The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-15 00:00:00

fourtDVZbition

NEWIVIARKET RACES.
(THIS DAY.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
(Continued from our Third Edition.)
Handicap Plate of 501.
Deciding Heat.

Sabra

Sagacity ...

••• •••
Won cleverly.

••• 1

... 2

FRANCE.
On the return of the Prince de Canino to Paris he
paid a visit to the Elysee, but was not received by
the President of the Republic ; and the explanations
which be gave with respect to his exploits at Genoa
and Civita Vecchia were communicated to Louis
Napoleon through the medium of the Minister of
State. It is understood that the refusal of the Presi-
dent to receive the Prince de Canino has been an-
nounced officially to the Pope's Nuncio in Paris as a
satisfaction to his Holiness.
The Court of Cessation held a solemn sitting on
Tuesday to receive the oaths cf the advocates, regis-
ters, and ushers of the court. M. Portalis, the First
President, presided. The advocates individually took
the new oaths, with the exception of M. Teyssier-
De:afarges, indisposed, and M. Martin de Strasbourg.
he Attorney-General read the following letter, ad-
dressed to him by M. Martin de Strasbourg :
" Mons. le Procureur-Gi,oral,—My convictions and
my entire political life are opposed to my taking the oath
prescribed by the decree of the sth inst. lam
iconse-
quently determined to dispose of my office, and I have
the honour to inform you that I have resigned n favour
of the successor whom the 91st article of the law of the
28th April, 1816, gives me a right to present for the
approbation of the Government. I have addressed the
documents, according to custom, to the Council of the
Order' of Advocates appointed to give their opinion on
the agreement I have signed.
"Accept, Monsieur le Procureur•GeLdral, the expres-
sion of my respect.

" MARTIN (de Strasbourg.)"
It is announced that the session of the Corps Legis-
latif will not pass without occupation, a great number
of Parliamentary bills having been prepared for its
consideration by the Conseil d'Etat. Amongst them
are two railroad bills, others on education, the cus-
toms, and the accounts cf the years 1848 and 1849.
The budget for the year 1853 is to be shortly sub-
mitted to the Corps Legislatit; which it is to examine
in all its details both as to the amount of the revenue
and the expenditure.

TILE BIJN,

make it more acceptable to the shareholders. It was
unanimously approved of by the directors, and he
trusted it would meet with the approval of the pro-
prietors, inasmuch as it would have the effect of im-
proving the value of their shares in the market.
Mr. FREEMAN, the solicitor to the company, then
proceeded to explain the provisions of the Bill, stating
that the Reading proprietors were to have preferential
stock, or perpetual debentures in the shape of annui-
ties of 20s. 6d. for every 201. share. They would
then be placed in the position of debenture holders,
having a first charge on the line immediately after
the existing debenture holders, with this further ad-
vantage, that such securities would be transferable as
shares. The present amount of debt was 2,000,0001.
and there was a provision in the Bill authorising the
conversion of that debt into preferential stock, pro-
vided the preferential charge for such debt did not
exceed 100,0001. a year—that was, that it should take
precedence over the Reading shareholders, who would
rank next.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed that the Bill be ap-
proved of, subject to such alterations as Parliament
might think proper to make.
The motion having been seconded was carried
unanimously, and after a vote of thanks to the chair-
man and directors, the meeting separated.

TEE REPORTED UNSEAWuRTIIINESS OF
THE ROYAL WEST INDIA MAIL STEAM-

SliIP CONWAY.

