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West Coast Times, Issue 214, 26 May 1866, Page 3

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In all directions there are indications of, the interest which the country takes in thi| Reform Bill. Derby and several other towns have had their meetings and spoken 1 out for the bill. During tho next fortnight there will be at one place or another meetings every day ; and some of these are likely to be more stirring gatherings than have been seen since the great Anticorn law Agitation roused the people. The cattle plague returns show a decline in the number of new cases. The humber of attacks reported in the week ending March 18 was 6261, against 6518 the previous week, and 7310 the week before that, Di- Coleneo was formally excommuni-. cated on Sunday, March 7, at the Cathederal of Maritzhurg. The dean read out the sentence us follows :—: — In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, —We, Robert, by Divine permission, metropolitan of the Church in the provinci of Capetown, iv accordance with the decision of bishops of the province in synod assembled, do hereby, it being our ■ office and our grief to do so, by tht' authority of Christ committed unto us, pass npon John William Colenso, D.D., the sentence of tho greater excommunication, thereby separating him from the communion of the Church of Christ so long as he shall obstinately and iuipenitently persist in his heresy, and claim to exercise the office of a bishop within the province of Capetown. And we do hereby make known to the faithful in Christ that, being thus excluded from all communion with the Church, he is, according to our Lord's command, and in conformity with the provisions of the xxxiii. of the Articles of llolig'ou. " to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as a heathen man and a publican.— Matt, xviii. 17, 18). Given under our hand and seal this lNth , day of December, in the year of our Lord 1866.— R. Capetown. The excommunication of Bishop Colenso says a contemporary, has tho united but, unofficial concurrence of the two arch-i bishops, and nearly all the epicopalian bench. They will uphold tho jurisdiction of Bishop Gray ad metropolitan, and will refuse to acknowledge Bishop Colenso. A successor has been designated for the See of Natal, and when he shall be consecrated they will hold communion with him, and not with the excommunicated prelate. Ther is no appeal to any Englished Court against this sentence. The 'Times' of February 21 made a great sensation by the announcement of a rumour that Earl Russell was immediately to retire from the Cabinet, and that the Duke of Somerset had been suggested as his successor. It appears that there was not the slightest ground for this statement. The Times' of next morning, March 1, published the subjoined :—: — The rumour to which we called attention yesterday, that Eail Russell had sought to be relieved from the cares of office, has been so authoratively denied that we hasten to correct the impression and to moderate the speculations which it unnaturally excited. We were oareful aj the time to put forward the statement for what it might be worth, though we frankly confess that it came to us with such particularity of detail as to command assent.' Nor was it until after considerable , delay and inquiry that we thought it our duty to make it the subject Of comment. The collateral rumours of course sharo the fotQ p| ft? principal report, ajjd foe.

condition of the Ministry remains in fact unaltered, uu'tfss we may suppose it has acquired additional stability by way of reaction dgaiuat the' rtfnumrs of its approaching dissoluti6n, the real character of which is now ox posed. The " Post" states that, though the abOVc 1 rumour was unfounded, it fully believes that " wh6n Earl Russell has carried Re • idnn'j if ifo docs carry it; he wilf withdraw from active political life. Sir G. Grey, it is no secret, is about to retire', 1 and the whole race of old Whigs appear to dlaiW the privileges of superanuation." Mr. Goschen has been elpcted without opposition for the City of London. In his speech at the hustings he mentioned Reform, education, the Church, the cattle plague, Ireland, and Jamacia. As to Reform he declined to go into particulars, and civilly refused to toll an elector, who risked him the question, whether ho would support a £20 lodger franchise, in regard to both education tLnd the Chtfrch he urged liberal measures. As to the cattle plague and Jamaica he confined himself to approving what the Government had done. Spedking of Ireland, he said if England was to do good to Ireland, Ireland must meet her half way. lie robuked Mr. Roebuck and the shallow' politicians who talk as he talks about Ireland being satisfied with the same institutions as England. Is nothing, asks Mr Goschen, to be allowed for difference in the character of the people? He insisted tha,t such allowance ought to he made. Tha right hon gentleman was very warmly received. THE LOSS OF THE LONDON. The commissioners appointed to inquire into the loss of the London have issued their official. report to the Board of Trade. It contains a careful and lucid digest of the evidence, and the result arrived at is that the loss of the ship and her fi eight of living beings was directly due to the unshipping of the engine-room skylight, by which the sea broke in and extinguished the engine fires. Had this not been so the engine pumps would soon have cleared the ship of the water. But how the skylight came to be carried away was very indistinctly brought out in the evidence. In the absence of competent evidence on the subject, they give Captain Martin all the credit of seamanship, conduct, and courage which his previous conduct had earned for him. Several improvements in the construction of ships had been suggested by witnesses, which the commissioners report, and think deserving of consideration.

