The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-29 00:00:00

• I/ ze" -47-49*6-
•
1 _EX?
•-'
..
...•,
mdi • (117 •
,4 4
.. • .
,
dt.
• ..
-
41TiP."'
TX4. - sp
4it
j.274a,
itt
(90.
1.
.I*/ "I /
4
, A 14,9
\ t.,fl • .
:it 7 •
.......
-
,44'-'lO
•
. • v

piticE 4D. STAMPED, SD,

THE WEST INDIA, PACIFIC, AND
MEXICAN MAILS.

+

The Royal Mail Company's screw steamship Tas-
manian, Captain C. G. Weller, arrived at South-
ampton yesterday, at 10.30 a.m., with the mails, in
charge of Lieutenant Slaughter, R.N., naval mail

agent.
a nTd huen
inmepwusr t byutlt t his
From
sl r
uine arae Jamaica
aiise a generally rdaal scantyar are
t 0
the 9th inst. The table of the public revenue for
the quarter ending 31st March had been published.
The gross amount was £60,000, being less by
£3,000 than the December quarter, but £l,OOO in-
crease on the corresponding quarter last year.
" Though no serious difference is observed in the
import duties (says the Colonial Standard) yet it
may be readily anticipated, from the civil war in
the United States, and the great dependence our
people place upon breadstuffs and many articles of
food, that there will be in the next quarter a mate-
rial reduction, which will be felt to an alarming
extent in this island as well as in the IVest India
colonies generally." The island was in a very dull
and gloomy state in consequence of the bad news
from America and its probable effect upon trade
generally. Business in all departments was very
flat, and money and.bill-discounting in abeyanCe.
Several shocks of earthquake had been felt in the
island. The first, which was rather severe, occurred
on the 27th ult. at about a quarter to 3 o'clock p.m.,
the undulatory motion being from north to south or
south to north. Two shocks had been felt at Mon-
tego Bay and throughout the county of Cornwall,
the first being one of the most violent that the
island has experienced for years past. It occurred
simultaneously with the one noticed in Kingston,
amid consternation in the town, the inhabitants run-
ning out of their houses, and with blanched cheeks
portraying the universal terror that was felt. The
church clock was stopped, its heavy pendulum
vibrating contrary to the current of the shock. A
house in Church-street had one of its corners rent,
and at Content store, in Hanover, the piazza was
completely severed from the main building. In the
harbour the shock was so violent that the captain
of a vessel was thrown off his legs, and in some
districts along the seaside it caused deadly sickness
even with persons accustomed to sea voyages. A
second shock occurred, but by no means so severe
as the first, about four o'clock on the morning of
the 28th. Captain J. G. Maycock, of her Majesty's
14th Regiment, had been appointed Adjutant-
General of the island and Military Secretary to his
Excellency the Governor. The Hon. J. S. Williams,
acting Attorney-General, had received from the
Lords of the Admiralty the post of Advocate-Gene-
ral. The foundation-stone of the new steam
(aerated) bread mills was laid on the 2d inst., in
Park-street, West. The establishment is expected
to be in full operation by the end of August. The
weather had been very sultry. The public health
was good.
At Trinidad trade in general was exceedingly dull
for the season, and the metallic currency was never so
low in circulation ; in fact, no one seemed to have
ready cash. The stoppage of a large mercantile
firm had thrown a gloom over the trading com-
munity, and prospects were far from cheerful. The
planters had been getting on briskly with sugar-
making, as the weather had become more settled
and favourable. The scarcity of tonnage and
advance in freights had checked speculation, so
that little had been done in produce since last mail.
Advices from Barbadoes are to the 10th inst. The
Militia Act would probably be withdrawn at the
next sitting of the House of Assembly, it having
met with so much public censure. An Act for con-
stituting a corporate body in the city of Bridge-
town had been read a first time in the house, and
ordered to be printed. The Water Company had
laid down pipes in every part of the city and
suburbs, and were erecting the public pumps, &c.
The island was perfectly healthy.
The Hon. William Walker had arrived at Deme-
rara, to assume the administration of Government
as Lieutenant- Governor, on the departure of Gover-
nor Wodehouse' who came home to England by the
present mail. His Excellency received addresses
from the bishop and clergy of the diocese of Guiana,
the Mayor and Town Council and other public
bodies, before his departure. The Court of Policy,
had a sitting on the 3d inst., but transacted no busi-
ness of importance, and adjourned sine die. Three
arrivals of immigrants had occurred during the
fortnight—viz , the Collingwood, from Calcutta and
St. Helena, with 296; the Saldanha, from Hong
Kong, with 496 ; and the Jessie Munn, from Cal-
cutta, with 295. The rainy season had set in.
Arrivals from the South Pacific bring intelligence
from Valparaiso to the 17th of April, and from Callao to
the 29th. Commercial matters in Chili were by no means
improving. More failures to a considerable extent arc re-
ported, and some of the wealthiest residents in the country
had succumbed, while but little hope was enterinined of the
news being more encouraging for some time to come.
The republic of I'cru remains in the same un-
settled state as at last advices. The Panama Star and
Herald of the Bth inst. says that the last accounts respect-
ing the earthquake at Mendoza are worse than those pre-
viously received, as it has been ascertained that upwards of
11,000 people perished in this dreadful catastrophe. The
details of the sufferings of the survivors are very sad, but
throughout Chili everything was being done to relieve the
distress.

