The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1864.

WHERE CAN WE MEET AFTER THE
PANTOMIMES ? My dear Fellow, Gentlemen sup
at EVANS', Covent-garden.

KINAHAN'S LL WHISKY v. COGNAC,
BRANDY.
This celebrated Old IRISH WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It i Pure, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
Sold in Bottles, 3s. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London ; by
the Agents in the principal towns in England ; or wholesale
at

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET. W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
"Kinahan's LL Whisky,"

LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.

PRESTON.

There is still a" downward tendency" in affairs hero, and
during the past week there has been a very serious increase
in the distress. At present there are about 1,000 more per-
sons in the receipt of relief, either charitable or parochial,
than last week. A great increase is apprehended this week.
A. few of the mills in the town have extended their hours of
labour, but for every move in this direotion there are two in
a contrary way. Manufacturers appear to be in a " fix ;"
they want to open their mills fully, but dare not; prices are
irregular and dangerous; stocks rise and fall, and continu-
ously fluctuate in quantity, quality, and value ; the basis of
operation is superficial ; and until prospects become clearer
and cotton cheaper, better, fuller in supply, and less sub-
jected to the whims of speculators, no practical amelioration
will ensue in the condition of the operatives. Just now
cotton buying, and selling, and manufacturing seem to con-
stitute a game rather than a trade. In Preston there are
28 mills entirely closed, and 11,299 operatives totally out of
work. The number working full time is 9,119 ; the 'number
employed short time 7,006. In the whole union of Preston
there are 5,344 cases of pauperism, including 14,367 persons,
whose weekly relief costs upwards of £9OO. This week as
compared with last there has been an increase of 152 cases,
420 persons, and nearly £3O in expenditure. In the town of
Preston alone the aggregate number of parochial cases is
4,323, comprising 11,685 persona, whose weekly relief costs
over £750. Of the increase above named 144 of the cases
and 392 of the persons live in Preston. The guardians have
2,144 ablebodied men and women in their employ. Today
the guardians will make application to the Poor-law Board
to borrow another sum of money to meet the expenditure
of the union in excess of the amount raised by the rates.
The local relief committee have at present on their books
3,912 cases, comprising 14,024 persons. As compared with
last week, these figures show an increase of 130 cases and
478 persons. In the town of Preston the number of persona
relieved by the charitable committee and the guardians is
nearly 26,000. Last year at this time the number was about
50,000. Active preparations are being made for improving
and beautifying some of the public parks under the Public
Works Act, but it is feared that much of the labour re-
quired will be too fine, too ela9orate for such unskilled la-
bourers as the operatives—and yet before the end many
operatives may be brought into requisition. They appear to
be very willing to learn, and many of them speedily initiate
themselves into all the mysteries of spade and barrack
work. In Preston there are hundreds of operatives who are
now capable of competing with some of the very best la-
bourers in the country, and they have improved themselves
in manual and muscular dexterity to such an extent and
"acclimatised" themselves so rapidly to the duties of out-
door labourers that those who had no knowledge of their
' antecedents would be decidedly of opinion that they had
been "brought up" to such like work, and had never
touched a loom or a spindle in their lives.
A circular has just been issued by the Preston Weavers
Association, which shows what the operatives of the town
in connection with the body named think of affairs gene-
rally, past, present, and prospective. The circular says :
" We are emerging from a calamity such as the world
never witnessed, and we hope will never witness again—
and we rejoice to know, that, as a body, we have borne the
affliction without any external aid from any quarter, and
have stood together through the dire calamity with a for-
titude and patience that shows the value we set on our
trade union; but we have, for soma time back, seen a ray
of hope, and that ray is gradually expanding, and ere long
will, no doubt, shine conspicuously. We have had this de-
pression in our trade to contend with now some three
years, and we find that some of our employers have taken
advantage of that depression to lower our wages, and we
think the time is fast coming when we shall be enabled
to bring thoso employers up to the standard list of
prices, which list has been adhered to by the general body
of masters faithfully ; but we cannot command lan-
guage strong enough to designate the conduct of those em-
ployers who took advantage of us in our hour of need to en
rich themselves out of our humble means, thereby enabling
them to sell their productions at a less price than their
neighbour who scorned their example. All honour then to
those employers, and when trade resumes its wonted pro-
gress, our intercourse with them will be the better in conse-
quence. We have lately seen some encouraging statistics
issued by several eminent firms in the cotton trade, all pre-
dieting an improvement in our trade, and this, coupled
with the fact that large numbers of our body have emigrated
—some across the Atlantic, others to the antipodes, and it
is well known to all that there have not been many taught
the last three years. These three causes combined must
soon make themselves felt in our department, and will tend
materially to prevent the recurrence of such a calamity as
the ono through which we hope we have nearly passed.
We have had an Emigration Society at our institution for
some time, but we are sorry that it has not had that mea-
sure of support we anticipated it would have received; but
when we reflect on the difficulties of your position, the won-
der is that you have been enabled with your scanty means
to exist at all, but we have it in contemplation to commence
collecting weekly, and thereby enabling us to use our sur-
plus money, to remove such of our members to other lands
as should desire it, thereby benefiting both themselves and
us by making them customers for cloth instead of producers,
and also by lessening the labour in the market, enabling us
to avoid the necessity of resorting to strikes in future ; we
therefore hope that you will coincide with us in this matter
and pay the subscription cheerfully and willingly, and we
have no doubt it will repay you a thousandfold."

