the Hall. Placed round the room were stalls to the number of nine or ten on which were displayed all sorts of delicate fabrics bearing the impress of ingenuity and elegant workmanship. These were presided over by about thirty ladies whose names deserve to be recorded, but like many other details, are here omitted for the purpose of abreviation(sic). One stall contained a number of useful articles made by Mr. Beaney, a blind man residing at 21 Marina (a reminder that Mrs. Smith, a blind woman, an octogenarian native, still alive in 1900, has knitted, netted and otherwise manufactured articles almost enough to stock a shop. The refreshment tables were placed in the ante-room, where was also a curiously designed landscape, constructed of paper and forming quite a picture. At the upper part of the hall the recess was screened in as a separate department for the exhibition of numerous Chinese curiosities brought from the summer palace of the Emperor of China by Capt. Dunne. Among the articles thus shown were several richly embroidered un-made dresses, bearing, among other devices, the Imperial Dragon, and which to wear by any than the Emperor himself was said to incur the penalty of death. There several elegant specimens of carving and other unique curiosities, but the article that appeared to attract the ladies attention most was a richly embroidered panel, the two sides of which were of exactly the same patern(sic), with no reversing of colours, and without a knot or a join. Mr. Garde stood guard over the department and succeeded in taking £8 on the first day, the admission fee of about 200 persons to that division. Near to the Chinese exhibition was a weighing machine, by means of which we were politely informed, had been correctly ascertained the weight of a Cam((illegible text))el, a Cat(t) and a Dog(e). The walls of the room were festooned with evergreens and a profuse display of flags and mottoes, neatly and tastefully arranged. The tout ensemble was further enhanced by the magnificent painting of the Battle of Hastings, beneath which was stationed Herr Kluckner's excellent band. The following were the statistics as nearly as could be ascertained when this report was written:- First day's visitors 849, and receipts £140; second day's visitors 550, and receipts about £110; third day's visitors, 200, and receipts about £110.
The Fishery
Nine Fishermen Drowned. During the gale that raged in the Atlantic and the English Channel on Saturday and Sunday, the 8th and 9th of March, one of the Hastings, then in the Plymouth waters, was capsized and all its crew were immediately drowned. The fatal occurrence was the result of a heavy sea striking the boat while crossing a shoal at the west end of the Plymouth breakwater, in its endeavour to reach a place of safety. Some extraordinary exertions were made to recover the men, but all proved unavailing. The name of the boat was "The Crystal Palace", and the crew consisting of eight persons, were George Page (master), George Sargent, Joseph Cramp, James Peters, William Down, Edwin Chatfield -