WRECKS AND CASUALTIES IN 1860.

The annual return just presented to Parliament
of the wrecks and casualties on or near the coast
of the United Kingdom from the Ist of January to
the 31st of December, 1860, shows a number of
wrecks and casualties from causes other than col-
lision greater than that of either of the preceding
8 years. The number is 186 above the annual
average for 6 years, or 1,081 against 1,067, in 1859.
Although the Dumber of wrecks and strandings
has been greater than usual, the loss of life has
been less ; the number of lives lost in 1860 being
under one-third of the number lost in 1859, and
264 under the annual average for nine years. The
nutubc.r3 for 1859 and 1860 are 1,015 and 536. The
great loss of life during 1859 was mainly attribu-
table to the loss of two or three fine passenger
ships, and the decrease in the number of lives lost
in 1860 is owing to the absence of th.e loss of any
large ships under similar circumstances. In 1859,
870 lives were lost in two casualties alone, viz., the
wrecks of the Pomona and the Royal Charter,
whilst in 1860 the greatest number of lives lost in
any one casualty was 37, and the next greatest
number 31. On reference to the table, distinguish-
ing the cargo of the ships, it is seen that the
number of casualties to ships of the collier class.
i.e. ships carrying coals, coke, ores, and stone in
bulk) is below the number for the last year, al-
though, as is usual, it exceeds the number of
casualties to all other descriptions of ships put to-
gether. The classes of ships to which casualties
most frequently happen on our coasts are those
between 50 and 300 tons burthen, employed' in
carrying coal, coke, ores and stone. The expe-
rience of the past eleven years shows that the most
serious wrecks, resulting in the greatest loss of
life, do not happen, as was supposed, on the North-
east coast, but in those seas and channels mostly
frequented by large foreign-going ships. The
total number of lives lost from shipwreck during
11 years has been 6,883. The greater portion of
casualties happen with the force of the wind at and
under 8 (fresh gale) or under circumstances in
which a ship if seaworthy and properly manned
and found, ought to be well able to keep the sea.
At the end of 1860 the number of lifeboats sta-
tioned on the coast was 173, against 158 in 1859 ;
91 are under the management of the National Life-
boat Institution, but are subsidised by the Board of
Trade, and 5 are subsidised by the Board direct.
Of the remainder, 19 are maintained by the institu-
tion and 58 by local bodies. During the last six
years no less than 8,205 lives have been saved on
the coast by assistance from the shore. The num-
ber last year thus saved was 1,383, there being
110
lifeboats and 233 sets of mortar and rocket
_appoan
&c., at
ratus. The number of lives saved, duringsmac os_,S5U
or near
hthaevecobaesetns orfeetehieveUdnwiteads
2K, ingdomia
152 Ire or less
in 1859. The number saved, with
eduring 1860, was
risk, by assistansa from the. shor
of the whole number
1,383, or nearly two-thirds
d 326 lives being greatly
saved. The lifeboats save
ved by lifeboats during
in excess of the number ea
And the mortar and rocket
the two previous ye;
lives. The rem • d • er—viz.,
apparatus saved 4bo nsftw2l:3i3ch2
ndividual exertions of a meritorious
z fishing-boats k
haracter.
5ea,635 —a
swde sbayid

