The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-10 00:00:00

grateful acknowledgements to our London and
Irish contemporaries, for the flattering critiques
they have bestowed upon our labours, as well as to
our subscribers and advertising friends generally,
for the support they have so readily and exten-
sively rendered. We now reiterate our former
assertion, that no efforts shall be spared on our
part to render the NORTHERN TIMES pre-eminently
worthy of the popular favour, as well as of the
important national interests it is designed to
advocate.

Lest it should be considered a dereliction of

duty, we beg to thank our " croaking" friends
for their miserable waste of sympathy ; assuring
them that, should Mr. ALBERT SMITH adopt our
suggestion, we shall faithfully fulfil our promise as
regards themselves. But, in the mean time, as a
little seasonable advice can do no possible harm
that we know of, we would bestow upon them
this piece of sage counsel—Go and eroke no more!

THE Mersey is, after all, the great trunk-line on
which Liverpool and the North of England must
depend for the realization of their hopes in all

those immense undertakings now going on in our
port and the surrounding shires. And yet, strange
to say, the approach to this noble stream is be-
coming hourly more difficult and dangerous. Rocks
and sandbanks are allowed to hold their primitive
positions without the least heed being bestowed
upon them. Happily rocks do not grow, or else the
limbs and branches of those immediately about the
mouth of our river would long ere this have thrown
their cool shade over those silvery sands where we
delight to indulge our amphibious propensities.
But it is not so with sandbanks that are fed daily

by a river which in its meanderings passes over a
vast stratum of loose sand, which is carried down

and deposited by its waters at the outfall of the
stream. Thus formed, and growing into fearful
magnitude, we find those at the very mouth of our
river raising their heads to the height of three and
even ten feet above the level of low water mark
One of these threatening objects to the tempest-
driven mariner and his ship-owner is very properly
designated " High Bank ;" whilst the largest of the
remaining and almost innumerable groups are

:ailed " North Spit, North Bank, and Brazil Bank."

Each of these form a link in the chain of growing
sandbanks which lie across the mouth of our river,
and which must eventually destroy the navigation
of its estuary if not attended to immediately.
The whole series of banks here alluded to are
separated from each other by narrow arteries, which
form the deep water channels for large shipping.
These, however, are frequently filled up to a con-
siderable extent by the moving of the smaller or
shifting banks. Thus in time they may become
entirely filled by the increasing accumulations from

the river ; and when this event does take place, our
port will be reduced to a very low rank. A glance
at the chart of the river and its estuary will con-
vince the most unskilled in such matters of the

danger to be apprehended. But let us now look at
the subject from the opposite side, and let it be
taken for granted that " sandbanks do not grow,"
and that "the river and its approaches are all right
enough." There are many who say and think this,
while others feel it to be their interest to remain
silent; but as such opinions exist, it is necessary
to deal with them.

Let us suppose a ship with a fair but heavy wind,
running over one of these banks, with four fathoms
water, which in calm weather would be sufficient
for all our purposes of navigation, but when a
heavy pressure of the atmosphere occurs, which we
term a gale, the four fathom soundings would be
reduced to one-half or perhaps less; for it must be
remembered that the height to which the waves
rise under atmospheric pressure not only adds to
the distance the ship has to go, by the undulations
it produces, but it also reduces the depth of the
water, by the displacement by which the ascending
wave is formed.

If the wave in this case should rise to the height
of two fathoms above the smooth-water level, the
depth of water left between the waves or in the space
called the " trough of the sea," would be two fath-
oms, or twelve feet.

Here, then, a ship drawing fifteen or eighteen
feet, might keep her course under the impression
that she had four fathoms, whereas she would in
reality have only the rough-water depth of two
fathoms, when she must most inevitably take the
sand either stem or stern. It would be perfectly
useless here to recount the number of vessels that
have been driven and lost on one and all of these
banks, as we feel assured that it is only necessary
to direct public attention to the real magnitude of
the evil in question, in order to have it remedied.
Indeed, it is hard to believe, in this age of improve-
ment, that the dangers we point to arise simply
from the existence of a number of sand banks at
the mouth of the Mersey, all of which are ac-
cossible at low-water, which renders it all the more
singular that nothing has been done towards re-
moving them. No one will, we hope, pretend to
say that they cannot be removed; such an assertion
would be a grave insult to the whole engineering
profession.

