The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-01 00:00:00

THE INDUS STEAM FLOTILLA.

For the benefit of those who are not d'sposed to
face a cutting wind, or the proverbial fragrance of
the Thames, the Homeward Mail gives the follow-
ing particulars regarding the new experimental
vessel for the Indus. The card tells us that its
length is 200 feet, its breadth 38, its draught of
water 1 foot 10 inches, its speed as a•passenget-
boat 13 miles per hour, and with 500 tons cargo in
tow, 8 miles per hour. To these statements we will
add, that the first impression received on seeing it
is, in contradiction of the proverb, also the true one,
that it is peculiarly a surface boat. It gives the
idea at once, not of skimming—it is not airy enough
for that—but of gliding, of capability for slipping
over those innumerable sandbanks which render
the navigation of the Indus so difficult In steamers
<the old build it was not a very pleasant thing,
when descending the Indus in full flood at the rate
of some eighteen miles an hour, to impinge on one
of these banks. The vessel seemed about to bury
itself altogether, and generally lodged with such
force that weary hours were spent ere it could
be got off. This difficulty may be said to have
ceased to reign, for but few banks approach
so close to the surface as 24 inches, and the ex-
perimental vessel is so constructed that each wheel
may be detached, so as to work off with the Other.
As a passenger boat the new steamer presents
extraordinary advantages. The cabins are un-
usually lofty, not much short indeed of eight fest
high, with ventilators and venetians in all direc-
tions. Around them and completely round the
vessel is a wide promenade like a verandah, and on
the roof of the cabins another, above which will be
an awning. Contrary to the usual custom, the fore
part of the vessel is appropriated to Europeans, and
the stern to natives, as the fore part will of course
be the cooler and more easily ventilated. Natives,
it may be fairly supposed, are less incommoded by
heat than Europeans, and there is another reason
for this arrangement which we leave to the subtle
perception of all who have travelled in the East.
There are separate cabins for females, both in the
fore and stern part, and the requirements of the
Pardah may be as much observed on board as on
shore by those who stickle for them. In the matter
of ventilation we have nothing to suggest, but
as the intense heat of Scinde is really the most
formidable obstacle to travelling in that province,
it would seem advisable to contrive some means of
cooling the roof of the vessel. Awnings are but a
feeble shield against the rays of such a sun, and
the roof will become so heated in the day as to
radiate heat even at night, unless water can by
some means be interposed. This might be done
perhaps by giving a deep rim to the roof, and a
metallic covering, in which case there might be a
second roof at intervals of three or four inches.
The vessel is constructed of iron, with a teak deck.
At present the deck is not of sufficient strength to
bear guns, but this defect may easily be remedied,
and as attention has been drawn to the point by Lord
Stanley, no doubt the alteration will be made.

THE REV. DR. GUTHIUE ON RAGGED

SCIIOOLAS'.

