The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-25 00:00:00

0 COLLIERY ON EIRE.

The fire at Mr. Stone's colliery, Close-lane, Hindley-
green, near Wigan, which was shortly reported a few days
back, has continued during the whole of the past week)
and threatens to become very serious. It was discovered
(74 the 12th inst. by the hooker-on, who found flames
issuing from the downcast shaft. Assistance was obtained,
and both this and the upcast were securely covered in, the
heat having then become so intense as to burn the hands
of the men employed. On the Wednesday following the
coverings were removed, a stream of water poured into
the pit, and an attempt was then made to descend, but
the heat at the bottom was too great ; the cage had to be
drawn again to the surface ; and in three-quarters of an
hour flames were again issuing from the downcast pit-
Both shafts were again closed, and the following morning
it was decided, after a consultation, to fill up the bottom of
tke winding shaft with clay, and this having been done the
pit was left till the present week, when another attempt
was made to enter. A quantity of clay having been
removed, a passage was made into an old dumb drift
leading to the upcast shaft, and then into the return air-
course, where an air-crossing was built. The explorers
then reached some doors communicating between the down
and the spea.st shafts, and on opening these they found
about twelve yards of a smouldering fire, upon which a
hose connected with an engine at the surface was brought
to play until comLustionj was checked. On reaching the
downcast shaft, however, it was found that the fire had
extended for some distance along the west level, and it
subsequently appeared that the main fire was in that
direction. The regular mouthing was broken into, and a
thorough ventilation having been secured, the fire was
driven along the level for some distance, until it was found
to have taken three directions—up brow, down brow, and
along the level. Two of these were built up, and the fire
was followed down brow for some fifty yards, when it
was again necessary to build up the opening, as the fire
had, as in the previous instance, gone several ways. This
occupied the whole of the morning, and in the afternoon
a couple of underlookers were left to watch the fire. About
half-past four o'clock they sent to bank for a saw, and a
collier took ono down. Shortly afterwards one of the
underlookers came to the surface and reported all satis-
factory, but he had not been out of the cage many seconds
before a violent explosion took place. The shock was felt
at a considerable distance, and a dense volume of smoke
and flame issued from the mouth of the upcast. There
were, of course, well-grounded fears for the safety of the
men in the pit, but the anxiously-awaited reply to the
signal sent down to them was " All right," and they were
promptly drawn to the surface uninjured. Another cow
sulta.tion was held, and it was determined to fill the down-
cast with clay as before, and in this state it still remains.
The pit is only forty yards deep, and the seam worked is
the Ifindley-green five-foot. Flooding is entirely out of the
question, as there are something like a mile and a quarter
Of old we'll-jugs, and it would cause several neighbouring
collieries to be " drowned out."

The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr.
Theophile Cbrestien as Consul for Rangoon and British
Burmah, and of Mr. William Arbuthnot as Consul for
Madras and the Presidency thereof, for his Majesty the
King of Sweden and Norway.

The Archbishop of York, following the example of the
Bishop of London, has addressed a letter to Dr. Gray, urging
him to delay the consecration of Mr. Macrorie. His
Grace bases his appeal on the consideration of two impor-
tant questions—whether the Bishop of Natal was rightly
and canonically deprived ; and whether, under all th
Circumstances, the consecration contemplated can lawfully
take place. The Archbishop; intimates that he entertains
" grave doubts " upon the points at issue, and entreats his
right rev, brother to postpone the consecration until time
shall have been given " for procuring an opinion upon the
whole case, either of the highest court, or of the best law-
yers, canonists, and civilians who can be found in this
country."

AN ATROCIOUS DEED.—A dastardly outrage has
been committed in the village of Old Basford, near Not-
tingham. During the last two years a co-operative asso-
ciation has carried on a provision business in shop premises
in David-lane, and on Wednesday evening the manager,
Mr. Laban Bexon, was receiving goods out of the store-
room into the front sale-shop. He stooped to pick up a
parcel of sugar he had dropped, when he was suddenly en-
veloped in an explosive flash, which singed off his whiskers
and beard, badly scorched his face, and set his coat and
shirt-sleeve on fire. Stunned and bewildered, he groped
his way to the pump to put out the fire. In the mean-
time an alarm had been raised outside, for a girl, named
Chawner, who was passing, was blown down in the road
by the force of the explosion, and, in her fright, screamed
" I'm shot, I'm shot !" A large crowd collected, for the
adjoining premises had felt the shock. The windows of
the store-room and the sale shop had been blown out, and
the stock in the former place was all in disorder. Frag-
ments of a tin case were found, and, as pieces of glass
were strewn on the store-room floor, the conclusion is that
the explosion was caased by a canister containing gun-
' powder being thrown in at the window. It was at
first thought that Bexon had lost his eyesight, but he is
now progressing favourably. The police are making
every inquiry, but at present no clue has been met with.
FATAL FIRE.—A disastrous fire broke out about
midnight on Thursday on the premises of Mr. Frederick
Pigg, hosier and boot and shoe manufacturer, Market-
row, Great Yarmouth. It appears that Mr. Pigg, his
wife Sarah Pigg, age 20, and their three infant children—
Edith, age 2i years, Fanny Eliza, age 1 year, and Mabel,
age 1 month—and the servant, a yoking woman named
Rebecca Abbs, retired to rest at an early hour on Thursday
night, leaving everything apparently safe. Mr. Pigg, his
wife, and the youngest infant slept in the middle floor,
while the servant, with the other children, slept in an attic.
At midnight Mr. Pigg was awakened by a feeling of suffo-
cation, and he soon discovered that the room was filled with
smoke. He routed his wife, who in her fright rushed up-
stairs after the other infants. In the meantime the flames,
which had originated in a lower story, spread with rapidity.
The servant with great difficulty escaped with one child.
Edith, by jumping through a back window, wounding
one of her legs and severely cutting one of her feet. Mr.
Pigg also escaped, although he fainted when he reached
the street. Mrs. Pigg was heard to exclaim that she
could not desert her children, and just then the roof gave
way, and she and her little ones were buried under the
burning mass. The locality is densely populated, and the'
houses arc in close contignity on each side of the row.
The fire accordingly passed from Mr. Pigg's house, which
was completely gutted, to the house of Mr. Tyson, a
draper, on the opposite side, the house of Mr. A. Waters,
another draper, &c., a great amount of additional damage
being thus inflicted. The charred remains of Mrs. Pigg
and her two little children were dug out of the ruins of
Mr. Pigg's house in the course of Friday morning. Mr.
Pigg, was but partially insured ; the other sufferers were
fully insured. The damage is estimated at from £3,000 to
I £4,000. The Yarmouth Fire Brigade rendered good ser-
vice in subduing the fire.

