The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-22 00:00:00

THE ALBERT LIFE OFFICE IN INDIA.

The Indian Daily News says that the suspension of pay-
ment by the Albert Lifo Office has caused the deepest
concern in Calcutta. The branch there had enjoyed for
many years the confidence of residents in India. The
event has been compared to the suspension of payment by
the Agra Bank and the Union Bank. A committee
of inquiry, appointed by policy-holders in India, have
conferred with the board of direction in Calcutta, and
temporary arrangements have been made to secure
the interests of those concerned until further particulars
are received from England. The committee was appointed
about three months ago on account of the dissatisfaction
which prevailed regarding the affairs of the Albert,
and the non-payment of tho bonuses which those
claimed who had contributed at the higher rates.
Mr. Neale, one of the London Board, "happened to be"
in Calcutta at the time, and he met the dissatisfied policy-
holders, but his answers only increased the dissatisfaction,
and the committee alluded to was appointed. The board
of directors are anxious to exculpate themselves, but it
now appcars that Mr. Neale came out to obtain
£40,090 from the Indian branch, and it is strange
that the committee, to whom professions were
made of every desire to afford information, were kept
entirely ignorant of that fact. The Albert was one of the
first offices that insured the lives of natives of India, and
about a hundred Hindoos are comprised in the list of
policy-holders. The failure is not likely to do the experi-
ment of introducing the principles of life insurance into
India much good.

The services of five Madras lawyers have been
secured in a case of heirship to be tried in Madras ; one of
them is to receive a fee of £3,500, and the five £9,000.
The contract is signed by which M. Straliosch binds
himself to give Madame Patti 1,000,000 francs for 100
representations in America.

Another stringent order has been issued by his
Excellency the Viceroy of India in Council regarding the
allocation of budget grants to public works throughout
India. No exceeding of the budget grant, or transfer of
any part of it from one work to another, will on any account
be permitted.

THE NEW BISHOP or SALISBURY.—It I£4 now
definitively settled that Dr. Moberly will be consecrated
as Bishop of Salisbury, at Westminster Abbey, on St.
Simon and St. Jude's Day, October 28th. The cnthroni-
zation will be in the early part of the following month.
A. now explosive material, called lithofractour, has
been invented by a Prussian named Krebs. The ingre-
dients are a profound secret, but is said to have been
already used for mining operations, and to be equally
applicable for military purposes, Prussian officers declaring
that its substitution for powder in the next war would
ensure great superiority to the Prussian army. The
advantages claimed for " lithofractour " are greater explo-
sive power than that possessed even by nitro-glycerine,
small production of smoke, and freedom from all danger
of explosion during transport.

It is with pleasure that we record the probable
settlement of the dispute between the masters and men
of the Strafford Main Colliery, n•hich has now existed
nearly three months. The mon, who with boys,
numbor about 300, were discharged about twelve
weeks ago on their refusal to submit to a reduction in
their wages of from 7} to 10 per cont., and have since been
supported by the South Yorkshire Miners' Association. At
an interview between the proprietors and a deputation of the
workmen on Saturday, certain propositions were discussed,
and from the manner in which they were received, there is
every probability that the men will shortly return to their
employment.

The land tenure question is attracting some atten-
tion in Wales as well as in Ireland. At trio annual dinner of
the Anglesey and Carnarvonshiro Agricultural Society, the
other night, the vice-president, Mr. Griffith J. Roberts,
brought the subject forward in his speech. Ho con-
trasted the system of land tenure in Scotland with
that in Wales, and drew a comparison greatly in fa-
vour of the first-mentioned country. Ho complained
of
.the absence of encouragement from the land-
lords in Wales to their tenants, and strongly advocated such
a fixity of tenure as would give farmers more security and
relieve them from the disastrous consequences which fre-
quently follow a change of propriotory. Mr. Roberts's viows
were combated by some of the extensive landowners who
were present at the dinner.

A sad accident occurred on the Cornwall Railway
on Saturday afternoon. Three littlo boys, about nine years
of ago, had been out picking blackberries, and retuned
home across the Camel's Head Viaduct, between
Devenpolt and Saltash. When half way across it,
a train approaching warned them by its whistle
of their danger. They heard it, and took refuge in the
man-hole. One of them, however, named Crew; the son
of a warrant officer, becoming frightened at the approach of
the train, jumped out and ran along the lino. Ho was, of
course, soon overtaken by the engine and knocked down.
The wheels passed over both legs below the knee, cutting
them clean off, his thighs wore very much lacerated and his
left arm was broken. Ho was convoyed to the Royal Albert
Hospital, Devonport, where, sonSiblq_ t 9 tltQ last, 12Q cltecl
tlf b911r4 cbaji§i24.,