The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-10 00:00:00

THE PRESTON STRIKE.

The latest reports received from Preston give no indica'
tions of an immediate settlement of the strike. On Fridal
afternoon the Spinners' Institute was crowded with ope•
ratives who had assembled for their week's payment.
Many of them are still unable to obtain employment at a
reduction of five per cent., and they are very indignant at
the conduct of some of the masters, who insist upon a ten
per cent, reduction. At about twenty-four of the mill°
the weavers have struck, and it is estimated that there
will now be between 6,000 and 7,000 of those operative°
out of work in the town. With regard to the question in
dispute, viz., the wheel-dividend system, the weavers are
as determined as ever to resist any change in it. They are
still favourable to arbitration, and are confident that if the
question is fairly tested the decision will be in their favour•
Promises of further support have been received by their
secretary from Blackburn, Church, Accrington, Harwood,
Padiham, Chorley, Haslingden, Clitheroe, Clayton-le'
Moors, Ramsbottom, Bamberbridge, Burnley, Stockport,
Bolton, &c. The weavers expect that their funds will be
increased every week. The following appeal from the
Preston power-loom overlookers has been issued :—"An
Appeal to the Manufacturers, Managers, and Overlookers
of Preston and Surrounding Districts.—Gentlemen, vie
respectfully wish to draw your attention to our
position. In consequence of the strike which hag
occurred in Preston several of
.our body who are in ue
way connected with the dispute have been placed in
circnmStances of a very unsatisfactory and embarrassing
character. They have both the masters and the opera•
tives to serve, and are necessarily subject to whatever
movements may be made by them, whether they involve
increased work or an absolute stoppage. Our average
earnings in good times are about Ws. per week, but
some of us are not receiving any wages at present, while
others, who have to attend the mill at certain periods
every day, in order to either supervise work which
_is.
being partially carried on in them or make arrangements
for operatives, obtain a mere trifle, altogether inade•
quate to support themselves or families ; and this state
of things will continue until the mills are properly in
operation again. Our private savings have, through a
long depression in the cotton trade, been exhausted, and,
as we have no combined trade fund, we shall soon, if no
change ensues, be in a very distressed condition. We
make this appeal in the hope that you will favourably
consider our case and be induced to render us some pecu"
niary aid by which poverty and its associated misfortunes
may be kept from our doors.—By order of the Committee
of the Power-Loom Overlookers of Preston."

The petition against the return for Taunton of Mr.
henry James has been withdrawn.

A shameful case has just been tried in the Seine
Court of Assize. A widow died, leaving three children, 3'
eon in the navy, and two daughters, aged 16 and 13. The
sister of the widow became the guardian of her children•
She immediately withdrew the eldest daughter from the con-
vent in which she was placed, kept her at her own house,
and repeatedly sold the girl to wealthy men who wore
charmed with her beauty. The infamous aunt received
sentence of five years' imprisonment.
TER TRAMWAYS QUESTION. The bill to
authorise the introduction of tramways into various
parts of the metropolis was again on Friday under
the consideration of the committee of the House of Cow•
mons, of which Mr. Sclater-Booth is chairman. The
evidence given by Mr. Hopkins, the engineer of the
scheme, referring to the scientific details of the plat►
proposed to be adopted, occupied the major portion of
the sitting.

THE COLLIERY INUNDATION AT EARL Dup..
LET'S PITS.—The inquest has been concluded upon the
one deceased who was killed by the Briefly Hill cornea
inundation. The jury returned a verdict " that the
deceased, William Ashmore, lost his life from the acci-
dental bursting of a dam. A dam in such a place, and
used for the purpose of keeping back any large qudntitY
of water from any workings adjoining, should be subjected
to the greatest supervision by •competent persons, and
from time to time the actual pressure upon the dam
should, if possible, be ascertained."

THE SULTANA AND THE PORTRAIT PAINTER.---"
It has become the fashion with the ladies of Constanti-
nople to have-their portraits taken. The favourite artist
an Englishwoman, a Miss Curtis. Some time ago thio
lady was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of
one of the Sultanas. The Sultana was short and stout.
and Miss Curtis painted her accordingly. This, however,
gave great offence, and the Sultana insisted on her being
made a foot taller, saying that as she was only 19 year,/
)Id, she would be sure to grow to that size. But instead of
growing taller, the Sultana only grew stouter; so that at
the end of a twelvemonth the portrait was almost unree
cognisable. Miss Curtis was then requested to paint the,
picture a third time, and it is now nailed up to the ceiling
of the harem.

•
MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE IN THE HUNTING
FIELD.-0a Thursday her Majesty's stag-hounds were
out for a run. The first deer had been captured, and pre-
parations were being made for uncarting a second, when a
Prussian nobleman, attached to the embassy, who wail
taking part in the sport, fell from his horse in an epileptic
fit. Messengers were at once2sent for medical assistance,
and Dr. Barford, of Wellington College, and Dr. Fair-
bank, of Windsor, were soon in attendance on the un•
fortunate gentleman, who is supposed to be the Count de
Galen. He had received a sabre cut on the head during
the Danish war, and this, it is thought, had so seriously
affected his health as to give rise to fits of this nature.
ELECTION PETITIONS.—The £l,OOO deposit in
the Bradford election petition has been ordered by Mr.
Justice Willes to be returned. In the North Derbyshire
petition, too, an application was acceded to for the same
object. All claims being discharged, the deposit was
ordered to be returned. South Hants will have no petition
after all. The Liberal petition against Lord Henry Scott
has already been withdrawn. With regard to the one
against Mr. Henry Cowper, at Judges' Chambers, the
application for changing the venue from Winchester to
Southampton was agreed to. But the same evening a
meeting of the Conservative electors of South Hants wag
held at the Dolphin Hotel, Southampton. Mr. Sloane
Stanley took the chair, It was unanimously resolved to
withdraw the petition against the Hon. William Cowper.
This disposes of both the petitions presented from the
Southern Division of Hants, the Liberal petition against
Lord Henry Scott having previously been withdrawn.
CLIMATIC CHA/itES THROUGH THE AGENCY 01'
MAN.—The ground on which stands Ismailia, a town of
6,000 inhabitants, and the headquarters of M. de Lesseps,
was but a few years since a dry, sandy desert, on which
rain was never known to fall. All is now transformed.
The old, dried-up basin of Lake Timsah has been again
filled with water from the Nile by a fresh-water
canal. Trees, shrubs, and plants of all deseriP'
Cons grow rapidly wherever the soil is irrigated, arid.
the artificial oasis widens fast. "Accompanying," writes
a correspondent, " thig extraordinary transformation of
the aspect of the place, there has been a corresponding
change in the climate. At the present time Ismailia,
during eight mouths of the year, is probably the healthiest
spot in Northern Egypt." The mean temperature for the
four months June to September is 04 deg. ; the following
four months, 74 deg. ; and the four winter months, 45 deg.'
"Until two years ago rain was unknown ; but in the
twelvemonth ending April last there were actually four'
teen days on which rain fell; and no later than Sundol
last there fell a tremendous shower of rain, a phenomen°ll.
which the oldest Arab had never previously
-witnessed/
Rain ceases to fall on a country deprived of its forests, or
f!Tay, tails 14 violent storms. Hero we see rain returning
tii(alaitrs on
_rcatoxiEg. the._ 'trees,=-Briciet_ *PM