The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-13 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Nov. 10.—There is no variation in the ac-
counts received from the provinces to-day. The excite-
mtit appears to be wearing itself out, and the increase
of employment afforded by the Board of Works, coupled
with the favourable reaction (to the consumer) in the
prices of provisions, affords a strong hope that the dis-
ease has been brought to a favourable crisis, and that a
gradual amendment may be henceforward regarded as
certain, although slow. At the Corn Exchange, this
day, prices of all kinds of grain, owing, of course, to
the nature of the last advices from America, met an
advance, but, considering that the supply was short, the
rise was extremely insignificant, not exceeding sixpence
per barrel. The arrivals of Indian corn continue to
increase, both here and at the southern ports. Four
more vessels, laden with heavy cargoes of this grain,
have arrived at Cork since Saturday last, and further
importations are daily expected.
It will be seen by the annexed letter, addressed by
Mr. Redington to the Rev. J. Mbliale, parish priest,
that the Government have issued new instructions for
the formation of relief committees, by which it is made
compulsory on the lieutenants of counties to admit one
Roman Catholic clergyman, at least, from each parish.
"Dublin Castle, Nov. 4.
_ _

" Sir,—l am directed by the Lord-Lieutenant to ac-
knowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ult.,
and I have the honour to state that, by an additional
instruction relative to the formation of relief committees,
every clergyman is enabled to nominate one of his
curates to be a member of the committees in his place,
for each parish committed to his charge in the district.
"The instructions do not sanction the re-assembling of
the old committees, without reference to the lieutenant
of the county, who is, at the same time, empowered to
add to the present committee such persons as he thinks
fit.—l hare the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
"J. N. REDINGTON."

" Rev. James M'Hale, parish priest, Hollymount."
The following is an extract of a letter from a gentle-
man who holds considerable property in the neighbour-
hood of Ballinasloe. His case is but a solitary one out
of hundreds similarly circumstanced :
" There are," he writes, " over 500/. due to me, and I
cannot be certain of getting 5L within a month. Even
tenants who owe me the rent of 1845 decline passing
their bills for the arrears. This would not annoy me
so couch, but that I know well they are able to pay.
Mark ! these are not the people who are really un-
able to meet their demands, but the snug farmers on the
-- lands. . . . There are several public works in
progress here, on which large numbers are employed ;
but the keeping of these roads in repair will continue
as a perpetual blister on the land ; and one-half of them
are perfectly useless. Just fancy one of these new roads
running parallel for miles with the mail coach road, and
made apparently for no better or more uFeful purpose
than to shorten the distance to Ballinasloe by half a
mile, for the accommodation of half a dozen families !"

THE GREAT BRITAIN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—The great number of ineffectual schemes that
have been proposed for floating this magificent vessel,
and the length of time she has already lain upon the
beach, induce me to make the following remarks upon
this important subject.
Having received instructions to survey her, and report
on the geological strata of the bay, the tidal flows, her
position, and the mode of floating her, and having as-
certained as near as possible the equinoctial or highest
spring-tides, the mean springs and neaps, and relative
level and strata of the shore and position of the vessel, I
hope I may be allowed to doubt the practicability of any
of the plans already before the public, and consider that
many of them are ridiculous in the extreme.
The following particulars I hope will be of service
to those practical men who are desirous of proposing
designs and contracting for floating this unfortunate
vessel.

She is stranded on the sands on the north side of
Dundrum Bay, between tvi o reefs of rocks, which ex-
tend a considerable distance into the sea, about 1,000
yards asunder. Her position is north-west, with her
stern to the sea, and about 130 yards above low water,
and her stem 300 yards from shore.
The sands average from 1 foot to 3 feet deep, upon
blue gravel from 9 inches to 20 inches thick, resting on
blue mountain limestone rock, on which the hull now
rides. The bay is frequently very rough, and the vessel
difficult to board during high tides. The sands vary
very little in this part of the bay, and whatever accu-
mulation takes place from the southerly winds is removed
when the winds blow eastwardly, which increases the
facility of floating her.
On the starboard side the plates have been bulged,
and the rivets sprung to a considerable extent, which
admit freely the flowing and ebbing of the tide ; and
several holes, about inch diameter have been drilled
through the bottom in order to prevent her from lifting
or beating.
At spring tides there are from 16 to 17 feet of water
in her hold, and at low water she is left dry, with the
exception of a small quantity of water in the dock she
has naturally formed for herself in the sand and gravel,
and about two feet in her bottom, and she oscillates
freely during high tides. She appears much sprung and
strained, has lost her rudder, and the screw propeller is
slightly damaged. The cylinders, pumps, &c., and part
of the driving gear, are covered at high tide, and exposed
to the action of the salt water. Her weight is about
1,600 tons (without masts, &c.) and the accumulation
of wreck about 200 tons more.

The sands on the beach at low-water are very flat,
with an inclination towards the sea of about 1 in
750, and the coast barren of materials, except lime-
stone.

From the practical survey I have taken, I am fully
convinced that the difficult task of floating her can be
accomplished, and that respectable and experienced con-
tractors may be found who will undertake to float her at
a moderate cost.

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
W. BILLINGTON, C. E.
Dundrum Bay, Nov. 4.

