The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-08 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 8 3 1856. Vrobintial. TAP WAKEFIELD MECHANICS' INSTITUTION held its annual meeting last week. Mr. M. Milnes, M.P., the Dean of Ripon, Colonel Smyth, and about 1,200 persons, were present in the Corn Exchange. The Dean of RIPON, after the reading of the report, warmly congratulated the institution on its progress. He believed that out of the Church me chanics' institutions were the best for promoting the welfare of the people. Having ridiculed the use of the term " soirée" in place of the plain English term "tea-drinking," the venerable dean observed that two classes of the community looked at such institutions with anxious eyes : The first class consisted of parties in high position, who supported such institutions because they thought good came out of them. Such persons would only stand by them so long as they were doing good, for they gave their money to do good. But there was another class lower in the scale of life—the people who were not in a condition to do good, but to get good. These were the two classes who supported mechanics' institutions : the people who wished to do, and those who wished to get good. They must conciliate both parties Education in this country was now everything. He believed in the next generation it would be impossible to govern an uneducated people. They must take all means to bring the intellect of the people to come in contact with the government of the country. They had universities for the higher class, and national schools and other educational establishments for the lower; but still there was a large class left out — namely, the middle classes. There was no provision for the education of that class. There was no institution but that of the mechanics, which had met the wants of the middle classes. He believed, however, that some of these institutions were doing nothing. He did not ask them whether they had got a good news-room ; he did pat care twopence for a news-room. A news-room could be supported without the aid of a mechanics' institution. Any town or body could do that; but their mission was to educate the people. Mr. MONCKTON MUSES, in the course of a brief address, said : There was an old man in that wonderful country — Greece—named Aristotle, who said that everything per. taining to the soul of man was of a political nature ; and in that spirit he approached political subjects in connec• tion with that institution. When he heard people say there was great danger in educating the people, and when be heard others decrying a wholesale State education, he believed both parties were wrong. Educating the people by any and all means was the great object, and he called upon all the friends of these institutions to give their assistance. The middle class of England was the great mass of the people ; and if other institutions had— as he believed they had—caused these classes to feel very much interested in them, they had been the means of doing great good. He hoped the middle classes would do all they could to take advantage of them. He was desirous that these institutions should take an eminently practical turn. He wished them to become the public schools of the artisan of England. THE WENLOCIE FaintEns' Cum held their annual meeting on Monday. The proceedings of the day commenced with ploughing, hedging, and ditching matches, after which the usual distribution of prizes took place, and a dinner concluded the day's pro ceedings. Jobn Pritchard, Esq., M.P., presided, and was supported by the Hon. Colonel Forrester, ➢I.P., J. M. Gaskill, Esq., M.P., and G. Benson, Esq. The president, in proposing the toast of the evening, con gratulated the company upon the very prosperous state of the Wenlock Club, and, after some allusion to the improvement in agriculture, came to the question of agricultural statistics. He approved of the bill of last session : I consider a system of statistics advisable, in the first place, to the farmer, to give him an idea of the value of his produce. In the next place, to the merchant, the capitalist, who has to look to supplying the difference be tween production and consumption, and to the Govern ment, which is responsible fur food being supplied to the people. With respect to this, I believe that no very great diversity of opinion exists, but on one point of the bill there exists a great variety of opinion, and that is, whether statistics should be obtained by a voluntary or a compul sory process. I admit, if they could be obtained by a voluntary process that would be much the most desirable; but, in my opinion, after the experiment that was tried two years ago, Ido not think they can be so obtained. As you all know, in 1854 an attempt was made to obtain statistics by voluntary means, and in this union I happened to he chai•man of a meeting at which the subject was brought forward. Most of the agriculturists present at that meet• ing, and, I believe, the great majority of the agriculturists in this neighbourhood, furnished with the greatest readi ness the information required. But a certain number did not approve of the measure, and they—either from not ap proving of it, or from neglecting the affair altogether—did not furnish any returns whatever. The consequence was the returns given by the majority were entirely nugatory, and what applied to this union applied to all the counties in