicting statements, and said that he understood the fireman to say to Lake that there was a little fire between the collars." Mr. Wales explained that the collars" were the cross timbers supporting the roof. Witness, in reply to the jury I know the two of the deceased, Lake and William Thomas, were smokers, but never saw them smoking anywhere but where smok- ing was permitted. Did not see them smoking on Friday night. David Howells was next examined, and said I live at Balbell, and work at Forest Fach Colliery, and knew the four deceased men. I work at the bottom of the new slant. I found three lamps (produced) on Saturday morning in the level No. 8. where the explosion took place. I also found a small open lamp, that goes into a lanthorn, but I found it without the lanthorn. It ap- pears to have been freshly trimmed, and contains oil. I have seen this small lamp before, with its owner. It belongs to William Thomas, one of the deceased. Can- not say when I saw the lamp last with Thomas, but I used to work with him, and I saw it in his possession. The last time I can recollect seeing the small lamp was about two months ago, and then in No. 6 level, where we were working. Thomas used the small lamp in No. 6. We did not work in that stall with safety lamps, and I worked myself with a small lamp similiar to this one. The Coroner Then there was no impropriety in using it. The witness said, in reply to the Inspector, that no safety lamps were used in No. 6 stall. The three lamps were locked when I found them. The safety lamp in my hand is the one that belonged to William Thomas. I found the little open lamp in the middle of the road, about seven or eight yards from the face of the level. William Thomas was not one of the colliers working in this stall; he was a repairer. Found William Thomas's safety lamp near the small one. The witness Lewis Williams was re-called, and, in reply to Mr. Wales, said that the body of William Thomas was found about 18 yards further out than where the two lamps were found. It is customary for the colliers to carry their small open lamps in their pockets from the lamp station to the place where they work. The Inspector said his own opinion was that the small lamp was not lighted at the time of the explosion, but the deceased, being a repairer, carried it so that he might use it where a safety lamp was not required. William Lewis, a collier, residing at Ravenhill, was sworn and said I work at Forest Fach Colliery, and have been for several years past. Knew all the deceased men. I was working there on Friday last, in No. 8 level. There were three others with me, and we began at six o'clock in the morning. Having worked in the level since its commencement, about six months ago. No accident had happened there before. By Mr. Wales: We left work about four in the after- noon. When we went in in the morning there was just a little bit of gas-a lamp full-in the face of the level, on a level with the collar..We take nine feet timbers in the level, and in the top it is about five feet high. The gas where it took the lamps extended from one aide of the level to the other. The Inspector: Then there would be a good lampful ? Witness (in reply to the Inspector): It was in that state when we went in, and when we left. It was in the same state on Thursday and Wednesday previously. We met the fireman on Friday morning, and he told us that there was very little gas, but that it was too dangerous to open our lamps, and we did not dare to do so. He did not tell us anything else, and we went off to our work. We had not been in the habit of opening our lamps when there had been gas inithere. We did open our lamps when there was plenty of air, and that was about three weeks or a mouth ago. Our fireman told us not to dare to go in with open lamps when there was fire there. The fireman did not tell us to use naked lights, but we did so at our discretion. I do not remember the fireman seeing us work in the level with an open light. He did see us when there was plenty of air. We never found any gas further back than the face. We have often tried, and did so on Friday, and the manager, Benjamin Thoma", tried it. He was there about II o'clock, and found a little gas, as I have stated before. He said to us to be careful, and by that he meant not to open our lamps. Saw the fireman in the level after the dinner hour-12 o'clock. He did not try the gas then, for he did not go in to the face again. I said to him, "You have come again," and he replied, Yes, I am going te see David and John i i the top of the air-way." The repairer would have used in our level safety lamps during the last fortnight, On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, as we went in the fireman locked our lamps. Thomas Davies, the fireman living at Ystrad-road, was next called, and cautioned as to the testimony he was about giving. I am one of the firemen in the Forest Colliery since the latter end of last March. My duty is to go into the pit first in the morning, and enter the levels. There are only two firempn-one by night and the other by day duty. Last week I was working night, and went down at five, and returned to the lamp station, where I would meet the men at six. Examined by the Inspector: I went round the whole of the workings on Friday evening, and in No. 8 level found some fire on the outside of the collars," the pair