The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-12 00:00:00

FRANCE.

A decree has been issued approving the regula-
tions proposed by the Imperial commission for the
Exhibition of 1867, with reference to the nature of
the prizes for successful exhibitors, and the compo-
sition of the juries by whom they are to be
awarded.
The Muniteur of to-day announces that certain
precautionary measures have been adopted by the
French government, in consequence of the cases of
cholera which have recently occurred in Djeddah
and Mecca.

SPAIN.
MADRID, Join 11, Encase.
The Epocct of this evening says :—" The Bank of
Spain has come to an arrangement with Messrs.
Rothschild for the payment of the interest of the
external debt for the past half-year. The govern-
ment has lodged with the bank a certain amount
in hypothecated notes.

INDIA.

SOUTHAMPTON, Jura 12.

The Avoca, sailing to-day for Bombay, takes out
only 100 sovereigns in specie and jewellery value
56U.

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.-(THIS DAY.)

THE LATE EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.
The adjourned Wharncliffe meeting of the
proprietors of the Great Northern Railway was held this
forenoon at the King's-cross Station, Col. Paws,
the Chairman of the board of directors, in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said be could not commence the
business of the day without expressing the feeling
of deep regret with which the directors received the
intelligence of the melancholy accident which happened
on Saturday night in the Welwyn tunnel. It was one of
those unforeseen accidents which had never occurred in
this country before, and he could assure the proprietors
that a full and searching inquiry was now proceeding on
the spot. The government inspectors had gone down this
morning. He could state on the authority of their own
engineer, who had made an examination of the tunnel, that
little or no injury had been done to it, and the traffic was
now working as usual. He was, indeed, glad to say that
everything had been put to rights again. (Hear, hear.)
He would now proceed to the immediate business
of the meeting. They had only one bill to consider
and that was not promoted by themselves; but it scheduled
an agreement relating to the Luton line, and it there-
fore required their sanction. Ho moved a resolution
that " A bill for enabling the Midland Railway Com-
pany to construct branch railways and other works ; for
conferring powers on them with reference to the under-
takings of other companies ; and for other purposes," be
and the same is hereby approved, subject to such amend-
ments as the directors deem advisable.
The Hon. 0. DUNCOMBR, M.P., seconded the motion.
Mr. HAINWORTH was anxious before the resolution was
put to make an inquiry on the subject of the accident.
He happened to be on the railway when a very serious
accident occurred souse years ago, and it was then stated
just as it is now that every possible precaution had been
taken to avert such a disaster, although at that time there
was no electric telegraph on the line. He wished to
know whether it were not possible to adopt some
mechanical means to prevent a train from passing into a
tunnel while another train was going through.
(Hear, hear.) After the unfortunate accident at
Hornzey he was asked by one of the directors
whether he thought the board had neglected any
precautions that might have been taken to guard against
such a catastrophe, and his reply was that lie did not
consider them free from blame, because they had not then
adapted the electric telegraph which had already been
brought into use on most other lines. (Hear, hear.) He
therefore hoped inquiry would now be made to ascertain if
some additional means could not possibly be found to
arrest these occurrences.
The CHAIRMAN said he would request the general ma-

pager to give an answer.
Mr. SKI HOER CLARKE said the tunnel was provided with
an electric telegraph showing signals north and south.
The signals were worked by two men, who made communi-
cations to each other as the trains passed in and out. Both
the men who were on duty on Saturday were old servants of
the company, and thoroughly respectable and responsible.
The one at the south end of the tunnel had only
been on duty from 6 to half-past 11 o'clock, and therefore
no question could arise about over-work. The rules under
which the tunnel was worked were that no second train
should be allowed to enter until the preceding train had
passed out of it at the other end, and if this rule had been
attended to on this occasion, of course no second
train would have been allowed to follow. The communi-
cation, however, made from south to north was answered
in a way that did not justify the man's letting the second
train peas in, and he (Mr. Clarke) imagined that the mis-
take must be attributed to the mans fallible nature.
His fallibility must have induced him to do what he did.
There was no deficiency of contrivance to avert accident ;
but the human agency that applied it unfortunately failed.
(Hear, hear.) That was at present the only explanation
that he could give. The regulations had been in
force for many years, in fact since the electric
telegraph had been used on the line, and this was the
first instance that had come to his knowledge of two
trains being in the tunnel at the same time. The man
was perfectly sober and perfectly competent to the
discharge of his duty. The entries in his book hail
been examined and found to be correct, and
for himself he was convinced the man at the
time was as capable of discharging his duty as
any one in this world. All that could be said was the
man had made a mistake. The tunnel itself had been exa-
mined, and beyond the charring of a few bricks ite sta-
bility had not been injured or affected. (Hear, hear.)
The traffic was now passing through as uninterruptedly as
ever. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. list NWORTH observed that no answer had been given
to his question as to whether any other mechanical or
scientific means could be found that would render the
human agency unimportant.
The CHAIRMAN said inquiries would be made, and the
proprietors might depend upon it that everything that
could would be done. (Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then assented to.

Mr. Bentinck will, on Friday next, move an
address to her Majesty praying that she will be gra-
ciously pleased to revoke the commission for the courts of
justice, dated the 29th day of June, 1865, in order that the
construction of the building of the new courts of justice
may be placed under the sole control of a responsible
minister of the mown.

Lord Henry Lennox will, on the 19th inst., move
s resolution affirming Burlington-house as the most eligible
site for the nationsleollestion of pictures.