The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-29 00:00:00

sider that is pro luced by the state of the river. I
have found animal matter among he mud.
By Lord Goderich—lf the sewage was conveyed
to the sea, in consequence of the specific gravity of
the salt water it would not mix With the water,
and would be brought back again. I attribute the
increased evil which we now exp?rience to the in-
creaye of mud. I attribute the stench cf the mud
to a change in the character of it lather than to
any increase in its bulk. •
Sir J. Shelley—K as you assert, the whole of
the sewage of London always' comes back again,
and as Loudon. is always pouring its sewage into
the river, how is it that there is anything but
sewage water ih the river at all ?
Dr. Thompou—There can be no doubt that some
portions of the soluble matter would go into the
sea and mix with it, but the insoluble parts of the
sewage would alwlye come back again. I consider
that Mr. Gurney's plan for burning the foul gases
was a good oue. The fluid from deodorisel sewage
would be most beneficial to vegetation whenthrown
over the land.: In other cases the decidorised water
;night e pas4ed into the Thane., and, although
it might still retain the smell of the sewage, Ido
not think it Would he injurious to tbe riv.r as it
would be mixed With 'so large a qfiabtity of fresh
water.

By Lon! J. Manners—T. have examined vrat• r
tAc.n from docks, awl I fiud that it is much purer
than the water in the seweis. I took the water
flow just below the Thames Tunnel.

ByMI r. Roupell—The temperature of the sea is
always lower than the water of the river. I can
readily believe malty miles of tie sewers on
both sides of the river are in su-•h a foul condit;on
as to be a miniature represent►tiou of the river
Thum s. I think if flushing of the sewers was
suspended, dangerous consequences wotilil
as the odours would make their way up the gully-
holt s and into the houses. If a system et deo4lori-
aation were adopted, it raighr, be desirable to divert
the storm overflow from the Sewers, so As to render
the sale of sewage manure.no longer doubtful as a
mark-table article.

Aft,,Jr some other evi.ience to ilie'same effect had
been give'a the committee adjourned.

THE LOSS OP THE PE.NINNULAR AND
OBIANTAL MAIL STEAM-SHIP APA.'

OFFICIAL INQUIRY.

Yesterday, Mr. Selfe, the Thames Police Court
magistrate, and Captain Walker, of the Board of
Trade, nantieal assessor, opened an inquiry, at the
Greenwich Police Court, into the circumstances
attending the wreck of the Peninsular nod Oriental
Steam Navigation Company's steamer Ava, on the
coast of C ylon, on the 16th of last February.
Mr. A. Dowd appeared to c induct the inquiry
ou the part of the Customs ; Mr. Coxwell attended
for Captain Kurton, this command,ir of the Ava.
Captain. Johnstone, of 'he Bengal Army, was the
fir,t witness e:kanined—l was a passenger hoard
rith,(3.4rAEivtai,mtasuldle lwe,,fst Coaltconutetila oant
oceFeb. lu r.Bu.ofrzr;
the IGth, at noon, the mat-, informed me that we
would reach that p rt at 7 v', lock in the evening.
Made the l,a d ut 4 o'clock in the afternoon, on the
starboard bow. She was in full sail, and under
steam. Sails taken in at sunset., just before 6
o'clock. At 7 o'clock the ship was going full
speed, and tearing the lsnd. 1 thought she was
approaching:too near. I saw no lights, and neither
did I see the lead going, and that made me uneasy.
About five minutes to eight I he .rd the words—
" Starboard, bard astarboard." I went forward,
and heard the thip give a kind of 'scrap-. I heard
the captain remark, " c nintermand my
order-, and. the ship will, be all right." In a couple
of minutes the ship struck, and I heard the capt On
give orders first to go-ahead, and then turn astern.,
The engines were then strpped, and I went below
and I saw the water ru,hing in. Thr ship settled
on a rock and remained. She was about a mile
from the shore when she struck. I did not see,
Trincomalee light before the srtiking. I got into
a boat at 9 o'clock and observed a faint 4,4 ashore.
hut it could not be mistaken for Ttincorhalee light.
The r.;ck where the vessel struck was 12 miles from
Trincomale.

By Captain Walker—l think there was elreless-
nos in the navigation of the ship in takiiig ht ship
so near she shore. If the lead had bveu hove I
shoal 1 have known it. The heats iv, re lower. d,
and'ihe ladies first put into thew. There was LO
Loans oa.

