From our correspondents.

Otago Witness, Issue 1241, 11 September 1875, Page 5

From our correspondents.

kbsible iscmmoNs vs fraxce. All Europe has been harrowed by the accounts of the devastation caused by floods in the south of France, where a district of country 200 miles in extent has been rendered almoat a desert. Toulouse is the main theatre of desolation, but the country round it for many miles has also suffered terribly. The flood commenced on the night of the 22nd June, and continued for several day.". It is impossible in a brief space to convey an adequate idea of the disaster, hut I will give a few details, leaving your readers to fill up the picture from their imaginations:— At Toulouse, the Faubourg S"i Cyprieni * hich contained 25,000 inhabitants, and bore to Toulouse the same relation that the Surrey side of London bears to the metropolis, has been totally destroyed. The housM are in ruins, the streets are covered with a deep deposit of slime, many of thpgnrdens are pools. The streets are filled with^ngs of soldiers and citizens rescuing furiuture', pulling down shaky walls, and cleansing the foadW&y i while the" wdmea t hsive to cook in kitchen gardens instead of kitchens. Every now and then a dead body is disinterred from a heap of mud and -carried off to the Morgue. All round Toulouse the same scenes are being enacted, and the people are evincing a gaiety which is more ghastly than despair. Marshall Macmahou promptly visited the scene of the calamity, to devise measures of relief, and was everywhere enthusiastically received. At one village, which was utterly destroyed, the inhabitants are said, by a " biill," | to have " turned out " en mime to see him, and their only regret was that their flags had been lost in the flood. At Toulouse, within a few houra of the water subsiding, and while mutilated eorpaea were being picked Up ih scores, balla were glarted and the 1 people danced away as merrily «w though nothing dreadfid had occurred* Yet thousands Upon thousands of people— 2o,ooo in Toulouse alone— have lost their all, and are entirely dependent upon public aid. The district, indeed, resembles Paris during the siege, when General Burnside, the American ambassador, cuttingly termed that City "a mad-house inhabited by monkeys." As another instance of the French temper I may mention that there was found in St Cyprian the ljody of a workman hanging by the neck. "Finding," says the Paris Figaro, " that death was unavoidable, he had determined to perish more quickly." A showman's van wai picked up at Toulouse, having been •wept down from some village higher up. A peg that had been chained underneath it was "battered almost into a pulp." Inside were found a girl with her cheeks bright with paint } a female "giant" with her feet strapped to artificial legs, and wearing a tinsel crown and a robe of crimson cotton velvet j abo her husband. All were dead. In a rained house some soldiers heard a fearful succession of sounds, which they imagined to proceed from a madman. On removing the rubbish they found that they had rescued a parrot, which they immediately adopted. There is madness enough to be met with, however, in the hospitals, where are to be found many whose reason has fled at the shock their nervous ■yatems have sustained. The French Government and nation are energetically labouring to pat things to rights, and are being aided by subscriptions pouring in from all parts of Europe. Still -it is impossible to expect that the damage will be made good, amounting as it £oe<* to kt least 15 millions sterling, to Bay nothing of the 2000 lives believed to have been lost. In "leaving the dismal subject, let me just add that floods similar to these have occurred regularly every 20 years in the same i district, viz., in 1815, 1835, 1855, and 1875, but those that have just taken place throw all the others into the shade. The cause is the same in each case — a concurrent heavy raiuf all and the melting of the snow in the Pyrenees.

THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR.

This potentate, who arrived in London a day bsfore my last letter left, has been starring in the metropolis and elsewhere in England ever since. It seems that he is called "Sultan" by his subjects, but as by universal consent the designation is accorded to him, I shall fall in with the same custom. His sayings and doings have been chronicled in much the same manner as were those of the Shah of Persia, but not to anything like the same extent. This arises pa?tl£from the Shah having preceded him, and partly from the fact that he is not an invited guest of the Nation, but has rather come in spite of the Foreign Office. Nevertheless, His Highness has steadily grown in popular favour during his visit, as he is a much more amiable personage than the Shah, and less stuck-up in his ways. The first thing that impressed him was the magnitude of London, and the enormous number of its inhabitants. Indeed, the populous condition of England has again and again been remarked upon by him with astonishment.

