Untitled

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 112, 1 September 1876, Page 7

Mr Baird, ironmaster, of Cambus Doon, has left £3,000,000. Messrs Harris and (Jo., of London and Queensland, have failed ; liabilities, £300,000. Negotiations are proceeding between the American Minister and Lord Derby for a new extradition treaty. A staff of French engineers is now engaged taking soundings in English waters for the proposed Channel tunnel. The bishopric of Calcutta has been pressed upon Dr Moorhouse, the bishop designate of Melbourne. Five men have been committed for trial for drowning a man in sport in the River Lea, Father Ignatius has got into legal trouble by attempting to re-occupy his old monastery af. .Norwich. Referring- to the profitableness of Angora goats in Australia, the Globe suggests that they might with advantage be introduced into Wales and Scotland. A grand council of notables was held at Constantinople on July 20th, under the auspices of the Porte, at which some elaborate reform schemes were promulgated.

A select committee of the House of Lords has been appointed on the motion of the Archbishop of Canterbury, for inquiring* into the prevalence of inteniperancei On June 24th a terrible railway accident happened in Spain. The mail train ran off the line at Tarreg'a, in Catelonia, killing' 17 persons and injuring' 37 others. A frightful outbreak of cholera is reported from Gotwood, a village of 200 people, on the Bombay and Baroda Railway. Half the population died in three days.

Mr Disraeli, who, previous to the recess, had been quite prostrated by an attack of bronchitis, returned to public business reiprigorated both in body and mind by the temporary rest, ,The deceased wife's sister law in relation to the colonies continues to be agitated) writers pointing out the anomaly of marriages sanctioned in Australia not being" recognised at Home.

Suez Canal papers have been presented to Parliament. Colonel Stokes' report states that the general condition of the canal is better now than in 1874. The channel, in its present statej is ample for many years.

The boiler of her Majesty's ironclad Thunderer exploded on her trial trip at Spithead on July 14. Thirty-four persons were killed and 53 injured. The cause of the explosion has not been ascertained.

The occupation of Egypt by native troops from India has been datermined Upon in the event of a general war and the break-tip of Turkey. Great preparations are bdin£ made in India Snider rifles are being served out to all the native cavalry. In some recent torpedo experiments, at Portsmouth, gun cotton has shown itself;far. superior; to gunpowder, as. an: explosive agent. The ship Oberon was sunk by three torpedoes. , Mr Byer, : whb died recently v has bequeathed to Owen^s College, Manchester^ his interest in the Garton Locomotive Works, valued at £10,000. For an infirmary, ; a grammar school, and a new cnnrch he has left an additional £30,000. .. Ti ha.39th anniversary of hei; Majesty^ accession was celebrated at Windsor on /the! 30th June. ,. Before . leaying- Balnopral the Quesn gave" a ball to her •tenantry, and , .sfervauts; herself ; joining, in the darihs.

Prince Leopold is about to issue a volume of Travels in Italy and the South of France.

Thft whoVof the specie which went down in the Schiller (£,60,000) has been recovered, except about £1800.

'ihe Dundee Young' Men's Christian Association expect Lord Shaftesbury to open their new buildings.

The French oyster companies declare that in a very short space of time they will be able to supply 90^000,000 oysters per annum to the English markets.

A Native Indian paper says that the books distributed by the Prince of Wales during his tour were 949 .

On the London and North -Western Railway, between London and Rugby, there are sixty -four through down trains per day. The estate of Craignathro, near Forfar ; belonging to the trustees of the late Mr Edward Baxter, has been purchased by private bargain, for Mr W. B. Mount, of Halke'rton, at £21,000.

On the 16th of June a monster petition, signed by 12,000 persons, praying' that no further grants be made for the members of the Royal Family .until some information had been afforded of their present income, was presented by Mr Burt and Mr Macdonald, amid much ironical laughter. The enormous roll resembled a bale of cotton goods when taken into the House of Commons.

The month of June has maintained ' its evil celebrit}' for great fires in all parts of the world. At the close of the second week there was a large fire at Bermondsey, in which several valuable horses were burned to death. The drug mills of Messrs Gates and" Little in Commercial-road were totally burnt, as were also the stores of the London and North-Western Railway^ in the city. On June 16 a terrible fatal fire occurred at Ayr> by which the woolworks and carpet factory of Mr James Templeton were destroyed, and twentynine women and girls perished. The progress of the flames was too rapid to admit of their escape, and their bodies were calcined. The damage amounted to £100,000. About 400 hands were thrown out of employment, and a relief fund for the sufferers is being 1 organised. Several fatal explosions are among the ! tragedies of. the month. On the 22nd ulfc. six men were killed, and a seventh seriously wounded, by the explosion of dynamite in a blacksmith's shop at Hamilton, near Glasgow. Six men perished by an explosion in workings at Bnrley colliery, near Sheffield. By an explosion of gas in Nussey and Cb's foundry, Leeds, the building was wrecked and other damage done. By the ignition of coal on board the barque Atalanta, laden with 1,500 tons of steam coal, six of the crew were blown into the air and killed, and others seriously injured. ' Houses were shaken at two miles distant from Penarth Dock. By a torpedo explosion at Portsmouth, one attendant was killed, and the engineer in charge of the moc'iinery was mutilated. The accident occurred, on board the torpedo ship Vesuvius. A serious, accident occurred' on June 3rd at St. George's Hospital, London, by the bursting of a water tank situated at the top of the building. A leak having manifested itself in the tank* the Hospital Superintendent and an engineer were inspecting it when suddenly the tank burst, and they narrowly escaped being swept away by the watei'j which burst through several floors below, smashing in the planks and washing the beds and their occupants about. One child was rescued just as its. bed was slipping through the hole made in the floor of the ward in which it lay. Three women fell with their beds. The crashing of the flooring, the upsetting of the beds, the screaming of the; patients, and the downpouring of cateracts of water combined to make up a scene of wild confusion and alarm, which speedily collected an immense crowd, among whom were the Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of Cambridge, Westminster) Wellington, Grafton, and Teck. . The students behaved manfully in rescuing* the patients, two of the former who had leaped from one of the windows especially distinguishing themselves in this, respect. Happily no life was lost, but it is to be feared the shock and the wetting and exposure haVe not been without injurious consequences to some of the patients. The Queen, who is patron and president of the Hospital, which is situated at Hyde Park .Corner, telegraphed from Balmoral for particulars on hearing of the, accident. The tank had been inspected and duly passed as. safe only a fortnight before. It was constructed to hold 8000 gallons, an4the quantity of water in at the time it burst was calculated to have been about 5000 gallons,, weighing 25 tons. The rivets did not give way, but a . roughly circular hole six feet in diameter, was broken in the iron plates, several, of them giving way. ,