The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-28 00:00:00

INFANT ORPHAN ASYLUM, WANSTEAD.

The governors of this institution celebrated their
anniveseasy yesterday at the scene of their humans labours
the inseoution itmit—which stands amidst the glades ot
Epping Fared.
The- promoter were commenced by the Lord Biihop
of LONDON, who took the chair at two o'clock, and
cantully • ionised the ehi:dres in each elementary
breaches of religions and moral education as were mime* be
their tender e ears. A hymn was creditably sung by some et
the senior pipits, sad the 'emanation concluded with the
hibitiou ot specimens of writing and needlework. The
right rev. prelate then addressed a .ew eloquent observations
to lb, large e mAny assembled eulogistic of the charity an
er
d
its object, and concluded by expressing his regret that oth
sagsgemeots prevented his rem easing to partake of the hos-
ot the fostituties. After this the company adjourned
to the refreehment zoom to partake of an elegant and abund-
aa t kis a ear.
The chair was take, by his Orate the Dike of Argyll, at
whom tab's was mated Mies Burdett Ccutte and several
either persons of distincti.a. About 400 ladies and gentlemen
pasteuk of this I ntertaisment.
The first twat wee of course " The Queen," in propcsiog
widish the notder CHAIRMAN eluded to the warm interest
which her Majesty had unifmatly exhibited with regard to
this charity, Laving last jesr given a donation of no less than
MO Redeem. The toast was readved with loud and general
*min.
Prince Albert, the Queen Dowager,nthe rat of the
vmealfamily tiseiejt beer. duly propos. sand esponded to,
The SECRETARY (Mr, Buehler) proceeded to read the
list of subscriptions. From the diatoms at which we were
placed from the chair we could not distinctly catch the Dimes
at the doe ors, but we undersiond the whole to meant to
the eery Mamie total of 2,3001.
The Duke ot ARO YLL then roan to propose " Prosperity
to the latent Orphan Asylum." la doing no he begged to
empress his own heartfelt woke, tor its success, • feeling
ly
which he was sure must be shared by all present, especial
alter the feeling and el quint °Nervations they had heard
hear)e rht rev. prelate who had just left them. (War,
Iles rusted that this institution, which already
maintained 300 infant orph.ne' and could accommodate 100
more it the state of the made permitted it, would not be
lett by the basavelent to perish from the want of pecuniary
support. (Load cheers.)
he Cualamate gave the health of Moe Burdett Coutts,
• warm supporter of us charity, who had given a second
donation 1.1 250 proem, within three yams. (Laud
cheers.)
Mr. Aldermen HOOPER gave " The Noble Chair.

man.
This tout was received with the most enthasiastM ap-

plans*.
The Duke of ARGYLL returned taxi and imme-
diately raked, .homy
atter which the day's rities ter-
minus&

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH
AUsTRALIA.

