The Cambrian

SIX MONTHS ON A DESOLATE ISLAND. NARRATIVE OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE STRATHMORE. The following official information respecting the loss of the Strathmore and the rescue of the survivors from the barren island on which they remained more than six months has been received at Lloyd's. It is dated (hIle, March 3:— The Strathmore, of Dundee, reported by telegraph as lost on one of the Crozet group, on 1st July, 1875. She struck at half-past four in the morning, and be- came a wreck in a few minutes, the persons who were saved, one lady being amongst them, being almost in their night dresses. They subsisted on this barren island for six months and 22 days upon albatross, penguin, and other birds. The master of the whaler who rescued them showed them every kindness; gave each a suit of clothes and a pair of boots. Those res- cued were taken care of by the local authorities, and a subscription has been raised in the colony on behalf of the passengers." The Ceylon Times gives the following particulars:— The British ship Sierra Morena, Captain Kennedy, bound from Sutherland to Kurrachee, came into port on Thursday with twenty persons, being part of the passengers and crew of the ship Strathmore which was wrecked on the 1st July last on the largest of the Crozet group of islands, lat. 46.15 S., long. 15.0 E., called the Twelve Apostles' Rock. The Strathmore was on her voyage to Otago, New Zealand, and was 75 days out, when the disaster occurred. Captain Kennedy reports that on the 26th January he was boarded by an American Whaler, Young Phoenix, in lat. 42.41 S., loug. 53 E., having 44 persons on board, rescued from the Strathmore. Owing to insufficient supply of water, Captain Kennedy could only accom- modate twenty persons to Galle; namely, the second and third mates, carpenter, sailmaker, first and second stewards, cook, and one seaman, three first class and nine third class passengers The captain and chief mate of the Strathmore were drowned, beside others. Five persons died on the island. The survivors ex- Eerienced the greatest privation on the island, being Breft of suitable clothing, and having to subsist on a species of bird, large flocks of which inhabited the place. The Whaler treated them with great kindness, and supplied warm clothing. There was one lady pas- senger. The vessel struck at four in the morning, and but for the timely rescue by Captain Giffard, the crew would have suffered greater privations, as the food supply was lessening." A correspondent of the same paper writes as follows —" The Strathmore, a new ship, one of the finest ever launched in England, sailed about April last, with emigrants for Otago, New Zealand. Eighty-eight souls were on board, and she had never been heard of to the hour when I wired you. When I was at home her loss was much discussed at Lloyd's, being the third fine Australian liner lost in a short period, and rates of insurance to Australia rose. The Stratbmore, when Out seventy-five days, ran on the rocks at night, on a group known as the Twelve Apostles, in the Crozet group. About forty-four persons were drowned. The remaining forty-four lived seven months on this barren island, which fortunately had one good spring on its summit. They lived on sea-birds and their eggs. Seve- ral vessels came near them during the seven months, but the wrecked people failed to attract their attention. When saved by the American whaler they were in a destitute and emaciated condition, and scarcely had a rag on them. The Sierra Morena, which took half the saved from the American vessel, arrived here to-day, bound to Kurrachee with railway material. According to last accounts twenty-four more were on the whaler. The second mate of the Strathmore and the captain of the vessel that rescued them came ashore first. Forty- nine people were saved. Two died on the island, three from having been frost-bitten in the feet and their toes rotting off with mortification. The captain and chief officer were drowned. Those saved lived for six months and twenty-one days on sea-birds and a kind of weed like the top of a carrot growing on the island, which was 11 mile long. Half of it was perfectly bare rock, the other half was covered with rank grass. Their fuel for cooking was the feathers of the birds. A few matches were saved, and they kept a lamp perpetually burning with oil expressed from the birds as fuel for the lamp. Nothing hardly was saved from the wreck. The boats they escaped in were lost the first night, the rocks being perpendicular and no beach to heave them upon." The following is a list of the saved on board the Sierra Morena:— Thomas B. Peters, 2nd mute; John C. Alben, 3rd do.; G. F. Buttensbaw, 1st steward; David Wilson, 2nd steward; John Pirie, carpenter; Walter Smith, Baiimaker; John Smith, cook John Wilson, A.B.; James Inight, 3rd class passenger; Robert Simms, do.; Fredrick Bentley, 1st class; Spenser Joslin, do.; Geo. Crombie, do.; William Rook, 3rd class passenger; George Ward, do.; Joe Ward, do.; George Skidmore, do.; Thomas Standring, do.; Robert Wilson, do. William Wilson, do. The following is a list of those left on board the whaler Yonng Phoenix :— Mrs. Wordsworth, 1st class passenger; Mr. Words- worth, do.; Mr. Walker, do.; J. Leask, A.S.; J. Fitzmaurice, do.; C. Tookey, do.; T. Blackmore, do.; H. Turner, app.; F. Carmichael, do.; E. Preston, do.; C. K. Jackson, boatswain; Hilton Keith, 1st class passenger; J. Nicol, engine driver; Joe Tuck, 3rd steward; John Evans, A.B.; John Warran, do.; J. Staworth, do.; H. Erickson, do.; M. Rioldan, do.; W.Venning, do.; J. Wilson, do.; J. Wilson, do.; E. Sharp, do.; J. Frail, do. The passengers saved were emigrating to a new coun- try, and have lost everything they