The fact really is, that the vastness of the under-
taking has led to the belief that it is quite imprac-
ticable. But if we look to what Glasgow has done
for the Clyde, it becomes a reproach for Liver-
pool to entertain such a notion. The improve-
ment of the Clyde navigation was undertaken by
the shipowners of Glasgow, after ages of neglect
and, pooh ! pooh ! from drowsy conservators, Elder
Brethren, and a host of other authorities, to whom
everything short of a close retention of pay and
place is an impossibility—an application was made
to Parliament for the necessary powers to com-
mence the work of improvement. This was
speedily obtained, and in a few short months the
impossibilities of the officials disappeared in rapid
succession, and the Clyde became a safe navigable
river for vessels of the largest tonnage.

Let us hope, then, that the shipowners of Liver-
pool will follow the example of their brethren of
the Clyde, and that we shall soon see a bill before
Parliament, conferring the necessary powers on
some local body for the improvement of the navi-
gation of the river Mersey. To carry out this
necessary object, a committee of shipowners should
be formed for the purpose of obtaining proposals
and estimates of the cost of the work to be done;
and having done this, the committee should pre-
pare their bill, and place it in the hands of one of
the borough members to carry through Parliament.

As for looking to the conservator of the Mersey
—a government gentleman who resides in either
Surrey or Sussex—or to the Trinity Board, who
think they do quite enough when they light our
coasts at a most exorbitant charge—is quite
absurd. That the improvement we suggest is most
necessary, no one will pretend to deny; and that
the shipowners are the persons who ought to com-
mence the work is equally obvious. But, should
the shipowners neglect the important work, we
hope the Toivn Council will give it their attention.
They have, or can raise, ample funds to carry out
all the preliminary inquiries and arrangements
which must be made before any. positive proposi-
tion can be made-to Parliament. In the Meantime,
we are on the verge of another dreary winter, and
let us hope that our neglect of a paramount duty

may not swell the frightful mortality which must
occur in bad weather in the estuary of the Mersey

in its present state

THE appalling railway accident which we exclu-
sively reported in the NORTHERN DAILY TIMES on
Friday last, is the first recorded on the Irish rail-
ways, and one of the most heart-rending that has.
ever occurred in any country. Such fearful calam-
ities, however, cannot happen without some distinct
and definable cause ; and in the case to which we
are alluding, we are told, that the accident arose
from the breaking of a portion of the locomotive en-
gine attached to a passenger train, which caused the
train to stop and stand on the up-rail for about
half-an-hour ; and that while standing still, a lug-
gage train came up at full speed and ran into it,
causing an amount of death and destruction-too
fearful to contemplate.
The circumstances under which the accident
occurred are such as may arise under the most
careful management, and in any part of the world.
The pending inquiry before the Coroner is there-
fore one of universal importance. The origin of

the accident being strictly stated, it remains to be
seen whether the engine which broke down was

properly inspected by a competent superintendent
of locomotives previous to the starting of the
passenger train, and if reported fit for work, whether
the subsequent breaking of the engine be attribu-
table to any want of skill or attention on the part
of the driver, and if the means employed by the

;omparty. to guard against collisions in such

3ommon-place cases are sufficient for emergencies,
such as the present. If the examination before
he Coroner does not throw some light on these
points, the whole proceedings will amount simply
:o a record of woe and lamentation, which the

public must deplore, but cannot remedy.
With regard to the means employed to warn the
approaching train of danger, was all done that
might have been done? Despatching the guard down
the line with a red light was doing one thing, but
where was the driver's whistle ? The night, we are
told, was dark and foggy. This is no uncommon

,hing, but in such cases the whistle is the warning
,o be employed. This, however, was not used.

The guard with his red signal light was all that
was thought of ; but if the whistle had been blown
with its full power at short intervals, or contin-

uously, from the moment at which the passenger
train stopped, the probability is, that its shrill
sound would have been heard when the light
could not have been seen, and that this terrible
event would have been prevented.

In using the light, it is not at all likely that the
guard walked at the risk of his life on or between
the rails on which his train was standing, but on
the contrary, that he went for safety on the down
line of rails, and if he did this, the driver on
the luggage train would naturally enough take
the red light shown by the guard for the light of
a down train, in which case he would be perfectly
justified in the absence of a signal from the
whistle, to keep on at full speed. That the driver
of the luggage train must have seen the light
is quite certain, and that he took it for some signal
for the down-rail, instead of the up-line, which he
was on, is, in all probability the fact. Should
this prove to be the case, as we feel assured it will,
the whole 'blame, if any, reverts again to the

company

If the passenger train's engine was in the
slightest degree out of. order when it started, no
amount of reprobation or pecuniary loss is too
great for the company. If on the other hand, the
engine was in perfect working order when it com-
menced the journey, and that the train was fur-
nished with proper lamps, which were all properly
lighted, then the whole blame lies between the
driver of the passenger train, who neglected to
sound his whistle, and the passengers who were
so lamentably unfortunate as to have remained
in the carriages, while the engine was under

repair

The Great Southern and Western Railway Com-
pany, has for a long time been held up to Europe
as an example, both for the excellence of its
management of capital and traffic, and as one of
the best paying lines of its age. We should there-
fore be sorry in the absence of the most conclusive
evidence, to attribute any blame to the Directors
or officers of the company. As long as railways
are in existence, we shall • be subject to their
dangers, which are after all ninety-nine per cent
less than those of the old coach or even omnibus
system.

