The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

PORT OF SWANSEA.

An important and interesting statistical return,
showing the trade of the port of Swansea for the
year 1863, as compared with that of 1862, has just
been issued by the trustees of the harbour. These
returns are divisible into three general heads-viz.)
vessels windbound and arriving in ballast; secondly,
the general imports ; and thirdly, the general ex-
ports of the port. Under the first general head we
find that the number of windbouad vessels which
entered the port last year was 72, with a registered
tonnage of 6,176, as against 97 vessels, of 8,304 tons
the previous year. The vessels arriving in ballast
last year were 2,261, of a register tonnage of 302,765,
while for the year 1862, 2,611 ships,of 331,221 tons,
arrived, thus showing a falling (If during the past
year of nearly 30,000 tons as compared with that
of 1862. The falling cff in vessels entering the
port in ballast is attributable to the very high rates
charged as compared with Cardiff. Oa the first
day of the present year, however, a very large re-
ductio❑ of ballast rates came into operation, which
has already made a very material difference in the
trade of the port in this department, and will pro-
bably induce a still larger number of vessels to come
to the port in ballast to load with coal, iron, and
other staple production of the district. Under
the second heading that of imports-there has been
a large increase, with the exception of copper,
copper ores and regulus, silver ores, &c. The total
imports for the past year were 405,300 tons, and
for the year 1862 369,700, being an increase in
favour of 1863 of 35,600 tons. Of the total quan-
tity of goods imported, copper and copper ore, and
regulus, silver, ores, &c., amounted to no leis than
187,000 tons, the total quantity of timber amounted
to 36,000 tons, against 20,400 tons during 1862 ;
flour, grains, potatoes, &c., 19,300 tons, as against
13,100 tons in 1862; sundries, 126,800 tons in 1863,
and 132,600 tons in 1862. Of the imports, there
were 285,000 tons imported coastwise during the
year 1863, as against 273,800 in 1862 ; from the
European States 44,500 tons in 1863, as against
72,400 in 1862. Under the third general head-
that of exports-we find that total quantity of coal
and patent fuel exported in the year 1863 amounted
to 783,000 tons, against 817,000 tons in 1862 ; cop-
per, copper ores, regulus, silver and zinc ores,
47,000 tons, against 29,300 tons in 1862 ; tin plates
15,900 tons in 1863, as against 12,200 tons in
1862 ; sundries, 47,800 tons in 1863 against 43,900
in 1862-the total exports in 1863 being 905,700,
and in 1862 914,000, being a decrease upon the
past year of 1,300 tons ; but as the decrease in the
export of coal and patent fuel was no less than
33,300 tons, there was an increase in the general
trade of the port of no less than 25,000 as com-
pared with 1862. Of the exports we find
that there were 362,900 tons sent coastwise,
407,300 to European ports; and 135,500 tons to
!oreign ports during the year 1863.1

Volcanic Islands.

Since the 28th of June, 1831, an island, succes-
sively graced with the names of Ferdinand, Graham,
Hotham, Nerita, and Julia, has several times ap-
peared and disappeared off Palermo, and is now on
the point of getting above water again. There is
no doubt that this curious phenomenon is attribut-
able to volcanic agency ; nor is this the only instance
of the kind on record. In the neighbourhood of
the Philippine Islands, and on other points of the
Chinese waters, small islands occasionally rise and
make their exit again without attracting much no-
tice. Of this the Patrieyelates the following curious
instance :—" A German skipper, Capt. Hilmacher,
who had passed many years of his life in those
parts, and knew every shoal and sandbank within
100 miles of the Chiuese coast, suddenly, about 20
years ago, discovered an island which he was per-
fectly certain did not exist on that spot before. He
took his soundings, determined the latitude and lon-
gitude, sailed round it, and found that it was from
12 to 13 miles in length and breadth. There
were several springs of fresh water in it
and it consisted of the richest pasture-ground'
imaginable. Captain Hilmacher instantly re-
turned to Europe, recruited a number of German
emigrants, bought all kinds of seeds, agricultural
implements, poultry, and cattle, set out again for
this new El Dorado, and in a couple of years there
might be seen on the desert island a flow ishing
village, fields waving with corn, meadows peopled
with oxen, goats, and sheep, everything in short
that might constitute a thriving colony. This happy
state of things lasted about five years,when a British
merchant vessel unexpectedly made its appearance.
The captain and crew expressed their astonishment
at finding a European community in such an out-
of-the-way place, entered into amicable intercourse
with the colonists, and gave them a quantity of
brandy in exchange for their produce. This unfor-
tunate circumstance proved the ruin of the colony ;
drunkenness grew into a habit, insubordination was
the consequence, and oae fine day poor Capt. Hill-
macher, who had hitherto ruled his little kingdom
with great wisdom, was obliged to make his escape
in a boat to avoid being mnrdered. He succeeded
in reaching a vessel, which took him home again.
There he easily obtained the command of a ship,
which he took care to provide with plenty of arms,
for the purpose of punishing his unruly subjects and
make them repent of their ingratitude. He set sail,
but on arriving within the latitude where his island
had once existed he was astonished to find the place
emp•yr ; not a vestige of land was to be seen ; the
island had gone as it had come. Had the catas-
trophe occurred so suddenly as to preclude all pos-
sibility of escape This is what Capt. Hilltne.cher
never learnt."—Ga/igna ni.