[ADVERTISEMENT.] - Holloway's Pills. -- Headaches,
billiousness, loss of appetite, and lowness of spirits, so fre-
quently prevalent in the spring, are all removed by a
course of these purifying pills ; which act so mildly, yet
so energetically, on the different organs of the body, that
they never fail in removing the disagreeable symptoms of
indigestion above enumerated. No noxious substance
enters into the composition of these pills ; hence everybody
may take them with safety. They act mildly on the
bowels, strengthen the stomach, and brace the nerve!.
They induce a healthy action in the liver, and invigorate
the whole system. In enfeebled, debilitated,, and hardly
used constitutions, they at once effect a marvellous im-
provement, which day by day gains ground as the pills are
taken,

'LOSION OF GUNPOWDER WORKS.

About 7 o'clock on Monday morning a series
frightful explosions took place at the Government
Gunpowder Works near Waltham. In order to
trace the origin of the disaster and show its effects
it is necessary briefly to describe the construction
and mode of working these mills. At the end of the
buildings is the engine-house where a shaft, run-
ning under the entire length of the mills is worked.
This shaft, in turn, causes the " runners," or wheels,
to revolve over the powder for the purpose ofcrush-
ing it. The " bed plates" upon which the powder is
placed for grinding are, like the runners, made of
iron. Those in the mills destroyed were formed of
two slabs of iron, three inches thick, bolted toge•
ther. The men had been at their work about an
hour, when one of them, it is said, commenced the
removal of the runner in the mill second from the
engine-house, to enable him to sweep the powder
from under it. Applying, it is alleged, a crowbar,
or some implement of the same description in order
to force the roller out of position, he saw the powder
flash, and remembered nothing further until he
found himself being extricated from a stream of
water, intowhich he had thrown himself headfore-
most to extinguish his burning clothes. After the
first explosion the limes seem to have penetrated
into the three adjoining mills very rapidly indeed,
for scarcely a moment elapsed between the subse-
quent explosions. The effect of each was most de-
structive. The iron roofs, sides, ke., were blown in
all directions, and large pieces were found many
yards off standing in the ground, into which they
had been forced upon descending.
A large number of the workpeople after the explo-
sion repaired to the spot and rendered valuable as-
sistance. One unfortunate man named James Wood-
ham, was found lying in the long grass in front of
the mill, his clothes in one mass of flame. His ap-
parel was torn and cut from his body as rapidly as
possible, but before this could be accomplished he
was so frightfully burnt that his life is almost de-
spaired of. Last evening he was in a most pitiable
condition. His face is so dreadfully burnt that not
a single feature can be distinguished, and he isf
the present, we regret to say, totally deprived
sight. Three other poor fellows are also badly
burnt. All the sufferers are married men.