GBEAT WHISKY FIRE IX DUBLIN.

A tremendous fire occurred on the night of the 18th June in a bonded spirit store in Dublin. The store was situated in a ix>or locality known by the name of " The Liberties," and the premises covered several acres. They contained at the time some 5000 hogsheads of whisky, brandy, wine, &c, the first-named liquor lai-gely predominating. The fire, as nught have been expected, burst into great fury immediately that it reached the, spirits, and half an hour after the alarm was given the houses in four streets were in flames. The blazing liquor flowed down the streets in fiery strecnw, two feet deep in some parts, and finding its way into the sewers, caused explosions of sewer gas that blew up the streets in various places. The fire brigade were powerless to stem the fiery tide, but managed with difficulty to rescue the inhabitants of the burning dwelling-houses. The rou-hs were in f nil force, and made the most of their opportunity, catching the liquor in their hats and boots, and drinking it with the avidity attendant upon the busting of stolen waters. The military were called out, and strove to keep back the crowd with fixed bayonets Nevertheless they were at times overpowered, and some barrels of whisky were carried off and broached. Several of the marauders were arrested, while four of them died and seventeen others were taken to the hospital suffering from overdoses of hot whisky Only 60 of the 5000 hogsheads were saved from the fire and the mob. Water behv worse- than useless to quench the flames' the paving was torn up and barriers of stone and earth hastily erected by sappers and others by which means the fiery torrents were stopped in their coursft, and the whole south-east quarter of Dublin, for which grave fears were at one time entertained, was thus saved. As it was, however, 35 houses were utterly consumed. The liquor was valued at L 54.000, and was inaured for a portion of that amount. The total amount of damage done is estimated at L 150.000, and as most of the sufferers are poor people. funds for their relief have been and are still being raised by public subscription.

SHEFFIELD RUFFIANISif.

Abbeydale Valley, which is described as one of the beat suburbs of Sheffield, has been the theatre of some scenes of a very lawless charac-

le?l c ?A { MtUi. A P e £ on DMQe<l oUa k l»y« claim to the 2™otißes Estate, situate in the Valley, and worth frorit. £30,0W to £40,000. Not daring to prefer his claim lit a CO uft of jflstiee, Oldale invoked the aid of the ruflians" and.riHSmuffins composing the local " Magna Charta Association," being one of Kenealy's branch associations. These roughs took forcible possession a few weeks ago of some of the fields and houses that Oldale alleges to be his. The owners ejected them soon after, so on the 21st June the rabble came back in stronger force and cut the grass of two fields and carried it off, in spite of efforts made to prevent them from doing so. The police were preseut, but confined themselves to preventing any breach of the peace. That morning the tenants of Earl Fitz. William (one of the present owners of the property) erected a barricade to keep out invaders, and the Earl sent 30 of his gamekeepers as a garrison. Nevertheless Oldale's crew stormed the barricade, pujled it down, and carried off the grass as on the previous* day, the police having their hands full in preserving the peace among the thousands of spectators of this civil war. When Oldale's army withdrew they announced it to be their intention to carry away the tiles forming the house-roofs ?s soon as they had done with the removal of the grass froio the fields. The two leaders of the Association have been .dismissed from their situations by their employers, and Oldale and five of his compeers have been committed for trial at the assizes on charges of riot and trespass, so there is a prospect of a stop being put to the occurrence of disgraceful scenes such as the above.

THE BHIGHTOX AQUARIUM AGAIN.

