The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-31 00:00:00

LINLITHGOWSIIIRE.

Mr. Mill, of Millfield, has resolved, we understand,
not to offer himself as a candidate for the county,
owing to having found the ground to a large extent
pre-occupied by Mr. M‘Lagan. An understanding
seems to have got abroad that Mr. M‘Lagan is to
stand as a Conservative, which must, at least until
he confirms the statement himself, be held as a mis-
take, seeing that there is now a large majority of
Liberal electors on the roll, and that many of them
have signed Mr. DiPLaganle requisition.—Scotsman,

panish Foreign Debt.
MADRID, May 26.

In yesterday's sitting of the Spanish Senate, the
Minister of Finance, in the course of his reply to
a speech of Senor Pastor, upon the financial con-
dition of the country, said :—Senor Pastor be-
lieves that, should the loan be effected, it will
be on such unfavourable terms that the country will
regret it. On this point I must inform Senor Pastor
that the present Government have proved that
they know how to defend the public interests,
and that they will continue to do so to the utmost
extent of their power. Senor Pastor has submitted
to us, as one of the most important points, the ques-
tion of the settlement with, or openingof, the foreign
money markets. Now, I must observe that I am one
of those who believe that the time has arrived when
Spain is under the necessity of resolving this ques-
tion ; but I do not think that a single Spaniard will
yield when a question is put to him at the point of
of the sword. It is necessary to extricate ourselves
from this situation, but demands should be made in
a fitting manner, as otherwise there is no reasonable
means of granting them, and I must add that, in
this country, such questions are never resolved with-
out the concurrence of Parliament ; nor, indeed, can
they be discussed without such concurrence, as they
are so important, both from their gravity and even
their history, that no Government having proper
self-respect would enter upon them, unless by con-
sent of the co-legislative bodies.
Senor Pastor, in reply, said—The Minister of Fi-
nance considers that the most important part of my
speech is what I have said relative to the question of
the debt. It is my conscientious belief that there is
a necessity for our opening the foreign money mar-
kets. But how could I desire the matter to be ar-
ranged by royal order without the intervention and
knowledge of the co-legislative bodies ? In saying
that by negotiating our securities, the holders of
this demand payment at the sword'spoint, the Mini-
ster is right. The case is as if we sent an artisan to
whom we might be indebted to do more work in-
stead of paying him. Let Senor Castro study the
history of our debt, and he will see whether right is
upon•the side of your creditors or not.

The Minister of Finance rose at the conclusion of
Senor Pastor's remarks, and said—Senor Pastor
thinks that what has been said of payment being de-
manded at the sword's point is incorrect, and draws
a comparison between the holders of the coupons
and legitimate creditors whose claim the debtor
denies. All I shall say to Senor Pastor is that, until
it declared whether a debt exists or not, no such
comparison can be made.

EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENT.

BURSTING OF A WATERSPOUT OVER BRASTED

PARK.
(Praia the South-Eaetern Gazette.)