As soon as the ruins had cooled sufficiently to be
inspected a careful investigation was made with a
view of ascertaining the extent of destruction, and,
if possible, the cause of the first explosion, and the
mode by which the adjoining walls were blown
up. The mills were not in work, and it was pre-
sumed there was not more than a few pounds of
powder left in either of them, but the explosion
proved the supposition to have been erroneous.
The mills had been built with thick party walls of
solid brick, which it was believed would have had
the effect, in the event of an explosion taking
place in one, of leaving all the others uninjured.
The explosion has shown in this respect that the
steps adopted were fallacious. Some persons, who
assume to posaess a familiar acquaintance with the
mode of manufacture at the Government Works,
express a belief that the process of grinding had
forced a considerable quantity of powder into the
tanks below the tables, and that, as it was known
several men were at work there with lights at the
time of the accident, the explosion was occasioned
thereby, and the flames rapidly extended along the
shaft to the other mills. Others, and they are the
more numerous, believe that the crowbar with
which the runner was being removed, coming into
contact with the iron plate, caused friction, which
produced sparks and ignited the powder. As the
loss of life might have been great, the matter is
exciting considerable discussion. There were several
very narrow escapes. Some half-dozen men or
more were under the mills making some repairs to
the shaft at the time of the explosion. The smoke
made its way down the " manhole," and had not
assistance arrived some of the engineers would
have been suffocated. Two were in an insen-
sible state when they were dragged up by the
hair and rapidly taken into the air to restore
animation. While the interior repairs were pro-
ceeding it was decided to paint the iron roofs, and
just before the explosion took place a body of
painters arrived to commence this operation. They
had procured a ladder to get upon the roofs, but it
was found too short, and while another was being
obtained the mills blew up. Had the explosion
been delayed a few moments longer the men would
have commenced their work, and would doubtless
been blown to atoms, as scarcely a vestige of the
roofs is left in either case. _

The Board of Ordnance will, we understand,
make a searching inquiry into every circumstance
connected with the explosion.

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Return.)

The total number of deaths registered in the week
that ended last Saturday was 1,237, a mortality as
high as that of the last week of March, when the
air was many degrees colder than it has been lately.
The average number of deaths derived from the re-
turns of corresponding weeks in the ten years 1851.-
60, and corrected for increase of population, is
1,157 ; hence it appears that the number of persons
who died last week exceeds by 80 that which would
have been returned if the average rate of mortality
had ruled.

The deaths from whooping-cough arc still nume-
rous : they were 97 in the week, while the cor-
rected average of corresponding weeks is only 56.
Five occurred in the rectory sub-district of Maryle-
bone, 11 in Islington, 5 in the west sub-district of
Mile-end Old Town. Scarlatina was 'fatal in 31
cases, diphtheria in 13. Sixteen women died after
childbearing; 10 of which cases arc referred in the
tables to metric or puerperal fever. A man died at
the age of 96 years, a woman at the same age ; and
the widow of an author died in Clifford's-inn from

" degeneration of the mucous membrane of the
stomach," whose age is recorded to have been 100
years 8 months. A woman died at the age of 66
years from marasmus caused by the use of opium,
which she had taken for a period of 27 years. A
child, aged 7 weeks, died of eczema of the whole
body.
Last week the births of 892 boys and 934 girls,
in all 1826 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1851-60
the average was 1640.
ne
ewki I
wl,atshe m3ofnoao,
in. The mean daily reading was above 30
tGhereNev
heiAgthtthoef Royal Observatory,
aOrobmseertse,artoirny,
in, on the first four days. The barometer rose to
20.26 in. on Tuesday, and fell to 29.61 in. on Sa-
turday. The mean temperature of the air in the
week was 57.5 deg., which is 3 5 deg. above the
average of the same week in 43 years (as determined
db,4ylaysl\ .
theo
vGle9l
tathilsi;he earn)a:
averagehl hs e e
xnl
ee
every
vs Ile
is. dailyye
cua ay
etl
t temperature
.
t
Tuesday, and nearly 11 deg. on Thursday. The
thermometer in the shade fell to 36 deg. on Sunday,
and rose to 80.2 deg. on Thursday: The range of
temperature in the week was therefore 44.2 deg.
The mean daily range was 24'3 deg. The differ-
ence between the mean dew-point temperature was
9'4 deg., showing the dryness of the air. The mean
degree of humidity was 73, complete saturation
being represented by 100. On Friday the humidity
was only 64. The direction of the wind was vari-
able. On Thursday, the day of greatest heat, the
highest reading of a thermometer in the sun was
119 deg. The mean temperature of the water of
the Thames was 56.3 deg. Half an inch of rain
fell on Thursday, on the evening of which days be-
tween 7 and 9 o'clock, a thunderstorin oceurrerad.
when the lightning was very vivid. The tnepP_.
ture was higher on that day than it has beine
axxinZmu
to be in any May since 1858; and
the since Since Oc-
temperature was higher than on any
tober 4th, 1859.

