The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.

The experience of the first week's working of the
new railway has been highly satisfactory. The num-
ber of passengers who have travelled to and fro upon
the line has been about 225,000. On the opening

day (Saturday, the 10th) the number carried was
38,000, on Sunday there were 33,000, .Monday
26,000, Tuesday 21,000, Wednesday 25,000, Thurs-
day, 26,000, Friday 25,000, and Saturday the pas-
sengers were not leina than 30,000. On Saturday
the trains ran every 10 minutes, and were remark-

ably well filled, especially the down trains from the
Farringdon-street station. The underground por-
tions of the line are to a great extent free from the
annoyances usually experienced in railway tunnels.
The engine drivers, for their own comfoit's sake,

not less than that of the passengers, pay great at

tention to the working of the engines. Na persons
suffer more in tunnels from the sulphurous fumes
and products of combustion from tho furnaces than
the drivers and stokers, and when so large a por-
tion of their time is passed underground they are
naturally very careful in the management of their
fires, and as far as possible avoid feeding them with

fresh fuel while in the tunnel. I a spite, however,
of all their precautions, a certain amount of sulphur-
ous vapour will be given off from the engines, and
the drivers complain of pains in the head from work-
ing the trains. The tanks below the engines, which
are used as condensers, have been found much too
small, and they will require to be replaced by larger
ones. The steam from the cylinders, having done
its work, passes into these tanks, which, in theory,
ought to have a constant supply of cold water, but
the only time when the water is really cold is at the
commencement of each journey. By the time the
trains have passed through the longer-or ceetral
funnel of the line, the water in the condenser is
bfought to boiling heat, or nearly the same tempera-
ture as that in the boiler. As soon as this degree of
heat has been attained, it is necessary to open the
valves and let off the steam, for if there were no
escape provided, the condensers would be as liable to
explode as a boiler without safety valves. The steam
is thus often discharged into the tunnel ; it rapidly
condenses, however, and causes no serious annoy-
ance. The sulphurous
,fumes from the fire boxes
and chimneys are not, however, so easily got rid
of. The extent of this unpleasantness has been,
however, very much exaggerated. Among other
reports was one to the effect that several of the
porters and signalmen had been carried away insen-
sible from the effect of the noxious vapours. It
would be scarcely correct to say that there was no
foundation for the statement, because two of the
porters were really in a very weak and sinking
state when they were taken away from the station.
The cause, however, was perhaps as much due to
exhaustion from long hours of work, and to the fact
that, owing to the pressure of traffic, the men had
really not been able to leave for their meals, as to
what had been very absurdly called the " choke
damp" in the tunnel. The Gower-street station, at
which the men were stationed, is provided with
glazed openings from the gardens in front of the
houses. The simple remedy of opening these win-
dows has since been adopted, and no inconvenience
is now felt at this station. At the Baker-street
station the glass has also been removed from the
side apertures which admit light into the stations,
and the tower at Portland-road has been made to
do duty as a ventilating shaft. From King's-cross
to Farringdon-street the engines are worked on the '
usual high-pressure system, as, with the exception
of the Coppice-row tunnel of 600 yards in length,
this portion of the line is an open cutting. This
short section of tunnel has one air shaft, and the
smoke and steam from the engine produce no very
The same
disagreeable effect in that short run.
system of working at high pressure is adopted at
the Paddington end of the line between the
Bishop's-road and the Edgware-road stations. It
is only, therefore, between the Edgware-road and
King's-cross, in the unbroken length of tunnel, that
the plan of condensing is adopted, and in running
this distance, as we have said) the waste steam
raises the water to boiling point. Two things are
absolutely necessary : to increase considerably the
speed of the trains, and enlarge the ~.apacity of
the condensers. Both of these improvements will
be carried out. On Saturday the trains ran every
ten minutes, and arrangements will be made
next week for doing the whole journey in eighteen
minutes, while through express trains will also be
started. I,lr4er condensers are likewise being pro-
vided for the engines. The arrangements for work-
ing the through traffic to and from the Great
Western and Midland Railway at King's-cross are
not yet completed.

Importing Tea without colour on the leaf pre-
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual
kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore, always
good alike. Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.
BY PROCLAMATION.—Considering the success of
President Lincoln's proclamations, the New York World
advisee him to issue a proclamation abolishing the Alabama,

We have been requested to publish the results of
the periodical tests made to ascertain the strength
of the ventilation of the mine for several months
before the explosion. We take the following
figures from the register kept by the person ap-
pointed for the purpose. In the first week of June
there were 92,740 cubic feet of air per minute pass-
ing through the workings; in July, 90,830; in
August, 88,980 ; in September, 88,760; in October,
86,690; in November, 86,595; and on the 6th of
December (two days before the explosion), 86,620.
This quantity of air was carefully distributed
through the whole of the workings, and at the dip-
faces—the furthest point from the shaft—the air-
careentwas always spoken of as being particularly
Stroll*. ' 'Oti-referring to the eameauthority we find
that on the 3d of November there were 9,555 cubic
feet of air passing over the faces; on the 7th there
were 13,650; on the 11th, 12,740 ; on the 3d of
December, 11,830; on the sth, 10,010; and on the
6th (two days, before the explosion), when the
last measurement was made, there were 10,465
cubic feet per minute. The dip-faces were
bet ween 1,200 and 1,300 yards from the shaft,
It appears to us, however, that the efficiency of the
ventilation of the mine was generally admitted. All
the witnesses examined at the inquest admitted that
the air was strong and sweet in nearly every part of
the workings, and some of them said they had a
difficulty in carrying lights about the mine, owing
to the strength of the air current. But the cause
of the ,txplosion was the incautious—to use no
stronger term—use of gunpowder to blast the coal
at the dip-faces; and nothing has yet been adduced
that can justify the conduct of the person—whoever
he was—that authorised or permitted the use of such
a hazardous means of getting the coal, in places
where there was so much gas that naked lights
were nominally prohibited. We need not recall the
evidence given by so many of the witnesses to prove
this point.
Alrith reference to the subscription for the relief
of the bereaved we regret to learn that it exhibits
a very small increase since our last report. We
regret also to have occasion again to refer to the con-
duct of the Barnsley Board of Guardians in this
matter. At their meeting three wet ks ago the board
resolved to grant temporary relief to some of the
numerous applicants, many of whom wcie reduced
to a deplorable condition by the sudden removal of
the persons upon whom they depended for support,
but the sums granted were apportioned always
with reference to the amount which the applicants
would receive from the relief fund. We now learn
that at their meeting on Tuesday last the
Guardians reduced some of the allowances to a
merely nominal amount, no doubt with the
intention of relieving the .poor-rate at the expense
of the fund subscribed by the public. We heard of
several instances in which widows having children
were relieved" with sums barely sufficient to main-
tain them and their children for one day out of the
seven, and the result has been a very strong feeling
of indignation in the district. The funds raised by
public benevolence are, by resolution of the meeting,
to be applied solely "in addition" to the relief
granted by the Guardians, which the meeting sup-
posed would be on the usual scale of relief to desti-
tute persons; but the Guardians appear determined
to make the fund bear the whole weight of the
charges arising out of the calamity. On the other
hand, the committee who have undertaken to ad-
minister the fund maintain that they have a work
to do which is totally distinct from the plain atd
obvious duty of the Guardians to relieve the neces-
sities of the bereaved. They intend to economise
the fund so that it shall be available for the future
benefit of the widows and orphans; and they will
not allow it to be swallowed up in doing that which
s obviously a charge upon the poor-rate.