possessed, as their money was invested in tools, implements, &c., to start with, and were shipped on board the Strathmore. They are all gone." Mr. Allan, the second mate, says that a thick fog prevailed on June 30, and Captain Macdonald ordered a sharp look out to be kept for Crozet Island. The log was constantly thrown. At midnight there was a cry of "Breakers ahead," and the ship struck on the Twelve Apostles group of rocks. She soon began to settle down, and boats were made ready for launching. One boat with eighteen persons in it, including Mrs. Wordsworth, was floated from the deck by a heavy wave and miraculously kept in an upright position. About twenty of the crew and passengers assembled in the mizzentop. The fore part of the vessel was still above water and stuck on the rock, and here the survivors clustered and waited till daylight, when it was found that the ship was wedged between perpen- dicular cliffs of rock hundreds of feet high, and other points standing up like so many needles. Seven or eight got into the gig under the charge of the second mate, who said he would return and take off the rest if he sucoeeded in finding a landing place. He found to his astonishment that the boat, with eighteen on board, which had been washed away during the night, was knocking about half full of water. The one boat took the other in tow and succeeded in reaching the rocks, up which the shipwrecked persons managed to 'I scramble. Those left on board were saved in like manner, but two days elapsed before their rescue was accomplished. Some matches, spirits, and biscuits were all that could be saved. The biscuits were given to Mrs. Wordsworth, as she could not eat the rank birds' flesh. A case of confectionery was much prized, as the tins became handy for boiling birds in. After a few days on the island the boats were dashed to pieces on the rocks and lost. This was a great mis- fortune, as no more visits could be paid to the wreck. The firewood lasted a month, after which a substitute was found in the birds' skins. Five deaths took place on the island. The corpses were not stiff, but re- mained as pliable when buried as when in life. The first death was on July 2 the next, that of Thomas Henderson, in September; the next in October; the next that of William Husband and the last, a little child, on Christmas Day. Death resulted from morti- fication following on frost bites; toes and fingers rotted off. Four ships passed, but did not notice the signals, till at last, on the 21st January, the whaler, Young Phoenix, took all on board, and treated them with extreme kindness. To the credit of Captain Gifford it must be said that he decided to sail for the Mauri- tius, although by so doing he knew he would lose his season's fishing. RANGOON, March 24.—Thirty survivors from the Strathmore have arrived here by the Childers, which received them from the American whaler Young Phoenix. Most of them are progressing favourably. Jackson, one of the sailors, is frost-bitten, and John Nicol consumptive. Mr. Charles Wordsworth and Mrs. Wordsworth are well.

ROYAL TITLES BILL.—Compared with the division on the second reading, the votes recorded on Thursday night show a falling-off of 30 in the Government majority, hut the total number of those who took part in the division was less, there being only 343. against 505. It was a strictly party vote, no conservative going with the minority. The only English and Scotch Liberals who voted for the bill were Sir Andrew Lusk, Sir Frederick Perkins, Mr. Ripley, Mr. Roebuck, andMr. Yeaman. The Marquis of Lome, Viscount Macduff, the Marquis of Stafford, Colonel Carington, and Sir Robert Feel, who voted with the Government last week, did not vote on this occasion. Several of the Home Rulers who last week voted in the majority were also absent. Sir George Bowyer, Mr. M. Brooks, and Mr. Callan appear to have been the only Irish Liberals or Home Rulers who voted with the Government. Among the Conservatives whose names are absent from the division list are Mr. Newde- gate and Mr. Henley. The following members of the late Administeration voted against the bill: Mr. Adam, Mr. John Bright, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, Lord C. Cavendish, Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Goschen, the Marquis of Hartington, Sir Henry Jarnes. Lord Kensington, Mr. G. J. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. Lowe, Mr. A. W. Peel, and Mr. Lyon Playfair. "DR. LOCOCK'S PULMONIC WAFERS are invaluable for the Voice, Throat, and Chest. All persons suffering from bronchitis, hacking cough, an4 DEPRIVATION OF REST, should take them."—The above is from Mr. Eatle, M.P.S., 22, Market-place. Hull. In asthma, con- sumption, bronchitis, cougns, colds, gout, rheumatism, and all Hysterical and nervous pains, instant relief is given by DJR. LOCOCK'S WAFERS, which taste pleasantly. Sold by all Druggists at Is. l £ d. 'D.

BEWARE OP PIRATICAL IMITATIONS or ALLCOCKS POROUS PLASTERS.—Owing to the wonderful sale these celebrated plasters have obtained by their curative pro- perties in lumbago, sciatica, rheumatism, pains in side and back, and, in short, all pains and local affections, some uppttttciplod parties have'been manufacturing and offering *°R SALO spun DUS plasters, put up in such a manner so as to deceive the unwary, and, as sole agent for Great Britain and Ireland, I can guarantee none genuine save they bear on the Revenue stamp, in white letters, the words—" Thos. Allcock & Co., Porous Plasters," and the public, by never purchasing unless this is on, will secure to themselves the genuine Porous Plaster. Henry D. Brandreth, Liverpool, sole agent for Europe and the Colonies. Dealers in snurious Plasters will be prosecuted. ,r .J" ":="UJ.¡..

THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF SAND AND SNOW. The Newcastle Daily Chronicle, in an article of great research on the commercial value of sand an 1 snow not, having been ascertained, says :— The irregularities of the seasons during the la4 few years have been most extraordinary. For long the winters were exceptionally mild and short till within the last two or three years, when a remarkable change took place. A quarter of a century ago long and severe winters were quite common. It was no unusual thing for traffic on the high roads to be entirely stopped by enormous accumulations of snow. Even in the March of 1867 a storm of this kind took place. The snow covered the whole face of the land like a deluge, and there was almost an entire cessation of trafEc the roads were in such a state that the stage coaches were snowed up, and the passengers had to seek temporary accom- modation till the storm abated sheep were lost in great numbers in the vast deep masses of drift which covered the whole country. Last year at this time, although the weather wa» not very severe in this country, the state of things was very different further south. At Bucharest the snow was from eighteen to twenty feet deep, and the Government expended ten thousand francs and employed two thousand solliers to clear the streets lest damage should be caused by a sudden thaw. About the same time, at the upper part of the Persian Gulf, p ople on chore were frozen to death, and fish, of 150 pounds weight were said to have thrown themselves on shore on account of the intense cold. In 1867, 1853, 1842, 1837-38, 1831,1813, lbl4,1809,1807-8 very heavy storms occurred. The last great fall of snow before 1875—that of 18G7—took place in March. Those of 1853 were in the first months of the new year; but in 1837 a terrible storm took place a month later than the present one of March 20, 1876, on April 16, 1837—the I anniversary of Culloden," and the day which this vear is Easter Sunday, so much discussed lately. The whole of this part of the country was covered with snow as far as fifteen feet deep in some places, so that in the neighbourhood of Alston, Hexham, and Rothbury places of business were in many instances closed and com- I mercial communication stopped for two or three days. The storms of 1831 and 1823 took place also during the months of January and February—that of 1833 being exceptionally severe, and was long remembered as the big storm." The snow at one place reached the height of a two-storey house. In 1814, as in 1837, snow fell very heavily till the month of April. Further back still, in 1809, Cross Fell was covered on the 1st of June with a very great fall of snow, during which large I numbers of sheep perished. In 1808 March was again noted for a severe snowstorm in the Cumberlmd lake district, and one great fall of snow. which signalised the latter years of the eighteenth century, took place on March 10, 1872. It is quite true that the int r- vention of a few mild winters will cause a rather severe one to he more noticed but it is equally true that about a quarter of a century ago mild winters were comparatively unknown.

THE UNIFORM RATING OF MINES. (From the" Mining JcmrwV) Of all questions which have taxed the patience of assessment committees and quarter sessions, and defied :be ingenuity and legal acumen of lawyers, there is, probably, none more so than the rating ot collieries It has been the vexatte qucestio for many years past, and has horded more food for the gentlemen of the long robe than almost any other subject. Probably, too, it his been the cause of more vexatious annoyance to colliery proprietors than anything else connected with their important and extensive undertakings. Upon every issue, therefore, a simple and satisfactory mode of deal- ing with this question is most desirable, and it is a source of legitimate congratulation to know that, so far as nearly the whole of the colliery proprietors of the kingdom are concerned, they have just laid before Government the basis of a scheme n- t only feas ble of adoption and simplein its adaptability,but would be satis- factory to those whom it more intimately affects, and would bring about uniformity upon a subject upon which the greatest divergence of opinion exists, even amongst those who have to decide legally the questions raised. The deputation which waited upon the Government last week was a most important and influential one, for it represented nearly the whole mining interests through- out the kingdom. Their object was not to shirk their responsibility in any form or shape, or request even a mitigation of a tax which presses somewhat severely upon them, but it was simply that the rating of collieries should be based upon the same principle as that recog- nised with respfct to tin, lead, copper, and other mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act of 1874—that the average royalty rent paid in any union be the basis adopted. So far as we can ascertain, this plan has worked smoothly and satisfactorily with regard to tin, lead, iron ore, and copper mines, and we can see no reason why it should not with respect to collieries; at all events, as the effort suggested is the deliberate opinion and wish of the great body of colliery owners of the kingdom, after, we presume, calm and mature con- sideration, it is only just and fair that such opinion should have its due weight with the Government, and that the request of the proprietors should be carried into effect. It muet be admitted even by the most warm and ardent supporters of the present system that it works unfairly, and consequently unsatisfactorily, and whether the simple and feasible plan now suggested be adopted or not, it is evident that some means must be adopted to cut the Gordian knot, and bring about a solution of the difficulty. The deputation last week informed Mr. Sclater-Booth, the president of the Local Government Board, that there are at present no less than fifteen different modes for valuing mines for rating purposes. Such being the case, we can readily understand the great and unsatisfactory divergence which exists—one colliery proprietor paying Is. 4d. per ton, whilst another would only pay 4d. per ton, and in other instances one colliery proprietor being compelled to pay exactly double the rate of his neighbour. This great difference exists mainly owing to the fact that up to the present moment no satisfactory basis has been settled upon which such rating shall be made—in other words, assessment com- mittees and appeal courts have not yet come to any unanimous decision as to what constitutes the component parts of a colliery in operation—nor can they possibly come to any satisfactory decision upon this point when scarcely two collieries have either machinery or working gear in common. One pit, for instance, may require extensive and expensive pumping machinery, whilst another would not need such engines, and as forcibly urged by Mr. H. H. Vivian, the rating such engines to drain their mines was "taxing them for their misfor- tunes." All this would be obviated, and the difficulties which now exist overcome, if engines, machinery, tramways, and plant generally were exempt from taxation, and the simple plan of paying upon the average royalty rent adopted. We say again that in the deputation of colliery proprietors urging their views upon the Government they were not actuated by any wish to escape fair and reasonable taxation, but they desire that the system of rating should be more intelligible and just, and bring about more uniform results. Nor is this important question without its interest to the ratepayers generally. That most patient of all taxpayers, John Bull, has to pay fabulous amounts in the shape of costs for the litiga- tion which takes place before assessment committees and appeal courts and quarter sessions, whilst the re-valuation of mineral districts is in itself a most expensive and costly affair. The county of Glamorgan, which Mr. H. H. Vivian so ably represents in Parliament, is at the present moment being re-assessed for rating purposes, and we see it was publicly stated last week at one of the local representative boards that this re-assessment cost no less than £20,000, The question, therefore, has broader issues than colliery proprietors only, all classes of ratepayers would gladly see the vexed question amicably settled once for all, and that could be accom- plished by the Government responding to the unanimous wish of the colliery proprietors—that the average royalty rent should be adopted.