The extensive and eligible estates of the late Wil-
liam Crowdy, Esq., the eminent solicitor of Highworth,
in Wiltshire, have been for some time announced in our
columns for sale by auction by Mr. George Robins, at
the Goddard Arms, Swindon, on Monday, the 23d inst.
The property includes the family residence at High-
worth, with lands and houses in all directions, which
from their excellence and position, will no doubt excite
much competition, especially the lands, approximating
upon the Swindon station of the Great Western Railway.
There are also farms at South Marston, Lechlade, and
Letcombe, which offer excellent investments, and cannot
fail to command the attention of capitalists.
ITALIAN OPERA.—Rubini has caused a formal no-
tice to be published in the Pirata, of the 27th of October,
stating that if he re-appears in London, it will certainly
be at Mr. Lumley's theatre, and not elsewhere, Mr.
Lumley is in Paris, preparing for the forthcoming cam-
paign. It is said that he has effected engagements with
Freschini, Coletti, Pischek, aad Mesdames Frezzolini,
Corbari, and Castellan ; and with the following distin-
guished danseuses : —Taglioni, Fanny Elssler, Lucile
Grahn, Cerito, and Carlotta Grisi.

FRENCH OPERA.—Berlioz has just completed a
new opera in four acts, entitled the _Damnation of Faust,
founded on Goethe's tragedy of Faust. It is to be pro-
duced at the Opera Comique, Paris, in a few weeks.
PENAL DISCIPLINE OF CONVICTS.—We believe
that this interesting subject is at present under the se-
rious consideration of the Government, with a view to
relieve New South Wales from its redundant convict
population. It is proposed that the transportation of
males to the colonies should cease, but that the depor-
tation of women should be carried to its fullest extent,
in order to diminish the existing disproportion between
the sexes. It is also under consideration to establish a
convict home colony in the Isle of Portland, where a
proportion of the prisoners sentenced to transportation
should be submitted to a combined moral and physical
discipline, and employed in hewing and preparing stone.
Literary Gazette.
TIME SAVED BY A BRANCH RAILWAY TO MAR-
OATE.—The branch railway to Margate is to be opened
forthwith, and those who have endured the four hours
and a half journey, to which the directors of the South
Eastern now subject land travellers to Ramsgate (melan-
choly reminiscence 1) will be glad of even the little
saving of
by
ftimtheo twhaisy,bnraenarchmawr
Margate,
calculatefor great . Oar trust ust be in Pasley ;
ilieffeseetmed to us
Some
efthe
little
therefore, 0 most excellent general, open wide your eyes.
—The Builder.
DEATH OF A BOY FROM EXTRAORDINARY DISEASE.
—On Wedncaday an inquest was taken by Mr. William
Carter, at the Crown and Cushion, Page's Walk, Ber-
mondsey, respecting the death of Henry Jones, aged
four years. The deceased was the son of a hairdresser,
and for some time after birth he had been under the care
of Dr. Farr, of King's College Hospital, for an enlarge-
ment of the abdomen and a gradual wasting away of the
body. He ate very ravenously, but notwithstanding all
the nourishing food his parents gave him, his limbs be-
came reduced to those of a skeleton, whilst the lower
part of the belly increased to an immense size, in fact to
such a degree that he was compelled to keep his bed.
Ontort
fla Fi
nn rgei
lying
eynrr
gemhdoa
brother,
ersaen i n d
oag nn d at
whilst
ot
e nh
bi she dem.rs oh
rt e he
Ate
proceeded
r sl
neu fr t
she
hhe
eoi mnf
utwi
to make
a dst
mhe
the
called
ak lc
el
de-
ceasedae rd
ae
but alt efforts to restore life were unavailing. The jury
returned a verdict " That the deceased died from ex-
haustion and debility arising from internal bodily
disease."

ANOTHER FALL IN BREAD.—The majority of the
bakers in the metropolis yesterday again lowered the
price of bread one halfpenny in each 41bs. loaf. The
lowest price now charged on the Surrey side of the
water, Whitechapel, &c., is 7d per loaf of 41bs., while
the best bread is 9d., as charged by the full-priced bakers.
FALL IN THE PRICE OF CORN.—Corn has fallen
in Dublin fully 2s. per quarter. In Limerick, on Satur-
day, fine quality flour fell 2s. in the price of the cwt.,
but there was no general proportional fall in inferior
" bread stuffs." The Limerick Examiner, however, says
that the firm of C. Nash and Son, of that city, had re-
duced the price of oatmeal 4d., and whole flour 4d. per
stone on Saturday. This is, indeed, says the Examiner,
good news for the poor, to whom the food is retailing in
the smallest quantities at the same price that sales are
made by the ton. In Cork "bread stuffs" ranged on
Saturday as follows:—Wheat has declined 2s. to 2s. 6d.,
and oats 6d. to Is., since this day week. In barley no
change, but the trade is not lively. There is no change
in the value of flour ; coarse qualities continue very
scarce. Oatmeal as last noticed. Within the last ten
days six or seven vessels with Indian corn have arrived
at Cove for orders ; the large ones from the Mediterra-
nean have gone to other ports to discharge ; two or
three small ones from Portugal remain here, which has
caused a decline in price of about 10s. per ton. Indian
meal very scarce, and in demand at 171. to 18/. per ton.
The prepared market is flat, but stocks are very low.