The Express.
London, England, 1861-08-12 00:00:00

PNEUMATIC DESPATCH COMPANY.

The report of the directors of this company
state. that extended experiments have established to the
satistactioo of the engineers of the company the efficiency
of the system proposed for adoption by the company. The
last expormeate have been carried ea with a portion of the
tube, and a set of apparatus prepared for the line from the
Unmoral Post-office to Bloomsbury and have resulted in
proving the complete sulkiest-ye( {he disc arrangements for
produciou the power, as well es is showing that the power
may be conveniently and economically applied. The dim-
tom, therefore, now that the trial of the fall-sized tube has
shown the of cieocy of the plan. have at once placed them-
selves in communication with the Post-office, the railway
companies nod other parties, with a view to arrangements for
the immediate constriction of the first section of their
work.. The directors hope that the original plan of com-
mencing the works from the Post-office to Bloomsbury, and
thence to the London and North Western Railway, will be
carried out, hut they ere anxious, before committing the
company to any serious oitlay, and to the precise line of
their lint operations, to obtain 'guarantee, or such arrange-
ments for traffic, as will secure even this first section being
remunerative. The extension of the works, to comprise the
entire parcel delivery of London, must !speedily follow, but
the 'shareholders will appreciate the object the directors
have in view of obtaining practical experience upon a limited
scale, before the extended expenditure of capital shall be in-
curred. Messrs. RammeU andelark, the company's engineers,
state in their report that the trial experiments which have
been carried wit both in public and private have fully con-
firmed the anticipation% exmemed in their report upon the
prelimicere trials on a smaller scale at the Soho works, Dear
Wmingham. Mingle ca ' , and trains of carriages, of
weight varying from one to three tone, have been success-
fully pawed through the tube, or portions of the tube, at
speed 4 retying from 15 to 40 miles an hour, under
pressroom mngiog between lox. sod Gnz. per square
inch only; and these experiments have been repeated
from day to day with oviform result.. They find the
transmission of the power from end to end of the tube
to be apparently instantaneous, the buffing end delivery
of the trains to he under perfect control, and, generally
the combination to as elasticity in its working
which is all that could Disdained. As regards economy of
power, they have modest* it will be found that a fair per-
restage of useful effeet is cab fined, while in respect to the
much more imposing ameldmation—convenient application
of power—the advantages of the medium employed are too
obvious to need nuns& Ore the whole, they are folly
satisfied with the resells sislabsed, and are convinced that
the company powers, In the new system a means of trans-
mission which, from the great facilities it affords, must
soon come into extended practical use.

SALDIBUItY AND `ISOM RAILWAY.—The report
of the directors states that the railway has been doubled
between &airborne and Bradford Abbe Junotion, and the
doubling between Salisbury and Wilton hes nearly bees
completed. Increand accommodation for passengers has
bees given at Wiltoo, Seinley, and Gillingham. The joint
station at Yeovil was opened for indlic on the lit of June.
The loan of 40,0001. to the bank has been repaid, sad the
acknowledgments to the contractor reduced by 15,00 W.
The accounts with the contractor are not yet adjusted, but
a sum of 10,0001. has been paid him on engineer's cer-
tificate. The tralsc for January, February, and March,
avenged only 151. per mile per week. The defi-
ciency is attributable to the state of the weather
during the early part of the year, which by damaging
the works below Yeovil interrupted the regular work-
ing of the trains, and caused a serious diminution of the
receipts. The earnings for April, May, and June have in.
creased to 211. per mile per week. The traffic accounts for
the half-year, after deduction of working expenses and
interest, show a balance of 6,7571., to which is added the
balance of revenue, after payment of last dividend, 5,5611.,
making together 10,31 W. 'IU dividend cie the preference
capital will require 1,3 W., sad en the milinary capital, at
the rate of 44 per cent., 6,1421., leaving a Wanes of
2.1311. The expenditure on capital account to the 30th
of June amounts to 596,5;7/. Me revenue account for
the half-year ending the 30th of June shows that 19,5 1.
had been received and 8,6861.. expended in working thetraffic,
leaving • balance of 10,839/. for interest and dividend.
Bie se -Ps en To AND !NON FRANl:Z.—Before the
prorogation there was laid before parliament a convention
which has been entered into with France, extending the
privilege of the book-poet between the two countries to
patterns of nu istrinaic value, photographs, commercial and
documents, printed or engraved or lithographed works
bearing correctioes or manual notes, and "all other papers
in manuscript." hut there must be nothing in the nature of
a letter or which could serve as such, and prepayment is to
be eseentiel. The day for carrying the convention into
execution was left to the respective Post-offices.
Haitaeci2 Pitoerzers IN MILD FRUITS. —Letters
from Greece and the lonian Islands, under date of
27th and 30th ult., report the crop of currents to be pro-
gnosis( satisfactorily. At Patna the cutting is to cam-
mean about the middle of this month ; great heat by day,
with heavy dews at night, tending to ripen the fruit. At
&ate the crops have been in • measure effected by the In-
tense heat, which, whilst censingsome quantity of the berry
to burst, has compensated for the loin thus caused by filling
out the crop generally. The first cargo of currants is not
expected to arrive at London till some days later than last
years; the first arrival then being August 30. In Spain
the raisin harvest is rather short. Balding was to com-
mence oast week. and as the vines have sot suffered much
from blight .uperior quality is anticipated.
THY IMPt.NTANCE or A GIXID ticavEmr.--The
cut of the imports of grain of all kinds, as well as flour for
the last seveuyean, were, in the year 1854, 21.700.28314
185 A, 17,508,a/01. ; 1836, 23,010,42 W. ; 1857, 19,3i:10,567f ;
1838, *152.6411.; 1459, 18,042,0631., making a total in
six yeses of 119,633,6767, and an annual average of
19,1130.613/. paid for foreign grain and flour, while in the
year 1880 the coat amounted to the enormous sum of
31,671,918. mainly owing to the bad harvest in England
but these figure's do not be any means represent the full
extent to which we are still subjected by the harvest of
1860. They only *bow what • large sum of money we have
paid ; but the payments in that year were not near so
heavy as they have been since. The official information
brought down to the and of April makes the value of the
grain and floor imported in the first four months of 1859
4,384,045 k ; 1400, 3,913,0011. ; and 1861, 12,435,441. ; by
which it will be seen that we have been paying for the first
four mouths of the current year at the rate of 37,306,3031.
per lINWAIN, or 8.3?2,434/. more for breadatuffs than in the
came period of 1860.
APOTZICARIBIe Hum..--The following gentle-
men pamed their examination in the science and prac-
tice of medicine, and received certificates to practise, on
Thursday last :- Arthur Hover Brown, Coananghtsquare ;
Baaasl lawtne, Sheffield ; Charles Brook, Lincoln ; John
Hawthorn, Newcastle; Edward Green, Brigham; Charles
Bullard, Maidstone; Hied% Bennett, Llanidloes, North
Wales ; Henry Arthur Martin, St. Austell, Cornwall ;
Charles Huey Greens, Lymingtoa, Hants; Thomas Wil.
ham Popplewell, Gainaborough. The following gentlemen
ales oft the sans* day passed their first examination :—John
Anderson. Manchester ; Webster Adams, Ipswich ; Jona-
' than Balgliesh, Newesatle.uponTyne ; Peter Prnetor, Leeds.
SALMON Fiantsoc. —The river Nero bac ricen con-
siders* daring the week, ad the set &hien have been
ellsimald- AMIGA however, are enjoying better sport
Mashes member yam.