The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-16 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL l6, 1852.

, RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

WORCESTER AND HERYFORD.—A special melting of
the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company was held
at Gloucester on Wednesday.—Mr. Potter, a director of
the Great Western Company, moved, and Mr. Baker,
another director, seconded a motion for opposing the
Worc.,ster and Hereford narrow gauge Bill, and for sub-
scribing 300/. for that purpose. After a long discussion
a poll took place, and resulted in the rejection of Mr.
Potter's moti‘ n by a majority of 199 votes.
LONDON, TILBURY, AND SOUTHEND.—The report of
the Admiralty states that -the object of this railway is to
connect the Eistern Counties Railway with the Thames,
near Tilbury Fort, at Sea Reach, and at Southend.
The interferences with the jurisdiction of the Ad-
miralty are by crossing the river Boding, above the
town of _Balking, the Raiiiham-creeki -near- Rainham,
and the navigable fleet of South Bentleet; by
skirting the sea-shore between Leigh and South-
end; and by the erection of piers in Gravesend
and Sea-reach. The Admiralty will require that
plans of the bridges or crossings over the river Boding
Rainham-creek, and Beefleet-creek, and of any works
cotinected with them and with the piers in the Thames,
be approved of by their Lordships before being con-
structed. If the viaduct between Leigh and Southend
be on piling, it shall be so constructed as to admit of a
free communication beneath for boats, as may be ap-
proved by their Lordships; if solid, their Lordships will
equiro a causeway to be constructed without the bank,
seven yards wide, and three feet above high-water mark,
with a proper sea wall, for the free use of the public,
and that crossings under or over the railway at suitable
distances be provided to the satisfaction of their Lord-.
ships.
ALTON.—The works on the branch railway from this
town to Farnham are rapidly advancing to completion.
A communication has been formed by the permanent
rails on the entire length of
.the line, with the exception
of an embankment about 300' yards ie length, near the
village of Bentley. Considerable delay was caused by
the subsidence of an embankment in the Holt Forest. It
appears that the earth forming this embankment rested
on a body of gait clay, which was too soft to carry the
weight of the superadded mass. The difficulty was ulti-
mately overcome by digging out part of the clay, driving
piles, and filling up the space from which the clay had
been dug with gravel. This railway differs from most
of the branches of the South-Western, in having only a
single line of rails. Besides the station at Alton, there
is to be one at or near Bentley, for the accommodation
of the thickly. peopled district around, including Bin
stead, Bentley, and Froyle. It is expected that the line
will be open for traffic towards the end of May or be-
ginning ofJune.— Wiltshire Mirror.

SOIREE AT THE LONDON INSTITUTION.
The last soirée for the present season was held on
Wednesday at this excellent institution. It was exceed-
ingly well attended, and, as usual, the library, which
was thrown open for conversation an hour before the
delivery of the lecture, displayed for the inspection of
the company a choice collection of specimens of na-
tural history, and of works both of the fine and
useful arts. The lecture for the evening, upon
the ethnological and physical peculiarities of the Cape
of Good Hope, was delivered by the Rev. J. Adamson,
D.D., late (we believe) of Cape Town. It was of a
most interesting and elaborate character, and was dis-
tinguished not more by the popularity with which the
subject was treated than by the scientific knowledge
which the reverend lecturer displayed of the various
points discussed. After describing the manner in
which the peculiar climate of the Cape was formed
by the action of the great atmospheric and ocean
currents, and by giving a general outline
of its prominent geological and botanical features,
he proceeded to discuss that portion of his subject
to which existing circumstances give so especial
an interest—the character and position of the native
tribes. He stated that British Kaffraria was origi-
nally inhabited by the Hottentots, a nomads people,
without fixed governments or settled habits, who were
always at war amongst themselves, but possessed no
capacity for resisting the attacks of an external foe.
Accordingly the Kafir or Zoolu tribes of the east
coast, who were a warlike race, living under the most
absolute despotism, had overrun the country, partly
conquered and partly mingled with the other race,
and the result had been to render this district a com-
plete scene of confusion and of war, there being a
nearly complete want of government amongst the
compound race. This was the great difficulty which
we had in dealing with them, and would, he thought,
render it necessary for U 3 to introduce our own go-
vernment amongst them ; respecting, however, their
right to their lands, which we had hitherto not always
done. Of the character of the Kafirs, Dr. Adamson
gave the most unfavourable account, describing them
as nearly entirely destitute of truthfulness, and so per-
fectly se:fish, that Europeans had the greatest difficulty
in inducing them to adopt any suggestions, because
they could not conceive tbat these could possibly be
given without some sinister object. The Hottentots,
who were a race of a much milder character, were, he
believed, diminishing in numbers, although placed in
circumstances of great physical comfort. Indeed, he
thought that the improvement which civilization had
eff,oted in their condition was probably the cause of the
diminution, in consequence of its having surrounded
them with totally different circumstances and conditions
to those amidst which their physical constitutions bad
been formed, and to which they were adapted. Be-
sides these tribes, there were the Bushmen, who al-
though speaking a Hottentot dialect, were the com-
mon foe of all the other natives, and lived in the most
precarious manner in holes in the rocks and in the
ground; in fact, in a manner which would be im-
possible to any but a race of their dwarfed stature.
These general views of the state of the native popu-
lation of the Cape were illustrated by a variety of
anecdotes and details of the most interesting descrip-
tion, the whole forming one of the mcst pleasant
and instructive lectures it has ever been our fortune
to hear.