The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-20 00:00:00

PNEUMATIC DESPATCH TUBES,

The Pneumatic Despatch Company are about to lay down
an enormous tube for the transmission of letters and parcels
from their station in Holborn to a station to be established
near the General Post-office, in St. Martin's-le-Grand. It
appears a tube of that kind already exists between the
North-Western district post-office in Eversholt-street, and
the Euston terminus of the London and North-Western
Railway, and that the letters have been carried between
those parts since the beginning of February last. It is now
proposed to lay a tube from the Euston Station through
'Woburn-place, Southampton-row, and King •street to Hol-
born, and thence along Holborn, Skinner-street, and New-
gate-street to the General Post-office. This tube is to be of•
cast. iron, 4ft. high and 41t. Gin. wide internally. At the
city boundary it will be lift. 6in, deep, and at Hatton-
garden 18ft. 6in., from which point its depth decreases.
This tube will pass over the Fleet sewer at a depth of Gft ,
and then under the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway.
At the west end of Newgate- street it will be 25ft. deep, and
at the east end 14ft. ; its moan depth in St. Martin's-le-
Grand being 12:t. When completed, the transmission of all
letters in bulk between the General Post-office and North
Western Railway will be effected by its agency, as will also
large parcels of goods. An arrangement has been made with
Messrs. Pickford to forward parcels from their depot in
Gresham-street to the North Western Railway, and an ex-
tension of the tube into their premises is ultimately con-
templated. This line of tubing, moreover, is understood
to be but the commencement of a system which is to be
eventually extended to the various metropolitan railway
stations, and probably to connect all the district post-offices
in London. The Pneumatic Despatch Company have powers
under their Act to lay down tubes within the city, subjec
to certain control or direction on the part of the Commis-
sioners of Sewers. Mr. Haywood, the engineer to the com-
mission, has just presented a report to them on the subject,
from which these particulars have been gleaned. He states
that, assuming the pneumatic system to work satisfactorily,
it will probably become a valuable auxiliary to the commerce
of the city, and be the means of freeing the streets of much
goods traffic. But, he says, the laying of the proposed tube
through the crowded streets of the city will cause the greatest
public inconvenience, for its size will be that of a large sewer,
audits depth must be greater than that of the street sewers,
inasmuch as it cannot be allowed to interfere with the house
drains. Besides, the present occupation of the surface by gas.
water, and telegraph pipes will, he apprehends, preclude the
possibility of the tube being laid at a less depth. The incon •
venience will be most felt in Newgate-street, for while the
work is in progress the traffic there could hardly be allowed
to pass in both directions ; and this remark may, perhaps,
apply to Skinner-street. Such, however, are the conditions
of the main thoroughfares in and surrounding the city that
Mr. Haywood is unable to suggest any other line through
which the company could lay its tube in lieu of Holborn, so
as to lessen the public inconvenience in that street while
the work is in progress. The company, ho says, might
lay a line through Giltspur-street, Smithfield, and Little
Britain, or else up Snow-hill and King-street into
Smithfield, and thence by Little Britain to the Post-office,
thus avoiding Skinner-street and Newgate-street, but there
are many local difficulties to contend with in that route-
lie suggests, as another alternative, that permission might
possibly be obtained to lay it through Christ's Hospital, the
plan of the property of that institution being such that the
tube might enter it at Giltspur-street and pass direct
through the open spaces to King Edward-street and Angel
street, and thence to the Post-office area in St. Martin's-le-
Grand. The company, however, could only obtain by
negotiation the privilege to do that, for it has no power to
enter or obtain private property compulsorily, the Legisla-
ture manifestly contemplating that these tubes should be
laid in the public streets. He adds that when the tube is
once laid, many years may elapse before it would require to
be touched for repairs, and that all repairs may be made
from the inside of the tube. He recommends the Commis-
sion of Sewers to request the company to reconsider the
lino from the Fleet Valley to the Post-office, and in the
meantime to continue its dissent to the line proposed by
them.

GOTERNMENT EMIGRATION.—The Government
emigration ship Shackamaxon, 989 tons, Captain
Teuton, belonging to Messrs. Joseph Heap and Sons,
Liverpool, which sailed from the Mersey on the 12th of
May last, arrived at Sydney, New South Wales, on the
3d of September, having on board 81 married people, 109
single men, 98 single women, 46 boys and 36 girls be-
tween 1 and 12 years of age, and 11 infants, in all 381
souls, equal to 320 statute adults, under the care of Mr.
Thomas Slater, surgeon superintendent, assisted by Miss
Eliza Barker, matron. Three births and eight deaths took
place on the voyage. The Southern Ocean, Captain Davys,
belonging to Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., which also
sailed from Liverpool on the 10th of May, arrived at Mel-
bourne, Victoria, on the 22d of August, with a number
Lancashire operatives, comprising 58 married couples, 4
single men, 3 single women, 44 children between 1 and 12
years of age, and 8 infants, in all 175 souls, equal to 145
statute adults. Five infants died on the passage.
vlction ; the cost of replacing SINCE TILE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FREE PUBLIC
LIBRA
---Y AT LIVERPOOL, more than 2,400,000
vexolcuemptelosnof becks have been issued, and returned, with the
°I 69 ; 21 of these have been 'successfully traced
and recovered
• and 9 of the purloiners prosecuted to con-
books from the opera
not exceeded 44, Which sum represents the total loss of
the remaining 38 volumes has
A GERMAN Upwards
of
The average issue iSnnogwof the Library to the present time.
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eGib.nO:olarDid raist
1,600 volumes per day.
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