The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-18 00:00:00

THE SILK TRADE OF JAPAN.

A report by Mr. Adams, Secretary of LeF,ation, on
the Central Silk Districts of Japan, has just been
published as a Parliamentary paper. The
Yokohama Chamber of Commerce some time
sines submitted to the Japanese silk-men complaints
by the merchants of Europe and America that the
silk was getting worse every year. They also com-
plained that inferior sorts were made up in hanks to
r;samble and be sold as superior kinds. Mr. Adams
has since ridden through the silk district-117 ri, or
290 miles—with three merchants, silk inspectors,
inquiring into the cause for these com-
plaints. lie says in his report that the
worms are now suffering from a parasite called
the "uji" (maggot), which is annulated, without
feet, and when of full size sometimes is as large as
the silkworm chrysalis. After the formation of
the cocoon the uji kills the chrysalis on
which it has been feeding, 'and renders it useless
for anything but floss silk. The number of cocoons
with uji varies from 10 to 84 per cent., and was
expected to be greater last autumn than had been
known for years. Hence the likelihood of more silk
and fewer cards of eggs as when uji are discovered by
experiment all the cocoons are baked to save the silk.
The report states that Japan produced 2,000,000
cards of eggs in 1865-0, and 2,500,000 in 1808-9.

PORTRAIT GROUP OF THE MINISTRY.
"A. Cabinet Council in 1809 " has been made the
subject of a portrait-picture on a largo scale, by Mr.
Henry Barraud. The publication is said to be
under distinguished patronage, and copies are to be
sold in the order for which they have been subscribed.
The figures are fifteen in number. The two nearest,
facing one another at a table in the foreground, are
the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, both the portraits being very good. The
remainder of the Ministers are grouped in different
parts of the room, and the tout ensemble is attractive
and strikinw.

STRANGE CONDUCT OF A MATE AND
STEWARD.

At the Yarmouth Police-court .on Thursday, George
Ruxton, mate, and Charles May, steward, on board the
steam-ship Wellesley, were charged with being drunk
and insuboixlinate on board. The circumstances
of the case, as stated by the captain,
Robert Hermann Peters, were as follows :—The
Wellesley is a new vessel of 737 tons register, the pro-
perty of Mr. Brightman, of South Shields, and is valued
at £75,000. She started on the 14th inst. from the Tyne,
on a voyage from Shields to Genoa, thence to Marseilles
to ship, emigrants for Buenos Ayres. Soon after the
vessel left the Tyne, the mate and steward were found
by the captain in the after state room in the
cabin in a state of intoxication. They had
broken open the stores, and had obtained a cake
of tobacco of twenty-four pound; which they were distri-
buting betweek them, and part of which was littered
about the floor. They were ordered to their cabins, being
toodrunk to perform their duty. The following night the
mate came upon deck about one ; bat was still drunk and
unable to take his watch, co he was ordered back again to
his cabin. Coming on deck once morn, he staggered for-
ward and fell in a drunken Elen). Both he and the steward
continued in a state of drunkenness until the
vessel brought up in Yarmouth Roads on the night
of the fifteenth.—The magistrate, remarking upon the ex-
traordinary badness'of the conduct of the prisoners, sen
tliNgd_ther4l2. One 7;444#4121' UnPrisonmeAt.