The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-10 00:00:00

MOTT V. THE LONDON AND BLACKW. it LL RAILWAY.

This was an action brought by the -plaintiff against
the London and Blackwall Railway, fo t the purpose of
recovering damages from them for injuries they had in-
flicted upon houses belonging to the plaintiff.l From
the statement of counsel and the evil !nee adduced, it
appeared that the plaintiff erected sevt u•al houses in the
neighbourhood of Bow. Sometime ail ierwards the de-
fendants made a station to their railwa) r near the houses
of the plaintiff, and erected a tank for • holding water,
which it was asserted by the plaintiff ras so defective
that the water percolated through it, a and so far injured
the houses of the plaintiff as to cans e the tenants to
leave, and rendered it necessary for hi m to incur great
expenses.
Mr. E. James and Mr. Powell were for the plaintiff ;
and Mr. H. Hill appeared for the defendants.
Various witnesses clearly proved the damage done to
the plaintiff's property by the overflowing of the defen-
dants' tank.

At the conclusion of the plaintiff's ca se,
Mr. Hill said that on the part of the railway company
he would consent to a verdict for 501. damages, on the
understanding that no further action sh ould be brought.

This proposition was agreed to by t he plaintiff, and
a verdict was taken for 50/. damages.
LArd Campbell could not but remar k that the whole
expense of bringing this action might have been saved
if the surveyor of the railway compa❑ y had efficiently
performed his duty.

ARMY BEFORE SKBASTOI COM-
MITTEE-(THIS DA Y.)

The committee reassembled at the in lual hour.
Mr. Wood, Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, was
examined by Lord Seymour.— He stat sd he had filled
the situation of secretary about 18 m onths, and had
been in the service 51 years. He was ) sot aware whe-
ther any communication had been made to Lori Raglan
as Master-General of the Ordnance since ho had
been in the Crimea. The Lieutena at-General had
performed his duties. He did not tl sink it possible
for one member of the board to perfor n all the duties
of the board, but it was the custom for oi se to discharge
the duties when one only was prose! it. Formerly
copious minutes of the transactions of the board were
kept, but now only the principal ones—t .bese were duly
forwarded to the Master-General, who ha kl power to re-
verse the decision of the board. Th .e Lieutenant-
General had not that power. He couh i not say whe-
ther all instructions or orders given by the board
were entered on the minute-book. In a A.reat measure
he himself and those under him were the j 'udges of what
was of sufficient importance or not to be e n tered on the
book. The erection of a
shell foundry Woolwich
would have been of sufficient importance ti )be entered
on the book. He could not say when the erection of
the shell foundry at Woolwich was brow, ght before
the board, nor when he first heardatEedv,earynd Pape
bered, and
t of it
neither could he remember if a ;
ape r received
pl, in of it
into was
afterwards sent to the Master-General, the bt mines; was
tsubmittedw taos
rt
ehge
sbt
eoraerdd:
decided by the majority.
The Chairman—But if there is only one in, ,mber pre-
sent there could be no minority ?—The decisi on of that
one member is considered as the decision of the board.
There were circumstances which required. T.b. ) signature
of two members.

The witness was then examined at length on t'ie de.
tails of the office.

Admiral Sir D. Dundas, admiral of Ole Black Sea
fleet, was next examined by the Chairmal a— He stated
that when he was in Besika Bay, in 1854,;I to u nderstood
it was likely his fleet would be used againsd,; t 1 le enemy.
When it was likely war would be declarea, he ti vas under
Lord Stratford's orders. The Admiralf;y g aye him a
rou,gh statement of the power of the e;at ;11P r'S fleet in
the Black Sea likely to be brought again athi m. After
he moved into the Black Sea, he was t inab'fe to gain
more correct information as to the sl renE:th of the
enemy's fleet from Lord Stratford, and k e was equally
unsuccessful in his applications to other p ersons.
The gallant admiral proceeded to read c opies of letters
he had written with respect to the attacking Odessa and
Sebastopol, when he was interrupted by • the committee,
wh ) thought it desirable they should not be read.
By Mr. Drummond—He wrote to Lot •cl. Stratford re-
specting it, but received no answer, (a which he sent
Captain Drummond to him ; but there was some diffi-
culty about the passport, and he receii!t dno answer by
him.

[LEFT SITTING.]