The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-26 00:00:00

6nrt litafigt

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 25.
Her Majesty the Queen, accomparied by her
Royal Highness Princess Helena, and attended hi
the Countess of Caledon, the Hon. Mrs Bruce, Col.
the Hon. Sir C. Phipps, Lord Charles Fitzroy, and
the Hon. Col. Hardinge, went to London this morn"
ing by special train on the Great Western
Her Majesty, on arriving in London, drove t°
Chelec 1, and inspected the new Guards barracks
recently built there.
The Queen was received by Lieutenant General
Sir Richard Airey, Quartermaster General ; Major
General Lord Frederick Paulet, commanding* the
Brigade of Guards; Colonel Lambert, commanding
the Grenadier Guards; and Colonel H. Ponsonhi'
commanding the First Battalion.
The Queen went over the barracks and inspected
the various arrangements.
Her Majesty afterwards drove to Alban:oole-
street, and honoured Lady Churchill with a visit,
and returned to Windsor at a little before 2 o'olos'

The Prussian Ambassador and Countess Bern'
stotff arrived at the Castle yesterday, and had the
honour of dining with her Majesty.
The Hon. Emily Cathcart and the Hon. Florence
Seymour have succeeded the Hon. Caroline Wen',
dish and the Hon. Flora Macdonald as Maids Gl'
Honour.

The Gunpowder Explosion at Erith Marsha'

DEPUTATION TO THE HOME SECRETARY'
Yesterday afternoon a deputat on waited upon Sir GOrg:
Grey, Secretary of State for the Home Department, at tl3".
Home Office, Whitehall, relative to the late catastrophe'
involving the loss of many lives, through the late dread'
ful explosion at the gunpowder magazines at Brig
marshes. The deputation comprised Mr C. J. Carttart
the coroner for the western division of the county of Kent'
mad the greater part cf the jury who investigated the C1'.,,:
curnstances attending the calamity, as also the present sr.
tem of conveying the powder to the magazines, and
manner of its storage.
Capt. M'Killop, foreman, and 13 jurors were Pre'
sent.
Mr CARTTAR, in introducing the subject to Sir G. G. r
said that had he (the Home Secretary; been in town on te;
morning of the explosion, or, indeed, within 50 miles, 11,
would have felt the violent concussion or heard the ell.lll,
ing and unaccountable noise which had apparently 01°13
the earth. From the blowing up cf those magazines
persons were killed, and property to a vast amount, anina
for a long distance round Belvedere, was destroyed. 'r";
jury whom he now introduced had devoted great laben,
and attention to investigate the cause and cireurostanceoc;
the calamity which had been so frightfully destructive t
human life and property, and they, after due deliberation,
in the return of their verdict, had agreed to an aelale,,tl,
dum which he would at once place before him (.t7i
Home Secretary) as expressive of their 00131°,
Mr Carttar then read as follows The Jt1";
desire most respectfully to call the attention of her Majesty
Government to the serious omissions and imperfections
the Acts of Parliament relating to the gunpowder trade, a
disclosed in the evidence adduced before them, and thela
with to urge upon the consideration of the Goverameut.t.hi6
following as a few of the points which require immed/ttn-,.
legislation. Ist. the quantity of gunpowder stored or 24
•
veyed at one time in barges, waggon©, or by train.
The construction of magazines and their proximity to pops
lous places, river walls, and other sources of danger. 7
The construction of barges and the necessity for better of
tinguishing marks. 4th. The shipping and discharge lolt
gunpowder generally. sth. The importance of Govern°
inspection and superintendence with respect to the storo;
package, and conveyance of powder. 6th. The penaltiof
relating to the infringement of the provisions of the aeta,y-ao
Parliament beat ing on this subject generally. " With
suggestions embodied in these addenda, he (Mr Cafttt,roo
entirely agreed, and the object of the present depute",
was to bring the entire subject under the notice of tea.
Government. The first point was with regard to the tat ,00
tity of powder stored in one place. It might be a clueetio,
of policy as to how far it would be prudent to allow ,
powder in unlimited quantities in any one locality. it "fit
peered from the evidence adduced that the first barge wiSst,..
exploded contained five tons of gunpowder, which rite; of
rily killed every body about it. That caused the exefe°'-,ich
the next barge, alto containing five tons of powder,
in its turn ignited a magazine with 40 tons in it, and ifs
blew up a second magazine, containing five tons. It '„Eld
the explosion of the two five tons in the barges that at

the breaking down of the river wall.
Sir G. GREY—What do you mean by locality P 11°Ighla
would you have the magazines apart ? Because if You
had a large number of stores close together with five too6'd
each, it is clear that one would have exploded the other, 311