Yesterday afternoon the following important corn-
munication was posted in the underwriters' room at
Lloyd's, concerning the alleged unseaworthineas of
the Conway steam-ship, one of the fleet of the Royal
West India Mail Company It may be remembered
that a few days back considerable anxiety was mani-
fested respecting this vessel on her last homeward
voyage, in consequence of her being some days over-
due; and as most serious charges were made relative
to the general insufficiency of the Conway as to the
service on which she was employed, the committee of
management of the Corporation of Lloyd's directed an
inquiry to be instituted into the character and condi-
tion of the steamer. Captain Halsted, R.N., secre-
tary of Lloyd's, communicated with the board of
directors, and the following has been received in ex-
planation :
" Royal Mail Steam-packet Company,
" No. 55, Moorgateestreet, London, April 14, 1852.
",Sir,—Your letter dated the 7th inst., together with
the copy of one you had received from the members of
Dori's, suggesting that the conamicte for managing the
affairs of that corporation should make inquiries into
the state of the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's
steamer Conway, and her unfitness' to carry passen-
gers, mails, and specie, has been laid before the direc-
tors; and, in thanking you for the courtesy of your
communication, I am desired to lay before the committee
of Lloyd's the following statement of facts, with the as-
surance of the satisfaction the directors feel in having a
proper opportunity of removing the unfavourable im-
pression as to the condition of the Conway. The vessel
in question (I am to state) is of 895 tons burden and
260-horse power. She was built by Mr. Pitcher,
of Nortbfleet, and her engines were made by
Messrs, Maudslay, Sons, and Field. She proceeded
from Southampton to Grenada, on her first service, on
the 11th April, 1847, her daily average run on that oc-
casion being 209 miles. She remained in the West Indies
until the Bth of May, 1849, and then rerurned to England
by way of Bermuda, with her Majesty's mails, averaging
during the passage 210 miles of distance daily. Having
received a thorough overhaul and refit in Hull—spars,
rigging, and machinery—she again proceeded (on the
17th of July, 1849) to the West Indies, taking out the
Government mails, and making a daily average run of
197 miles. On the 11th of March of the present year she
was again ordered home to be altered and repaired, but
owing to strong head winds and the ragged state of
her copper (not to any weakness in her hull or ma-
chinery) her average daily run from St. Thomas's to
Southampton did not exceed 162 miles. As her pre-
vious performances, however, were no doubt thought to
justify the step, she was again allowed to bring home
the mails; and in addition to them she of course received
such passengers and freight (treasure and merchandise)
as offered for conveyance to England. So far was the
Conway from being in a weak and crippled state when
she left the West Indies, that she might have performed
the inter-colonial service there another year, had it not
been decided to withdraw her immediately to be re-cop-
pered and repaired, but not because she was unsea-
worthy as regarded either her hull or machinery. The
boilers, indeed, had been in her scarcely five years,
during which period they had been mended when neces-
sary, and once thoroughly repaired. On her late pas-
sage home they gave no trouble, although they were
constantly worked (as they had been previously) at the
steam pressure of Sibs. on the square inch, and were
they considered sufficiently powerful to achieve the in-
creased rate of speed which the company are desirous
their vessels should attain, it would not now be ne-
cessary to remove them. In February last one of the
managers of the company proceeded in the Conway from
Havannah to Jamaica and St. Thomas's and reported
that the state of her copper alone made it requisite to
withdraw her. Had he been doubtful of her condition,
he would not have allowed her to be used for the con-
veyance of passengers, mails, and treasure from St.
Thomas's to Southampton. In conclusion I am to state,
that there is reason to believe that the reports which are
current about the Conway originated in the simple eir
cumstance of her being employed to convey passengers,
mails, and treasure, when on her passage homeward to
be repaired, and in a feeling of objection likewise which
some persons entertained at being sent across the At-
lantic in any other than the largest class Transatlantic
steamers, but not in well-grounded belief of the vessel's
inefficiency.

" I am, Sir, your very obedient servant,
(Signed) " E. CHAPPELL, See.
"Captain Heisted, RN.. Secretary at Lloyds."