, The ?f3.t interesting cures of a
[ADVEILTISEMENT ].— inwitnout the aid of medicine,
lenta Arabica Food are re-
April 3, 1854.—Thirt-three ear '
, constipation, debility, shortneaefs;
bvyastrocuomßpalritcya,tsiodneloiefioduissenaseevoa,
of filood, liver derangement, year
a
letters :—Cure 52,422.—" Bridge-
ilil'er/a.'ve been removed byd your Revalenta
chdnoioersusedsstesd:e
diFinnglinntmhgeg
gi
eifyn,o,oltlpi
the
tt
of breath and Dough,
stomach,
lungs/ liver, head and ear are all
Arabica. liesng perfect, and my recovery •
right, lnY
a quaintances.—James Roberts is a marvel to
all nifsr ci 208.—" Eight , timber-merchant.
cure 0. , years' dyspepsia, nervousness;
debility, with _
cramps
and nausea, have t een effectually
cured by Du Barry's health•restoring Food. I shall be
happy to answer any inquiries. Rev. John W. Flavell,
Bialington Rectory, Norfolk." Cure No. 3,906.
,4 Thirteen years' cough, indigestion,and general
debility have been
removed by Du Berry's excel-
lent Food. James Porter, Athol-street, Perth."
Avoid Pills and Medicines: they invariably aggravate and
perpetuate diseases ; their annoyance, disappointment,
and expense may" be avoided by using Du Barry's Food
which, at a few pence Fier day, saves 50 titnes its cost is
other remedies, removing effectually, without purging,
constipation, indigestion (dyspepsia) nervous, bilious and
liver complaints and all their consequences. Certificate
No. 36,418. We find it the safest remedy. Andrew Urs,
MD., ELLS., Dr Harvey,
Dr. Wurzer Dr Shorland, Dr.
id the fearful *
Campell. Let invalids aye dangers of spu-
rious and injurious imitations offered under a variety of
false pretences. Novill's imitations are prohibited by .the
high Court of Chancery under a penalty of £5,000 against
Alfred Hooper Nevill and his agents • and the pretences
that Nevill has a patent,for Arabica 'Food and that Du.
Barry's are connected with such patent are utterly false.
No canister is genuine without the name Barry Du Barry
and Co., 77, Regent-street, in full, ontheseal and wrapper.
Shopkeepers who attempt imposition in one article must
expect to be distrusted in all others. Packed in tins 11b.
2s. 9d.; 21b. 4s. 6a. ; 51b. lls. ; 121 b. 225. ; 241 b. 40s. The
121 b. and 241 b, canisters are sent carriage free on receipt
of Post-office order by Barry Du Barry and Co., 77./Atm
gent-street, London; Fortnum Mason, and Co.; -6ru'ul
50 -
60, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside; 63 antl .10 Ox-
bard-street ; 330 and 451, Strand; 49 and 60,
.p!in
tree,
street ; Batty, 16, Finsbury Pavement ; F4llO
Co.,g W,-street
A tea-dealers; Petty, Wood, and , _
City; a 127 Iligh lioßKati mud 61l gr("`"