6.--During a severe storm off Yarmouth, the brigs Ark, of Sunderland, and
Sarah, of the same port, had a collision in the Roads, and were lost,
with their crews of sixteen hands.
7.--The actions arising out of the Middle Level inundations now took the
form of an arbitration. The arbitrators were laymen, appointed by both
parties, with a legal umpire, and their investigation of the merits of
the case or cases commenced on this date, at the Incorporated Law
Society's house, Chancery Lane, London. The proceedings were protracted.
In the first week of March several of the claimants, among them Mr.
Mason, in whose name the first action was brought, accepted offers made
by the Commissioners. The offers were in excess of the following items:
(1) a year's rent, tithes, taxes, and outgoings; (2) all expenses on the
crops destroyed (tillage, seed sowing, &c.) up to the day of the
inundation; (3) damage to fences, buildings, &c., and (4) the amount of a
full year's rent, tithes, and drainage taxes as profits to the tenants.
In May the cases Coe _v._ Wise and Sharpe _v._ the Commissioners were
argued in the Rolls Court, before Mr. Serjeant Hayes and Mr. Durrant and
Mr. Bailey Denton, the arbitrators; and on June 22nd it was announced
that Mr. Coe had been awarded 2,575, and Mr. Sharpe 405, the former
getting 500 and the latter 100 more than the defendants offered. The
defendants, therefore, were ordered to pay costs, and the litigation
ended.
12.--Died at Bedford, Colonel Vincent Matthias, Madras Army, aged 73.
Born at Norwich, he was of a family of fifteen, and nine of his brothers
entered either the Navy or Army. He was appointed a cadet in 1810, and
received his commission as ensign on August 24th, 1811, Colonel Mathias'
service extended over a period of more than thirty years. He was an
ardent sportsman, and while in India made a valuable collection of
natural history specimens, which he presented to the Norfolk and Norwich
Museum.
15.--The proceedings of the Town Council relative to the Norwich sewerage
scheme commenced this year with the payment to Mr. P. E. Hansell,
solicitor, of 205, the amount of taxed costs allowed to the informants in
obtaining the injunction restraining the Corporation from putting sewage
into the river Wensum. On the 22nd the Council, after considerable
debate, decided that the dry earth system advocated by Mr. Edward
Boardman was not applicable to the district. The Court of Reference
appointed by the House of Commons to try the merits of the Norwich Local
Board of Health Bill with reference to its engineering details and the
estimated cost of the proposed works, commenced its investigations on
March 11th. The object of the Bill was "to provide for the better
sewering of the city and the applying of the sewage to the irrigation of
land." The referees reported to the House on the 14th that the works and
estimates were sufficient for the objects proposed. The Bill was before
a Select Committee of the House of Commons on March 13th, and on March
26th it was, with certain amendments, reported to the House. (_See_
January 28th, 1868.)
16.--A deep snow caused considerable inconvenience to railway traffic. A
train from Norwich to Lowestoft came to a standstill in the Mutford
cutting, and was not got out until the afternoon of the 17th. The snow
drifted to the depth of seven feet upon most of the lines, some of which
remained closed for three days. Many of the roads were impassable for
vehicular traffic, and in some instances the mail bags were carried
across country on foot. Great distress prevailed amongst the poor, and
special funds were raised in several towns for their relief. At Norwich
the amount contributed was 2,227. On the 22nd a rapid thaw commenced.