The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-10 00:00:00

ing from the Leiter throut-h the starboard paddle-Lox, on the
side c; the coat the Ficr. lle did not e'osci e any .itef...n, es-
caping front the s-ifety-valve nor the chiniii.:y ; the steam and
smoke rushed out Conts the boiler immediately before the ex-
ploi-iun, and he had not tire: to proceed above two yards from
where he was standing, or to tc.ution any of the by-standers,
before it took place. Ile felt a strorg coneus,ion, and was
struck on the hand by a piece cf stood from the wreck ; the
noise occasioned by the exilosion was not very lout. In
answer to several questions .put by several of the jury, he said
he did not knew whether the steam escaped through die pad-
dle-box from a blow pipe cr not ; the escape of .team is as a
Imo of " burst" and not a ‘•
This was the only witness examined, an] the inquest was
adjournad to Monday next, at eleven o'cleek, to be held at
the Mansionebouse.
ADJOURNED INQUEST.
'Yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, the jury again as-
sert:Used at the Town- Hall. The engineer was present, in
custody.
The itiques: was adjourned to the house of Mr. W. Lewis,
w„lii„;;tnn_strect, to hear the evidence of Mr. Lewis. Ile
was lain, ill in bed, and was considerably affected on hearing
the runes of the sufferers seed over in the oath. Ile said he
sever heard of many of the before. 111 deposed as follows
the
:
About six o'clock yesterday morning, went on board
Union, lying ricai• the East Pier, in the basin. I and Mr.
Chatterton and Mr. Tomlinson went on board together. I
eelelern go on hoard those
.packets (in which the witness is
concerned), but go into the engine-house. I did so then.
There was no one in the room but a boy. I observed
the fire-doers, four in • number, to be open. I tried the
gage-taps, which are I,:laced in the boiler to ascertain
the height of the water. 'iThe first emitted nothing but
pure steam. There was no peculiar Colour or smell I
a boutabu
that steam. The second let out wet:e. When
gee effort, I
turned it I could not pet it stopped—after
desisted, Leine,- afraid of scalding 'mys'elf. The ia-eer,
Joseph Gam'.,}', came down immediately after me. I sa.''t
Lim, " Joe, what's the matter with this tap ? He said, " It's
rather slack." and stopped it immediately. I ant certain it
was water which come out of the second tap, it flowed so long
dare say a minute and a half. I very often try the gages
of steam packets; I tried that of the Lindsey, a few days ago;
boilers arc considered safe when there is water in the lowest
tap and steam in the two top ones ; the use of these taps is to
keep the water between the top tap and the bottom one.
There was no index to the Union's boiler that I am aware of.
I do not know whether the vessel was upon an even keel or
not ; she appeared to me too so when I went on board.
There were no heavy goods gin be
g on board when I boarded
her. All the goods were on board, and the vessel ready to
start. (Gsrnble, the engineer, offered some observations
at this stage of the enquiry, which were merely con-
firmatory of some of the facts stated by Mr. Lewis.) Mr.
Lewis's examination continued—a could not be certain
whether the boiler rested perpendicularly in the vessel
or not. The vessel was what is called " tender," and
about a fortnight ago, I ordered some boards to be placed be-
tween the funnels and the boiler, to preserve the boiler in its
proper place.—( The engineer observed these boards were in-
serted according to order. The Coroner directed a constable
to proceed immediately, and examine the state in which the
boards remained.) To prevent the water passing from one side
of the boiler to the other in case of the vessel rolling, a board
was placed across the middle of the bailer--( These facts were
elicited to ascertain whether the trial of the gage taps would
give a true indication of the height of the water. It appeared
they would perfectly do so.) When the engineer had stopped
the tap, I was looking round to see how the fires burned. The
boy was raking a fire : the engineer said to him, " Let that fire
alone," and ran up stairs. I was then going towards the ladder,
and was about two feet from the boiler, when I received a blow
which drove me towards the ladder, and stunned me. I remem-
bered no more, until I found myself upon deck, in the midst of
other sufferers. I thought I was no worse, and began to assist
a poor woman who was laid, hurt by the accident. I found
afterwards I was hurt, and made the best of my way home,
where I have remained very ill ever since. I did not notice
the safety valve before the accident. Ido not know the weight
usually placed upon it. I did not hear any noise like the
breaking of a stay in the boiler, or the falling of anything on
the deck. Ido not know what is the " calculated weight" of
the safety valve of the vessel. The explosion took place within
two minutes of my trying the gage tap. From the trial of the
taps, I should consider the boiler to be quite safe.
The evidence of Captain Waterland, who was lying seriously
ill its an adjoining room, was also taken. Ile deposed—l am
master of the steam-packet Union. I slept on board on Mon-
day night. I got up about five o'clock yesterday morning. It
is usual to have the boilers filled in a morning before we start.
The men were pumping to fill them when I got up. I was not
down in the engine-room. Between six and half-past I did ob-
serve the safety valve. I was on the pier about a quarter-past
six o'clock, standing near the Union, when one of the men
called to me and said that he fancied something was wrong
with the boiler. I went on board and asked the engineer
Joseph, if it was the case ? He said, "No ;" I then asked
him if the weights were off the valve, and he said, " Oh,
yes." I then went to the valve and lifted up the weight to
see if the spindle was at liberty, and it was so, and steam
escaped ; steam also escaped while the weight was on ; every
thing was correct, according to my opinion ; I then went be-
low to see if there was any one who wanted to go on shore,
and had not been below two minutes when the explosion took
place. 'The valve is so placed that luggage might fall upon
it accidentally. Ido not know that anything did fall upon it.
There was none near it when I last saw it. I am wholly un-
able to account for the explosion. The owners are :—John
Smith and William Lewis, of Hull ; Thomas Wintringham,
of Grimsby ; Henry Smith, of Gainsborough, and others.
I have had occasion to find fault with the present en-
gineer three or four times for putting WO much weight on
the safety-valve. I had spoken to him that morning and told him
I always objected to having two weights on before starting. He
said there was only one. I went to see, and found it was so.
The spindle sometimes corrodes and sticks fast, which was the
reason I examined it—it was perfectly free. The weight upon
the safety-valve was the largest of the two; a round one,
about 71bs. weight—certainly not more than lolbs. I don't
know of.having heard any words between the engineer and
Bass, the steward, respecting the weights, but I have told
Bass myself to take off one weight, when both were on. The
large weight would not weigh more than 21bs. more than the
,smaller one.