C+pt.in H. Haswell, R.N., Pa id --r was a
passe: ger mi hoard the Ava. (hi IhelGt't re! runty
when land was sighted, was opt deck from five to
seven o'clock. Sue was running along the 14.iicl
from fi,e to six miles off parallel w:th the coast.
The Tr iiteoinalee light is a vel.y.indifferent one, and
the wl.ol- affair is very t ad:y attend -d to. Heard
the order hart a.tarboard, and the engines stopped.
The circumstance of the ship being five miles off
the land at. seven o'clock, and in au hour after-
wards gettin4 on these rocks, is quite inexplicable
to me. I saw a light (.n the beach, and I. should
not mistake it for Trincomalee.

Dr. Macaulay, assistant-surgeon in the
ludiA Company's Service, a p of but
seeing, th' lvad hove.

Mr. euxwe 1, on the part of Cap.ain Burton,
admitted that is was not hove.

Cal,t iin Kurton, the late cOmmander of the. Ava,
was tin n examined at same length as to the loss
Ma& the land at four o'cl ink ou Feb. 16, and de-
t the courke which lie shaped, and which he
caictilated would take him off Trincomalee clsar of
all soundings. Made a light at half-past seven in
the direction he would expect to see Trincomalee
light. Then supposed he was about live mi!es from
the Lind. Had no idea he was within sounding...
Stood off for a bat to come out and take the
the traisme which was on board the ship, for the
authorities at Trine Inalee. A boat was then re-
ported, and he saw it was a lock. He called out
for the lie!in to be put hard a starboard, to stop
her and turn 11.,:r astern at full speed. The orders
were given before she struck. She was not going
at full speed. She struck almost immediately
er4rards. The b iJts were wain:lent to take alt
on board. Attributed the loss of .he ship to the
bad sta.e of the Trine nna'ea light, and the current
setting in those at an increasing rate from the time
Iliad taken measures to anticipate it. If the light
had teen burning when the ship struck he must
have seen it.

Cdptaiu Gilson also gave evidence of the bad
character of the light at Trincomalee, and that no
reapousible authority had charge of it.
There being wirer witnesses the inquiry was ad-
j turned.

• ANCIENT CARTHAGE.

The p; estire of the present is not so severely
felt but that we can spare a thought from time to
time on the groat deeds and works of former days.
Whatever illustrates the cat eer of the human
and the achievements of those who have preceded
us upon the e,rth, is at least a subject of leg.timate
curiosity to every man who desires to elevate him
mind ta the dignity of his actual position. We
cannot afford to throw away the history of a single
people. Until a comparatively recent period the
chronicles of Green) and Rome were accounted the
only ones which w,re of sufficient interest to occupy
the attention of educate] men. The nai mill con-
sequence was that these were imperfectly studied,
because our historical students workel ucon a
single groove, and because discussion was confined
to the class of merely learned men. Then the tido
of inquiry turned upon the hiLtory of Medireval
Europe. This was a great ga;n, because we had
arrived at a standard of comparison—the field of
generalisation was enlarged, and the intelligence of a
more numerous class began tooperate upon que,tions
which appealed more ntarly t their sTrti path ies and
actual modes of thought. Then the Pyramids and
sepulchres of Egypt were ransacked for every detail
which couldthrow light upon the annals and private
life of that mon ntnental race,wh;ch for alarge portion
of twen y centuries maintained the foremost post in
the progress of civilisation. In still a ranger
fashion, and iminediately in our own time, a young
Englishman brought the remains of Assyria to the
light of day—it was one of the most inemorablo
occurrences of the nineteenth century. In central
Amerra the same active spirit of inquiry has been
at wotk, and with most remarkable results. The
genius of an Ametiotn histot iau moreover, re-
conqtructA for us the annals of Mexico and Pei u.

Many of our leaders may be startled by the an-
nouncement that at the present moment it appears
to depend
.upon our,elves whether or no we choose
trt dig up Carthage. Such, however, is the case. An
Englishman—Mr. NEWTON—has bean delving for
some time past upon the site of the old city. He
has already struck his pickaxes and spades upon
many objects of great Interest in themselves, but
which yet possess higher importance when we look
at them as the eatw st of future discoveries. These
Carthagin'ans, we suspect, have been a much ma-
ligned people. For a time, and at the critical
portion of Roman history, they contended with
Rome for the empire of the world. They lost
the stake, and their triu 'Thant enemies have