The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-25 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN.

(Franz Mitchell's Steam-Shipping Journal.)
What will they do with the Great Eastern ? is a
question which has occasioned a good deal of dis-
cussion, and has given rise to a variety of by no
means uninteresting conjectures. Will she go to
India, to Australia, or to North America, and will
she be laid out chiefly for goods or for passenger
traffic ? The question of her first voyage appears at
length to be definitively settled. She will, after a
trial trip on the Bth of September of 500 or 600
miles, start on the 15th for Portland, in the State
of Maine. The idea of sending the Great Eastern
to India or Australia has been for the present aban-
doned, and the directors, in placing her in the
North American trade, have, in our judgment at
least, come to a wise decision. It is possible that
the expectation of bringing home the remainder of
the Indian army from Calcutta and Bombay may
have suggested the idea of despatching the Great
Eastern to one or both of those ports ; otherwise
the state of the freight market in the East would
surely not have tempted the directors to load home
from any port in India. An Australian trip would
offer greater inducements both as to freight and
passengers ; and as the projectors of the Great East-
ern originally designed her with a view to the Aus-
tralian trade, the despatch of the big ship to the anti-
podes might be regarded simply as the fulfilment of
her destiny. But there are practical difficulties in the
way of an Australian voyage which seem to have
been overlooked. The Great Eastern, when under
full steam, will consume something like 250 tons of
coal per day. Say that she realises all the expec-
tations formed of her, both as to speed and wea-
therly qualities, she could not perform the voyage
to Australia in less than a month or five weeks each
way, and even her vast stowage would not possibly
suffice to carry coals for the occasion. If not, could
she reckon upon procuring at Melbourne, Sydney,
or the Cape, an adequate supply ? The idea of a
long voyage is, therefore, met by this initial diffi-
culty, which must be disposed of before it can be
attempted with any prospect of success. The North
Atlantic trade, and especially the trade with Canada,
seems to invite the great experiment which the
world is soon to witness. The passenger and goods
traffic on that line is sufficiently large to induce
every encouragement, while the St. Lawrence in
the one direction, and Portland in the other, afford
the choice of harbours in which even the Great
Eastern may be safely accommodated. We regret
the preference has not been given in the first in-
stance to the St. Lawrence, inasmuch as there exist
at Quebec abundant facilities for loading and dis-
charging, while the communication with Chicago,
St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Buffalo,
Oswego, the other lake ports, and the cities of the
Ohio and Mississippi, the places whence the return
cargoes must be derived, is open and direct. Chi-
cago alone, in 1850, exported over 3,000,000 qrs. of
grain, 250,000 brls. of beef and pork, besides vast
quantities of bacon, lard, hides, wool, &c., while in
the same year Chicago took 100,000 tons of Eng-
lish pig-iron, besides hardware, earthenware, and
other British products, all of which went by way of
New York to the Erie Canal. Here is a trade the
profits of which have been hitherto diverted from
the St. Lawrence, its natural outlet, to New York
and Boston, to the serious damage of Quebec and
Montreal. The Eric Canal has hitherto drawn by
far the greater share of the traffic of the great
lakes, although that canal is more than six times
the length of the St. Lawrence canals, and the
transit proportionably costly. The Great Eastern
may become of great importance in further deve-
loping this valuable trade in British bottoms and
on Britisli railways. The selection of Portland as
the port of destination for the Great Eastern is in-
tellig:ble, seeing ::that the Grand Trunk Railway
runs in there, and that the harbour possesses abun-
dant accommodation ; while, during the winter, the
choice of it is inevitable. But it has been suggested
that the extension of the Grand Trunk to open water

in winter below Quebec, by means of a wharf,
would enable the Great Eastern at all times to Joad
and discharge in the St. Lawrence ; and this sug-
gestion, coming as it does from one thoroughly ac-
quainted with the traffic of the river and its navi-
gation, is worthy of attentive consideration.
Assuming, then, that the directors have decided
upon the trade in which, for the present, they will
employ the Great Eastern, and have fixed upon her
port of destination across the Atlantic, it remains
to be seen what place will be selected as her port
of departure in this country. For a vessel of the
dimensions of the Great Eastern the choice will

probably be between Holyhead and Milford. Both
are sufficiently eligible in point of accommodation,
and both are connected with the interior and the
metropolis by railway. Holyhead has the advan-
tage of being nearer to Liverpool—Milford in hay-
ing supplies of coals at half price, and a good clear
offing, free from most of: the dangers of channel
navigation. The balance of natural advantages is,
we should say, decidedly in favour of Milford ; but
there may be other considerations which will go-
vern the managers of this great experiment—an
experiment which may entirely disappoint the
hopes of those who look forward to a splendid en-
gineering and commercial success, or which may,
and we trust will, crown the efforts of the projec-
tors, realise all their expectations, and inaugurate a
new era in the history of steam navigation.

