The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS BILL.

WILSON, in reply to Sir 11. Willoughby, stated
that the return which had been moved for as to the London
Bridge approaches fund had been furnished by the City
Chamberlain, and would be immediately laid on the table.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Sir J. PAlTll;6i'bil put a question ss the right hon.
gentleman the President of the Board of Trade whether his
attention had been directed with any hope of devising •
remedy for the awful sacrifice of human life that had oc-
curred within the last few months, and he might say within
even the last few days, by accidents on nilwars ? (Hear.)
Mr. CARDWELL, in reply, observed that it so happened
that only a day or so before he entered upon his duties at
the office of the Board of Trade it had been his misfortune
to be an eye. witness of one of those awful catastrophes to
which the right hon. baronet had alluded, and on the very
first day he entered the Board of Trade, he had the oppor-
tuaity of communicating privately with some of the princi-
pal railway authorities, requesting them to direct their at-
tention to the question of whether it was not possible to
provide an effective means of communication between the
guards and the d ' of railway trains as a means of pre-
venting such accidents And he had the pleasure now to state
that by the engineers of the railway companies generally,
and especially, as he himself knew, by Mr. Joseph Cubitt,
the Engineer of the Great Northern, that subject was
undergoing the most careful consideration. (Hear.) He
might add that almost immediately after his accession to ,
the office he had the honour to hold, he directed Captain
Simmons to proceed to France and Belgium to make in-
quiries into the railway system in those countries; and as
the committee now sitting was not confined to the question
of railway amr.lgamation merely, but could extend its
inquiries to railway management and railway questions
generally, it was his intention to direct Captain Simmons
to attend it as a witness. (Hear. hear.)
_ SHERIFFS' COURTS (SCOTLAND) BILL.

In answer to MT.
The LORD ADVOCATE intimated that as it was desir-
able an opportunity should be afforded to the people of
Scotland to express their opinion on this bill, it would not
be brought on during the present, but probably on some
day in the ensuing week.
PASSING PASSENGERS' BAGGAGE THROUGH
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.

Mr. J. M'GREGUR7u7aq7estieTntoihe Secretary for
the Treasury, which he had paced on the paper for Friday
last ; viz.: Whether the Lords of the Treasury would allow
an examination to be made by the of of her Majesty's
Customs, at the examination room at the London-bridge
terminus of the South Eastern Railway, of the baggage of
passengers leaving Paris for London by the 7.30 p.m. train,
and crossing from Calais to Dover by her Majesty's mail
packets, under such regulations as might be thought neces-
sary for the protection of the revenue, with a view to the
doing away with the inconvenience and detention now suf-
fered by passengers when the voyage of the mail packet was
so lengthened as to prevent that examination taking place
at Dover in time for the passengers to leave thereafter by
the train in correspondence with the mail packet which
arrives in London at 7.50 a.m ? He observed that in 1847,
when there was a prospect of the railway communication
with Paris being opened, he waited on the French govern-
ment to allow the baggage of passengers arriving in France
for Paris to be examined there without detention at the
port of Bologna ; and what he wished to know was,
whether corresponding facilities could not be afforded
here ?

Mr. J. WILSON replied that it had ever been the de-
sire of the C. mmisaioners of Customs to afford the greatest
possible facilities consistent with the due protection of the
revenue to the passing of passengers' luggage at Dover as
at the other ports. One arrangement they had adopted
for that purpose was, that a custom house officer should re-
main up all night to examine, the baggage of passengers
arriving by the boats at night and desiring to come on by
the train direct to London, at the station at Dover. On
Inquiry, he found that the arrival of the boats at that
port was necessarily very uncertain, and the departure of
the mail train being at a fixed hour, it often happened that
passengers intending to come by that train were left, and
still more frequently that their luggage was left behind.
He had communicated with the Commissioners of Customs,
and they having considered the matter had made another
arrangement, which it was hoped would meet this difficulty.
(Hear, hear.) It was proposed that a custom
house officer should be in attendance at the Lon-
don-bridge station to meet the night-train from Dover and to
examine the luggage of passengers coming from the Conti-
nent. (Cheers.) It was not, however, proposed to take
away the facility which now existed of passing the luggage
'at Dover, should the late arrival of the boat render that, as
it would frequently, the more convenient course; passengers
would thus have the option of having their luggage examined
either there or on its arrival in London. (Hear.) When
the luggage was examined at London-bridge, it would be
necessary that the shipping-list of the passengers from the
Continent should be sent forward by the train in charge of
a Custom-house officer. Of course it would be open to the
Commissioners of Customs to make such arrangements as
tkey might from time to time think necessary for the pro-
tection of the revenue.