At three o'clock the inquest was again adjourned from Mr.
Lewis's to the Town-hall, to assemble at half-past four.
TOWN-HALL, lIALF.PAST FOUR.
John Williamson, one of the men employed to navigate the
Union, was examined, but related nothing of importance be-
yond what had been previously stated ; his evidence was chiefly
confirmatory of Captain Waterland's.
At eight o'clock the inquest was adjourned to the Infirmary
at three o'clock this afternoon.

To the ELECTORS of WESTMINSTER.

Gentlemen,--I had the honour to receive the copy of a Re-
solution, referring to me, and which was adopted at a meeting
of the electors, convened by the High Bailiff, and held sonic
time since in Covent-garden, for the purpose of considering
the state of the representation of Westminster.
I beg to apologize for not more promptly acknowledging
that communication, which I trust, however, you will con-
sider the less important, as it was and is my full determina-
tion to answer it in person, and on or immediately about the
time required, when I shall have the pleasure of expressing
to you my gratitude for your long and most kind indulgence,
and of assuring you, Gentlemen, that I shall ever continue
to be, Your obedient and devoted Servant,
Ilernani, May 30, 1837. D. L. EVANS.

BRIGHTON BAIL oA Ds.—We perceive, by an
advertisement in this day's Paper, that a meeting of the share-
holders of the several competing Companies is called, for the
pin pose of considering the relative merits of the different lines
to Brighton, in order that their interests may be united. In
the month of January last we published a report of the pro-
ceedings at a public meeting at Brighton, at which Mr. Charles
Pearson, the Parliamentary agent, proposed that a consolida-
tion of the various Companies should take place, and that a
competent tribunal, composed of civil and military engineers,
should be appointed to enlighten the shareholder;., by giving
their opinion upon the engineering facilities and difficulties of
each line. All the lawyers and engineers of the rival lir.es at
that time objected to the proposal. It remains to be seen
hether, after soeuding (as it is said) 150,000/., the share-
holders will be as indifferent to their interests as they formerly
were, and whether the contending lawyers and engineers will
continue their vehement support of their rival lines, when the
" sinews of war" are so nearly exhausted, as it is now under-
stood is the case. The public meeting of the shareholders
w ill, there is no doubt, be well attended, as the :tfair of the
Brighton railroads has excited great publicity ; and while, on
the one hand, Ministers have been censured hi no measured
terms for their extraordioary conduct in supporting Stephen-
son's line, it is well known that the meeting has been called
by those who are friendly to their general policy, who will
exert themselves to prevent its being treated as a political
question.—Morning Advertiser.
MR. GLEIG'S NEW WORK " TIIE HUSSAR."—
There is a charm invested around the personal narratives of
hair-breadth escapes, and other " moving accidents by flood
and field," of those engaged in the naval and military defence
of their country, which affords amusement and delight to al-
most every reader; and of the innumerable list of this descrip-
tion of works already published, the present is, perhaps, one of
the very best. Mr. Gltig vouches for its being the veritable
memoirs of one who has served in various parts of the world,
and the name of the author of those exquisite descriptions of
war, " The Subaltern," " The Chelsea Pensioners," &c., is
sufficient guarantee of the ability with which the work is exe-
cuted. Caledonian Mercury.

YENETIA.-This work seems to have arrested the
attention of the critica more than any other fiction of the season.
" lf," says the Atlas, " this pfoduction were a pure fiction,
like Henrietta Temple'—if we could feel as we advanced
through the story that the persons who move in it were the
creatures of the author's invention, and that the whole design
had a general, and not a particular, application to society, we
should pronounce it at once to be the best of Mr. D'lsraeli's
novels. But the real purpose is to develop, in the form of a
fictitious narrative, the character of a distinguished poet of our
own times, whose wayward genius and eccentric life attracted
around him a larger share of the world's curiosity than perhaps
ever followed the actions of any private individual. The tone
of the work is more real than that of any of Mr. D'lsraeli's
previous novels, the feeling it creates is less evanescent and
more intense, and we criticise it unintentionally by other rules
than those we apply to stories that are founded upon universal
data, and we cannot help trying it by some such test as we
should employ in reference to a record of veritable circum-
stances."