THE QUEENS NEW TITLE. After the levity of language and contempt for public feeling which the Prime Minister has displayed m forcing upon the English people an ImpenaLname alien to their histery and fatal to their continuity, we appeal no more to the better judgment of Mr. Disraeli. The Premier who can cull reasons for a change in the Royal style from the geography-books of little g'^s. and on the third reading of the "Titles Bill tell the House of Commons that they have unconsciously been voting for "Empress" in order to frighten the Russians in Asia, is plainly beyond the reach of rationa^ argument or serio as representations. He has evi en y resolved to sacrifice the earnest wish of millions m is <country for the preservation of the old kingly name a im- plied in it, to the exigencies of party or o c _ur v com- plaisance and, having command of a j Jhas pushed the Bill from stage to stage in a, hich recalls the worst traditions of those Imp J\0Da which he plucks this new and distasteful appellat^e. We are not yet, however, finally Imperi > we cling with Mr. Gladstone to the ^pe that ev,snnow, though we are come to the the rash mistake »fre "j was expected that the a division 9Ut the cymClSm of the PremIer lIt a fourth of its majority after pr»^cingjhatwaS intended to be its strongest argument. Thisextraordinarymcdeut encourages „f|c> rim^r that divided the Upper Chamber and the Queen s Majesty. We must speak of the Queen first, because it is arranged that the Sovereign will leave these shores on Monday next to sojourn in German States, during a space of time which may probably extend beyond that occupied in passing this unhappy Bill through the House of Lords, Having been reproached before with not speaking promp ly enough against the proposal to dethrone the Queen in India, in ord r to set up an "Empresp," we seiz.^ ths earliest opportu iity to inquire whether it is intended ihat her Majesty shall be absent from home when the Bill is ready for the Royal proclamation. If it be in the pr -gramme of Mr. Disraeli to pronounce by Commission the necessary formula of Le Seine le veut, and to hold ready signed and sealed the forthcoming Royal Proclamation, with a view to is-^ue it when the Sovereign is far away from the possibility of that change of purpose which an increasing public agitation might induce, we formally protest against this proceeding. In the name of that true loyalty which has animated the opposition to the deplorable alteration being forced through its Parliamentary stages, we take upon our- selves to point out to the Queen herself the extreme inconveniences which might arl"e if the last Constitu- tional refuge of the nation's history departs with her. It is easy to forecast many contingencies which may occur nessitating a. graver use of the Royal privilege that has been exercised for many a long year and we, who have no interest in this hapless question except that which concerns the dignity and security of the Crown, sincerely trust that the absence of the Queen may not fall in with the period when the public will see the Bill passed through the both Houses, and wanting nothing but the Royaf assent The matter has become even more momentous since Mr. Fawcett placed upon the paper a notice to the effect that, in case the Bill passes the Lord". he will move an address to the Crown praying her Majesty to assume ne title in India other than that of Queen. Important as her Majesty's arrangements are, they cannot be so important even to Royalty itself as the rising mass of discontent which has been brel by the last words of the Prime Minister upon this Bill. It is our duty not to let it be said that no voice warned the Queen of the need which her subjects and her king- dom might have of her before the historic title of her ancestors was for ever smudged out to inscribe over it the name which little schoolgirls recommend to Mr. Disraeli. Whenever and whithersoever her Majesty journeys, the faithful hearts of her people will, of course, accompany her with love and fair wishes; but it shall not be our Hult if she departs uninformed. If no change is wrought in this policy of her chief Minister, we repeat that there will be need of that final reflection and Royal regard for national feeling for which the Constitution provides; and we enter here our most earnest protest against any counsels which should bid the Queen turn her back upon the present grave business until its palpable perils are averted. "What perils ?" it may be aeked. We might turn for answer to Mr. Disraeli's own speech, where he did not hesitate actually to challenge from the country that excited popul tr action which more than anything else a serious Minister would deprecate on a subject so delicate as this. "Where are your petitions ? Where are your public meetings ? he exclaimed; putting a firebrand, as it were, to the impatience which smoulders in all ranks at seeing our history vamped in order to give a thoughtless Minister the boast of having "pro- moted" the Majesty of England. Is it possible Mr. Disraeli can so mistake the country as to doubt that he can have petitions and public meetings to his heart's content and beyond it? If those letters which he speaks of—for one of which we receive a dozen—tell him half the truth ab >ut the opinions of the people, he must he aware that it was at first never imagined a Conservative Government would find Queen" a name too mean for use abroad; while, when the full signifi- cance of the design was realised, the Bill was hustled through the various forms of legislation so coarsely that there has been no time for organised public action. Does he want public gatherings? Does he wish to hear the Lords told in angry tones that Europe is laughing at us, and Russia most of all, since it has become°known ihat "Empress" is to be the bogey wherewith to frighten the White Khan ? That demonstration could be forthcoming, we doubt not; but when was there a Premier before reckless enough to invite it upon a subject so supremely necessary to remove from public clamour as the personal dignities of the reigning family? If Mr. Disraeli had said at first what he says now—if he had let the country understand that, on pretence of uniting East and West, they were henceforth to know the Throne by different names—that geography