GENERAL SUMMARY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3341, 9 November 1871, Page 2

GENERAL SUMMARY.

London, October 9. The health of the Queen is causing great anxiety. Mr Gladstone and the Prince of Wales have been summoned to Balmoral. There have been great gales, many shipwrecks, and much loss of life, on the coast of England. From Great Grimsby there are harrowing details of shipwrecks in full sight of the people on shore. The ship James Booth foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and eighteen men were drowned. The ship Hesperus, with all hands, has been lost at Speikerwog. The ship Mount Sinai has been burnt at sea. No details have been received. Strikes in favor of the nine hours' movement continue. The. masters at Newcastle have compromised for 9| hours till January. After that nine hours are to constitute a day's work. Great distress prevails in consequence of the demands of the workmen. The London " Telegraph " says there is no doubt the misfortune of a deficient harvest will be added to by the disaster of the cattle plague. The foot-and-mouth disease is spreading throughout the kingdom with deplorable rapidity. In the city of Preston, in one week, 470 cattle were attacked. It is estimated that there are 25,000 animals suffering in the kingdom. Tho pest involves sheep and swine. Besides this disease, pleuro-pneumo-nia is ravaging the herds in England and Scotland. The " Times" says a Bishop and Archbishop have appeared in the pulpit of a Scotch kirk, and conducted divine service. The announcement has given a severe shock through sensitive ecclesi-astical-nervous England. Other classes welcome the event as a system of reciprocity in pulpits. An explosion of fire damp in Glamorganshire killed five men. The reported marriage between Prince Arthur and the Princess Thyra, of Denmark, is pronounced untrue. Mr Gladstone has been presented with the freedom of the City of Aberdeen, and was enthusiastically received there. It is reported that Mellila, in Morocco, is besieged by twelve thousand Cabyls. Reinforcements have been promised to the garrison. A letter from Peheran says 80,000 persons perished at Meschad in July. The remaining 40,000 were captured by Afghans and enslaved. Many bakers exacted extortion. Four successive tremendous explosions occurred in the establishment of an oil merchant in Chelsea. Thirteen persons were injured.