The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-03 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE LABIIAN,

The following report has been made to the Lords
of Committee of Privy Council for Trade :
"My Lords,—l. beg to report, for the informa-
tion of your lordships, that I have; in conjunc-
tion with Captains Harris and Baker, as nautical
assessors, held an inquiry into the loss of the
steamer Labuan, which occurred off the Island of
Harris on June 28 last. The Labuan was an iron
screw steamer of 837 tons and 80 horse power, built
at Liverpool in 1855, and owned by Messrs. Bailey
and Leetham, of Hull. She was commanded by Mr
Charles Hargitt, who holds a certificate of compe-
tency. as master, dated May 26, 1859, and had a
crew of 21 hands all told. The Labuan left Liver-
pool June 25, laden with 1,700 bales of cotton, with
225 tons of coal, and bound to Narva and Cronstadt.
She cleared the North Channel between the Mull
of Cantyre and Rathlin Island at 5 40 a.m. on the
27th. At 4 a.m. on the 28th they sighted Deer
Island, and at noon they were up to Grebanish
Head, which bore N.W. N., at a computed distance
of from two to three miles, but the weather being
foggy no great reliance could be placed on this
assumed distance, as they failed to obtain soundings
with 60 fathoms of line. From this position a course
was steered E. and N. for 30 minutes, when the
lighthouse on Glass Island was seen through the
fog. The master, who was on deck, ordered the helm
to be ported, and the shill to be brought to E. S.,
which was dune, the vessel going very slowly, and
in 10 minutes she struck upon a sunken zock, which
hae since been ascertained to be the Lag na Laire.
Efforts were immediately made to move her, with-
out success, and the master, in consequence, pro.
ceeded to Stornoway for assistance, returning the
next day about 9 p.m. in the Princess Royal cutter,
which was followed during the night by three
lighters. About 9 a.m. en the 30th the vessel broke
in half, and the after part settled in deep water, but
a large portion of the cargo, more or less damaged,
was saved. No lives were lost. The captain appears
to have navigated the ship with care and caution
throughout, but in consequence of the
,thickness of
the weather on the morning of the 28th, and failing
to obtain soundings, he seems to have been in error
es to his distance from the land. The course steered
from the last headland would, however, appear to
have been a safe one to clear all dangers, accord-
ing to the chart by which he navigated his vessel,
but, unfortunately, the sunken rock on which he
struck is not laid down on that chart—one of lin-
ray's of 1862, and which the master had purchased
in Liverpool just before sailing, iu the belief that it
was the latest. It is but rigut to state that, in a
more recent chart of the same publiehee for the pre•
sent year, the rock in question, the Lag na Laire,
is
correctly laid as in tee Admiralty cearts. But,
regarding the fact that the master's chart was defi-
cient in the information which would have enabled
him to avoid the danger, and there being no buoy
or beacon to point it out, as there would appear to
be on other dangers in the same neighbourhood, I
am disposed to acquit him of default. lam glad
to be able to do this, as the master's antecedents are
all favourable to him, and his attention to his duties
both before and after the accident appears to have
been highly
creditable. I have therefore, with the
to Mr Her.
concurrence of the assessors, returned
gitt his certificate.— I have,
" T. S. llorLits, Pollee Magistrate.
" We concur in this report.,
"Liverpool, July 29, 1864.
" HY. HARIII3I Vußsorz "
.13. • - •

)74.1
/441
%LA_

HER MAJESTY,

OsrOTNE, Ano. IL
Their Royal liighneSses the Prince of Wales and
Prince Louis of Hesse went to the Royal Victoria
Har,pital at Netley yesterday, where the Prince of
WRits laid. the first stone of the monument about
to be erected to the medical ofLers who died in the
Crir_ruan war.
M.-jai...General Seymour and Captain con Wester-
welter were in attendance.
Sir James Clark also accompanied the Prince of

\Araks from asborne.
Lien:enant-General the ll6n. C. Grey and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Da Plat have suceeceed 1\1,30r
G,er era' Seymour ani Q910pt,,1 the Hon. A. liarelege
as Equerries in Waithl,

Trip: DUKE OF NEWCASTLE,—The announce-
ment of the relapse of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle has
cawed wide-apread grief not, only in Nottinghamshire but
throughout the midland counties generaily. The 10th Nva°
the date fixed for his grace's departure from London fo hit;
seat, Cumber Park, Notts, but the visit is now indefinir telY
postponed, As erroneous statements are in eirculatio3
respecting his grace's malady we may state that it is aimplY
gout, and that the attacks, though fugitive, are frequent,
and exceedingly painful dur:ng their continuance.--°t.

linyham Daily Guardian.
A.R. BRIGHT.—John Bright' Eci.f M.P., arriVed
at Tulehan Lodge on Friday last. He has been fi,irgsci
since, and has enjoyed good sport. On Saturday be ba,
one salmon, and on Monday he hal two, and on 'Nodal
one. There seems to be plenty of fish in the water Mt
now. Mr Bass and party arrived at Tulehan Lodge

Wednesday.—Elgin Courant.