The following translation of part of a letter from the Commissary-General of Marine at Lorient was received some days ago by the Secretary of Lloyd's from Sir Anthony Terrier, C.8., Her Majesty's consul and Lloyd's agent at Brest : — '• On the 12th of February last three bottles were found on the coasts of Quiberon and Loomariaquer, containing six papers written in English, as follows :— The first paper : 'D. W. Lemmon. London, Thursday, January 10, 1866. The ship is sinking : no hope of being saved. Dear parents, may God bless you, as also me, with the hope of eternal salvation.' Second paper : ' Steamship, London, they are putting out tho boats.' Third paper : IF. G. Iluckstcp. On boavd the steamship London, lat. 46.20, long. 7.30 ; lost boats, masts, and sails ; ship leaking.' Fourth paper: 'We commenced our voyage on Saturday, Dec. 30, 1865. Sunday, in the Channel; Monday, in open sea; Tuesday, ditto; Wednesday, at Cowes; Ihursday, at Plymouth; Friday and Saturday, at sea; Sunday, bad weather ; Monday, water from tho stern comes into the cabins ; the 9th, heavy damages ; a boat lost. May we get home I Storm. 11.0. 1 Fifth paper : 4F. C. M'Millan, of Launceston, Tasmania, Jan. 11, 1866, to his dear wife and dear children. May God bless you all I Farewell for this world. Lost m the steamship London, bound for Melbourne.' Sixth paper: '11. J. Denis, to Jh. Denis' Knight, at Great Shelford. Adieu father, brothers, and sisters, and my .. Edi .. .. Steamer London, Bay of Biscay, Thursday, 10 o'clock. Ship too heavy laden for its size, and too crank ; windows stove in ; water coming in everywhere. God bless my poor orphans. Request to send this paper, if found, to Great Shelford. Storm not too violent for a Bhip in good condition.' On the same day were found on the shoals of Quiberon a binnical watch, stopped at half-past 10 o'clock, a woman's shift, two cotton sheets, two splinters of wood, having on them in white letters six centimetres (2^ inches) long the word 'London.' A great quantity of staves have been picked up along tho coast. In compliance with .instructions from the Minister of Marine tho above-mentioned papers have ' been sent to the Secretary at Lloyd's. It is intended to send these mementos to tho relatives." • Mr Gilbert Ilighton has just received the identical message sent by Mr Denis, , who was drowned in the London, to his brother, and finds that owing, as ho supposes, to tho mistakes of the French copyist, its wording differs somewhat from the version given above. Though dated only two hours before the vessel went down, aud when all hope was lost, *■ is nevertheless written in linn, clear characters, hot distinguishable from Mr. Denis's ordinary handwriting, and he even displays a little peculiarity he had of spelling his name with one ' n.' A relative of Mr Denis writes to the papets to the effect that he was a man well qualified to give an opinion, having been accustomed to a variety of travel and adventure: — " lie had visited many remote regions, ha<\ lived among savages, and faced the dangers of tho chaso in South Africa. lie was on board the Marco Polo when, about four years ago, sho suddenly, and in the middle of tho uight, struck an iceberg in the Southern Ocean, 2000 miles away from land, and when for some hours all on boat d expected every minute to go down. Familiar, then, with peril, acquainted with nautical affairs, and singularly observant of small details, 1 have a right to assert that his evidence, given as it was in tho very jaws of death, is of the utmost importance, and has a claim to the serious consideration of the Board of Trade, even though they may have endorsed aud published a formal report.'' In addition to the bottles with letters and other relics mentioned abovo, there also came ashore, near Lorient, a dead bodyof a young woman, supposed to be English. Her linen bore the name of 'Emily Debenham,' and it was thought she came from the London. There was a quantity of rings and jewellery found on ' Ijer, whiQh o.rp now in tlip ppssesfljon pf

the French authorities, to be restored to her relatives.

Mrs Avonia Brooke has published the following letter in the Times :— 1 On Friday night 1 received the last written words of my dear husband. They were found in a bottle on the Brighton beach, and forwarded to me by Mr. C. A. Elliott, of Trinity College, Cambridge. They are writton in pencil on" rt torn" envelope, and read as follows : — ' Uth of January,, on board the London. We are just going down. No chance of safety. Please give this id Avonia Jones, Surrey Theatre.-* Gustavus Vartghari Brooke.' Will you be kind enough to insert this fact in your valuable journal, for sad as the message is he has tnimy friends who will be glad once more to hear from him, even though his words have come from his very grave.'