The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-10 00:00:00

ITEMS FROM AMERICA.

The New York Times of the 29th, writing on the
International Boat Race, observes that the Oxford crew
have no boys' play before them. We know too well the
splendid character of Harvard pulling in general to doubt
that it will vindicate itself when represented by so
superb a four. Granting that in physical strength and
condition the two crews will be equal, or, as is more
probable, that Oxford will have a slight advantage, it
is now asserted by some professional oarsmen in this
country, to whom the " Harvard style," now
thoroughly known, was like a revelation, that the
latter will vindicate its superiority even over the
hitherto matchless " Oxford stroke" at the race. Since
the affair at Worcester, in which skill achieved so signal
a victory over greater strength, this feeling has grown
stronger. With the American device of rowing without a
coxswain to aid it, it is believed that this Harvard stroke
would assuredly win ; and even without the former it is
believed that, as practised by the best amateur four that
ever pulled together in the country, it gives a good chance
of success.

Mr. Seward arrived at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, on
the 20th ult., and met with an enthusiastic reception.
He was escorted to the St. George Hotel, where the prin-
cipal citizens, headed by the mayor, called on him and pre-
sented him with an address of welcome. Mr. Seward
visited the acting Governor, and was received, it is stated,
in a becoming manner. He was serenaded in the evening,
and returned his thanks in a speech, closing with an ex-
pression of friendship for Great Britain.
An appalling catastrophe (says the Kew York Times
of the 20th) occurred last evening at about a quarter-
past eight o'clock in Printing-house-square in this
city. Some fireworks in a waggon, the six occupants
of which were returning from a chowder party, were sud-
denly ignited, one of the party having carelessly dropped
a box of burning matches in their midst. An explosion
followed by which seven persons were injured, three of
them fatally.
From Canada a telegram dated the 27th says :—" Yes.
terday and to-day a conference has been in progress here
to settle a basis of arbitration between the Dominion Go-
vernment and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Sir
John A. Macdonald, Sir George Cartier and other members
of the Cabinet are present. The proceedings are said to
have been satisfactory, and some minor points remain to
be adjusted."

Mr. George Macdonald, the poet, who is at pre-
sent staying at Buxton, is so far improved in health as to be
able to take the baths regularly.

A woman was sent to prison for seven days on
Monday by the magistrate of the Southwark police-court
for travelling from Exeter to London without having first
paid her fare.

it is said that Mrs. Hamilton, the mother of

the late Bishop of Salisbury, attended her son's funeral
on Saturday. The venerable lady, who is 88 years of age,
was drawn to the grave in a bath chair.

At the inquest held upon the body of the man
Pearson, who was killed I y the explosion of a locomotive
engine, near the Preston railway station, on Wednesday last,
the jury returned a verdict that the accident arose through
misadventure, but they could not acquit the company's
servants of a great amount of negligence. Worthington,
the driver ; Guttridge, the fireman ; and Beardswoith, the
pointsman, were called into court, and the coroner stated

that if an occurrenco of a similar nature took place they
might bo sent to Lancaster on a charge of manslaughter.

A serious, but happily not fatal, explosion of fire-
works occurred at Liverpool on Saturday night. A sailor
just come Lome from sea had taken to his house, in Wash-
ington-street, a large quantity of rockets and ball cartridges.
These, from some unexplained cause, became ignited and
exploded, blowing out all the windows in the house, bringing
down the ceilings in some of the rooms, and one of the walls
of the room in which the fireworks wero. The two members
of the family in the house ran into the street to see what
was the matter, and did not receive serious injury.
At the inquest held on Saturday on the bodies of
the five unfortunate persons who were drowned in the river
on Monday by the sinking of the flat Trafalgar, laden with
salt from Winsford, one of tho witnesses, the master of a
flat, said that it was the usual thing to load the flats
block salt above the combings, so that the hatches could
not be fastened down. Ho did not consider it a safe or
Prudent practice, but he would load his flat the same way
again, " for his owners would be astonished if he took
down less cargo than other men." The jury returned
verdict of " Accidentally drowned."

It has been arranged that the second conference of
trades councils and unions shall be opened at Birmingham
on Monday, the 23d instant. Delegates from all parts of
the country will attend, and the following will be among
the subjects discussed :—"Justification of Trades Unions ;"
"Reduction of the Hours of Labour;" "Lock-outs, their
Cause and Effect ;" "The Necessity of Assimilating the
Factory Act and the Wo, ksliop Bill of 1867 !" " Pri-
mary Education ;" "The Indian Tariff, and the Insufficient
Supply of Cotton ;" "Courts of ArLitration and Concilia-
tion ;" "The direct Representation of Labour in the House
of Commons ;" and "Limitations of the Number of Appren-
tices."

ACCIDENT ON THE NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY.

—An accident through the negligence of a pointsman has
just occurred on the North British Railway. The points.
man at G orebridge was seeking shelter from a shower of
rain when the express to Edinburgh came up. The points
not being opened, the train dashed into a siding. It
rushed into a field of standing grain, where the engine
expended its impetus very soon, the passengers suffering
nothing beyond a shaking.
A NEW WAY or PAYING INCOME TAX.— The
Secretary of the Treasury has received the following
letter :—" Dear Sir,—Enclosed please find 470 dols. This
is not conscience money ; but, doing a local business in a
Pennsylvania town, and by care and management
having made it pay, I have thought that it would
be injurious to my business to have my full income
published in our village paper, therefore I have
paid a part of my income tax to the collector, and the
balance I send direct to you.—Yours, &c., HONESTY."—
.New York paper.

ICE.—The great ice manufactory at New Orleans
is one of the wonders of the age, yet its processes of con-
verting distilled water into solid blocks of crystal ice are
said to be so simple as to beget surprise. Not very
much space is required for the purpose, and the
hull of the ship, it is said, can be used quite as
advantageously as a building upon shore. The water
can be distilled from the ocean brine, and the very
best quality of ice manufactured, and at a cost, in
most localities, much less than the natural article cau be
furnished for.

THE JUDGE, THE DEAN, AND THE WHISTLE.—At
the ~ Cumberland Assizes, which were held at Carlisle
recently, the noise arising from the whistling at the
principal railway terminus in that city, which adjoins th'
Court Houses, was so great that the business of the assizes
was frequently interrupted, and Mr. Justice Hannen was
not only often unable to hear the witnesses, but also ex-
perienced great difficulty in making himself heard when
he addressed the jury. The nuisance was so intolerable
that the learned judge took occasion when the grand jury
had completed their labours to request them toremonstrate
with the directors of the different railways, stating at the
same time that the noise had kept him awake nearly the
whole of the preceding night, and had rendered him almost
unfit to discharge his duties. This grievance has been of
long standing, and Dean Close, whose residence in the
Abbey of Carlisle overlooks some of the railways, in a
letter to the Carlisle Journal, complains that the whistling
of the locomotives often disturbs with a note of discord
the harmony of the service at the cathedral, mars the
effect of the sacred music, and effectually destroys the
stillness and repose which ought to pervade the precincts
of the ancient abbey. Dean Close hopes that the railway
directors, who have hitherto been deaf to his remon-
strances, will defer to the voice of so exalted a personage
as Mr. Justice Hannen, and abolish a nuisance which has
tormented him and his ecclesiastical brethren residing in
Carlisle Abbey for many years.