The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-25 00:00:00

ADELp II I THEATRE.

first
ttled
time,
and for nearly an hour
"A Private Inquiry,"
wasL producedastn igl t ah
enreewt.efarce
the
kept the audience in a continued state of laughter. The
fun of the trifle consists in the. perplexities of a certain i
elderly gentleman, a Mr. War Tow (Mr. J. L. Toole), in-
volves himself in his over anxious endeavours to ascertain
the treatment his daughter is receiving from her newly
married husband. His first uneasiness is occasioned by
zeading a case reported in the newspapers as having
taken
place in the Divorce Court, where the words "the name of the
party did not transpire" occurs. This: person, he at once
believes, to be his son-in-law, Mr. Madison, and thereupon
he determines to act as a detective, and "nose out" the
whole affair. He rummages his son's apartments about for
proofs of his misconduct, and, finding a coat, he searches
the pocket and there discovers a letter signed "Laura." This
letter has been given to Madison by his wife who has just
received it from a dear friend of hers, who is about to pay
them a wedding visit. Warricow at once assumes it to be
a love letter of a lady friend of Madison's, and acts on that
supposition, the result being that he involves the whole of
the parties in a jealous quarrel, to mend which, Warricow,
to remove the mistake, which he begins to perceive he had
made, makes " hot love" to the wife of his son's visitor.
He is discovered on his knees at the lady's feet by the
husband, and things, instead of improving, becomes worse
and worse. At last Warricow produces the letter he had
taken from Madison's pocket, in justification of his con-
duct, when the mistake is explained, and all got a hearty
laugh at Warricow's expense.
Mr. Toole, as the over-anxious and suspicious father,
acted with al that quaint drollery for which he is so re-
markable ; and Mr. David Fisher, as Madison, was a very
pattern of a newly. married man.
- Miss Kate Bland made
her first appearance as Mrs. Madison, and produced a very
favourable impression by her ladylike acting. The other
puts were most effectively supported by Mr. Billington and
Miss Kate Kelly. The piece was announced for repetition
by Mr. Toole amidst the loudest applause of a very large
audience.

THE MALT DUTY.---MBETING OF
IJIALSTEBS.

Last afternoon a numerously attended public
meeting of malsters was held at the Corn Exchange
Coffee-house, Mark-lane, for the purpose, as stated
in the notice convening the meeting of " Consider-
ing the best means to be adopted for obtaining an
alteration of the present unjust system of collecting
the malt duty."
Mr. J. J. GRIPPER, the Mayor of Hertford, having
been voted to the chair, stated that for some years
the maltsters had been labouring under consider-
able disadvantages arising out of the mode in
which the malt duty was collected, and which they
conceived bore unjustly upon them. He considered
that the injustice of the present system must be
apparent to all who considered it, for under it about
eight weeks after the malting season, which
RS he had stated occupied about six or seven
months, all the duty upon the malt made had to be
paid, while the article could not go into consamp-
till the end of 12 months. So that the Government
had their money in hand for months before the
goods on which it was charged went into consump-
tion, which was a great hardship upon the maltster.
Mr. GRAY then moved a resolution to the effect,
that in the opinion of the meeting the present mode
of collecting the malt duty was unjust and inju-
rious to the trade, and that a deputation be ap-
pointed to wait on the Chancellor of the Exchequer
for the purpose of asking him for some extension of
the credit of the malt duty.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

THE ACCIDENT ON ThE NORTH
KENT RAILWAY.

Yesterday Mr. Hilder, the coroner for the borough
of Gravesend, opened an inquiry at the Town-
hall into the circumstances connected with the
accident which took place on the North Kent
Railway, between Gravesend and Strood Stations,
on the previous Thursday, by which George Wal-
ler, the bead guard of the up train to which the
accident occurred, lost his life, several of the pas-
sengers being more or less injured. Previously
to commencing the inquiry the coroner explained
to the jury the reasons which had induced him
to hold the inquest, the body of the deceased
having been removed to Gravesend after the acci-
dent.

Mr. Eborall, general manager of the South-
Eastern Railway ; Mr. Rees, the company's soli-
citor ; Mr. Ashcroft, principal engineer, and other
leading officials of the company were present at
the inquiry.
Mr. Eborall, addressing the coroner, said the com-
pany regretted exceedingly that an occasion had
arisen to inquire into an accident on their railway,
but on the part of the company he was anxious that
the fullest inquiry into the cause of the occurrence
should be made, and every facility would be given
the coroner and jury by the railway in the prosecu-
tion of the investigation.
After the jury had been sworn they, proceeded,
accompanied by the coroner, in a special train to
the spot where the accident happened. Through
the exertions of a numerous body of la-
bourers the engine of the train had been removed
from the deep ditch into which it had fallen on the
left side of the up line, and was placed on the
metals. It appeared to be in excellent condi-
tion, and a careful examination by most of the
jury failed to detect any flaw in either the wheels
or axles which would in the least account for the
van in which the head guard was riding when he
wbll
met with his death. The line at the spot appeared
accident.accident w
e There a
lbs broken o
inspected,
carriage
a destroyed in the
as the break-
to be in excellent conition—well-ballasted and in
admirabte order. It appears to be probable, how.
ever, that the accident arose through one of the
rails breaking on the occasion of the express train
passing over it a few minutes before, and on the
next train following the engine was thrown off the
line. At the request of the coroner and jury, Cap-
tain Tyler, the Government Inspector of Railways,
was at Gravesend, was sent for, and he at once
proceeded to the scene of the accident to inspect
the line. At his request the rails, sleepers,
ballast, &e., for several yards were removed in
order to ascertain the general condition of the line,
which was found to be in first-rate order. After
spending considerably more than three hours in the
examination of the line, the engine, and carriages,
the jury returned to the Town-hall.
The coroner stated his intention only to take suf-
ficient evidence that day as to the identity of the
deceased, and then adjourn the inquiry until the
following Friday.
Richard Cassingham identified the body of de-
ceased as that of his brother-in•law. His age was
38 years. Deceased was married, and had five
children. He had been in the employ of the com-
pany 17 years.
Mr. Jas. Henry Gramshawe, surgeon, deposed to
having been called, about 4 o clock on the day of the
accident, to visit decease& whom he found lying
dead in a cottage adjoining the line. Death had
been occasioned by very serious injuries.
The Coroner then adjourned the inquiry until
Friday next.
A subscription has been set on foot for the widow
s and family of the deceased.