The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-15 00:00:00

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SUDDEN DEATir.—On Saturday morning, Mrs. Jones,
the proprietress of the Waterloo Hotel, Birkenhead, died
under awfully sudden circumstances. It appears that the
lady was in the act of getting a jug of water from a cash
in the back yard, when she fell down and died almost
instantly. An inquest will be held on the body this day-
PRESENTATION TO A CLERGYMAN. —On Friday evening
last, the members of St. Matthias' Church, Great Howard-
street, assembled in the school-room for the purpose of
presenting their worthy pastor and incumbent, the Res,-
R. Y. Sheldon, with a handsome suit of robes, accompa—
nied with an address, reflecting the respect and gratitude
of the district to which the anxiety he had so long and
ardently manifested for the spiritual and temporal welfare
of those committed to his charge had justly entitled hire,
The address also acknowledged the promptitude he had
at all times manifested in attending the sick beds of the
poor sufferers, and was signed on behalf of the pewholders
and other contributors by Mr. John Beesley and Mr. Thos-
Armor, churchwardens.

THE SCREW STEAMSHIP TAJO. —On Saturday last tbig
new screw steamer, built expressly to form one of a line
intended to run between this port and the Spanish coast,
made an experimental trip to Llandudno and back, and
the experiment was in the highest degree successful and
satisfactory. The Tajo has bean built by Mr. Josiah Jones,
from a design by Mr. Hebson, for the firm of Messrs.
Teutora and Co, a Spanish firm, whose agent in Liv.;rpool
is gr. B iher. The new craft is of 830 tons burthen, and
her length between the perpendiculars is 216 feet, her
brewith of beam, 28 feet; depth of hold, 17 feet; and her
length over all, about 230 feet. Her engines, cons tructE
by Mr. James Jack, of the Victoria engine works, o
150 horse power, and are constructed on an entirely no !et
principle, possessing a mode of expansion which wo:ks.
similarly to that of the ordinary steam valve. Tiitg
boilers have attached to them a steam whistle to be use&
in case of fog, and the whole construe ion of engines is se'
contrived as to occupy the singularly small space of 16 feet
by 13 feet, leaving abundance of room for those engaged in
conducting the operations. The success of the experimental
trip of Saturday is proved by the following narrative of her
exploits : —The Tajo began to move about eleven o'clock,
and she gradually increased her speed until opposite the
Rock Light, which she passed in about eight minutes after
starting. The vessel was now fairly on her course, and
proceeded steadily along, passing the Crosby lightships
against a strong tide, at 33 minutes past eleven, She
passed the Formby lightship at ten minutes before twelve
o'clock, and at two minutes to twelve passed the Bell Buoy.
The Tajo by this time had attained a speed of not less than
eleven miles an hour. A distinguished party had been
assembled on board to witness the experiments, and 00
board every appliance had been brought into requisition to
contribute to the pleasures and amusement of the company/
An excellent band, under the superintendence of Mr.
Stubbs, (whom to name is a guarantee for perfection in
this department) delighted the visitors and guests by their
performance of the popular compoSitions of the day. Under
the auspices of Mr. James Dickson, of the Eldon dining
rooms, refreshments were served with an excellence and
taste which went far to rival the cuisine of the redoubted:
Soyer. The trip was, as we have already mentioned, to.
Llandudno, where the gay party arrived at a few minutes
before two o'clock. Here the Tajo turned and brought
home her joyous freight, arrriving opposite the Sandon
dock about half-past tour, having performed the trip in
something less than six hours. It is almost superfluous to
mention that with the good things on board, the visitors
were regaled with the most liberal hospitality at a sump'
tuous banquet served in the state cabin. Toasts appropriate
to the occasion were proposed and responded to by Mr.
Bahr, as representative of the owners, by Mr. Jack, the
constructor of the engines, and by Mr. Jones. the builder
of the vessel, and on arriving at their concluding de,-
tion, the company landed equally delighted with the
performances of the Tajo. and the pleasures of their da1"0
excursion.

THE CHURCHYARD NUISANCE AT ST. JotuN's.---The
question of closing St. John's churchyard against inter,
meats has been mooted for some time past, but it is not
generally known that an official enquiry into the nuisance
created by the decomposition of the bodies has just takes
place at St. George's Hall. In consequence of strong
representations from this town, Dr. Holland was sent down
from the Home-office to investigate the whole subject. On
one side were examined Mr. Mackenzie, the superintendent
of St. George's Hall, a number of the porters and
workmen, and several tradesmen from Bt.
lane ; and on the other the Rev. Dr. Taylor, the
incumbent of St. John's, his curate, and the gravedigger.
Mr. Mackenzie stated that he had been, and was still
engaged in some interesting experiments on the atmosphere
of the ha'!, and he mentioned some results that tell greatly
against the continuance of churchyards as a place of inter-
ment: The atmosphere collected into the ventilating shafts'
from the west. or churchyard side was found to contain so
much more carbonic acid gas than air admitted from the
east or Lime-street side, that it had been found necessary
to close all the ventilating apertures on the former side,
and
use
oril
who were yth opposite the railway station. The
ere finishing the buildings on the east
side lost money through their workmen being seriously
contractors
affected by the foul air. Indeed when painting
in rooms on the east side, the workmen preferred
keeping the windows closed, and enduring the
injurious fumes of turpentine and white lead, to inhaling
the still more noxious gases admitted from the churchyard
if the window was left open. The lime in the stone work
and brick walls also acted as a conductor for the bad air,
which, by that means, perforated every avenue of the
building, so that when rooms on the east side were opened,
every morning the smell in them was very bad indeed. The
beautiful brass work on the doors of the hall, and, indeed,
all metal throughout the building was not only tarnished,
but in many places gas pendants were rapidly corroding•
In addition to this, it was found that the cisterns adjoining
the hall were tainted to a dangerous degree. Mr. Mackenzie
suggested that interments should he immediately stopped.
The evidenc3 on the part of Dr. Taylor was intended to
refute certain allegations as to the number of bodies paced
in one grave, the breaking up of old coffins, &c. The rev.
gentleman strongly maintained the right of continuing
interments, at least, in the family vaults, which will
probably be acceded. 'I he report of Dr. Holland will, of
course, not be made public, until it has been submitted to
the Home-office, and if it is, as expected, adverse to the
continuance of interments in St. John's churchyard, an
Order in Council will probably be issued to atop them for
the future.