which statistics were endeavoured to be obtained. Therefore, the attempt altogether failed, and it is on this account, I believe if they are to be obtained, they must be obtained by a compulsory enactment. Colonel Forrester and Mr. Gaskill replied briefly as the borough members, THE PRESS. A Comanosi between an express and a coal train occurred on the North-Western Railway on Monday afternoon. The up Midland express, due at Euston square at tour p.m., about a mile and a half below King's Langley ran into a disabled coal-train, happily only at a reduced rate of speed, but yet with suffi cient force to throw the passengers from their seats, and severely cut and bruise them. The express engine was merely thrown off the rails, and after a few hours' detention the journey was continued to town. The circumstances attending the accident were these. Between three and four p.m. the engine of a coal train en route to London broke down be tween Boxmoor and King's Langley, at a place called Nash Mills. Immediately after the coal-train passed Nash Mills, the signalman there observed the coal train come to a dead stand about 150 yards within his signal-post. He instantly returned to his post and slipped his telegraph wire, to show the Boxmoor policeman that there was a block upon the up line, and turned on the " danger " signal. The breaksman of the coal-train now came back to Simmonds, the signalman, to explain that the driver had lost a bolt from his engine, and he was then endeavouring to repair it. At this moment Sim monds, looking down the line, saw the Midland ex press due in London at four p.m. approaching. It was then about eight hundred yards distant from his signal-post, which was turned dead against it. With a view to increase this precaution, and dreading a collision, Simmonds ran down the line with his red flag extended, and a number of fog signals in his hand. There was no time to be lost. The express had dashed through Boxmoor at a terrific rate, and the lives of the whole 100 or 120 people travelling by it now hung upon the coolness and observation of the driver in seeing the danger signal at Nash mills, and his ability to pull the train up in time to avert a collision with the coal train. Terrible as the prospect was, there was still something in their favour. It was broad daylight, about four o'clock in the afternoon—there was no fog—and the danger signal at Nash Mills, raised high in the air, could be seen about eight hundred yards before arriving at it. The engine-driver saw the danger signal, shut off the steam, and then, with the stoker, jumped off the engine, leaving the train to its fate. The speed was checked over the last two hundred yards. The guards screwed down the breaks, but the crash came. The engine of the express dashed into the break-van of the coal-train, crushing it into a thousand splinters, the fore wheels of the engine mounting upon a por tion of the wreck. Only one of the coal-waggons was damaged—the last—and so vast was the resistance offered by this great mass of heavily-laden trucks, that the train was not propelled forward more than few paces, and none of the waggons were thrown off the rails. The express train suffered more severely, though, owing to the greatly diminished speed at which it was travelling when the collision occurred, only nine of the carriages got off the rails, and only one was too much injured to go on to London. Assis tance was speedily brought up from Watford and Euston-square, and every aid rendered to the injured passengers, who were speedily lifted out of the car. riages on the grass. One person, James Juke.t, a Derby mechanic, received a severe contusion of the under jaw and a slight concussion of the brain. Lord and Lady Byron, much shaken and bruised, remained with Dr. Sol'y, at King's Langley, for the night. The Hon. Mr. Bader, accompanied by Miss Skipwith and Miss Day, was also much bruised and shaken, and the Rev. Mr. Foot, of Burton-on-Trent, was severely cut about the head. Perhaps the best evi dence as to the collision, and the efforts made to avoid it, is given by James Drake, a plate layer on the line. who was at work about four hundred yards on the Boxmoor side of the Nash Mills signal sta tion. He says his attention was first attracted by the driver of the express putting on the steam whistle, which he continued to blow from the moment he observed him, when he was about three hundred yards nearer Boxmoor than himself, until the mo ment of the collision. Drake saw the Nash Mills signal was dead against the express, and dreading that a collision might occur, himself and his compa nions, in the few moments allowed to them, shovelled sand upon the rails to increase the traction. As the express passed him, Drake saw the fireman walk along the platform and open the sandbox of the engine with the same view. The steam was blowing off hard all this time, and among himself and his companions there was a difference of opinion whether the driver would be able to pull up without running into the coal-train until they all beard the collision, and ran forward to render assistance. As the express passed, Drake saw the guard in the last break-van with his break screwed tight down, and, for some time before the engine got up to them, the driver by signs implored them to throw sand upon the rails. An official investigation has been held at Euston square. .One of the positive instr uc ti ons o f th e engine-driver is that, "on approaching a telegraph signal-station, should the signal be at danger, he is to bring his engine to a stand at the signal, and wait verbal instructions from the policeman in charge." 