, 1875-10-06
THE Loss oE THE MAIL STR. SHANNON"

TIVE Toss OF THE MAIL STR. SHANNON"
The ROYAL Mail steamer Shannon is re.
norted a total wreck on the Pedro Bank,
between the visible Gays and some twenty
miles out of her regular course, which is per-
haps largely explainable by the change of
currents which set in upon the 9th inst. running
in a westerly direction "a miles 10 "a hours.
Capt. Leeds, her comman Ter, was i'll in bed
at the time of the disaster, and the Chief
Officer had only taken charge q few minutes
before the Shannon" struck, running Is
knots an hour. Several vessels are now assist
ing in dismantling her, but some hope is
expressed that the Company in England may
vet send some equipped steamer to take out
her engines and, making her compartments
tight, pump her out and float her hull.
Engineers say she. will remain staunch where
she is for ten or twslve months yet. 1t 10 to
be regretted that on a rock so very dangerous
as "Portland Rock" surrounding as it Is by
sixty miles of underlying reefs PEDRO Bankl,
should not have q lighthouse for guidance
of shipping.
THE GOVERNMENT.
1t is to be regretted that the Administration
commands less and less public regard every
day, and it is to be deplored that the country
has lost such an able and active Governor as
Sir John Grant, just at a time when activity
at Kings House Is most necessary and its
absence most severely felt. When Sir John
Grant left Jamaica, be, with all his W
faults, aud that of the present form OF Govern.
ment, left behind him q loyal people ready to
support every measure which had the future
prosperity of Jamaica in view; but the utter
Indifference now paid to all public and private
remonstrance, and the utter disregard OF all
proposals by which the industry of Jamaica
OOul1 ho eliminated or the fermentation of
produce rendered easy, has greatly disappoint-
ed the hopeful spirits of the c%olonists, while
additional and oppressive taxation is exaoted
from the inhabitants of Kingston by an arbitrary
re-assessment of the value of dwelling houses,
thereby increasing in like proportion the fire
tax, the sanitary tax, the street tax and the
water tax, all of which are assessments on
every 20s. of house tax, and this too at a
moment when the country, by reason OF the
hurricane of November last, has been severely
distressed and trade perfectly crippled. The
Government is everywhere regarded now as
cruel and perfectly Indifferent to the Interests
of the people who have, like the l~sraelites in
Egypt, to find the means of supporting the
Government which unfeelingly Expresses them.
In former times we had one Attorney General
who did all the work for tE700 per annum.
We now pay s92,500 for the same thing /! We
used to pay So 5000 to a Governor who interest
ed himself in all that was useful or beneficial
to Jamaica. We now pay $1,000 to a gentle
man who sits at home at his ease and cares
nothing either for the country or the people,
drawing his salary every month and waiting
for the period when it will be his time to re-
turn to England. 10000 is spent in deoorat-
Ing his residence; yet q house is refused,
on score of expense, to cover the unfortunate
dead whom the sea cast up upon our beach
or sickness strikes down npou the pavement.
The c~olonists cry aloud, but there ia no
ear that hears.