That the chances of railway accidents may be
further reduced, we are ready to believe ; and we
most sincerely trust that all the circumstances
attending this last catastrophe will be coolly
weighed by the Directors of railway companie s
generally, and arrangements made to secure the
stoppage of trains where danger is imminent, the
safety of passengers, and the prompt use of
signals, both of sound and light. In fact, past
dangers should be the guides to future safety.

REVISION OF THE MUNICIPAL LIST.—The revision
of the list was resumed on the sitting of the Court at ten
o'clock on Saturday : one-fourth of the objections having
been only. gone through up to twelve o'clock on that day, the
Mayor said that unless some agreement were come to between
the parties, as the list should be concluded by the 15th, he
would only sit for every other day. The business lasted from
eight o'clock in the morning, until twelve o'clock at night.
It would certainly be an inconvenience to himself to do so,
but yet he should save the time of the public, and not suffer
gentlemen to attend in Court day after day to the serious
neglect of their business. Two o'clock having been fixed on
for the hearing of the objections in Rodney Ward, up to the
letter " J," the Court-house at that hour was very much
crowded with parties either claiming to be put on the list, or
who were objected to. The Mayor again asked if some ar-
rangement could not.be oome to with regard to the objec-
tions in this Ward.—Mr. Buckmaster replied that he was
prepared to make the same liberal offer he had already made
—to withdraw all the objections, provided the other side did
the same.—Mr. Davis said that he could not withdraw the
objections.' The reason the Liberal party had issued objec-
tions this time, was because last year they were without
cause objected to in great numbers, and they had in conse-
quence either to submit to the loss of their votes, or attend
in Court at great personal inconvenience. They had accord-
ingly resolved to check that system by retaliation on their
part. The objections were then proceeded with.
LIST OF PASSENGERS PER NIAGARA STEAM SHIP,—
From Boston :—Mr. Edmunds and lady, Mr. A. Prout, Mrs.
Hebron, Miss P.LBridge, Mr. Winslow, lady, and servant,
Mr. I. Wilson, Miss Moore, Mr. Wilbor, Mr. McKenzie,
two children, and servant, Mr. Spencer, lady, two children,
and servant, Mrs. Bradshaw, Mr. Blakie and lady, Mr. W.
Blakeborough, Mr. Thompson, Mrs. Blakebourough, Mr.
Nesbit, Mr. G. Davis, Mr. Brt, Mr. R. E. Clarke and
lady, Mr. Wallack, Mrs. E. Spring and child, Mr. D. An-
derson, Mr. J. Berkenshaw, Mr. Wright, Mr. P. Smith, Mr.
McDonnell, Mr. H. E. Robbins, Mr. W. Hastings, Mr. W.
Bitt, Rev. It. McNeill, Mr. Pentland, Mr. T. N. Williams,
Mr. Chappel, Mr. G. E. Perkins. From Halifax :—Mr.
Penrice and lady, Lieut. Col. Taylor, Mr. Jno. Goodall, Mr.
J. Le Brun, Mr. Davies, Mr. Lane, Mr. Vaughan, Mr.
Haves.

GAMBIAN LITERARY DEBATING SOCIETY.—A con-
cert and meeting of a miscellaneous, in aid of the funds
of this society, took place at the Assembly Rooms, Great
George-street, on Friday evening. The attendance was very
respectable. Dr. Lodge presided. Miss E. Williams, " the
Welsh nightingale," assisted, and sang several national
songs in a very pleasing and effective manner. Some gen-
tlemen of ability gave Welsh recitations, and explanations
of the historical customs of that country, and the perfor-
mance on the Welsh harps was most pleasing.
THE PACKET SHIP NEW WORLD.—A paragraph
was inserted in the NORTHERN DAILY TDIBS, of Saturday,
representing that two of the crew of the New World had
jumpsd overboard, whilst that vessel was on her passage from
New York to this port, in consequence of the ill-treatment
received from the officers. We have since, on. investigation
found there was no ill-treatment whatever,,-and therefore
take the earliest opportunity of correcting the error, and
egret that we should, in any way have given currency to a
paragraph containing the misrepresentation.