1065 This he did not do, and the question is, was he to blame? Of course, it is to be presumed that he has ample space in which to pull up after "sighting " the danger signal; but in this case he not only did not do this, but did not stop his train 150 or 200 yards further on, where the coal-train stood ready to receive his charge. There is a little circumstance which seems to throw great light on the cause of the collision. The poor man Jukes, lying at Boxmoor, states that when the express-train arrived at Derby, where it should have arrived at 11.45 a.m., it was absolutely forty minutes behind its time ; and what if the driver when he passed the Boxmoor station was trying to make up this serious loss of time, most unusual with an express-train ? The authorities state that the train was proceeding at its usual speed of forty miles an hour, but a bystander at 80/tumor contends that the rate at which it passed through the station there was more like sixty miles an hour. Tl.• result of the inquiry has not transpired. . - THE INQUIRY INTO THE BRYN MALLY MINE accident was resumed at Wrexham on the 3rd inst. The only evidence of importance was that the water had burst in suddenly on the 30th of September, and for a twelvemonth before there had always been in the pit a certain quantity of water, which had never increased. There were certain " faults " in the workings marked and known, and a great quantity of water on the other side of these " faults" was known to exist. Mr. Hoicroft, the underlooker, visited the pit several times in the week, and three weeks before the accident a large body of water burst into the level one day while he was present. No boring in advance of the latest working had taken place in accordance with the thirty-eighth rule. Several witnesses were examined, all of whom testified to the general absence among the workmen and un derlookers of all sense of danger from the "D fault." In fact none appeared to be aware that they were working into the seam of this " D fault." The north side was known to be wet, but no more great danger was ever apprehended by the men from that cause. The inquest was adjourned till the 12th instant. THE MANCHESTER ART EXHIBITION COMMITTEE has obtained permission from the Treasury and the Board of Trade to exhibit the purchases made fir 12,0001. from the Bernal Collection of Mediaeval Art. The purchases respectively made by the British Museum and by the Department of Science and Art will be brought together for this purpose. A NEW FOUR ARCHED BRIDGE over the Tees, at Darlington, just completed and about to be opened for traffic, suddenly fell intc the river last Tues day afternoon, killing two men. Mr. Howiston was the architect, and Mr. Cail the contractor. An in vestigation is being held into the circumstances. ST. AIDAN'S COLLEGE. Birkenhead, was inaugu rated on Tuesday by a grand banquet, presided over by the Marquis of Westminster. The institution of St. Aidan's College was founded some nine years ago by the zealous efforts of the Rev. Joseph Baylee, D.D., incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, Birken head. The college is a purely theological training school, in the doctrine of the Church of England. The course of training at St. Aidan's College is divided into six terms, extending over two years, and consisting of two parts—theological and practical. On the theological portion h is unnecessary to dwel'. The practical training consists of district visiting in Birkenhead and Liverpool. The students are en couraged to hold lectures, under proper regulations, as a means of indacing confidence in preaching. Students are required to sustain an average visit.. ing of six hours per week (luring the whole term of residence. The ceremony of Tuesday passed oil with great eclat. _ _ EARL FITZHARDINGE'S FOXHOUNDS commenced the season last Saturday. The noble master of the pack has not yet arrived at German cottage, but is ex pected in a week or ten days. Earl Fitzhardinge is so much improved in health that he will be enabled to take the field. SOME RAII.WAY PORTERS at the Lime•street station, Liverpool, were testing each other's strength ; one James Butler rising from the ground with a bundle of steel bars on his back, slipped his loot and fell forward under the great weight. The bundle of bars slid over his shoulder and crushed in the base of his skull so severely that he died in about twenty minutes. THE EXTENSION Or COMMERCE WITH AFRICA was subject brought by the Board of Trade under the notice of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. The Board of Trade forwarded a despatch from Mr. Campbell, her Majesty's Consul at Lagos, in which that gentleman, alluding to the successful result of the Pleiad's late voyage up the Tshadda, points out the valuable commerce which the vast interior re gions of Africa must yield ; and offers himself to head a commercial expedition to endeavour to reach and open a trade with the Feletah chiefs in the in terior. "In every instance,' says Mr. Campbell, " here the advantages of commercial intercourse had been open to the natives, the chiefs, as they became rich, have abandoned the slave trade and marauding habits for the more safe and peaceful gains 0 legiti.