they would have all gone. 10
Mr CARTTAR said that no doubt they would have bee°

emir G. GREY—Then how far apart would you We ti,le
magazines situated?•
Mr CARTTAR said that would entirely depend on the stied
struction of the magazines. There was a magazine sittlate f
half a mile frcm the scene of the explosion, and a Piece oto
iron was blown from Messrs llall's magazine and fell alth,
the roof, but by good fortune it did not cause an elPica.e-tli
Sit G. GREY said that it was evident, then, that
cv
half a mile apart would be hardly sufficient for safety. of
Mr CARTTAR said that with regard to the tranePart e
powder, the jury were of opinion that no barge ought t°obet
allowed to carry more than 500 barrels, Then with rear4o
to the buildings in which powder was stored, the act el' s
no provision for their proper construction. All thatiri:e
required to obtain a licence was that the building 02°11;0
a certain distance from market towns and half a mile
the parish church. That was not a sufficient protee"4
The jury also considered that licences ought not to be graacit
c
as a matter of course, but after proper Government feclahist
as to locality and quantity of powder to be stored, and be
after the licence had been granted those places ought t
under Government inspection ; but that, having w;e4
granted licences, they ought to be protected by not allosv;,
dangerous manufactories to be established near tiletf.
Messrs Hall bought 18 acres of land so as isolate the Dalia.ti•
inge, but in spite of that, there were some dangerous 113a,0t0
factories near them, and besides there was a footpath c'io,
to the building, where people walked along smoking ai"acti
After mentioning the defective construction of the ba-Did
ings, he said the next point he wished to bring undersco
(Sir G.Grey's) notice was the distinguishing mark that Deo
used for pointing out gunpowder vessels from others °deo
at anchor in the river, and which the jury thought Ter
ineffective, The mode of transhipping powder from opc, tee
sel to another was also objectionable, and a breach of
regulations only entailed a penalty of £5.
Sir G. GREY considered the penalty insufficient.
.e.OOO
Mr CARTTAR said it was, and it was fixed upon the erS
man, for the iesponsibility ought to be fixed on the Of to
of the powder and the ship respectively. He proece'e tee
say that it was the duty of the Home Secretary, vfbeilgoe
subject was brought under his notice, to send dowri ;we,
one to survey the magazines, and see that the regal°.
laid own in the act were complied with.
Sird G . GREY said that had been done, but he Prea;def.
that it was only a question of large quantities of gull.
Mr CARTTAR relied that that was all. , tffell
Sir GEO. GREY said that it appeared to him to me 41•$
a question of quantity, because if that were not sPeci
shop 91d
might bring under the survey all the gunmakers'
town. If an explosion took place in one of thee° it Ti
knock down all the houses near it. code!,
Mr CARTTAR said he was satisfied it would be a a
of quantity. There was another question he cholla -0 too
his (Sir George Grey's) attention to, and that 1/B.lcf
question of storing. He did not think putting the 13-atter
into casks was the best way of storing it, and it 'Was an'ilea
Lion whether the powder ought not to be put into „1/,:01);
bags and then put into canisters, or into the casks•
teat
elusion, he would remind the right hon. gentlereallot
there was nobody to put the penalties in force, and t
there was, the fines were ridiculously small. Ile rav-oodia
that he entirely concurred in the verdict of the jure
the addendum they put to it. t DaAr
Capt M‘lirnEor, R.N., said that he considered ljoyt
rots were an unsafe mode of conveying powder, uuleas A
but. how that was to be done he did not know. ,sfore"
Sir G. GRE.Y Widud to know how it was that WI
it Captar the royal navy. eta' '3ll'o
Mekunor replied that they kept it in a /33 Aoes-
but even then it got damp, and in his expetieuto et'
via
he had seen thousands of cases thrown overboard trara
damp, and that would pay for a great deal a lining.
voolo
Sir G. GREY asked what quantity of powder a olifP
have on board ? to
Capt Meliannoc said about 30 tons. the ehiP
Sir G, GREY remarked that that would blow
pieces.
Cap; M'lirfr,or said it would, but they never (411:0- °r`i
light to go into the magazine, and there was alwa Y.
'
outside to prevent any infraction of the regulatioo,7
eveee
Sir G. GREY said it could not be expected that iivpilipprO.
have perfect safety unless every person would act
per caution,
ones cti
After some further conversation,
Sir G. GREY said that looking at all the cireonleoptee,,,
the case he was satisfied that the law wanted a_a'
and he thanked the deputation very much for the
a tl/e
suggestions they had given him. 'on ilaajleheau
Mr CARTTAR, on the part cf the deputati too t
right hon. gentleman fur the courtesy he had 6
and the deputation retired. 140
hale
The HOD. Francis and Mrs Stonor
town for Stoner Park, Henley-on-Thai:nee-