A paha° meeting was tell at Willie's Rooms yes-
terday, to discuss the moat desirable method of promouzg
steam communication with Australia. The Right lion. the
lad Tar licer in the chair.
the UttslitolAN repressed the great interest which be
felt in the co oily of Austrelia, which was growing day by
day or greater importance, and therefore required • mire
direct steam eommuuicatioa with the mother country. One
route suggested was by Singapore, another br the Cale of
Good ilupe, and • third by the Isthmus of Panama and the
Pacific. This, however, was • matter of mere detail, and
ought to be left for after-considention. Their sole
the object
now was to force upon the attention of pub
lie and the legislature the necessity of a quteker
communication with those distant dependencies of
the empire than that at present existing. To
show the euereate of commerce with them he might state
that while in Iho3 the qweettry of wool imported from art.
nay was 650 pounds, it had since theta gradually inereneed
until, in la-la, it amounted to 46,612 pounds. 2he exports
from this euuotry to Sydney of Leonean wool amounted to
17,000 bales. The whole of the wool imported from Sydney
sweated now to within 1,000 bales of that brought from
foreign cousories, the. shoe iog how mueh the trade
Miltrniee would increase by a rapid and more regular co ofmmuour
-
nication with England.
The lion. F. SCUT 1 proposed the first resolution :
That the rapid increase and importance of the Australian
colonies rendered the intablishment of a steam communisation
between them and Esigland highly desirable.
Lord LY ITBLTON seconded the resolution.
Mr. MONTGOMERY MARTIN supports l the motion.
Re said that Australia was tee only portion of our transom-
tine dorainwes which had no direct communication ; and it
was the only colony which hail been called upon by the go-
vernment to contribute to the estaiblishmont of mail packets.
Indio end North America had not been milled upon to con-
tribute a single shilling towards such an object, and yet
Australia had scarcely put the English excagiter to soy
expense.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. Serjeant MERE WE FILER proposed the next reso-
lution :
That the inhabitants of the Australian colonies having,
through the medium of their respective legial dive assem-
blies, twine d the deepest anxiety to approximate their de-
pendencies oi It England by steam, it is advisable to co-
operate with theca in this country for the attainment of
that important ohjitit.
Mr. MARK BOYD seemded the resoluti n, and sal
that this question has been taafairly an 4 most injudiciously
kept in aheyar ce during the lest three yews and a half. It
L paiafed to think that a body of Bntish merchants and
°skeins Roulet be compelled to appeal to the Islands of our
missies when the postal communications of Great Britain '
and of America and Euro,te generally, with India and
China, have been conducted for several years by
stemma. Australis cannot ha charged with indiffe
ream, for her sew ral legslatures voted liberal sums
towards the obj of they had oast to promote; nor
can the merchants of Landon be accused of apathy.
By the lest return moved for in the legislative council of New
South Wales, in 1844, there hail been received from Great
Britain 68,500 lettere, 106,105 newspapers, in addition to
2,851 letters and 651 newspapers received from India. In
1541 there hid bees despatched t Great Britain train
Australia G 8,652 letters and 95,134 newspapers, and to Irdia
2,491 letters and 3,779 newspapers. A regulor and rapid
steam communication with our Australian colonies would
facilitate the investment of capital for the development of the
boundless res urea' of Australia and New Zealand. It
would establish much greater confidence in all mercantile
trans tenons wi h these colonies, and which the experience of
the last IS months has proved to every receiver of Australian
predate: in this country who bas had to provide for drafts
against couti;.ii. -resets valued in the colony in the absence 0:
late intelligence as to the state of the European markets, in
many installers 50 per cant. too high. (Hear, hear.)
If
the period now occupied in the interchange of correspond-
ence were shortened, one-half the balance of payments be.
twee& consignor and c insigne* would be much more regu-
larly adjusted than at present. After some further ekes:-
venous, the speaker begged to claim the noble chairman's
intercession with the Colonial Secretary and the First Lord
of the Admiralty, to grant steam to Australia once • month.
After a aeon observations from Sir WIL VERNON and
.other gentlemen the resolution was pat and carried.
Mr. MONTAGUE GORE moved a tee elution, to the
offset that it was the opinion of the meeting that an appeal
should be made to the government, and petitions presented
to t, hinting. in out the expediency, on imperial as
wtrasitimeta onionial grounds, of establishier a direct system
of communication between this country and Australia.
The resolution was seconded by Mr. MACGREGOR,
M.P., and carried.
A resolution was then passed appointing a committee to
miry out the objects of the meeting.
Earl Talbot was cAnrelled to to eve the meeting before it
ternseated, owing t e an engagement, and he was succeeded
in die chair by Sir W. Vernon. After a vote of thanks to
both dhow gentlemen, the meeting separated.

COLL] EltY EX PLOSION IN b
itA 1: FORD
Slilltl3.—TlilltTEEN P ERSONS IL LE.

DUDLEY POET, ViEDNE/DAT EVENING.
Another explo,ion in a coal mine took Owe
here 3 esterday morning. lutelligeuee of this rad catas
trophe reached Birmingham last evening, and I came
here this morning to inspect the scene of the occur-
rence. It is a very sod sight truly. You see the
men congregated in groups in all dinntirns. The
works at which this unhappy (=tureen his taken place are
in the very centre of this industrial hive, and there is enrol;
a family that does not to some extent share in the mourning
which this sad event his produced. It is to be feared, to-',
that the event is very much to be attributed to fa. Brandin',
or catkin's, on the part of the individual who should have
prevented it.
The circumstances connected with this awful ace.dent are
es follows : At six o'clock yesterday morning a great explo-
des was heard at these pits, which belong to Mr. Thomas
Won to
tha the men, about twenty in numher,
e dawn to theirs w.irk at the usual nour, sad pro-
ceeded towards the workings, headed by a man d
Pritchard, the doggie of the pit, and Elijah in:EnameA, his
assistant', both of whom held the safety lamps in their
hands. There are various gate-coeds in the mine to the
different workiegs, end they h tying n tried, the men
proceeded to their work. Another portion bee
of them the me
the dogpir and Jutson to another part of the
mine. At a particular part of it, about four
hundred yards from the bottom of the shaft, Jut-
ton (who still liras), states that he was ordered by
Pritchard to unscrew the safety lamp and instantly an ex-
plosion took plate. So terrific was this that it was heard a
mile from the spot, and all the gearing of the pit wen blown
to atoms. A number of hones were -killed, and huge piece+
of coal were hurled into the air an immense brig t. Several
of the men were blown out of the workii (es up the gate road
of the pit, a distance of twenty-yards, and as soon afterwards
as possible a search was made ; eleven were picked up dead,
and too have since died from the injuries they received.
Twenty-three °theta are so dreadfully burned that it is not
expected that sime of them can survive.
At the moment of writing this they are lying in the
greatest *Reny. Of those already dead there are, Thomas
Pritchard, the doggie, leaving a wife ; John Harris, a wife
and nino children ; William Potts, a youth, fi'teen years of
age; Benierain Cooper, a youth, about seventeen yeses old ;
James Ball, a youth; William Moore, a youth; Joseph
Liuneard, aged nineteen ; Joseph Slimm, aged thirteen
Samuel Sticklebotham, aged thirteen ; Thomas Packet, aged
seventeen; Richard Bent, aged eighteen John Gething,
left a wife and seven children ; Sampson. Fudge, left a wife
and two children.
The pit seems to have been generally artfully worked,
but the facts ennneeted with this and all other explosions
hereabouts walla induce the opinion that the best means are
not adopted to prevent there occurrences. Such en amount
of human lite ought not to be dependent upon an individual
whose condition in lite scarcely fits him for a post of so much
importance. There are other facts coon cted with this ex-
plosion within my knowledge, but I refriin from narrating
them until after the inquest. It may be se well to s'ate that
the works are not more than 9 feet high at the place where
the pit fired.
Another explosion took place this morning at the Black
Waggon Pit, near Dulley, belonging to the British Mining
Campany. Oc.e man was killed, and seven others dreadiully
burned.
Yesterday Mr: James Hill, an eminent railway csntraetor,
formerly of Taunton, and latterly employed in these parts,
was killed by • fall from his horse, about a mite from this
spot. The inquest is now sitting.
The place where tho gnat:ccident now recorded took
place has been visited, yes and to-day, by thousands
of persons. It is on the backs on the canal and the Stour
Valley Railway.