books for infants, Camden's Britannica," and the" Faerie Queene" were the pre- cedents relied on—that it was to terrify Russia that the Crown of Elizabeth and Victoria was rechristened, he would have had evidence enough by this time of popular dissent. All it was, he introduced the Bill without the title, the title without its definitions, the definitions without their objects, the objects without their reasons and only when he had got to the third reading did he tell the House of Commons what they had been voting about. It is asked abroad whether he knew himself, for public opinion has not been able to believe in such cumulative trifling; it is loth to think a Premier of England can laugh English senti- ment and English traditions to eoom it grasps with slow indignation the idea that a phrase in a child's primer is thought ground enough for dynastic changes and for jibes at those who ask that British Royalty shall be kept pure from the pinchbeck of a bastard Caesarism. Mr. Disraeli must not disbelieve in the love which the English have for their old names, customs, and liberties, because he has outwitted them; the kid is seethed in the mother's milk," constitutional forms and systems are being betrayed by constitutional machinery—a fitting trick, no doubt, whereby to in- augurate the "Empire," but not a good one for the Monarchy. There remains the Upper Chamber, where the Minister — who lightly pledges himself to make Empress" contradicted of speech in these islands, if he can—possesses a sure majority. Times, however, have been when Dukes and Earls would not have been driven to vote against their instincts, their edu- cation, their personal pride, and their lordly repute, for a measure now palpably reduced to the appearance either of a pledge given to courtiers, or a touchstone of party discipline. In whatever light the Peers re- gard the Bill which comes up to them twice branded with all the condemnation whichaminory could stamp upon it, disowned by such Conservative gentlemen as Mr. Newdegate and Mr. Henley, and solemnly pro- tested against by Mr. Gladstone and the heir of the house of Devonshire—whether they regard it, we say, as a courtly offering or as a party test, there must and will be some who in either aspect resent the compul- sion put upon them. There must and will be some high-minded Tories—and we trust there may be many —who, looking up to the Kings and Queens blazoned in proud heraldry upon the windows of their chamber, with no borrowed title on the scrolls of that Royal and glorious lineage, will refuse to break the grand simplicity of British Majesty, whether to put a school- book in the right, or to frighthen the Muscotives from the frontier of India. The Peers, indeed, are bound to consider the whole question upon the ground where it has been placed by the Premier, in his astounding reference to Russia. They can rise above the atmos- phere of party, and our hope in them has grown stronger since the amazing levities and ineptitudes of Mr. Disraeli's speech; for assuredly if that extraor- dinary deliverance cannot wake the Upper House to what is being done, nothing that we can write could arouse it. We are going to alter the thousand-year- continued nomenclature of British rule, and to alter it all over the Realm for the vulgar will catch at the "big word," and foolishly import it; the professed official reason for the change being that which the Chinese follow when they paint formidable natnes and faces upon their shields in order to terrify an enemy. Would Queen" not save us just as much, or as little, powder? And, will no commanding voice cry out, therefore, to the Crown, "What should be in that Caesar ? Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? Write them together, yours is as fair a name; Speak them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them;" for it might be added that Queen will start a spirit as soon as Caesar." The question is now nothing other than one between Mr. Disraeli's political conveniences and the wishes of the British people; nor can we yield to the desperate conclusion that, after such a frivolous and impolitic speech as the House of Com- mons heard from the Premier on Thursday last, the Peers will sanction, or the Crown endorse, a title which means nothing if it does not mean mischief and innovation.

EXECUTION.—George Hunter, a pitman, 23 years of age, residing at Burradon with his parents, was executed oj1 Tuesday morning within the Northumberland County at Morpeth, The crime for which he suffered ^was the shooting of another pitman, named Wood, at Dinn- mgton, on the 19th of December last. They had been with other companions amusing themselves with guns during the day. On coming out of a public-house about dusk, Wood began to throw snowballs at Hunter, who thereupon threatened to shoot him, and immediately did it. The jury recommended him to mercy, bat the authorities did not interfere. It is remarkable fact that, on the day he committed the murder, he had signed a memorial praying for a pardon for Richard Charlton, who was then under sentence of death in the same prison for having shot his wife in the same village. Havirur breakfasted this morning in his cell, he was taken to ihe gaol chapel, where the Hon. and Rev. T. R. Grev, rector of Morpeth, acting for the prison ordinary, w^o jas un- well, read prayers to him. He declined rec,ei £ e Communion. At ten minutes before <^hto clock he was taken into the pinioning-room an/' han # -u-0 under-sheriff of the county who consigned him to Marwood, the executioner* i^nhv Mar PIj" cession moved towp^s the scaffold, led by Marwood, followed by thn «onvict, on either side of whom walked a prison-^tfer. Twenty steps brought the unhappy maa to Hn\ scaffold, and just as the prison clock began to strike eight the bolt was drawn, and almost immediately Hunter ceased to live. Firs.—EPILEPTIC FITS OB FALLING SICKNESS. A cer- tain method of cure has been discovered for this distressing complaint by a physician who is desirous that all sufferers may benefit from this providential discovery it is never known to fail, and will cure the most hopeless case after all other means have been tried. Full particulars will be sent t>y post to any person free of charge.—Address; Mr. Williams, 10, Oxford-terrace, Hyde Park, London.