About five o'clock yesterday (Monday) morning
week a very heavy storm burst over the neighbour-
hood of Brasted, and, although it was not of long
continuance, its effects have been most serious to
the residence of W. Tipping, Esq., one of the county
magistrates.
The mansion is situate within a short distance of
the main road between Sevenoaks and Westerham,
and behind it, on the south side, the land rises for
nearly three miles, the most elevated part being
known as "The Chart." The house is surrounded
by pleasure-grounds, most tastefully laid out, and
the meadows at the south front are separated from
these grounds by a ha-ha, the wall being about five
feet high and of considerable length. The basement
of the house is composed of the servants' apart-
ments, &c., and there is a considerable slope from
the ground above to the windows, for the purpose
of freely admitting light and air. On this base-
ment there are three levels, and the butler's pantry
and plate closet ; two of the female servants' sleep-
ing-rooms being on the second level. After the
storm had raged for about half an hour, Mr. Price,
the butler, left his pantry to go,to the servants' hall,
which was on the lowest level, to see if the rain had
penetrated it, as had been the case about a fortnight
previously. On his return to the pantry, as he was sit-
ting on the side of his bed, an immense volume of
water poured into the room, striking him at the side
of the head, it having effected an entrance into the
house by pouring down the slope to the window
adjoining the pantry, which it broke, and forced the
door opening into the pantry, which it began rapidly
to fill, and Mr. Price was knee deep in water in a
few seconds. Fearing for the safety of one of his
fellow-servants, who was in a room on the same
level, he hastened thither, but before he could arouse
her the water had found another entrance, it hav-
ing extended to the south-west side of the house,
where it fell like a cataract into a small yard, and
with sufficient power to break glass in the back door
nearly half an inch in thickness, and at length the
door itself was forced open and broken. By this
time the basement was rapidly filling with water,
and the servants had to wade through it destitute of
all but their night clothing to effect their escape.
The family was in London, but Mr. Tipping was
immediately apprised of the sad affair, and on his
reaching Brasted the
_scene which presented itself
was of a very desolate character. The beautiful
grounds, on which so much labour and expense had
been lavished, were covered with a thick deposit of
mud ; flowers and shrubs were uprooted, and the
lower part of the mansion inundated. On the first
level there was about three feet of water, and here
the copper in the scullery had been lifted by the
water from the brickwork which surrounded it, and
laid on the floor, and a flour-bin containing about
two and a half sacks of flour was floating about. On
the second level a quantity of plate, the chest con-
taining which had been broken by the fall of a large
cupboard, was found in the deposit of mud, which
was at least one foot thick throughout the basement.
On the level the water rose to about four feet and
a half. On the lowest level were the servants' hall,
footmen's sleeping-room, store-room, &c., and in all
of these rooms the water rose to over seven feet, and
here the,destruction of property was the greatest in
consequence of the abundance of perishable stores.
Fortunately there was no one in this part of the
house at the time, as escape would have been impos-
sible from the great rush of the water.

To remove the water the fire-engine from Wester-
ham was obtained, and after some hours' pumping
it was sufficiently lowered for the workman to get
at the--:rains, which, after being opened, were able
to carry off the remainder of the water. It was
evident that the immense body of water which found
its way to the house could not be the result of rain,
and it is most probable that a waterspout burst in
the high ground, as for a distance of more than two
miles the course of the water is distinctly visible,
its width being from 40 to 50 feet, and the crops
along the route are considerably injured or de-
stroyed. The water having rapidly filled the ha-ha
at the south side must then have swept across the
lawn, and burst the windows, through which it ob-
tained ingress. It would also appear as if the
original body of water had beep separated shortly
after leaving the source, one part taking the route
to Mr. Tipping's, and the other going towards
llever wood, the lodge-gate of which was carried
away, and thence down into Brasted-street. The
road from that place to Sandridge was all under
water, some of which found its way into the cot-
tages, and the traffic was interrupted for some time.
We understand the damage sustained by Mr. Tip-
ping exceeds £5OO.

We understand that W. Tipping, Esq., of Bras-
ted Park, is a candidate for the representation of
Stockport, Lancashire, as a Liberal Conservative.

The London and Provincial Turkish Bath

Company (Limited).

The usual half-yearly meeting of this company was held
at their establishment, 76, Jermyn-street, on Monday, the
29th inst., at two p.m., J. E. Rolland, Esq., chairman of the
company, presiding.
Tho report, which recommended a dividend at the rate
of six per cent. per annum, free of income-tax, was laid on
the table by the chairman, and its adoption was proposed
by Mr. Crawslaay, seconded by Mr. Banting, and carried
unanimously.

Besides the dividend, amounting to £643 10s. 3d., the
sum of £357 17s. 3d. was appropriated to the indemnifica-
tion of shareholders who had paid up their calls previously
to the company commencing business, and the sum of
£357 4s: 6d. was written off for 'depreciation. _ _ _

The report also shows the company to be entirely free of
debt, with a considerable balance at their bankers.