On Tuesday evening Hope Hall, Liverpool, was
crowded to excess by an audience anxious to hear
the Rev. Dr. Guthrie of Edinburgh, on Ragged
Schools. His worship the Mayor, W. Preston,
Esq., occupied the chair ; and there was a con-
siderable attendance of clergymen of the town and
neighbourhood. The proceedings having been
opened with prayer,
The CHAIRMAN briefly expressed the pleasure
which it gave him to preside on the occasion, and
then introduced the lecturer.
The Rev. Dr. GUTHRIE then proceeded with his
lecture. He said he appeared that evening to
advocate a cause in which he had felt a long and
deep interest—that of Ragged Schools. One of
the most remarkable features of our age, as
compared with preceding times, appeared to
him to be the expansive and comprehensive cha-
racter of its Christian benevolence. Our grand.
fathers and great grandfathers were, he believed,
very good people, but he thought we were better.
They took very little interest in anything beyond
themselves or their own parishes. Sixty or seventy
years ago, did ever a ship sail from Liverpool with
missionaries for her passengers or Bibles as a
part of her cargo ? Then there was another
remarkable feature in the present time, and that
was the very general use of the power of union—
co-operation as distinguished from individual
action. But amongst all other things he would
advocate Ragged Schools as the most noble, the
most benevolent, and the most efficient remedies for
some of those evils under which society, and our large
cities especially, groaned. Having in general terms
glanced at the history of the commencement of
the Ragged School movement, in which he
humoreusly answered, ithe first objections to the
scheme, the rev, doctor proceeded to give an inte-
resting narrative of the rise and progress of the
original ragged school in Edinburgh. In proving
that, by means of ragged schools, they had put down
juvenile mendicancy in Edinburgh, he drew an awful
picture of the neglect and poverty which attached
to numberless poor people in the streets of Edinburgh
before the establishment of those institutions. As
a minister of the Gospel he did not blame the boy
for stealing, if he was starving. The Bible allowed
a man to lay his hand upon food, if he were a dying
man, and starving with hunger. They had no right
to starve the boy, and then punishhim for stealing.
Let society do its duty to him.
,By the Word of
God a hungry man was entitled to enter the vine-
yard and help himself, but he was not to carry
away anything in his pocket. He took his stand
upon the Word of God. Society had no right—if
a man's condition was not his own fault—that
was a totally different thing; but if it was not his
blame, but his misfortune, he (the lecturer) was not
the man to punish a starving child who laid a hand
upon any food of his ; let those punish who would.
But in Edinburgh they had tried to do their duty
to those children ; and the result had been that
they had put down juvenile mendicancy. They
had also much reduced the number of juvenile delinquents. There was no denying thatintempe-
rance fed the poor-house with paupers, and the gaol
with felons; -and our judges were now denouncing
it from the bench. It was the greatest sin, and
shame, and curse, of our age. Were thereno intem-
perance, there were no ragged schools in Liverpool,
and not a fifth of the paupers we now had. Then
ignorance was another source which fed the gaols
and ragged schools. In one year there were 11,420
poor children committed in England for serious
crimes; and how had society done by these chil-
dren ? Of these 11,420, only one had received a
superior education, an.l there were only 196 that
could read well ; so that of the number no less than
11,223 never received the benefits of education. He
next west on to contend that by means of ragged
schools they had restored thousands of children to
the bosom of society, and converted them into
valuable and useful members of the community.
He thought it was a sin and a shame that society
should have punished those we should have pitied,
and prosecuted those whom the Lord had smitten.
He believed if anything in the world was calculated
to bring down the blessing of heaven upon this
land, it was that we had now done away with that,
or were determined to do away with it—to pity
those poor creatures, to commiserate their miseries,
and cast over them the shield of our Christian
protection. He would not like to be the man who,
when he faced a righteous G.d, had also to face
those he had neglected on earth, who could say,
"I was hungered, and he gave me no meat ; I was
thirsty, and he gave me no drink ; I was a stranger,
and he took me not in ; I was sick and in prison,
and he visited me not." Then would Jesus say,
" Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of
these, ye did it not to me." In pointing out the ser-
vices rendered to the State by ragged schools, he
declared that he could save these poor children at
£25 a-head, while the country incurred an expense
of £3OO, and finished off by hanging them. Which
was the best course to take? There could be no
hesitation in answering that question. He held it

to be the duty of society to see every child in the
country educated; and that education, if necessary,
should be compulsory. If there was a place under
heaven which required vigorous means to put down
crime, it was this mighty, wealthy town of Liver-
pool. We had merchant princes in this town, and
an immease command of wealth ; we had every
spiritual and earthly advantage ; and if there was
a town in Great Britain that should be first and
foremost in the cause, it was the town of Liver-
pool.

THE FIRST VESSEL DIRECT FROM SARAWAK.—
The Hyalmer, a Swedish vessel of 400 tons, Captain G.
Burmem, has arrived at Liverpool with a cargo of sapan
wood, sago, antimony, rattans, &c., the first which has yet
been received direct from Sarawak. The vessel is consigned
to Messrs. lleyn, of Liverpool, and is lying in the Stanley
Dock.
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Rarey's Horse and Cattle Improv-
ing Food is equally adapted to improve the stamina of ill-
conditioned Horses, Cows, Bullocks, Calves, Sheep, and
Pigs. It causes no extra expense, as it contains far more
and better nourishment than its cost of lid. per feed sup-
plies in corn and hay; hence ensures an actual saving in
the keep. But its principal advantages are a great im-
provement in the digestive functions, the stamina and
general condition of horses enabling them to perform far
more labour without getting distressed. It imparts new
vigour to sick, debilitated, or old apparently worn-out
horses, and it puts rapidly the finest flesh on cattle gene-
rally,
and improves the milk in cows, as it. enables them to
extract the entire nourishment out of everything they feed
on. Barey and Co., 77, Regent's Quadrant, Piccadilly,
London. Packed in tins of about 99 feeds, I le. ; in casks
of about 450 feeds, 50s. ; of about 1,000 feeds, £5, being
lid. per feed,