The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-18 00:00:00

MANUFACTURERS OF THE VICTORIA CROSS.

PAINLESS DENTISTRY.
M ESSRS. GABRIEL, DENTISTS (Established
1814), of
Lon don 6B, Harley-stroet, Cavendish-Kure. •
64, Ludgate-Hill, E. 0.,
Liverpool 34, Dube-street, and
Brighton
have just published a NEW PAMPHLET explaining their Pain-
less System of Dentistry, and self-adheaivo Teeth without
springs, at MODERATE Cnantll3. which may bo had free by pod
for four stamps.

THE LOSS OF THE I3OSPHORUS.
.I'Lf3tdirirr, Dec. 15.
The following de6ils of the loss of the Bosphorus
have been received here:—

"The Bosphorus, Captain Alexander, a hired
steam-transport, from England for Bombay, with
stores for the Abyssinian Expedition, ran on Zitzi-
kamma Point, between Algoa Bay and Simon's
Bay, at 1 a.m. on the 21st of October. She left
Simon's Bay on the evening of the 19th. About
midnight on the 20th the weather was slightly hazy.
The Bosphorus was bowling along at nearly full
speed, steering E. by N., with no apprehension of
danger, her officers but a few hours previously
having believed themselves to, be 198 miles from
land. Five minutes before she struck the haze lifted
and land was seen right ahead. Everything was
done to wear the ship, but it was too late. She
struck on the rocks with a crash which shook
every bolt from stem to stern. The vessel
then almost immediately heeled over and broke
her back, having only one boat available.
IThree hours afterwards the Bosphorus went
to pieces. Most of the crew who were saved found
their way to land on pieces of wreck which were
' floating about. The captain, who could not swim,
was saved by clinging to a piece of timber which
floated past him to a rock, over which he clambered
to land much cut and bruised. There were 88
persons on board, and the following 40 are all that
were saved :--Captain Alexander, Chief Officer
Dunn, Second Officer Anscoe, Third Officer Hop-
kinson, Boatswain Williams, Carpenter M'Leod,
Lieutenant Baker,
R.N., transport officer, Purser
Saunders, and J. Franks, 'l'. Earle, L. Saddler, J.
Ryan, R. Jenkins, R. Pringle, L. Harrison, C.
Cleaver, P. Hughes, W. Hume, J. Farrol, J.
Cavitt, J. Fitzgerald, D. M. Court, R. Fyfe, R.
O'Donnell, J. Riley, J. Hunt, E. Spencer, J.
Tate, J. Bennett, C. Meaker, A. Gunter, J. Wil-
liams, W. Henn, W. Bell, J. M‘Griffin, W.
Nicholson, C. Peas, J. 11Plienna, J. Richards,
and J. Baharr. The other 48 persone met their
deaths in the first hour.

" The Government at the Cape have ordered a
special and strict inquiry into the circumstances of
the wreck."

A FREE LABOUR SOCIETY.

M f.pb ecem now to be convinced that at
the present moment a smouldering fire of antago-
nism, fanned by folly and selfishness, exists between
capital and labour, which is not the growth either
of yesterday or to-day ; and that there is a good
deal of danger in it. It is a kind of sporadic disease,
which, appearing and disappearing here to-day, to-
morrow crops up somewhere else, whence it is not,
perhaps, so easily dislodged ; but it is always im-
pending, and produces a general sensation of uneasi-
ness and distrust. High prices for food in one
place, low wages for labour in another; the public
crying out against the butchers and bakers, the
bakers and butchers retorting on the public ;
many hands out of work ; rates heavy,
and likely to be heavier ; our poor starving without
the workhouse, our paupers starving and ill-treated
within—it is not a pleasant state of things to con-
template. Strikes are now less numerous than they
were, perhaps because two of the most formidable—
those of the London tailors and the North-Eastern
Railway drivers and firemen—were speedily and
thoroughly broken up ; but nevertheless there re-
mains a spirit of moody discontent which threatens
mischief to trade and industry alike. Now " for
every evil under the sun there is a cure or there is
none." For this state of things the remedy lies in
our own hands, subject only to the amount of
knowledge we have on the subject, and the degree of
wisdom with which we apply it in practice. It is,
indeed, true that we rarely move until we are
driven ; but as a sensible people we ought long
since to have devised a comprehensive scheme ana-
logous to the French conseils des prud'hoinmes,
adapted to bring into greater harmony the relations
between the employers and the employed. Such a
scheme should employ no artificial and therefore
short-lived expedients to regulate thelabour market,
or it cannot have a healthy and permanent suc-
cess. One great aim should be to develope
the use of the rail and the telegraph in
behalf of labour, in the same energetic way
in which it has long been employed in for-
warding the interests of trade. If corn or mutton,
or any other commodity, is a drug in the market at
certain points, and the tradesman, learning the fact
by telegram, forthwith despatches orders to pur-
chase at that price and forward to him, he sells again
at a lower rate than his competitors and thereby
prices tend to equalise at both ends ; and there is
no reason in the world why a similar operation should
not be carried on with regard to labour.

The Trade Commission is at present sitting
almost daily, and the moment seems opportune
to discuss any proposed remedy for the state
of things revealed by its labours. As the
recently established Free Labour Registration
Society is the first that has appeared at all promising
to supply what is much called for, it may be worth
while to inquire into the constitution and working
of it, so as to enable the public to judge how far it
can or is likely to be of permanent value. The ob-
jects aimed at are stated to be—first, to obtain em-
ployment for those who want it, and hands for em-
ployers; secondly, the free discussion of all questions
affecting capital and labour ; thirdly, the peaceful
settlement of such questions by arbitration ; fourthly,
the protection of the interests of the members
by strictly constitutional means. It is, in
short, designed as a rallying point for non-
unionists and employers. There is also a
sick fund and benefit society connected with
it, but each of them is separate and optional,
S 3 that a man can register himself either to obtain
employment or to procure labour, or he can insure
himself against sickness and death, as he sees fit.
Members arc registered gratis, and a fee of half a
day's wages is charged when a situation is obtained
through the agency of the society. Employers are
members at the rate of £1 annually for employers
of less than 100 hands, and of £2 for those who
employ more. The general committee of manage-
ment is composed of noblemen and gentlemen and
an equal number of working men ; five form a
quorum. The sick fund is very judiciously placed
under the sole management of a sub-committee of
working men, who report monthly to the central
committee. The scale of payments has been de-
, tertuined by properly qualified authorities, and the
rules of the benefit society have been examined and