The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-26 00:00:00

THE SUN', LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1863.

a good ventilation on account of the many water-
tight bulkheads necessarily used in their construc-
tion. 4. Their great unhealthiness, as proved
n‘ready by the few cruises made by the Warrior
and Defence.—Yours truly,
DONALD MCKAY.

THE GAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

PLYMO wr Er, Saturday.

The Royal mail steamship Cambrian, Commander Wm.
Strutt, from the Cape of Good Hope, Dec. 21; St. Helena,
29th; and Ascension, Jan. 2, arrived this morning, and
having discharged GL,v, rnment invalids proceeded to South-
runt4on. Her cargo includes 48 packages of wine, 8:4
bales of sheep's wool, 44 bags of copper ore, 51 cases of
aloes, 39 bags of bulbs, 11 bales of silk, 30 bales of grass-
cloth, a variety of other produce, and five packages of re-
mittances, value £550.

The day before the Cambrian left Governor Wodehouse
was employed with the Council in determining the course to
be adopted regarding the construction of new railroads.
The Cape Town and Wellington Railroad was to have been
completed for £•i00,000; the capital was exhausted and
£lOO,OOO borrowed, and the road is opened only as far as
Bennetsvilie. Tho Crown agents in England had informed
the Government that bona fide contractors declined to go
to the expense of making preliminary surveys on the mere
chance of obtaining the c .ntracts. The Government had
struck out the clauses from bills allowing these expenses
and hence the difficulty.
The public expenditure for last year was expected to be
-SlO,OOO more than the receipts.
Tho inland portions of the Eastern Province and South
African Republics continued to suffer from drought. Cattle
were dying by thousands, and provisions were at famine
prices. The prevalent distress had compelled the Zuloos to
be peaceable. _ _

The works of Green Point Tramway were commenced.
During fine weather the works connected with the break-
water in Table Bay were pushed forward with activity. The
construction of the telegraph from Cape Town to Graham's
Town was to be commenced forthwith.

The ship William, 650 tons, Captain Hutton, foundered
at sea near the St. John's River on the 22d of November,
when on her passage from Singapore for London. Her crew
consisted of 21 persons, of whom two only, boys, named
-- Scotland and Remy C lyntl 004, ped. The boys sepa-
rated on landing, and wandered on the beach for several
days. When found they were nearly famished, having had
only a few shellfish to subsist on.
The paddlewheel steam sloop Argus, 6, Commander L.
J. Moore, from Plymouth and Madeira, arrived in Simon's
Bay Nov. 14, and sailed Dec. 4 for China. The screw steam
frigate Narcissus, 39, Capt. Joseph G. Pickford, flag of
Rear •Admiral Sir Baldwin W. Walker, K. C. 8., left Simon's
Bay Dec. 18 for Loando and the West Coast of Africa. The
screw steam corvette Orestes, 21, Capt. Alan 11. Gardner,
arrived.in Simon's Bay Nov. 13 from Mozambique.
The royal mail steamship Dane, from Plymouth Nov. 6,
arrived in Table Boy Dec. 13. The Queen of the South, 43
days from England, arrived Dec. 11, and left again on the
15th for the East Indies. The Lady Jocelyn, from Calcutta
Oct. 18, arrived in Table Bay, Dec, 18. Her port piston
broke the day after leaving Bombay, and she was compelled
to come on under canvas.

Vv
The screw steam storeship Wye, Master Commander V.
G. Roberts, from the West Coast of Africa, arrived at St.
Helena Dec. 5.

PORTI7GAL.

SOUTHAMPTON, Saturday.

The screw steamship Tartar,_ Captain W. Tally, from
Lisbon the 20th inst., and Vigo the 21st, arrived in dock
this afternoon, and left for London after landing passengers,
&c., for this port. She brings mails from Lisbon, letter
bags from the British fleet in the Tagus, and 12 packages of
despatches for the Government. The Tartar has 12 chief
cabin passengers, 15 second, and 45 third class, the latter
being seamen of the Portuguese navy on their way to join
a new frigate building in London. On freight she has £2,147
in specie, 970 bags of coffee,
90 casks of wine, 184 boxes of
eggs, 542 chest of oranges, 1,300 frails of figs, 924 bags and
casks of nuts, 57 pipes of oil, 328 packages of general mer-
chandise, and 12 live bullocks. On the coast of Portugal
the Tartar experienced light winds, with heavy rolling sea ;
in the Bay of Biscay and in the Channel strong winds and
heavy sea.
According to Lisbon letters of the 20th, by the Tartar, the
Louie Cabinet appeared strong in both houses since the
nomination of the recent new batch of peers. Ministerialists
had been elected to the standing committees in the House
of Deputies, but no party or political debate had yet come
on in either House.
The ex.hanges this packet at three months were—Lon-
don, 54 ; Paris, 529 ; Hamburg, 28i ; Amsterdam, 42k
Genoa, 52 to 472 ; Bank of 5 ; 3 per Cent. Stock, 47i
Por-
tugal shares, 551 to 553; Oporto Bank shares, 256 to 258,
The foreign vessels of war in the Tagus when the Tartar
left were her Majesty's ships Revenge, Warrior, Defence,
Black Prince, Resistance, and Trinculo, and the American
corvette St. Louis.

DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY BY FIRE.—A dread-
ful accident, which has resulted in the death of
Miss Janet Agnes Eurchell, daughter of Mr. W. Burchell,
solicitor, took place at that gentleman's residence, 42, Upper
Harley -street, on Thursday night last. Intimation of the
death having been for warded to Dr. Lankester, the Ow-
ner for Central Middlesex, he attended at Mr. Burchell's
on Saturday evening, and held an inquest in one of the
apartments there. From the evidence of Lucy Fames,
housemaid in the establishment, it appeared that she was in
the kitchen on Thursday night about 10 o'clock, when she
heard screams from the direction of Miss Burcholl's bedroom
which was on the third floor of the house. She at once ran
upstairs, and, on reaching. the second floor, found the young
lady in flames. She and some of the other servants threw
two hearthrugs over Miss Burchell, and the flames were
soon extinguished, but not before the deceased had been
dreadfully burnt. Dr. Garrod and Mr. Erichson,the eminent
surgeon, were sent for, but their services were of no avail.
Miss Burchell died at 20 minutes after 5 o'clock on Friday
morning. She told the witness that the accident had oc-
curred from a burning coal which fell from the firegrate and
ignited a muslin dress which she was wearing. She was
about to go to bed and had removed tho guard from the fire
in her bedroom. The coroner said it had been stated in some
of the papers that the accident took place at a ball, and while
Miss Burchell was dancing. The witness replied that there
was no truth in the statement. There was no ball at Mr.
Burchell's on Thursday night, and Miss Burchell was alone
and in her bedroom at the time of the unfortunate occur-
rence. Emma Morgan, lady's-maid to Mrs. William
Burchell, jun., stated that she was in her mistress's bed-
room, on the second floor, last Thursday night at a quarter
past ten o'clock. She heard screams from the third floor
tseh,Hrestanding
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.d e ODinnr.ao
Garrod
blaze.eanrrinogd
in to see Miss Burchell at about a
iatn
sdh rea
foundn to t h
soso rgc
3:ealfulnel‘rddel
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quarter past ten o'clock on Thursday night. At that time
some of her clothes were still burning. The injuries from
the fire were general, and some of the flesh was much
charred. Miss Burchell rallied somewhat from the shock;
but from the first there was no hope of saving her life, and
between 5 and 6 on Friday morning she sank under an affec-
tion of the larynx, caused by her having inhaled the flames
from her burning garments. Dr. Lankester said he did not
think it necessary to take any further evidence, The cause
of death was proved ; and Miss Burchell herself had
told one of the witnesses the way in which the
melancholy accident had occurred. There was nothing in
this case to show that the ignition of the unfortunate young
lady's dress was owing to the existence of extended petti-
coats, which was the cause of so many deaths among our
countrywomen. But there was this in evidence, that the
muslin dress worn by Miss Burchell was iu flames when
Emma Morgan found the deceased outside the door of her
mistress's bedroom. It was greatly to be desired that ladies
should require their laundresses to render muslin dresses
uninflammable by the use of one of those chemical prepara-
tions which would render them so, without injuring their
appearance, and at a cost so trifling that it was scarcely to
be taken into account. A number of letters had b_en ad-
dressed to him on this subject. On that day he had re-
ceived several; and one of his correspondents had been
good enough to forward him specimens of muslin which
had been rendered incombustible, and of two preparations,
either of which would make it so. One of these was sul-
phate of ammonia and the other tungstate of soda. Both
were soluble, and the latter could be purchased at ls. a
pound. A juror asked how much per dress would the use
of one of these preparations cost. Dr. Garrod said a fraction
of a farthing. They could be dissolved in warm water,
and the dress might be put into the liquid ; or, perhaps, a
more convenient mode of using them was to mix them with
the starch. Dr. Lankester exhibited several of the speci-
mens of muslin that had been forwarded to him, showing
by experiment that they would not blaze when applied to a
lamp, while specimens of the same material which had not
been subjected to the chemical process blazed like ordinary
paper. He hoped this subject would not be lost sight of. It
was one in which every man, as a husband, a father,or a bro -
ther, was interested. Only the evening befog e the dresses of
two of the young ladies performing iu the Princess's Theatre
caught fire, and the poor girls were badly injured. He had
just been to the Middlesex Hospital to inquire about them,
and hefouud that one was so much burnt that she was not
likely to recover. A juror asked whether these accidents were
on the increase. Dr. Lankester said he regretted to think
that they were. The jury
,returned a verdict of accidental
death. Mr. Burchell, jun., observed that on behalf of his
afflicted uncle, the father of the deceased, he had to thank
Dr. Lankester and the gentlemen who had served on the
jury for the kind and considerate way in which they had
carried on an investigation which, under any circumstances,
andcia
ejuryli an d s expressedfam i i
and her melancholyy,dealti
must be a painful one in a house of mourning. The coroner
their sincere sympathy with Mr. Bur-
chell
hisshaßsurdcehepellly
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hs
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raeglae:

A letter from Narbonne states that 16 empty car-
riages, which were standing in the railway station of Len-
cate, were three days ago blown over by the violence of the
wind,