nearest the face of the level. Did not find gas in any other place. Also found the gas to continue about ten yards from the falL Saw four men at the lamp station, and had a conversation with them. I told them that there was a little gas between the collars, and that they were not to rise up their lamps, the four of waich I then locked. I knew William Thomas had a small open lamp, but he had no business to carry it with him. I knew he was going to work in No. 8, and before he went I told but he bad no business to carry it with him. I knew he was going to work in No. 8, and before he went I told him there was gas there, and that he was to use only the safety lamp to work with. First discovered gas on the face of level No 8 on this (Tuesday) night week. Did not discover any afterwards until Friday night. Did not report finding gas on the Tuesday night, for I did not consider it of any importance, for when I went there a second time it had all gone away. Reported finding the gas on Friday in the office on the Saturday following. Could not do so on Friday night, as I did not go up the pit. Benjamin Thomas, the manager of the pit, was the next wi* ness called. He was sworn, and having been formally cautioned as to the evidence he gave, said I am a certi- ficated manager, and have hid the certificate about two months ago. Have been employed in the pit since its opening. I have the control of all employed under- ground. My practice is to go all round the workings every morning about seven o'clock. Don't go down in the evenings, but remain in the workings until two or three o'clock, and sometimes later. I was down on Fri- day morning, and went into No. 8 level. I t;iel the gas, and found auuut a lampful above the collar in the face of the heading. I told the men who were working there of the gas, and said that they must not rise up their lamps to the top. I had tried the place every morning, but not until Friday morning did I find gas there. From the quantity of gas I saw there I did not attach much impoitance to it, and did not consider there was any danger. After leaving the stall I went up the airway to the fireman, and spoke to him about it, and he went there before he left that day. He went there about three o'clock, and I afterwards saw him on the top of the pit, and he told me that the gas had all gone away. Abraham Bevan, the other fireman employed in the pit, was called, and in one or two details he gave a differ- ent account thin the previous witnesses. This was all the evidence, and Mr. Thomas E. Wales, the Government Inspector for the South Wales district, was sworn, and in a written statement said It occasionally happens that it is impos- sible to fix the exact spot where the explosion occurred. That, however, is not so in this case, as the explosion clearly began in or near the face of No. 8 level. There can be no doubt but that a considerable quantity of gas ignited, as the effects of the explosion were observable at a considerable distance. This accumulation of gas was due to a want of sufficent air to carry it off. Indeed, the fireman, whose duty it was to examine the colliery all over b -fore the colliers proceeded from the Safety Lamp Station to their working places, stated that about seven o'clock oil the night in question, being about 2 or 2 hours before the explosion took place, he found gas lodged near the roof in the face of No. 8 level, which extended back about 16 yards. It further appears that the mana- ger himself found about noon on the same day, what he calls a small quantity of gas in the same place. It can- not, therefore, be said, that the acculumulation of gas there was not known but on the contrary, it was known to the very two men whose duty it was either to have removed the gas or withdrawn the men, both of which precautions they neglected to do otherwise, in all pro- bability, no explosion would have occurred, and no lives lost. When the manager discovered gas it was his duty to have forthwith ordered the men to leave, and when the fireman found the gas he should have put up a proper danger signal, and warned the deceased, whom he saw at the limp station, not to go there. [The In-p°cfor read Nos. 1 and 6 General Rules of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872, both of which rules had been violated.] I consider the explosion is clearly due to a want of proper care on the part of the manager and fireman in allowing the men to work where gas was lodged. They had evidently thought, or had at all events acted, as though it was not wrong to allow gas to lodge where the men were using safety lamps. Such a system is simply substi- tuting the use of the safety lamp, in lieu of proper venti- lation, which was a flagrant breach of No. 1 general rule, and also attended with great danger, as unfortunately the present case proves. Such a mode of working a colliery cannot be too strongly condemned. The jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of Accidental death," at the same time expressing their dissatisfaction at the evidence given by, and the conduct of Abraham Bevan, one of the firemen employed in the colliery. The foreman of the jury stated that he and his colleagues were of opinion that Bevan should be removed from the post he held. The Deputy Coroner said he had no doubt that Mr. T. Glasbrook, the manager, would become acquainted with the opinion of the jury.