The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-31 00:00:00

JOHN BROODXN.

ORIGIB AL GOLD CHAIN MANUFACTORY,
16, ILINIWITTA-13TE1T, COVENT-061,DAN.

JOHN BROGDENI GOLD OHALNEL

JOHN BROGDEN'S GOLD GAL &RD CHAINS.

JOHN BROGDEN'S GOLD ALBERT CHAINS.

JOHN BROGDEN'S GOLD BROOD H C HAlli 8.

MESSRS. WATHERSTON and SON,
Goldsmiths and Jewellers,
Ran Reedy forof the La Inspecttest Design suitable ion • Great Variety
for of JEWELLERY,
s,
WEDDING PRESENTS and NEW-YEARS GIFTS.
Lt. East, S.W.

LONDON must have a SUPPER and MUSIC
ROOM for Gentlemen. —Remember, we waft for you at
"EVANS," after the Corenbgardeu Pantomime, and the
Theatres

Zitt ,d'rortoo.

TO 008818YONDItN711.
Averttsemente Intended for The layettes London t►entng
paper, mast be at the Mat 10, Bouverleetreet, by Two
o'clock on the day at pabileaticw.

HAYMARKET.
THIS WINING, BROTHER SAM Mmes. &Ahern, Buck-
HOY,
_sad mpton ; %lame Nally Moore, Snowdon, &c.—
01,11FZUS INCo TEM HAYMARKET. Main ?amen & D. ?leper ;
MI IS Keeley, Howard & Wright. MY HUSBANDS GHOST.

PRINCINIS.
Ton WET LODOPlos.—After which IT IS
TOO Lin TO MICA Wawa Vining, EL le,
Z. Mad, A Murray, b. Whams, F. Vilna% J. 0. Shores G. Mur-
ry, sod Z. Newt Wows L. Moore and H. Rodgers.

LYCZIIIL

TIM 'Timm, THE ILLUSTRIOUS STRANGER. Mr. H.
Widdlconeb.—THE MASTER OF RAVENSWOOD. Mean.
Adder. lord Vezln. Emery, Widdieomb, Fitspatdok, Erma;
Madames Tanan, =worthy, Liven; C. Lerlercq.

BRITANNIA.

THIS Emma, OLD D i:DTlittiiiaTEGlS AND Slit REGENT
CDSCIIS —IL and Mdme. Stertsenhech.—Signor Bona—The
Golden Bala —Johnny Day.—Sin Survivors from the Crew of the
hater 'r London will appear.-01mar.—And BUT= COLD.

HIGHWATZER AT LONDOY•YBIDGL

T DAT—LIIOI7;IZ £ll. 4101.
• Tammy Monlag, sh. ..Alternoes, 30. eta.

LONDON. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31.

Tug National Lifeboat Institution whose
existence and prosperity deserve to be
counted among the purest of our national glories,
and whose indefatigable services will be deemed
worthy, in some future and wiser day, of the " Vic-
toria Cross"—has with its usual promptitude and
zeal put forth a recommendation as to the most ob-
vious and practicable means of saving the passengers
and crew of a foundering ship, of which the worst
that can be said is that it is as simple as common
sense. The Institution proposes that every vessel
should be provided with a certain proportionate num-
ber and size of " standard " lifeboats, instead of the
" sham " boats, unserviceable in bad weather, and
in emergencies unavailable, which are now carried
for appearance' sake, with very little reference to
the size of the sbip, and with none to the number
of the crew and passengers, and the possible neces-
sity of lowering them on a sudden, and " living "
in them for days in mid-ocean in a gale of wind,
or driving for dear life on a rock-bound comet.
Here are the suggestions of the Institution :

1. That there should be a sufficient number of boats to
carry every person on board a ship, each fitted as a life-
boat, of the size and description as per given standard,
belated to davits at the vessel's sides, fitted with Clifford's
or other sanctioned improved lowering apparatus, and
having always in her such articles of equipment as should
be defined by law.
2. That every suck boat should have painted on her
exterior, I. legible and conspicuous characters, the number
of persons she was legally authorised to carry, in order that
every passenger, or other person on board, could, at any
time, by adding the total numbers together, satisfy himself
that there was lifeboat accommodation for all. It would
also be a manifest advantage that every boat should be of
corresponding size, so as to take an equal number of persons
on board. Thus if each was authorised to carry 30
persons, it would be readily calculated that each 10 boats
would carry 300, and the number would be so familiar to
every one, that in the hurry of taking to the boats the
regulated safe cargo of each would be more certainly known,'
sad less likely to be departed from.
3. That on leaving port, and at certain intervals during
every long voyage, the captain of the ship should muster
all hands, and call over the names of the officer to take
charge, the crew to work, and the passengers to embark in
each boat individually specified.
4. That the boats of every passenger ship should be ape.
sally and carefully inspected and reported on by the ap-
pointed government inspector previous to each voyage. At
present the inspection of ships' lifeboats is of no service, u
there is no fixed standard, and it is notorious that the gene-
rality of those in passenger ships, and nearly or quite all
of those in our coast passenger steamers, area mere sham,
nnentitled to the name of lifeboats.

" Although," the Secretary of the Institution
remarks, " such boats cannot be made to possess,
" in the same degree, all the valuable properties
" of the coast lifeboats of the Institution, chiefly
" in consequence of the much greater weight which
" would be thereby entailed, yet this experimental
" trial " (in allusion to some experiments
conducted before the Lords of the Admiralty)
" sufficed to show that they could be made to
" approximate to them, and that without exces-
" sive weight they might possess considerable sta-
" bility, either entire or partial self-relief of any
" water that might be shipped, a large amount of
" extra buoyancy, and, lastly, partial self-righting
"power, so that they could, if upset, be readily
" righted again by their crews in the water."
We dare say many people who read these simple
suggestions will begin by wondering how any vessel
could ever have put to sea without a boat or boats
capable of carrying every soul on board in safety,
capable of being instantly and securely lowered,
and manned with its own regularly mustered crew.
We trust that, after the first surprise is past, they
will join in hoping that every vessel of war and
every merchant ship will at no distant day be pro-
vided with ample standard lifeboat accommodation.
Surely if there be any question in which the

public of these islands are interested it must be this.
And yet the Board of Trade, officially censorious as
the public it represents, with all its mercantile de-
partment, and all its apparatus of courts of in-
quiry, and its Merchant Shipping and Passenger
Acts, has done nothing beyond inspection and in-
quiry. Indeed, the Board of Admiralty never moved
in the matter till the Lifeboat Institution had
actually invited them to see a lifeboat. And as
to the public, whether sailors or passengers, it is
certain they will never consult their own safety ;
they constitutionally prefer the risk. The Lifeboat
Institution, if its valuable recommendations are
attended to, will save hundreds of Englishmen
in spits of themselves.

A Philadelphia correspondent writes :—" The
great railroad ease in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, ,
in which the Pennsylvania Railroad endeavours to annul
swims agreements between the Atlant;e and Great
Western and other roads, has not yet terminated. Counsel
are Mill arguing the ease, and the trial, one of the most
important ever held in Philadelphia, attracts railroad men
from all parts of the country. Arguments from counsel
will probably be heard ail this week, and the court will
seemly render a decision before the beginning of February.
Sr Morton Pato and other English shareholders of the
Atlantic and Great Western Company lye represented by
Robert J. Walker. Upon the result depends a freight
traffics between the east and west valued at 20,000,000 dole.
a year—something to fight for.*