The Home Secretary has got himself into a mess over the matter of the closing of the Brighton Aquarium on Sundays. By dint of persuasion, he prevailedupon the Directors of •the Company to have a friendly suit tried in the Court of Exchequer, to decide the point as to whether the Aquarium" could tig opened on Sundays without music or other entertainment. The result was that the judges (Chief Baron Kelly, and Barop Bramwell, Cleasby, and Amphlett), unanimously decided against the Company. The Chief Baron thought it necessary to express the great reluctance and regret with which he had arrived at this conclusion. Baronßramwell, in a few pungent remarks, gave his chief a pretty smart back-handed slap. The matter, he said, was one of common sense. Everybody knew the Aquarium was a place of .amusement, and the Company would consider it was maligned if it were otherwise styled. By the modification now proposed, it was not professed that the place ceased to amuse, mit only that it became less amusing. It was therefore clearly within the scope of the Act, regarding the polioy of which he would say nothing, as his judgment was not biassed by his inclination. The consequence of all this is that the Aquarium is now closed on Sundays, and that the Home Secretary has intimated in Parliament his intention to introduce this session a short Bill, giving him power to remit penalties inflicted under the Act. There is scarcely any chance, however, of the Bill getting through this session, on account of the block on the Order Paper, so that in all probability the Aquarium will continue closed on Sundays for some months to come. SCOTCH NEWS. The Committee of the Sabbath Alliance of Scotland have issued a • circular expressing •regret at "the increase of Sabbath profanation," and urging the duty of employing all lawful means to arrest the evil and restore uni:veraa]ly "the more Christian habits of better idays." -, i .fhe annual •competition between teams each composed nf twenty Volunteers, and representing England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, for the International Snider Trophy, . took place at Edinburgh on the 19th June. On this occasion the Scotch team again proved victorious, the total scores being as follows • Scotland, 1112 ; England, 1090 ; Ireland, 975 At the same gathering— that of the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Rifle Association— the Caledonian Challenge Shield and St. Andrew's Gold Cross were won for the second tune by the famous Angus Cameron, of Kingussie, who has also twice won the Queen's Prize at Wimbledon. He was enthusiastically cheered. The damages (£1275) obtained by Messrs Johnston, the well-known geographical publishers, for a libellous review in the Athenaeum, have been reduced by the Judges in the Second Division of the Court of Session to The selling of old clothes appears to be now an important industry in Glasgow. The Old Clothes Market in that city has been re-built at a cost of _ £17,000, and was re-opened on the 24th ult. with civic honours. It contains 400 stalls, and the lessee pays an annual rental to the Corporation of £2000. Thirty years a^o when the business was commenced, the annual rental was only £L The trade is mostly in the hands of the Irißh. A. farmer writes to the North British Agriculturist stating that a good many calves in his neighbourhood are affected by a kind of paraI^.2fT'rK cv l ntstlieni from standing up on tnjeir feet. ; ±ne farmer rubs with turpentine a calf -of hw;thus affected, and gives it a tumbler of whisky -toddy every night, but as yet this novel treatment has produced no visible im- ( provement m the animal's condition j *i, Th ?5 ev V l^ 8 * 1 ? 011 ' of Bi SS ar > on the night of the 20th June, at the age of 76. For upwards of half a century he had been the i pamh minister of Biggar, where he was greatly I beloved. He was struck by palsy on the 15th j June, but lingered on, as 1 have said, till the \

Old Rothesay residents will be sorry to hear of the death of Dr Paterson, which took place last week at his well-known hydropathic establishment, Glenburn House, Rothesay. The establishment in question was the first of its kind in Scotland, and contributed in no small degree to make Rothesay the favourite watering place that it now a Dr Paterson's funeral took place on the 30th June, and is described as having been "probably the most imposing ever witnessed m Rothesay." The Marquis of Bute, the Sheriff, and lown and County Magistrates were among the members of the procession. Dr Paterson was 74 years old when he died

IRISH NOTES.

