The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-16 00:00:00

a dam, which is subjected to such an enormous pres

sponsible for a gigantic structure upon the strength
of which the lives of the neighbouring inhabitants
depend. These are matters which will now be
thoroughly investigated, bat no investigation can
retrieve the past, though it may guide the future.
Partial warnings seem to have been thrown away
upon us. The Holmfirth irruption produced no
beneficial results, and in the more recent case of the
bursting of the sluice of the Middle Level, which

was occasioned by negligence, in the case of
the embankments it does not seem to have

mpressed the important fact upon the minds o
hose responsible for the safe custody of that ele•

ment, that while they are sleeping it is ever work-
ing. The present disaster must, however, rouse a

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determination in the public mind which cannot be
trifled with. The lives of the population of whole

districts can no longer be left in the keeping of
those who, rather than admit the weakness of their

handiwork, jeopardise the safety of unsuspecting
neighbours. Why, let U 3 ask, were not the inhabi-

tants in the valley officially warned of the possibi-
lity of a deluge, and that down as far as any danger
could possibly occur ? True it is that those above

Damflask were warned in time, but rather in a pri-
vate, friendly way, than as by authority. When
it was deemed necessary to blow up a weir to

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secure safety, might it not have been as well to send

expresses and telegraphs to warn the people of their
danger?—was a possible injury to the character of

the compauy's property to be weighed in the balance

with hundreds of human lives P

THE THAMES EMBANEMENT.—Yesterday some
hundreds of cartloads of earth, sand and chalk,were
thrown into the Thames for the purpose of forming a foun-
dation for the Thames Embackment. From an early hour
in the morning Norfolk-street, Arundel-street, and the ad-
jacent streets which run down to the river, were crowded
with these carts, all of which made their way in due time
to the bottom of Arundel-street, where they were unloaded.
At this spot and away eastward to the Temple-gardens the
works for the embankment are going on rapidly, In the
course of a few days the ship Royalist, which was one of
those which went out in the search of Franklin, but which
has of late years served the purpose of a Thames Police-
station, will have to leave her old quarters at the bottom of
Norfolk-street and find a position in some other part of the
river. The works between Westminster-bridge and Hun-
gerford are going on with great rapidity, vast numbers of
men being employed day and night in carrying out the
plans.

THE RAILWAY BRIDGE AT BLACKFRIARS.—Yea
terday the 12th.and last caisson of the new bridge
of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company,
at Blackfriars, was sunk into its placa. At about half-
past one the workmen engaged in the sinking of the caisson,
together with a number of gentlemen interested in the line,
sat down to luncheon in the bottom of the cAisson, 70ft.
below high-water mark. Mr. Thomas, who was called to
the chair, made a speech appropriate to the occasion, and
concluded by proposing the toast, "Success to the London,
Chatham, and hover Railway Company." It is expected
that the bridge will be open in June next, 14 months from
the date of its commencement.

OUTRAGE IN GREECE.—The Athens journals
mention a fact of extraordinary atrocity, which
only too strongly points out the anarchial state of Greece.
Menidi, a small town of Attica, got tired of its mayor, but
despaired of being able to procure his removal, as he had
for his supporters a family whose name was an object of
terror to the country. The principal inhabitants assembled
to deliberate what course they should pursue,and an unani-
mous decision was come to that before anything could be
done with the mayor the family in question must be got rid
of. A vote of death was therefore passed against them,
and the sentence was carried into execution the same day,
the 26th February, when the father and four sons out of
five were massacred in the street. The fifth son made his
escape. The murderers also killed a young child, a son of
one of the victims, alleging that if he were allowed to grow
up he would be as bad as his relations. In order to legalise
those crimes the municipal council assembled, and with an
almost incredible imprudence approved by a proces•verbal
of what had been done. When the examining magistrate
went to the place to investigate into the affair, the murderers
triumphantly showed him that document, and he was com-
pelled to withdraw without doing anything further.-.
gab:plan:.

INFANT HOSTAGES IN NEW ZEALAND. In
reference to the mention made in yesterday's Sun
of a young girl of 12 years of age being taken as a hostage
from her grandfather, a wounded chief, in New Zealand, a
correspondent writes to us :—This is an old custom amongst
the natives—not exactly to send in children or women as
hostages; but in cases of capture or serious reverses they
send their women to the captor to be taken care of. When
the old serpent Te Raupara was taken prisoner by Mr.
M`Killop, of the Calliope, that young officer was rather
embarrassed to find in his hut a few days afterwards, four
lady chiefs, varying from the ages of 50 to 15, who came,
according to custom, to place themselves under the protec-
tion of the captor of the natural protector. May this sub-
mission of the old chiefs be as perfect as was that of the
forced detention of Te Raupara.
DR. Jacoß.--By the author of "John and I."—
It is a rare thing (says the Spectator) to find an
author or authoress's second novel decidedly superior to the
first. We thought " John and 1" good, but there can be
no question that "Dr. Jacob" is a great advance on it in
every way. Its principal character is much more original,
and is worked out with a thoughtful and delicate imagina-
tion—while even the pleasant and graceful sketches of
German social life/ are finished with a more skilful hand.
And there is not only a real unity in the thought of the
book, but there is an equal diffusion of skill over its greater
and minor conceptions. " Dr. Jacob" is one of the most
truthfully conceived and skilfully executed novels we have
read for many years.

dents that occur in this country, but rather the

avarice of proprietors, engineers, and contractors
combined. It is the universal greed for gain which
is the curse of the age to which is to be traced
more or less calamities like that recently wit-
nessed at Sheffield. In olden times strength and
durability were the first objects sought after by
the engineer, and when in doubt he erred on the safe
side, as is instanced in many ancient structures which
have almost set time at defiance. II: the present
day economy and effect are most in requisition, the
dividends of shareholders and the profits of en-
gineers and contractors take precedence of public
safety. We do not wish to prejudge a case of such
terrible importance, which must of course be most
stringently inquired into. The facts at present
before us are, however, sufficient to show that a
heavy responsibility rested somewhere. That,
from causes as yet unexplained, the means taken to
confine a vast body of water which had been col-
lected in the neighbourhood of a populous town
were wholly inadequate for that purpose, and that
some three hundred human lives were consequently
sacrificed. We gather from local authorities that
the Bradfield reservoir was of great length and
depth, although narrow; that the whole of this
lake was exposed to the force of the wind, which
at the time of the catastrophe was blowing heavily,
and the waves beating with great force upon the
embankment. Again, we learn that rumours were
current that " all was not right with the dam," and
that up to the hour of its giving way workmen
were employed upon it endeavouring to repair its
weak points, and to relieve the pressure by letting
off part of the water in another direction, and that
such became the peril at the end that the " navvies"
were in the act of blowing up a sluice to effect this
object more promptly, when the water burst through
and all was over. That the dam was inadequate
to sustain the pressure to which it was exposed
is evident, not that its destruction was accelerated
by the force of the waves or rather the sway of the
water is equally certain. It cannot be right to
expose hundreds and it might be thousands of lives
to the possibility of destruction, by the bursting o

sure as that of Bradfield. When it is deemed ne-
cessary to collect such an immense quantity of
water together as is the practice with large water
companies, it should be compulsory on them to so
subdivide the reservoirs by partitions as to relieve
the pressure, and to have them provided with such
ample means of alas that resort to blasting should
never be necessary. Again, when railway bridges
are required to undergo a Government inspeetion
before a passenger is permitted to pass over them,
why is there no district engineer and surveyor re-