from the incautiousness of persons in smoking. The
loss of life was very lamentable; five out of the six men,
all belonging to the 30th, who were at work in the
magazine, were killed, and the sixth, the corporal (in
charge), was dangerously wounded, and not able to
utter a word. He was not expected to survive.

An Emigrant Ship has been Wrecked on the Barra
Islands, on the west coast of Scotland, with a deplorable
loss of life. She was the Annie Jane of Liverpool, from
which port she sailed on the 9th of September, bound
for Quebec and Montreal, with 450 passengers. The
crew numbered 45 men, inclusive of captain and officers.
Of the seamen, about 12 were natives of this country—
the remainder being French Canadians. Of the
passengers about 100 belonged to Glasgow and the West of
Scotland; being carpenters and other artisans who were
proceeding under engagement to work at some public
undertaking in Canada. A number were from the Isle
of Skye, and a considerable proportion from Ireland.
There were above a dozen cabin passengers, including
Captain Mason and his wife. The majority were French
Canadian gentlemen and ladies. The vessel had made
some progress across the Atlantic, when she encountered
the fearful south-westerly gales, which disabled her, and
rendered her unmanageable, and in that hopeless
condition was driven back to the terrible coast of Barra,
one of the Hebrides. On the 29th of September, having
got into Vaternish Bay, a large indentation with a
sandy beach, she was driven on shore, and about
midnight took the ground with a fearful shock. All the
officers and crew were on deck at this fearful conjuncture;
and there were also on deck a large number of
male passengers, who held on by ropes and rigging, and
with feelings of despair contemplated their impending
fate. Meanwhile the great majority of the passengers,
including all the women and children, were below in
their berths, but the striking of the ship gave them
a fearful wakening. Many rushed on deck in a
state of nakedness; wives clung to their husbands,
and children clung to both, some mute from terror,
and others uttering appalling screams, and eagerly
shrieking, "Is there no hope?" The scene is
described by the survivors as the most agonising which
it could enter into the heart of man to conceive.
While the passengers were clustered round the boats,
and within a very few minutes after the ship had
grounded, she was struck by a frightful sea, which
instantly carried away a dense mass of human beings into
the watery waste, and boats and bulwarks went along
with them. In this at least a hundred perished. The
same sea carried away everything moveable fore and aft,
but still a great many of the crew and passengers
remained, who had secured themselves by ropes or by
some temporary fixtures. The great majority of the
women and children, as well as some of the male
passengers, remained below, paralysed by terror. But their
time also had come. The beating of the ship, with her
cargo of railway iron, must have immediately beat the
bottom out of her; and while her fabric was in this
state, another dreadful sea broke on board, and literally
crushed that part of the deck situated between the
mainmast and the mizenmast, down upon the berths
below, which were occupied by terror-stricken women
and sleeping children. They were killed rather than
drowned; as was shown by the naked, mutilated, and
gashed bodies afterwards cast on shore. The main and
mizen masts went at the same moment. The most of
the remaining seamen and passengers now took refuge
on the poop, and each succeeding assault of the sea
carried away its victims. Within one hour after the
Annie Jane struck, the remaining stumps of her masts
went by the board, and she broke into three pieces. An
additional number perished at this moment; and all the
survivors remained on the poop, with the exception of
seven men, who had secured themselves on the topgallant
forecastle. The poop fortunately floated well, and, as
it was about high water, the wreck was pushed inwards
by the wind and sea, when it finally grounded about
four o'clock in the morning. The forecastle, with the
7 men, came ashore much about the same time. When
mustered, the survivors were found to number a total of
102, of whom one was a child, 12 were women, and 28
belonged to the crew, exclusive of the captain, who was
also saved. They found shelter in a farm-steading or
cluster of houses near the beach. The number of those
who perished is reckoned at 348.

A most extensive and destructive Fire—involving the
loss of many thousands of pounds' worth of property,
and the serious damage of many dwelling-houses—broke
out, early in the morning of the 30th ult., on the
premises of Messrs. Saville and Edwards, machine-
printers, Chandos-street, Strand. The fire continued to
rage till ten o'clock, when owing to the exertions of the
firemen, the hope was realised of staying the progress of
the flames. By this time, however, all the machinery,
presses, and back composing-rooms, with their contents,
were entirely destroyed, including a quantity of the
matter in type for the forthcoming numbers of the
'Literary Gazette,' the 'Leader,' the 'Britannia,' the
'United Service Gazette,' the 'British Army Despatch,'
and the 'Lancet,' thus throwing out of employment
about two hundred men. By the continued unwearied
exertions, however, of the firemen and policemen, by
seven o'clock all further danger ceased; but a melancholy
scene presented itself of the sufferings of those
inhabitants residing near the printing-office, a few only
of whom were insured.

The strike of the operatives at Preston has given rise
to a melancholy Accident. A number of the turn-outs
were directed to proceed to the Corporation Arms
public-house to receive their weekly allowance of money
from the fund subscribed for them; a room in the yard
at the back of the house was used for their reception;
this room stood twelve feet above a lumber-room which
formed the ground-floor, and admittance was gained by
a flight of steps: on the evening of the 3rd inst., the
room was crammed with upwards of 200 people; the
flooring was insufficient to sustain so great a weight;
a centre beam snapped, the floor parted in the centre,
and most of the assemblage fell into the room beneath,
those who were near the middle of the upper apartment
buried under the persons who stood nearer the walls.
Jane Smalley, a girl of fourteen, was taken out dead;
some forty or fifty others, mostly young females,
suffered more or less, many having fractures of the ribs,
legs, or thighs.

The woollen-mill of Messrs. Whitworth and Co., at
Halifax, was Destroyed by Fire on the 4th inst. The
damage is estimated at from £60,000 to £80,000; the
insurances were £34,000. A thousand hands have been
thrown out of employment.

A Collision on the Ambergate branch of the Midland
Railway took place on the evening of the 4th instant.
In the afternoon an engine had got off the down line
to Matlock, and help had been sent for from Derby. An
engine was speedily dispatched, conveying several men
to render assistance. On their arrival, however, it was
thought they had not sufficient strength among them to
replace the engine, and a message was sent to Derby for
further aid. Another engine, conveying fourteen or
fifteen men, was immediately sent, and, on these arriving
at Ambergate, the engine was reversed, and it ran
towards Matlock, with the tender first. Before this last
assistance arrived, the men first sent had succeeded in
getting the dislodged engine replaced on the line; and
thinking the distance but short to Ambergate, they
started to proceed thither on the line they were on,
instead of running a short distance in the opposite direction,
and getting on to the up line by a siding, which
they could have done. The consequence was, the two
engines on arriving at the curve, came into fearful
collision, although the drivers shut off the steam and
reversed both engines immediately upon coming in sight
of each other. One of the men on the tender jumped
off before the engines came in contact, but the others
were scattered about in all directions. Many of them
were seriously bruised, and others rendered insensible.
One man afterwards died in the infirmary at Derby. A
Coroner's inquest was held, which terminated on the
19th instant, when they returned a verdict of
manslaughter against Samuel Kent, the guard; and George
Cawood, and John Sweeton, the two drivers. The jury
also added the following remarks: "The jury recommend
the company in any future accident occurring on
the line, that some official person of authority should
accompany the men who may be sent to assist or remove