The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-30 00:00:00

Opening of the Main Drainage.

A great number- of noblemen and gentlemeni-iw.2-1
chiding the principal members of both Houses of
Parliament, have accepted the invitation of the
Metropolitan Board of Works to be present at the
opening of the Main Drainage Works by his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales on Tuesday next.
Invitations have also been sent to his Majesty
the King of the Belgians and his Royal Highness
Prince Alfred, but no reply has yet been received.
The guests will go by special train from Charing-
cross at 11 15 to Plumstead, where a junction will
be made with the contractor's railway, so that the
special train will go right on to the works at the out-
fall at Crossness Point. The Prince of Wales, with
about 30 or 40 of the most distinguished guests, will
leave the House of Commons stairs at 11 o'clock, and
will go direct to Barking,where they will inspect the
outfall at that point, and also the great reservoir.
Thence the Royal party will take the steamer again
to Crossness. They are expected to reach the lattei
place at about 1 o'clock, so that the guests will have a
clear hour to inspect the works there before the ar-
rival of his Royal Highness and his party.
The chairman and Mr. Bazalgette are to attend
the Prince. On arriving at Crossness Mr. Bazalgette
is to give the company a brief outline of the main
drainage scheme, in a large workshop, which will
have plans illustrating his description on the walls.
The company will then proceed to the engine-house,
while the Prince is inspecting the reservoir and
underground works, valves, and. pumps, and on en-
tering the engine-house the Prince will start the four
engines, which will be the opening of the works. Up
to that time the sewage will be stored in the main
outfall sewer (as it has hitherto been in the tide-
locked sewers in the low districts), and from which
it can discharge only at the time of low water, flow-
ing back to London with the flood tide. But on
starting the engines the sewage in the main sewer
will be henceforth lifted into the reservoir, into
which there will be a continuous flow from the main
sewer at all times, and thenceforth an end of stag-
nant sewage or deposit. The reservoir will be dis-
charged through pipes at the bottom of the river
during the first two hours after high water only,
when the river is full and the tide flowing towards
the sea.

The party will return from Crossness by a train
at 3 45.

Great Bank Robbery of £50,000.

A most extraordinary and daring robbery has
taken place at the Central Bank of Western India,
Hong Kong, where the thieves got clear off with
gold and specie to the extent of nearly £50,000.
Letters received yesterday in the City give the fol-
lowing details of the robbery, which places the
burglaries in Cornhill and Threadneedle-street for
ingenuity completely in the shade.
One account states :—" The bank in question is
the Central Bank of Western India. The affair was
managed during Saturday and Sunday by means of
a tunnel, which had been dug between a drain and
the floor of the bank treasury vault, a distance of
60 feet. A flag was raised up, and entrance to the
vault obtained. Here were many bags of dollars,
four boxes of gold bars, several boxes of small silver
coin, and $63,000 in bank-notes. The bank not
having a note issue of its own, the notes were those
of various other banks, and their numbers had not
been taken, it not being customary in Hong Kong
to keep the numbers of bank-notes on hand. Two
boxes of gold bars were removed as well as all
the paper money, also two bags of dollars, and
a box of ten cent. pieces. The authorities at
Canton and Macao were at once communicated
with so that they might be on the alert, and we
hear that some arrests have been made at Macao.
The police of Hong Kong made vigilant search
throughout the city and the island, and suc-
ceeded in apprehending between twenty and
thirty men on suspicion. On the person of one of
them was found 5,755 dollars, and two bars of
gold having the bank's mark upon them. Further
search being made seven gold ingots were found.
The latter has admitted his guilt, and has given up
the names of eight Chinamen who were engaged
with him in the robbery. He has also made state-
ments which, with other evidence of a direct nature,
have led to the taking into custody of the bank
comprador, two shroffs, and two coolies. The
charges against them have been made at the polie
magistrate's court, and a remand granted for the
production of further evidence. An inspection of
the premises shows that it must have taken some
weeks to plan and carry out the affair."
Another account says :—" The Central Bank of
Western India has been robbed of $115,000 by
thieves who entered the bank treasury. The princi-
pal labour seems to have been that of tunnelling a
passage of 20 yards, from an adjacent drainwto a
spot exactly below the treasury floor. A perpendi-
cular shaft of 10 feet of sufficient diameter was then
made to allow the passage of one man, to reach the
granite boulders on which the floor of the vaultrests.
These naturally sank down as they were undermined,
and nothing remained but to force up a slab, when
ingress became free. Sixty-three thousand dollars
in mixed notes were carried off, along with £l,lOO
in gold ingots, marked with the stamp of the bank.
The first thing that aroused suspicions of the rob-
bery, was the fact of a little boy being discovered
trying to sell a bar of gold to a hawker in one of
the bazaars. A gentleman passing, asked where he
got the gold, and was told it had been found near
Mosque Gardens. He gave the lad what he wanted
for it, viz., a dollar, and immediately placed it fit
the hands of the police."

"And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And looking on it with lack lustre eye,
Says very wisely, 4 It is ten o'clock :
' Thus we may see,' quoth he, how the world wags.'"

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Major D. L. Richardson (author of " Literary
Loaves in Prose and Verse") is about to publish, in a sepa-
rate form, his "Memoirs of Lord Macaulay," including
full particulars of his career in India as Member of the
Legislative Council and President of the Council of Edu-
cation. The work is founded on a series of articles on the
pubject contributed to the Court Circular.