MUSIC.
THE WEDNESDAY CONCERTS.
The last of these concerts, fa. this season, took
place yesterday evening at Exeter hall. It wcs the
twenty-seventh of the series ; and this large rumber
of performances, on a scale of such magnitude, has
been one of the most remarkable features of this
musical season. Mr. Stammers deserves well of the
public, both for his 1.110 and for tho manner in which
he has carried it out. A series of caner rt-, held in the
largest locality in London, embracing almost every va-
riety of music from the most classical and lofty to the
most familiar and popular, embracing the talents of the
greatest vocal and inetrutr.ereal performers whore
services could be obtained by liberal remuneration,
and at rates of admission which rendered them easily
accessible to the public, were calculated to improve
e general tette, and, we are convinced, have actually
done so in a very considerable degree. The under-
taking, to all appearance, has been highly successful,
and will, no doubt, be resumed next season.
The chief portion of last night's concert consisted
of "Antigone," with Merdelesohn's music. Our
musical readers are aware that this piece,
which is a version of Sophocles's tragedy,
with the choruses set to music, has already
been performed in London ; first at Covent-garden,
and afterwards by Mr. Mitchell's French company at
the St. James's 'theatre. At both these pierces it was
performed in action, aid, as nearly es possible, accord-
ing to our notions of the mode of rrpresen'ing antient
Greek plays. On the present cceardon there was no
attempt at dramatic action; the principal performers
and clams were arranged in the orchestra after the
manner of an oratorio, and the dialogue was read or
declaimed. The ehatacter of Antigone was sustained
by Mies VJnd.nh if, and that of Crcon by
Mr. Vandeahoff, both of them the original re-
presentatives of these characters at Covent gar-
den ; Ismene by Miss Iluddart ; Hicmon by
Mr. Lloyd ; Tiresina, by Mr. Stuart ; and the Sent:
nel (an important part), by Mr. G. Bennett. We
were doubtful of the expeliency of this mode of per-
formance before a large audience not generally
ac-
quainted with the subject and character of the piece.
Many of the scenes, declaimed wi•hout action, were
necessarily cold and heavy; and the dramatic func-
tions of the chorus were entirely lost. But, neverthe-
' has, the beauty and interest of the poem, and the
wonderful poster and exprtaaion of the choral music,
made up for these dissevantages. The poetry wee
admirably delivered, especially by Mr. and Miss Van-
denhoff and Miss liuddart, and some of their recitations
were as much applauded as the musical portions of
the piece. Tne choruses, so full of classical simplicity
and grandeur, were execute], under the able direction
of Mr. S.eredttle Bennett, with commendable pre-
eisioo ; bat so many male voices, frequently ell
moving in unison, demanded greater attention to
varieties of light and shade, not to be obtained with-
out longer training than there was opportunity for.
The beautiful quartet, "O Eros!" was heavily sung;
but the :famous Hymn to Bacchus produced an im-
mense effect, and was loudly encored.
The remainder of the concert was a very agree-
able melange of popular music, chiefly vocal, in
which the singers were Mr. Sims Reeves, Herr Pis-
chek, Miss Lacombe, Mdlle. de Treffz, Miss Poole,
Herr Formes, and Mrs. A. Newton. Miss Day and
Mr. John Day played a duet on the pianoforte and
violin—a lively "tarantella" movement exceedingly
well executed. The hall, as usual, was crowded in
every part, an] the audience were liberal in their
applause.