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

By the mail steamship Cambrian, which arrived at Ply-
mouth on Sunday, we learn that her Majesty's screw steam
frigate Narcissus, 39, Capt. Joseph G. Bickford, flag of Rear-
Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker, K.O 8., with the receiving
ship Seringapatam, Capt. Jas. H. Cockburn, the screw steam
sloop Ariel, 9, Commander Wm. C. Chapman, and the cor-
vette Scylla, 21, Capt. Richard W. Courtenay, were in
Simon's Bay on Dec. 21. The Ariel left the Mozambique
Channel on Sept, 12. The paddlewheel steam frigate Va-
lorous, 16, Capt. Charles C. Forsyth, from Simon's Bay,
arrived on Nov. 30 at Port Natal, and on Dec 4 was pre-
paring to sail for the Mozambique Channel. The screw
steam sloop Zebra, 17, Commander Charles G. Lindsay)
which had been at St. Helena, arrived at Ascension on Dec.
17, and, having refitted, left Jan. 2 for the West Coast of
Africa. The iron steamship Wye, Commander V. G.
Roberts, left Ascension on Dec. 2, for the West Coast, and
was followed on the 17th by the screw steam gunvessel
Philomel, 5, Commander L. Wildman. Tue paddlewheel
steam sloop Gorgon, 6, Commander J. C. Wilson, from
the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Ascension on Dec.
24, and left on the 26th for England. The French ship
of war Sarthe, from Cherbourg on Oct. 21, arrived at the
Cape of Good Hope on Dec. 8, and loft on the 18th for
Saigon. Le Sais, 8 guns, left Simon's Bay on Nov. 8 for
Bourbon. The American ship of war Mohican, 6, from Rio
Janeiro, on Sept. 16, left Cape Town on Dec. 19, and arrived
at St. Helena on the 29th.

Mr. Philip Thornton, assist. master shipwright at Wool-
wich dookyard, was yeaterAay ampluted by the Admiralty
acting master shipwright of Cliiitharaiard; it the position
recently occupied by Mr. Oliver Lang, who is about to retire
from service on account of ill-health. In selecting Mr.
Thornton the fill the post their choice has fallen on one of
the most experienced iron shipbuilders in the service. He
was selected about 20 years ago, and was employed in visiting
the principal iron shipbuilding yards in the kingdom with
a view to the information he could obtain becoming useful
to the Royal Navy. Mr. Thornton's appointment augurs
well for the service, as, in addition to his being the senior of
his grade, he is a member of council of the Institution of
Naval Architects. His promotion has given general satis-
faction.