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1875. Addressing the Grand Jury at the Liverpool Assizes on Thursday touching a case in which a person was charged under this Act with a misdemeanour, in having sent a ship to sea in an alleged unseaworthy state, Mr. Justice Brett described himself as under considerably trouble regarding it. If, according to the old law, he said, any person who might be responsible for the ship had intentionally sent her to sea in a condition such as was described, that law would, to his mind, if firmly administered, have been ample to meet the mch a per- son, who, if the crew were lost, would be guilty of manslaughter. But Parliament in 1875 passed a statue called the Merchant Shipping Act 1875, and in that statute was the section under which the person in the case before him would be charged. The section stands thus—" Every person who sends a ship to sea in such an unseawortnv state that the lives of those on board are thereby endangered shall be guilty of a niis- demanour." If that section had in it the word "inten- tionally" it would be according to the ordinary principles of the law. But the word intentionally" is left out. The section even goes further, and says "that the managing owner (distinguishing from the person who sends the ship to sea) of any British ship so sent to sea from any port in the United Kingdom shall be guilty of a misdemeanour unless he proves that he used all reasonable means to insure her being sent to sea in a seaworthy state, or prove, that it was under the circumstances reasonable and justifiable, and for the purpose of giving such proof, such person may give evidence in the same manner as any other witness." The|learned judgf" continued :—" It has been thought right to legislate in this matter in a way which is con- trary to the received views of English criminal law. The criminal law of this country has been so tender that in every case in which a person has been accused of crime, it has hitherto required not merely that the jury should try whether the person is simply guilty or not guilty, but the question has always been whether those who prosecute could satisfy 12 men that he is guilty of the crime with which he is charged, the whole burden of the proof thus lying on those who prosecute. But here the burden of the proof is altered, and the moment it is proved that the ship has gone to sea, the managing owner, although at the other end of England, is called upon to prove—the jury is not to consider that the prosecution have proved it— that he is innocent. But there is more than that. There is something which when one first sees it, will bear a strange appearance. There will be seen for the first time in the history of this country—for mys lf I csnfess I shall shudder when I first see the experiment tried-a man standing in the dock charged as a crim- inal and the Book handed to him, and I shall see him sworn on it. Such a thing has never yet been seen I may also see counsel standing up and cross-examining the prisoner in the dock. I have nothing more to say about it, but I confess that the first time I see these things I shall shudder to think flf the change in the administration of the law of this country. I shall be obliged to obey it, but I should do so with the greatest possible reluctance. The direction I give you is this —If you find as a fact that the ship was so unseaworthy as to be dangerous to life, and if you find as a fact that the person charged was the managing owner you have nothing more to do according to this law than ask yourselves to find a bill on which he will be charged with the criminal offence."

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AT WEDNESBURY. On Monday morning Thomas Stevenson, labourer, of the Vicarage, Wednesbusy, committed suicide, after having set bis dwelling on nre and some of the circum stances surrounding the case invest it with a peculiarly painful character. It appears that about two years ago the unfortunate man lost his wife, and at times sinc3 then he has lived alone, and at other times has had the companionship of one of dauhgters—Elizabeth, now aged about sixteen—who, when not with him, has been in service. On Saturday night this girl went with a married sister, named Bardell, to the police station, and complained that her father had been guilty of certain gross improprieties, she having slept in the same room as himself; but Superintendent Holland, after carefully questioning her, came to the conclusion that, even assuming the alleged improprieties to have been committed, she had in some degree bean an as- senting party, and that, under the circumstances,, he would not be warranted in artesting the father on his own responsibility. He accordingly advised her to remain with her married sister in Camp Street until Monday moruing, and then to visit him again for the purpose of being sworn to her information. At mid- day on Sunday the sisters returned, and stated that their father was drinking, and threatened to set fire to the cottage, and destroy himself; but on Police-constable Yapp going to the Vicarage he found that all was quiet, the father out of the way. On Sunday night, between and nine and ten, in consequence of a similar complaint from the deceased's son, Sergeant Curtis and Police- constable Hodgetts were sent to the cottage but then the deceased was asleep, and he was allowed to sleep on, his son stating that he would be "all right" when he woke. Nothing more seems to have been heard of him till between seven and eight o'clock on Monday morning, when the neighbours discovered that the cottage-a one story building, divided into three rooms —was on fire. Fortunately, it was in so damp a con- dition that it burnt but slowly, and they had little difficulty in subduing th, flame8. Having done that they discovered that Stevenson lay on his bed in one of the rooms, quite dead, and fully dressed, and with a razor, which lay on the bed beside him. Superin- tendent Moore and Police-constable Brown who soon afterwards visited the place, discovered two letters which he had written, the one being addressed to his daughter, and the other to "the press," both it is stated, containing a denial of his daughter's allegations against him, and assinging another reason for his self- destruction. The was also a memoranda addressed to her, telling her that she would find her boxes con- taining her things in the garden (where he had placed them), fuid desiring her to inform his brother Joseph, of Hiokson, near Stafford, of his death. An examina- tion showed that the cottage had been set on fire in two places, and with considerable deliberation a fire of coals having actually been built up in the one oase under a chest of drawers. Much ef the furniture was destroyed. The tragic affair caused much excitement in the town.

