The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-02 00:00:00

THE BAL..4KLAVA RAILWAY CORPS.

Sir Francis Iliad has addressed the following letter to
his Grace the Duke of Newcastle :

My Lord Duke,—lt is stated in the newspapers
that you are about to despatch to the Crimea a fleet of
seven steam and two sailing ships, laden with navvies
and materials fur the constriction at Balaklava of a rail-
way, which it is expected will be completed by the end
of February, and which is intended to enable not only
the mortars, and ammunition
nowreach' the batteries which have
now
ergamu on s‘
the veibgehateh of t
um
beer constructed to receive them, but to enable forage,
to reach the horses,
sporlodvi iesri
so,n
as ,n
dm es
ideike i no of ,
oaunrda ag
" I have no desire to discuss whetker or not a great
ar steh as you propose to con-
structyet' restoring circulation to that
military mass which is stagnant in the Crimea ; bat I
venture publicly to submit to you, for as much conside-
ration as you may deem it worth, the following brief 11
description of a road,
which, I conceive, might occa-
sionally be useful in sieges.
"Throughout North America, and especially in Ca-
nada, the new roads, cut through the wilderness, become
so deep and sticky during the wet season, that, although
well mounted, and not totally unaccustomed to riding, I
have more than once been unable in 12 hours to advance
more than 20 miles. Indeed, I repeatedly came to little
gulleys, gutters, or sloughs of despond mot three feat
broad, but yet so soft that it was as much as nay heart
could do to get into them, and as much as my horse
could do to get out of them.
"Now, these miry, boggy lines, along which people
had been seen for months crawling like flies across a
plate of treacle, are suddenly, and I may almost say nta-
gically, converted into a road as hard and as good as
Regent-street by the following simple process, which is
usually adopted as soon as the feeble funds of the young
colony can purchase the blessing
" A small gang of men with spades aul rammers quickly
level one end of the earth road.
"As fast as they proceed four or five rows of strong
beams or sleepers, which have been brought in the light
waggons of the country, are laid down longitudinally,
four or five feet asunder, and ao sooner are they in posi-
tion than from ether waggons stout planks, touching
each other, are transversely laid upon them. Front a third
series of waggons a thin layer of sand or grit is thrown
upon the planks, which instantly assume the appearance
of a mere level WAdam road than in practice can ever
be obtained.
"Upon this new-born road the waggons earrying the
sleepers, planks, and sand, convey with perfect ease
these three descriptions of materials for its continuance.
The work advances literally about as fast as an old
gouty gentleman can walk, and as soon as it is com-
pleted there can scarcely exist a more striking contrast
than between the two tenses of what it was, and what
it is.

"Waggons of all descriptions and horsemen of all
ages walk, trot, caster, and gallop over it with indes-
cribable delight., until, coming to the point at which the
finds of the new settlement, have been exhausted, at a
single step they plunge from the last plank into the
mass of mud alreaciy dt:scribcd.
"This plank-read,' ash is tel med in Amirica, usually
lasts from eight to twelve years, and, as it is found
quite unnecessary to spike the planks to the sleepers,
the arrangement admits of easy repairs, which, however,
is but seldom required.
"In Canada there are many hundred miles of this
beautiful description of road broad enough for three or
four carriages to travel abreast.
"I have the honour to be, my Lord Duke,
" Your Grace's most obedient servant,
" Oxeudon,.Nerthampton. " F. B. HEAD."

TUE DUNMOW FLITCH._Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell, of
Cranbrook, Kent, having claimed Mr. W. Harrison
Ainsworth's Flitch of Bacon, Mr. E. T. Smith, of Lon•
don, has kindly offered (on the same conditions) as a
second prize, a Silver Goblet, with a suitable inscription
to a second happy couple. Mr. Smith, in his communi-
cation to the committee, remarks—" The Flitch may be
consumed, bat the Goblet will endure, and can be
handed down frem parent to child, as a proud trophy of
the happiness of the;r ancestors.".