THE LATE MR. A. W. HARNETT.—Wa lesril
that the friends of the late Mr. Harnett, consider'
ing his personal virtues, his literary attainments, and,tia thin
long
and severe sufferings of the latter months of ilia life'
widow and children, and to that end the following'
have resolved to raise by subscription a provision for bid
gentler'
men have formed themselves into a committee :---Jlin
.M.P.; Richard Quain, Esq., F.R.S
Brady, Esq., M.D., M.P.; PatriCk M‘Mahon, 'clit
Esq. ; and Chas, Russell, Es . ' gr
Esq , Barrister at Law,
Harriet ,was connected with the press both in Loudon and
Dublin, and was endeared to all who knew him by ,tile
; W. H. TwentyMant
amiability of his manners and the purity of his life. riet
was for many years in impaired health, and during the hie
14 months of his life he passed through extreme hie
exhausting during his long illness whatever provision --:
had made for his family—and on the 6th ult. be die '
leaving them totally unprovided for. A case of misortune'
so severe, so patiently borne, and incurred without
trace alli
of blame attaching to himself, will, it is hoped, aPPee,
effectually to many beyond the immediate circle of 114
friends. Subscriptions will be received by Alfred gast"e4
Esq., Hon. Sec., 13, Sandford-place,
HERRINGS.—The Scottish herring fishery Ai/c°
employment to a large number of people, ands if
immense capital is sunk in boats and other apparatug °
the capture. The way commerce is carried on in herring"
of
is rather peculiar. It goes thus :—" Cookie," the Oh
~ shavie," or in plain language, John Cowie testing, that
son of John Cowie, junior, of Buckle, is thinking about
pounds saved up, the produce of his industry taking a wife, and settling in the world. Ile has 3 feed
in.g.ton.,nia
_, a
hand at the fishing, and of a speculation he made in ell''
for net dying ; and his father has promised to giv°,hira, :a
couple of £:0 notes to help him to purchase a boat. I"
John is rather ambitious, and his sweetheart still more 130 ts
he finds he his not money for more than one boat and t
train of nets; and it is a sine qua non of " Big l3eardie" (rhe
is the nickname of Alex. Reid), that his daughter, gal
Reid, John Cowie's, alias Cockle's, sweetheart, must heir° e
husband with two boats at leak What is to be done in
such a difficulty ? Oh the remedy is very simple ; 000 of the
curers of the district will, without doubt, advance 1333nei
for another boat. This is a common nractice,
spirit of gambling to the other excitements of the fishery,
The curer advances money on the faith of Cowie 's beats
fishing for him till the surneadvanced be paid up---rnaking,
of course, a better bargain with John than he could with
a free fisherman; and so Cowie tertius gets manied, at'cl,
becomes, let us hope, a successful fisherman. The note' :
way of conducting the business of the herring fishery is ta
and adds
make the bargain for the folloiving season at the conclusion
of the present one. An immediate bounty of ten, fifteen?
or twenty pounds per boat is paid down, as well as a grant
of allowances of various kinds—such as bleaching-ground
for nets, dye-stuffs for ditto, and perhaps a few gallons ',
whisky as well ; and, beside all these, a price for the
green fish, at so much for every 45 gallons, or "crap;'
it is called. The quantity of herring usually bargain
tte
bargained for
each season is 200 trans, but few of the boats take so macY;
The curer, of course, provides his salt, barrels, coopers, 0"
gutters, and undergoes all the anxiety of the curing season:it;
and in some seasons "the take" will be so bad that he sv"-
be a heavy loser, and have to carry forward to next year
heavy lot of barrels and alarge quantity of salt. It will thlls
ell
be seen that the herring fishery is a kind of lottery,.
which all the inhabitants of a town hang svitiafiercest ane Y,
t
so that to get a boat from a wealthy curer is not diflicult i and,
if the new]) -married pair we have described be very I°l°l
they may be free from their debt in a couple of yea"' cedego on increasing in wealth till they have many
sons of their own to aid them in becoming brosoats,
as.
pPcre ir,..
On the other hand, hundreds who hasten to be rich
day
this way suffer disappointment, and bitterly curse the
still
of their ambition. A bad season may engulph thelll s
s,
laaptrhiveacit
et:000110 soldier
deeper in the books of the curer, or a sudden :sterna re....;
ever'
wreck their boat and close up their industry for
Macnzillan, whatar°
soldier
ohlediecr