HERRING FISHERY ON TILE WEST

COAST-THE TRAWL.

In 1851 an act of Parliament was passed, declar-
ing it illegal for any person to trawl for herrings
after the commencement of the herring fishery, or
to use any other description of net than the drift
net. For some years back the fishery officials have
ceased to work the act, and the trawl mode of tak-
ing herrings has been pursued with perfect impu-
nity. A spirit of dissatisfaction and discontent has
therefore prevailed amongst the drift-net fishermen
and they have from time to time adopted a variety
of means, with the view of getting the act wrought
out and the trawl entirely suppressed, but hitherto
without success. The trawlers did not appear in any
part of Lochfyne above Otter Spit until one even-
ing about the end of last week. On this becoming
known, the drift-net fishermen, despairing of get-
ting protection from Government, sacrificed a
night's fishing to go in pursuit, and chased them
out of the loch. The trawlers fired two shots at their
pursuers, but fortunately without injuring any one.
Mr. Sheriff Maclaurin and the Procurator Fiscal,
on hearing of the intended collision, drove down to
Furnace, where great numbers of the fishermen
were congregated, and lectured, dissuaded, and
warned them from resorting to violence, or in all
probability the consequences would have been most
disastrous; as it is, one man was considerably in-
jured by a stone thrown at him. The authorities
are of course investigating the affair, but it is to be
feared that this is but the first of an outbreak which
has been long anticipated. The Magistrates and
Town Colincil of Inverary met on Tuesday last, to
take into consideration the present critical position
of matters, when Mr. Sheriff Maclaurin addressed
them, and made some explanations with reference
to the state of the law respecting the trawl.
The magistrates unanimously passed the follow..
ing resolutions, which contain a short summary of
the grounds of complaint :-
1. That trawl fishing is very injurious to the ordi-
nary and legal mode of fishing by drift net, which
cannot be carried on at the same time with trawl
fishing in such narrow waters as Lochfine, the trawl
nets, when extended, invariably crossing, tearing,
and otherwise destroying the drift nets, and the fish
taken by the trawl nets have been found to be ma-
terially destroyed as an article of food. 2. That
trawl nets are also very injurious to the spawning
beds of the herring,by tearing them up and thereby
destroying the whole bed. 3. That by totally
breaking and separating the shoals of herring, the
fish leave their usual spawning ground and narrow
waters for the ocean, where they cannot be caught
by either drift or trawl net; while, at the same
time, the use of the trawl has been found to have a
most injurious tendency by scattering the eyes of
the herring, frightening and disturbing them so
much that the herrings have in some parts,
. where
the fishing at one time was very successful, deserted.
the grounds altogether from the prosecution of the
trawl. 4. The meeting are strongly of opinion that
tbe
enforced, and
againstana trawlingfor
tat should be strin-
gentlynestly recommend that additional purpose
officers
shouldth e ee:a-
a p poi be-
appointed,
thet ed ,if
trawlt he; parneas ena
tl
ssot,a if bepracticable, insufficient
that to
presstheland police force should be employed in that capa-
city.
In addition to these well-founded grounds of eom-
splaint, others exist, amongst not the least of which
, the wholesale bagging of the herrings of all
sizes, from an ounce weight upwards. But the
trawl likewise sweeps up all fish coming in its
greedy track ; and it was no uncommon sight last
year, in Lochfyne, to see the salmon and herring
in the boats together. For the upper parts of
Lochfyne, the salmon fishing has been almost a
complete failure thisseason.
in it attribute the scarcity solely to the foul work
The parties engaged
of the trawl.—Glasgoto Herald.

,wthoence,linebradateditl:lorn.
ET TO Mn. LEATHAL—We believe
THE BAN"
thbeanfigthil)e,t
will take place in Huddersfield next
Leatham's triumph,
tom Mr. Leatham, Mr. John Bright will be present, and, we
bytonthTathuarslayn,d.
hope, Mr. Cobden as well. In the absence of any autho-
thoenret
hi s
rised communication, it being too early for that, our readers
may rely upon there being a banquet upon such a scale,,
(puroobdaul
and attended by such guests, as probably Huddersfield has
never yet witnessed. It is intended to engage the large,
marquee used at Rochdale during the past week.—Hudderaw.
field Examiner.—The banquet has, it appears, been pciA.
tively fixed for the Bth;September.