In accordance with instructions from the Admiralty, and
at the request of the Chief Constructor of the Navy, one of
the officials from the establishment of Messrs. Penn and
Sons, who have been selected to manufacture the engines
for the iron frigate Bellerophon, has been directed to pro-
ceed to Chatham dockyard for the purpose of making him-
self thoroughly acquainted with the new and simplified sys-
tem of construction intended to be employed in the hull of
that vessel. This arrangement has been cmsidered neces-
sary in order that the massive iron bearers, &c., for the
boilers, engines, screw shaft, and other portions of the
machinery may be incorporated in the hull of the frigate,
instead of being placed in the ship independently, and with-
out reference to the frigate's frames, as is the case with the
Achilles and the iron frigates hitherto built. By this
arrangement, not only will the strength and rigidity of the
Bellerophon be very considerably increased, but the expen-
diture in alterations and fittings for the machinery will be
greatly reduced. It is calculated that the saving will be at
least 100 tons of iron, costing not less than £2,000, in addi-
tion to an equal sum for labour. The only surprise ap-
pears to be that a similar arrangement has not been adopted
in the iron vessels hitherto built.

The following appointmenis were made yesterday at the
Admiralty :—Lieut. H. T. Yeatman to the Duke of Wel-
lington—Lieut. Spencer M. Wilson to the St. Vincent—
Lieut. Adolphus F. M. Meyer to the Impregnable—John
W. H. Harvey, master, to the Gibraltar—Edwin Fenn,
assist•surg.; to the Victory—Andrew J. Do Vismes, Geo.
F. Clark, and Marshall Little, master's assistants, to the
Hector—Albert Giles, F. C. L. Neville, and George W.
Henderson, master's assistants, to the Prince Consort,
Three of the old oast-iron guns strengthened on the prin-
ciple of steel and iron tubes have been tasted at the proof
butt in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, with much success.
The bore of the gun was enlarged so as to admit an inner
tube of 2jin thick throughout, constituting the increased
strength. The first gun tested contained a wrought-iron
tube, and withstood 100 rounds. The charge consisted of
281 b of powder and a cylinder, commencing at 601 b weight
and increasing at each round. As it was intended to prove
the guns, to use the technical expression, " to destruction,"
the trial was ordered to b 3 resumed and the charge in-
creased. The gun was destroyed on the second day at the
third round. Tho second gun contained a steel tube within
one of wrought-iron. This gun burst into fragments at the
first round. The third gun was strengthened with a
wrought-iron tube only, and discharged 80 rounds without
showing any indications of giving way. It burst at the 81st
round. The trials were witnessed
.With much interest, as
they tend to prove the great advantage of the principle by
which an enormous increase of strength is added to the old
cast-iron guns of which the Government have an immense
supply now lying useless.
A seven-inoh cupola gun, rifl.3d on Sir Vim. Armstrong's
shunt system, and manufactured upon an improved prin-
ciple proposed by Mr. Anderson, Assistant-Superinten-
dent of the Royal gun factories at Woolwich, has been
completed, and Rill be shortly transported to her Majesty's
gunnery ship Excellent to be tested against the 100.
pounder smooth-bore gun. The same species of shot—
namely, 100 pounds each—will be fired from both guns.
By the appointment of Major-Gen. R. Low, K,H., to the
colonelcy of the 98th Regiment, a pension for distinguished
or meritorious service is placed at the disposal of his Royal
Highness the Field Marshal Commanding in-Chief.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDONDERRY AND ENNISKILLEN.

The directors state in their report that the rent of the
railway for the six months (£13,000) had been received
from the Irish North Western. Company by weekly pay .
ments, less income tax. The transfer fees for the six months
have amounted to £4 2s Gd, the interest received on deposit
to £B7 12s 2d. These, added to the balance brought forward
from the last account, of £214 Ds 4d,' give the gross total
of £13,306 lie to the 31st Dec. last. From this amount the
cost of conveyances and land, office expenses, and the inte-
rest on loans from Government and on debentures, amount-
ing together to £4,549 124, have been charged, leaving a
disposable balance of £8,757 2s towards the payment of
dividends and arrears. The directors recommend that the
dividends, at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum to the 30th
June, be declared and paid on the 12th February next, on
the £3,062 100 stock B, described in the Act 1856 and 245
half shares ; also the dividends, at the rate of 6 per cent.
per annum, on the £31,850 stuck A ; also the dividends, at
the rate of 5 per cent., together with 1 per cent. on account
of arrears, making 6 per cent. per annum on £247,737 10s
stock B, leaving a balance of £293 for the next account.
The expenditure on capital account to the 31st December
was £707,795. The total arrears of dividends on the B and
C stocks, after those payments, will amount to £60,803.