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LITERARY AND ART GOSSIP.

,NEEDLESS DISASTERS AT SEA.

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NEEDLESS DISASTERS AT SEA. The lamentable casualties to snipping which crowd npon one another in the newspapers supply painful confirmation to the charges brought by Mr. Plimsoll. The Board of Trade have, or have had, in hand several cases of iron ships that have foundered at sea owing to defective structure or overloading, as in the case of the Viceroy, of Hull, a vessel of 1,134 tons gross and 934 tons re^ gister, which was sent to sea with between 1,300 and 1,400 tons of cargo, by which twenty-three men lost their lives. In another case, that of a wooden ship which went down head foremost in the German Ocean, the Court of Enquiry found that the cause of the loiswas also excess of deadweight cargo. Another vessel, copper laden, is re- ported wrecked in South American waters, nineteen of her crew perishing through her boats being in an unsafe state at a critical moment, a far from unusual condition on shipboard. That was also, it may be re- membered, the case of the La. Plata and it has since been alleged that she, too, was overloaded, on the authority of the boatswain and quartermaster, who were rescued after three days' exposure on an air raft. This has, however, been denied by those responsible for her safety, but on that and other points the public await the result of the investigation which must take place. With regard to the loss of the screw steamer Chusan, which crumpled up at the entrance in Ardrossan harbour, last month, the Board of Trade informs the owner that from the report of the Court of Inquiry on the shipwreck, and from the evidence given before the Court, the Board are that the conclusion may be drawn that vessels of the Chusan class are not safe and seaworthy for an ocean voyage from this country at all seasons of the year." The Board trust that the owner will not overlook this expression of opinion as it may be their duty to interfere, under the Acts of 1871 and 1873. with the attempted sailings of similar vessels from ports of the United Kingdom, on long voyages, unless commenced at seasons when there is a reasonable' prospect of the vessels arriving at their des- tinations without encountering very heavy weather during the passage." It would be difficult to say in what sort of sea or weather it would be safe to trust the lives of men and valuable merchandise with such crank and wholly un- seaworthy craft as, for instance, the Mary, the enquiry into the loss of which, in the Bay of Biscay, was noticed and commented upon in our last.—iron.

THE" SHAKERS " AND THEIR TROUBLES.

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I latest Aarticts.f

---fROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

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;AGRICULTURAL HONOURS.

jand Cittt JfttteUioence,

. SPECIAL SHIPPING NEWS.

GOVERNMENT SIGNAL STATION,…

I IPEN.„_ ^CARDIFF.

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