POISONING BY ABSORPTION.,—On Saturday Mr,
B. L, Gross, one of the coroners for Suffolk, con.
eluded an inquiry into the death of a child named Boatman,
the daughter of a small farmer at Wissett, near Halesworth.
The case presenting remarkable features, the coroner ap-
plied to the Home Secretary to enable Professor Taylor to
make a more than ordinarily careful and costly analysis. The
eircumesfances are briefly as follows :—The deceased was
aged nine ;Tens, and lived with her father and stepmother at
a small farm house in a lonely situation. The child was
taken ill, gradually got worse, and died soon after a medical
man was called in. The surgeon (Mr. Howard), feeling sa-
tisfied the child died om poison, refused to certify the cause
of death. An inquest v0.:15 accordingly held, and when the
jury viewed the body the ae.:lp of the head was found to be
in a shocking state from ringwcel29 and covered with vermin.
The stepmother said that about tea, days before the death of
powder and a little
the child she applied some precipitar,'
head to kill the
poison in the shape of an ointment to th,'
examinatio
at: n,
vermin. The coroner ordered a post-morteb2
and the appearance of the intestines and stoma, pto arsenical poison in some form or other, it was felt im;)orointingtant
to ascertain whether the child died from arsenical poisonpand
if so, how it was administered. The viscera were according
sent to Professor Taylor, at Guy's Hospital, and that gentle-
man stated at the inquest on Saturday that the child died
from arsenic applied externally and absorbed into tho system.
The condition of the viscera, in their appearances, in the
nature of their contents, and in the minute imponderable
quantity of arsenic present in them, was not consistent with
the supposition that arsenic had been given in a solid form or
in a liquid form by the mouth, but it was quite consistent
with the absorption of the poison through the skin of the
scalp and its subsequent diffusion by the blood. The scalp
of the deceased was found to contz.kin a large quantity of
arsenic associated with a quantity of mercury (white pro.
cipitate) which had been applied as above stated in the
m
of an ointment. The jury returned a verdict to the effect
that the deceased died from the results of an ()inanent con-
taining arsenic applied to her head by Mrs. Boatman, she
being ignorant of the consequences, and intending merely
to heal diseaso of the scalp; at the same time the jury de-
sired the coroner to express to Boatman and his wife their
sense:of the neglect and ill• treatment of the deceased.
DIOCESS OF SALISBURY.-0a the 27th of Feb.
ruary the Rev. Charles Sumner Burder, M.A., was
presentation.liaw
,of the Bishop of the
on the the incumbency of Wars, by the Bishop
'Win-
chester, The Rectory of uherton Anger, Salisbury, has
just become vacant by the decease of the Rev. George
Henry De Starck, who has held it for a period of 27 years.
The living
is in the gift of trustees, of whom the Lord
Bishop of . Carlisle one, and is worth between £2OO and
£3OO per annum, with residence; population, £2,424.
REFRESIIM 1a TS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE,--Tye
contract for the supply of refreshments at the
Crystal Palace, which during the last three ycara has been
held by Mr. Frederick Strange, yesterday passed into the
hands of Messrs. Bertram and Roberts. Mr. Bertram was
formerly on the stall of Mr. Stwyer, of the London, in
Fleet-street, during his joint occupancy of the refreshment,
department of the Crystal Palace some years since with
Mr. Strange, and he subsequently filled the important post
of manager for Mr. F. E. Morrish at the International
I Exhibition of 1562.