Ong: of the most curious instances of how- much damage may be inflicted by hastily formed coriclasions, is to be found in the result of the recent Royal Commission as to: the, causes of spontaneous combustion on board coal-laden ships, Although, in. China, we are year by year becoming less dependent on Great Britain or other distant localities for our coal supply, the, facts evolved, directly opposite as they are to previously conceived ideas, are well worthy of remark. For many years the Board of Trade had occupied itself with enquiries into the circumstances under. which coal-laden ships had taken fire at: sea. With a curious consistency, the evidence always seemed to point toa want of proper ventilation, and assuming this as the main predisposing cause: of spontaneous combnstion, the findings invariably were to the effect that the accidents occurred through defective ventilation. So clear did the case seem that, in 1874, the Board of Trade announced its intention of prosecuting no more enquiries, for the reason that its findings, which invariably exonerated the. officers in command and recommended more regard to thorough ventilation, were almost as invariably disregarded both by, wrung and underwriting interests. The "Board of Trade insisted on thorough ventilation; but a large body of shippers, whether actuated by different opinions or unwilling.to take the trouble of making the necessary arrangements,. still went on loading coal in bulk with little or no attention to ven-filation, The Board was placed on the horns of a dilemma; it did not wish on the one side to place itself in active opposition to men.who conscientiously believed their opinion well founded, and on the other it did not'like to retire from the position taken up, conceiving that thereby it was holding. out an inducement to still further neglect of precaution. - It did eventually what proved bestin the matter. It withdrew from all farther interference, leaving; those immediately interested to make the next stop. The interests involved were large pecuniarily, and besides concerned the lives of a large daas of seamen and officers. The Salvage Association and Lloyds were not willing that the matter should drop. They pointed out the defective nature of previous enquiries, and suggested a Royal Commission of scientific men to investigate the matter. The Commission was appointed, and has lately given ite report. Strange to say, its conclusions are: directly at variance with those attempted previously to be enforced by the Board of Trade. The latter body, a, tho. fésulé of a series of equi had come to the conclusion that want of thorough ventilation was the main exciting cause of fire in coal cargoes. It is not necessary to call in question the motives or information which guided those enquiries in their findings. Suffice it to say that all the evidence given seemed to point in one direction, the necessity of ventilation and. the advisability of making it compulsory. But a few shipowners held out. in, the face, of facts apparently. incontrover. tible, and ships were ventilated, if not because their owners believed' in its utility, at least because the Board of Trade wished it. Casualties went on increasing, notwithstanding that the requirements of the Board were in most cases carried out, in part at least and. ships continued to have their cargoes ignite, with the full conviction on people's minds that here was another case of neglect of easily arranged precautions.
It is this apparently well-founded opinion of the utility of ventilation which has been effectually disproved by the Royal Commission. The Commission has in fact gone further, and from the evidence before it, daly sifted, has arrived at the conclusion not only that the opinion of the Board was erroneous, but that the statutory enquiries, held during: the past few' years under the Board of Trade, with uniform result in favour of ventilation, have not been so ineffectual as that department believed, but that on.the contrary they have proved powerfully influential in a dangerous direction." There are in fact two-predisposing causes leading to spontaneous combustion. The first is the presence of: pyrites, which, when exposed freely to the action of atmos-phene oxygen, especially if mixed with certain amount of water, either as damp or in the shape of moist air, become speedily oxidised, and in the process give rise to a considerable amount of heat; and the other is the occurrence of coal in a finely divided state which: bas' the curious" property of absorbing from:\the, atmosphere considerable portion of its oxygen. Once occluded, it has, s. tendency to unite with the carbon, thereby -setting up a slow combustion, which presently, under the influence of increased ' temperature, is apt to. break out in fire. It is curious, as showing how. far an influence may be felt, that both: these causes have had of late years a tendency to become aggravated,. The first, because the laws forbidding the employment of children do not permit the coal to be so thoroughly. freed'from its pyrites as formerly; and the latter, consequent on improved machinery and the use of shoots to load coal from a height, which deliver the coal. in s more, broken state than formerly. The new statistics carefully collected by the Commission went plainly to prove that the proportion of ventilated ships lost or damaged was greater than if. unventilated. So. that, unknowingly and as it is thought with all the weight of evidence on its side, the Board of Trade was actually the influencing cause of much of the danger against which it sought to guard. Explosions from the presence of inflammable, gag are of course of a different nature, but fortunately, against these, superficial ven-filation has' generally been good "and, effective. The whole case may act as a useful lesson against placing too implicit confidence in supposed-atatistios. With no intention, of.doing anything but good, the latter may become so warped as to seem to favour, the most dangerous measures. If. the Board of Trade had succeeded in getting an Act passed to compel the thorough ventilation of coal ships, many lives and much valuable property would have been lost before the opportunity arose of testing the fallacy: of the principles on which it was acting, @utports, Mousrs, Knight 4 Co.'s Oiroular of the 9th February says arocks of produce now amount to 200,000 shee of Peas and 70,000 Bean Oil (840 cattles each), and ident that supplies in Spring will fall short of average of Rates for cash now, delivery in Spring, are—Tia 4.6. per plead 6.62
Castor Oil Jhas advanced "to "Pls, 3.80 eattog (122 Ibe)-—Wild, Raw, Sill hanged, Ts, 8 per O1f cation, epptxsl of the Now-Ye nothing doing owing to Seaweed (Russian No, 1 1 minal; no sok—Suga holders." g erally pre quote Amoy, Brown, at, Tls. 2.
Swatow, Brown, 'Tle. 2.70 por 91 Opium.—No sales of Malwa be made until after the Newpetlaps Tia 445 maybe, obtained" for, about half our stock.—Exchange; 16 days' sight Draft on Shanghai, 3 °/, premium on rough out January the weather was anurually mild, but the Winter has now in. with renewed force, and. it soams, unlikely thatthe port wil bale for ping before 29th The, recent rising of the troops has cient circles, and rain ite an sella I hear, in,, where lies the blame?; I" be General Chou comes in for the largest share, 20 far, at leant, as aquoezes go,-but it little avail for the. pot to call the Kettle black, matter, of army reform is serious.question for. this corrupt g ment to deal with. It would bes matter of interest, to ged how the present case ith charges of embezzlement, some troops pat and sowing disaffection doubtless, and others desirous. of leaving, the authorities will not have an easy taal The Viceroy intends: starting in a few, days to inspect the camps at Ta Ming Fu, in the southern neck of this, province, from which place he will return vid the Grand Canal to Tientsin. He need not be looked for here for about three weeks the soup-kitchens was closed. the people dispersed.
The proclamation relating to th Chefoo Convention. has now been: permanent form-in and about the city. It is written on strong paper and pasied-on boards, and ap put; up to remain. til purposely taken down.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.