j The Newsvendor states that there has been a talk about discontinuing the Evening Standard, as the cost of pro- duction is said to be greater than the income from sale. The evening delivery IS a great expense, and the whole of the advertisements are paid into the Morning Standard. In a prosecution for milk adulteration, under the new Food Adulteration Act, Mr. Arnold, the stipendiary at Westminster Police-court, having elicited from the sanitary inspector that he had purohased the milk solely to have it analysed, observed that, looking at the matter as a lawyer, a serious difficulty presented itself. By the sixth section of the Act the sale must be to the prejudice of the purchaser. In the case of a sanitary inspector making a purchase with a view to analysis it was clearly not to his prejudice. Mr. Arnold also thought that the section only applied to purposes of consumption. He was, therefore obliged to take time to consider the point.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. THE PRINCE OF WALES. CAIRO, Monday.—A grand dinner of 90 covers willbe given this evening at Abdin Palace in honour of the Prince of Wales. The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia and the Consuls General will be present. After dinner a concert will be given at the Palace. TURKISH FINANCE. ODESSA, Monday.—Three hundred thousand lire ART still wanting to complete the payment of the coupon due in January. The Ottoman Bank refuses to pay, having already advanced too much money. The breach between the Government and the bank is daily widening. The salaries of persons depending on the bank for pr vment ire still unpaid. The discontent is great, and the public confidences diminishes.—Times' Tdeqram. THE FINANCES OF EGYPT. CAIRO, Sunday.—The Khedive had a long conforencfl yesterday with General Stanton and Mr. Rivers W.lson. He is said to have given them to understand that in soliciting himself the intervention of Mr. Cave and the appointment of English, French, and Italian commis- sioners, he especially desired to give evidence of his v.ncerity in the declaration he had made that. he con- sidered Egypt's resources sufficient to enab'e him, by means of the projected combinations, to meet the engage- ments he bad entered into. His Highness eons. qaently considered himself justified in hoping that England all much in the interests of her own subjects as in the interests of the Egyptian Government, would not refuse to accede to the desire he had expressed. A Ion- con- versation has also taken place between the Khedive and the Prince of Wales, but its tenor has not transpired, CAIRO, Monday.—The Khedive, in bis conversation with Mr. Rivers Wilson, is reported to have- -<al, in addition to the observations already telegraphed, i^.at he would not object to the publication of Mr. Cave's report if the English Government would consent to appoint a commissioner in connexion with the proposed National Bank. THE RUMOURED RETIREMENT OF THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. BERLIN, Monday.—In politi al circles here ^essis laid upon a statement made by the St. Pttrrst urg correspondent of the Augsburg Allgemeinc Zciiung, which intimates that the Emperor Alexander V ''Jg in a deligate state of health, desires to retire, thai will reside for a long time in the south of Europe. p; :mbly at Malti, and that during his absence from Ru-n. the hereditary Grand Dnke willbe charged with Re- gency of the Empire. Rumours of the Russian Em- peror's intentions to lay down the soeotre h .ve been repeatedly made, but they have nev--r been on posi- tively put forward as at present. The journey of Count Schouvaloff to St. Petersburg is assert d here to have a connection with the alleged retirement of the Emperor Alexander. WRECK OF AN ATLANTIC STEAMER. NEW YORK, March 27.—The Great Western Com- pany's steamship Great Western, from the M jiter- ranean, came in collision with a barque in a heavy gale yesterday, and went ashore off Long Island, w he è" she became a total wreck. The crew were saved. There were no passer gers on board. The Great Western was a comparatively new v-ssel, having been built so lately as 1872 by Mes.-r-. W. Pike and Co., of Sunderland, to the order of Messrs. Mark Whit well and Co., of Ristol, for the passenger trade per Great We-tern Steamship Line between Bristol and New York. She has run regularly since except in the winter months, when through siacsness of emigration she has been employed in trade This winter hbe has been engaged in carrying fruit from the Mediterranean to New York, and she was laden with fruit when she came into c -llision on Satur iay. She was fully insured. The crew numbered thirty-five. They are all Bristol men. Captain Wyndh im, who has had charge ef the Great Western firce sh; waa launched, was in command. She was 2i6 feer long, 32 wide, 22 deep, and 1,540 gross tonnage, brigantine built with three decks, and could accommodate 252 emigrants, exclusive of saloon passengers. H, r two compound service condensing engines were manu- factured by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company.

THE RuYAL TITLES BILL. It is stated that Mr. Fawcett, on reconsideration, has decided to postpone his motion on this subject until after the Bill has passed through the House of L)rds, and also that Lord Hartington intends to ask Mr. Disraeli to advise her Majesty to delay the issue of a Royal Proclamation assuming her Indian title until the House of Commons has had an opportunity of dis- cussing Mr. Fawcett's motion. Lord Elcho has given notice of the following amend- ment to Mr. Fawcett's motion :—That a humble address be presented to her Majesty, humbly expressing the sa'isfaction with which her Majesty's faithful Commons —having regard to the great dignity and antiquity of her Majesty's Queenly title, and to the just pride and jealously with which it is regarded by'ber Majesty's British subjects—have received the assurance, given by the Prime Minister, that in the event of her Majesty being graciously pleased to assume the title of Empress of India, the title of Queen will on all occasions have precedence over that of Empress, and that the as- sumption of the title of Imperial in addition to that of Royal Highness by members of the Royal family will be exclusively confined to her Majesty's Indian Empire." The Standard understands that there will be no division on the second reading of the Royal Titlee Bill in the House of Lords. The leaders of the Op- position have resolved to put forth their strength in support of the address which the Earl of Shaftesbury will move upon gaing into committee upon the Bill. A petition to the House of Lords against the Roya Titles Bill is in the course of signature at Dover. The Times says that in the first year of Mr. Disraeli's present Administration her Majesty was styled "Empress of India" in a Colonial Government proclamation, which was afterwards approved by the Secretary ot State. Mr. E. A. Freeman sends a long letter to the Pall Mall Gazette upon the new Royal title, by which he considers that a new gate will be opend for flunkey- ism and self-abasement, while the true dignity of the Crown of England, the Crown of so many kings and queens, will be really lowered in proportion." The Spectator