At the Dublin Assizes, a scoundrel named Stenson has escaped with the ridiculously light sentence of five years' penal servitude for killing a child by inoculating it with small-pox Ihe inhabitants of Westport, Clew Bay, had a surprise awaiting them the other morning when they found an island named Inishgowla hterally covered with herrings. The only™ tempted explanation of the mystery is that the fish had been deposited on the Wi by a tidal wave during the night. 3 An extraordinary action for libel has been heard in the Court of Common Pleas at Dublin, where it has excited much interest Thsuburbs of Dubhn, for accusing him of abstracting money from the church plates on several occasions when assisting inmakin" the collection, The.trial laßtedl aB ted sfvera^day" 0 «J

at the close of it the Judge (Keogh) gave a summing up which occupied 3^ houra in delivery. After an absence of an Tiour and forty minutes the Jury returned into Court, and ons of iiteir. nuHiber informed the Judge on their behalf thai ihey" -Were" unable to understand the issues, but the suWstah'ce" <4 their verdict was as follows :— On the question 6jf iflglice they found there was none ; and on the' (px€diotl of the guilt of the plaintiff, they found it was not proved. The Judge said it was a general verdict for the defendant.

The small-pox epidemic at Athenry continues to rage with unabated virulence, and the condition of the town is simply dreadful. It is completely isolated from 1 the rest of the world, no one visiting it and no one" cMffing away from it. Terror has drawn a cordon 1 atoimd it as complete as if it were invested by a b'eseiging army. All who possibly could flee from the plague-stricken spot have done so, including the very undertakers, and until a suitable " mortuary vehicle" was provided by the Board of. Guardians, the pitiful sight was witnessed of mothers carrying the bodies of their little ones in their own arias to the place of interment. On this point, a hear£-f ffrfdiiig story, which I slightly condense, is told by "AI.P." in a letter to the Times. There was in Athenry a family named Boyle, composed of a widow and her five children, all of whom were remarkable for their beauty. Three of the elder children were seized by the fell-disease, died, and were biiried. A similar fate befel the youngest, almost ah irifent, but as no aid could now be obtained to cany ihe' child to the grave, the mother was compelled to place it in a coffin, and bear it thither on her own head. While passing along the street, on her way to the cemetery, bearing her mournful burden, she was seen by her eldest daughter, a {rfrl aged 16,who was in service in the town. Wrung by the ! pitiful sight, the girl rushed out of the house, and compelled the mother to let her carry the body to the grave. The last sad ceremony over,* mother and daughter returned to the former's home, for now the girl could not go back to her place. Scarcely had they entered the hovise when the daughter, with an agonised cry that was heard out in the street, exclaimed, I "Mother, I am sick." The destroyer had fastened upon her ako, and, within 48 hours, men had to be found to bear the lifeless form of the young and once beautiful Mary Boyle to its last earthly resting place. Such is one of the many episodes of woe that have been and are still taking place in this unhappy town. The international rifle contest between six Americans and six Irishmen took place on a range on Clontarf on the 29th June, and was attended by a crowd of spectators which numbered nearly 40,000 before the day closed. The result was a complete victory for the foreign team, the scores being as follows :— 800 yds. 900 yds. 1000 yda. Total Amerioanß .. .. sar .. 827 .. SOS - 607 | Irish .. .. „ 938 „ 292 .. 209 — 020 | Majority for Americans .. 38 j The betting was all in favour of the Americans. Several American reporters were present at the match. | Two men are in custody for attempting to destroy the statue of the Prince Consort erected on Leinster Lawn, Dnblin. A policeman caught them after midnight climbing up the statue, which was found to be enveloped in sackcloth saturated with paraffin oil. One of the men also was trying to force down on the head of the statue an old .zinc can without a j bottom, having painted qn it the words, "No, residences for Koyal princes. " A revolver with ; four chambers loaded, was lying at the baseTof, the statue. One of the men is a corn factor and the other a labourer.

Another O'Keeffe-Moran row occurred at Callan last week. Incited by their Bishop, the Moranites took forcible possession of the parish chapel, and Mr O'Keeffe's house as well. Mr O'Keeffe, on returning from London, could only gain entrance into his own house by invoking the aid of the Constabulary, six of whom remained to protect him. The Moranites are still encamped in the ohanel and chapel yard, so another fray may be looked for soon.