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

On Tuesday, Jsrnes M. Rendel, Esq., president, in
the chair, the first paper read was " Account of a
Swing•bridge over the river R ether, at Rye, on the
line of the Ashford and Ha-tings branch of the
South-Eastern Railway," by Mr. C. May, M. Inst.
C. E. This bridge, which was constructed from the
designs of Mr. P. W. B irlow, by Messrs. Rensomes
and May, of Ipswich, although similar in principle to
others previously erected, presented some difference
in the construction—in the arrangement of the tie-
bars, in the rollers, and in other details. The girders
were 112 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches deep in the centre,
and 2 feet 6 inches at the ends, made up in four
lengths, one joint being in the centre, immediately
over the support, and the others between the centre
and the ends. These girders were secured together
at their ends by means of cross girders; the under
sides of which were planed, and inclined, so as to
be slightly lifted, when swung home to their
places, on girders secured to the land piers.
Provision was made on the underside of the main
girders, at three places on each side of the centre
of the bridge, for receiving the tie-bars, which all
tended to one point over the middle. Each tie-bar
Was four inches by one inch in section and was ad •
justable for tension, by a right and left-handed screw,
the nut of one end of which was in the tie-bar, and
the other between two plates of wrought iron resting
on the side standards, or A frames, which were con-
nected together by a wrought iron arch. The turn-
ing of the bridge was effected by means of spur
gearing, worked from a platform projecting from the
face of each girder. TNo men could with ease open
the bridge in two minutes ; the total weight of metal,
in the moving part, exclusive of the roadway, was
about 130 tons.
The next paper read was " A description of the
lattice-beam viaduct, to carry the Waterford and
Kilkenny Railway across the river Nore, near Tho-
mastown, county Kilkenny," by Captain W. S. Moor.
sam! M. Inst. C.E. Tha span of the bridge was ex-
tended to 200 feat, chiefly in order to avoid the inter-
Works (Ireland),
ference of the inspecting officers of the Board of
whose proceesliogs had, in other
cases, been so vexatious as to cause great delay in the
execution of works
; and, in one instance, of a small
arch of twelve feet span, crossing a stream, with a
bottom of firm limestone rock, they had insisted on the
excavation of this rock to a depth of six feet below
the bed of the stream, and caused the foundations to
be brought up in masonry from that depth. The
length of the girder enabled the piers to be constructed
on the banks without the aid of cofferdams. The
foundation was strong loam and gravel, for an ave-
rage of about ten feet, at which depth the limestone
rock was reached. The river was subject to floods,
which, rising rapidly spread across the valley for a
breadth of 180 yards, and to a depth of about 16 feet
in mid-channel. The progress of the structure was
delayed by the financial affairs of the railway com-
pany ; and on the original contractors resigning the
work, it was completed by several others, among
whom was Mr. R. Mallet, M. Inst. C.E., whose able
assistance in the execution of the work was deservedly
eulogised by the author. Details were given of the
limestone piers, the material for which was quarried
contiguously to the bridge ; as also of the lime and
the modes of working. The timber used for the lat-
-1 tice beams, or girders, was Memel fir. The whole
was worked to templates and gauges, and the beams
were constructed with a curve, or " camber," regu-
lated by cleats spiked to the staging, on which the
beams
were al
weire built. The intersections of the diagonals
very accurately fitted, and double spiked ;
the waling pieces
joints made water were
((11.
or atbwen cloys o baya i bolts,
flooring and
wasthe
then bolted and tightspiked
it three
after inches, t ng
thheeamdeifitewetaiosnfowunads that,abe onwknsnoankd on the trial of the
away the cleats,
naswhich gradu-
tsing several
, ally increased o
eels verb
itrains across, stns peeds varying between
and thirty miles an hour, the ultimaterewe twenty miles
(without a load) became .51 inches. •
( load had been 65 tons. The Government Instlemtuome
however, tested it by a train of loaded waggoiis,e e-x-,
tending the entire length of thet arch (200 feet), and
146 tons. The resul of this was that the
weighing
11 inch, thus leaving a permanent defise.
beam deflected 24. inches under the heaviest load, and
rose again 4
the trials were concluded, of about 6i
tion, after and the regular
further sinking, so that now the
traffic produced a
• but the engineer had
inches. The shrinking of the timber
entire amount WOO 7i •i—nciles,