Cur 03a-
„
elyinat
,
t

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Jan. 23.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, ac-
companied by Princess Louise and Princess Hen-
rietta of Schleswig-Holstein ; and her Majesty
walked in the grounds this morning, attended
by the Duchess of Roxburghe.
Prince and Princess Christian rode in the grounds.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Leiningen
has left Osborne.

THE PRINCE OF WALES'S FARM AT
,SANDRINGHAM.

The completion of the model farm premises marks
;he fact tbat his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales

has become a practical agriculturist, and some few
particulars respecting the royal farm will be read with

interest.

The estate consists of about 7,000 acres,

2,000 of which are heath and plantations, and
about 500 acres of these are planted. The
park is only about 200 acres in extent, and a

portion of it produces a useful herbage ; but
some of it was very inferior till improved by drain-
age and moulding, with top dressing and sprink-
ling with seeJs. For many years a small piece of

.reebold land belonging to a man named Clark,

about three acres in extent, has just jutted into

the park ; but this has just been purchased by the
Prince, and has been thrown into the park, and all
the cottages on this (the West Newton) side of the

park are being removed, The farm, which the
Prince has taken into his own hands, is about 40

acres in extent, and includes the home farul
at Sandringham, and that which was formerly

Cork's farm at West Newton. Of this we find there

are 365 acres of arable land, and 47 acres of
grass, besides about 70 acres of marshes at
Wolferton and Babingtou. The Wolferton portion
of the estate has recently been considerably added
to by the reclamations of the Norfolk Estuary Com-
pany. About a hundred acres of the Prince's arablo
land consists of good, bright, and productive laud,

and about the same quantity is a fair soil on a chalk
subsoil, and the remaining 165 acres are poor, on
sandy, light laud resting on the carr and gravel on
the West Newton heath. The poorest of this land is
prolific of building and road-making materials. It
will be seen from what is stated above, that, includ-
ing the park, his royal highness farms about an equal
quantity of arable and pasture land. The Model
Farin buildings have been erected at the rear of the
royal gardens, and face the south, being well shel-
tered on the north and west. They are built with
the native carr with stone and brick facings, and
slate roofs; and the square block of buildings con-
tains two open yards, and this block is 168 feet in
width, and 113 feet deep. Each of the open
yards contains, in the centre, an iron water tank,
13 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches, underneath

which is a cistern into which the liquid manuro
drains, and is afterwards carted on to the land.
Each yard is surrounded by pavement
six or seven feet wide. The north end of the east
yard is an hospital stable, and the east side consists
of a twelve-stalled stable for the farm-horses, but
at present occupied by the Prince's horses, which

cannot be accommodated at the Royal Mews. A
large straw barn, 60 feet long by 20 feet wide, with
sliding doors and asphalte flooring, occupies the
centre of the north range of buildings. The yards
are separated by the calves' boxes and piggeries, the
latter being fitted up with Crosskill and Sons' patent
troughs, and tenanted with some exceedingly
pretty little members of the porcine family.
At the south end is the meal-room and
boiling-house. The north and west part of the
second yard consists of the cow stalls and fattening
boxes ; the Alderney cows are brought here to be
milked, and the fattening boxes are occupied by
twelve Devons. These boxes are supplied With
Cottam's patent feeding troughs. The windows
are fitted up with sliding shutters, and oak pariell
separate the stalls. At the south end is a capitally
fitted up slaughter house, in which the beef, mutton,
and pork for consumption at the royal table iS
slaughtered. All these premises are lighted up with
gas. Beyond the north end of this block is a roadwaY
41 feet wide, and on the other side of which is a
range of buildings 16S feet long by 26 feet 4 inches
wide, at each end of which is a three-storied octa-
gon tower. The east tower conveys a large _roll
cistern to supply the whole range of buildings with,
water, which is conveyed to the cistern by means 0-
a force-pump from a well which has been sunk con-
tiguous, the water being found 27 feet below the
level of the soil. The other tower is used as
granary, and the range of buildings comprises cart
sheds, implement houses, machine houses for cutting,
threshing, and dressing, with a large granarY
chamber, capable of holding 400 coombs of wry'
They are fitted up with sliding-doors, and are OP'
plied with machinery by Mr. Dodman, of King e
Lynn.