THE LIMITED ENLISTMENT ACT.--°W n eci
hsiecrhvicet
abandon b andon causes
thew
htoie
may be able to remove them. First, the
dearly loves change. After he has lain at one ata i_ that
some years the sameness becomes so irksome to heuikuoso
ne longs to exchange it even for quirters which 11 solo
to be inferior. An instance of this may be given.
Sheffield,
years ago the 16th Regiment was stationed in ici...
with every prospect of remaining there for some ear_ to
able time. A number of men whose time was take their
?emfitwethe tince,e7litrwe
expire had given notice that they were then to take toPiaect,
discharges, when the news of the Trent outrage rep' lot
England, and the 18th was ordered to Canada intb.ar
haste. At the prospect of an immediate change , 0,0
change being colonial service, with the pcasibility nt
alias
and the certainty of a lengthened absence from their sitD
land—these men, with hardly an exception, retracted te vi,
notice of withdrawal, and re-enlisted for the second tcrfer
. . . Again, it cannot fail to chafe the veteran a°l
t,
who has borne the brunt of Canada's frost and Indie'°l3lld;
who mayhap has fought and bled, who knows his duty re'
can do it, that the raw recruit who joined yesterday,n ict,
the
years. the same pay as ho who has been a soldier .
ti`e,
years. " Ah, no !" say our superiors ; " remember °
a it,
good conduct pay, which in 10 years amounts to 2/11 6
Be
21 years to 5d per diem additional." Very wen. .. ~,
man may be a thorough good soldier and yet not ivr,,o,
good-conduct badge. Eight days' pack-drill forfeit
.woot,
distinction for two years ; and every aoldier kuosca h 0,
easily, often how innocently, this punishment
ryas may U°
incurred. An unavoidable absence of t.woloohkonwhic_ l'i
tattoo, a single inadvertence, even ab. lack.
of
~ . which
kayo known construed into the peculia.r crime dtl
hoar
d e off his arm at an 110. t..
insolence," may strip the ba g sold°
warning. Can it be wondered at, then, that the
0 ._..c
refuses to include an item so precarious as good co
:12:,,,j,
pay in the schedule of his advantages ? Can
We e1Y1,16
that he will take it much into account in making ill' it,
e
mind as to re-enlisting ?We offer a bounty of oii , or,or
may be, two pounds to the lad who was behind thecnu_
va
t tile,
yesterday, or to the rustic who last week was foilil
plough, and whom it will take six months' time. rovo,
expenditure of care, work, and money to fit for t: .__ oat
This being so, what temptation do we hold out t.
.tri_usdo to
who has been a soldier for ten years, who is reaaY,ow_, lars
our hands, and available for active service to-nierv;,l3o
want to engage him at the same price for which°
es6toate;
scoured the raw recruit. Can we expect him t
,130 0 vi,
himself at this value ? It may be argued that Wha',. or c'..l::
made him, that he owes to us what he has learnt:l" bare
prose, and that he is bound to remember this ins )1.0001
he may make with us. Bat this is poor reasoning a
to the views of men in the ranks. 'The master wD:e
vein
say to an apprentice whose time has expired, " I lide i weir t.:
you your trade, arsu owe all you know to nie, an_wer teas
you to show your gratitude by serving me at to _ listeVe'
than you can command elsewhere," would not 1., up, iil;0
to with much consideration. Our soldier's time 1
to c' aasao
i a .
that of the apprentice; he is free, and entit.c .
1,
for the best terms he can make • • , oki 11,1
Another cause is that constant drill whiell tlldergo
dicr, who needs it not, is compelled to
itu is v
oter'
common with the young recruit, to when'
sii.orde''eao
sera,. It galls the man who has performed the.„ematrY.°loo
ciso in grim earnest at Balaclava, or the l'i'ty „gull
s 9
who, on the Alumbagh, caved his life by (let_ero rejeoilem;
bayonet, to grind on, day after day, in the 'll;_,,erfeett ',.
never-ceasing course of drill. Practice mattealava 10 yeu.3l;.;
surely perfection may be attained in iesss toil /cl'ieldia
and maintained without the same assiduocut. t the
ao
00;
has taken to reach it. No one will any more
that bie r.ries
ought to be allowed to get rusty any
and segeelY l6t.
but continual friction wears out the latter
azine for A.os','
...
the patience of the termer.—Cornhill Naguaces
00 ati;)a
The 211oniteur de la Flotte annioe
bon__ has cr
i.
~,,
portant fact, that an English riercanti,.
c,
~',,e ivas 100!a
et ship 01 1,200 to to built at St. N:,zil.r
or±;_d
ado
I,Vs
adds that French merchants formers
y w:_i_rctue G;3 I
be built for th,in in England, but w
reversed.