writes;—" We would fain hope that Her Majesty, in the week which still remains before the proclamation is issued which exhausts the Act will ponder well what is the nature of the precedent Her Majesty is setting. Does she wish even one of her titles to be elective ? Her title has been confirmed, or let us say, in strict history, even made by Parliament, but the Parliamentary origin of her throne has been forgotten, and the respect paid to it springs from no statute and no interpretation. Her people, as a body, look back to no time when her title began i they call her only by a name which, as they think, Scripture has authorised; and they not only do not believe, but they would not understand, the assertion that there are theories of legitimacy, under which Victoria would not be,' by the grace of God,' but only by the will of Parliament, Queen. So well have history, and opinion, and etiquette worked together for her dignity, that it il at this moment almost impossible to explain to foreigners in any short form of words that her throne stands above election, and yet is not based, and does not claim to be based, upon the principle of Divine right. It is for her good, as head of a dynasty, as the mother of a line of Kings which might last as long as the lines she represents, to accept at the hands of an accidental majority a dignity which has no root in the past, which visibly springs at best from the right of the sword, which is palpably granted to her, and has not been inherited by her ? What Parliament has made, Parliament can unmake. Is she willing to ac- cept a dignity which, if Parliament ever recalled it, her descendants must admit to be fairly within the right of Parliament to cancel?" The Saturday Review writes" A thunderclap is nothing if it is expected. The true artist makes the air calm; he creates an atmosphere ot weary and monotonous stillness, and then he brings out his thunder. Suddenly turning from his children and his calendars, Mr. Disraeli soared into the highest region of politics. The great revelation was made. We had been imagining that the new title was to be adopted to please the Queen, or to please the people of India, or to bring uniformity into Indian administration, or to mark the character of our Government of India as something which Englishmen would not dream of for themselves. No; these were but the small outskirts of talk, the parade of reasons with which great men must cloak a great purpose. The true meaning of the new title is that it is a defence against Russia. How true it is that the arts of Government are far simpler than the foolish world imagines. We have only to say Empress,' and Russia is checkmated and India happy. This is indeed pleasant, and it adds to our pleasure to think that the device is of almost universal application."

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—FITB KILLED AND EIGHT INJURED. An alarmiag explosion occurred OIL Tuesday mommg, near Irvine, by which five men were jPon an eight injured, some of them seriously. At 5.30 a.m. daily, a train leaves Kilmarnock for Irvine, carrying men employed at the Glasgow and South- western Railway Company's new works at the latter place. When this train was three miles from Irvine, the boiler of the locomotive exploded with such a violent re- port that the noise was distinctly heard in the town, The engine was lifted so completely into the air that the VIA containing several of the workmen passed on for some distance along the line, and the wrecked eHgine fell oa the rails behind it. On the inhabitants of the houses la the neighbourhood reaching the spot, they found the body of James Campbell, the engine-driver, about 50 yards from the locomotive. He was quite dead, his neck being broken. The body of the fireman, Simeon Smith, was lying en the six-foot way and John Lennox, an en. gineer, one of the passengers, was dead in the van. Two other men, named Hugh McKeen, a joiner, and AbrahMis Bond, a railway guard, though picked up alive, only uvea a few hours. The former had received severe internal injuries, and the latter died of concussion of_the hrato The injuries of the other sufferers are gome of them 01 a VERYSEVERECHARACTETJ^GJG^

MR. GLADSTONE ON ADVERTISING. Mr. Gladstone attended the annual meeting of the supporters of the Society for the Distribu.ion of Cnaiitv to Di-t-essed Persons, held in London, on Thursday, and, in moving the adoption of the report, after recommending the necessities of the society, said the institution operated directly in the formation of character, and what but that was the end for which they lived. It was not to erect great and spl-ndid works, it was not even to constitute civilised societies, it was to build up individual characters that they came into ths world. All other reasons were but means to an end. Referring to the report, he said.—We per- ceive here that you are not deemed unworthy of the valuable, or I may say rath- r the invaluable, assistance of the press but in the present, whether it be owing to the absorption^of human energy in other directions which seem to have a greater spontaneous attraction, or to what ever due, it would seem that even the effective reporting of the proceedings of such an in- stitution do not avail to give it its proper place in the mind of the public, unless it takes advantage of the machinery of what is called advertising. New t!•= advertising is undoubtedly a very effective instrum. ;IT, but it is one very difficult to handle. It is scarcely possible to handle it without going to very great ex- pense, and if it cannot be handled without g 'ing 11 a very great expense it at once appears that it cannot be used effectively on behalf of a finall institu'ion. The power of this mode of gaining publicity is enormous. It seems, if we consult those who have been mo-.t ac- customed to work successfully this very ex'raordinary instrument, that it depends wholly upon producing an impression on the public mind by iteration, by repeti- tion of the same thing. To see the growth of this very singular vehicile we must observe what has struck the eye of every one in these late years as an entire novelty —that now it is a common thing to repeat, not only at intervals and from day to day, but to repeat absolutely, many times over, in succession, the vrry same t'dng in the same newspaper, with the prominent word printed in large letters. This betake is a very singular state of the public mind. It shows that there is, relatively, a certain amount of dulness with reference to the-e matters, and a great keenness of attention which rio one expects to get unless by, as it were, a great strokes of the hammer, which compels people to notice what is going on. This machine has been used lately with enormous effect in certain great religious mov, ments, and there are even those not adversely disposed VI ho think of those remarkable operations of Me-srs. M >ody and Sankey last year in London that they could have had no considerable success, nor could have obtained a place in the general view of the public, unless sus- tained with the same energy and pertinacity of whole- sale advertising which until recently, was better known to the inventors of certain descriptions of blacking and certain kinds of medicine. (Laughter.)