The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-11 00:00:00

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thus concludes :

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PRICE 4d.
S TAMPED 5d.,

cost of rifling on these three systems.

The report

" Commander Scott's gun has the advantage of both the
others in point of range with round shot, but is very much
inferior to both in uniformity of range and accuracy. It
is worthy of remark that the charge of 201 b., which is
nearly half the shot's weight, gives an increase of velocity
of only 271 ft., and only 200 yards, or thereabouts, of addi-
tional range, over the charge of 121 b., which latter charge,
with the small windage allowed, gives a considerably
higher velocity than that of the service 32-pounder or 68-
pounder shot. The committee have now placed the Secre-
tary of State in possession of all the data that aro requisite
for comparing those five systems of rifling as applicable to
heavy battering guns using a charge of 1-sth or 1-4th the
weight of the shot. The gun rifled on the French system,
with arrangement of the studs suggested by Major Pallisser,
gives by far the best result, so far, in point of accuracy, the
trial not having proceeded beyond solid shot of the forms
and weights specified. It was the easiest to load, and
although somewhat inferior to Commander Scott's gun in
respect to firing round shot, is in every other respect equal
or superior to it. The committee also prefer it to Lancas-
ter's, although Mr. Lancaster has subsequently shown how,
in his opinion, his shot may be made very easy to load
without increase of mean windage, by taking the windage
allowed chiefly off the third quadrant of the shot. The
committee are confirmed in the preference expressed above
by the superiority which the French system of rifling
evinced over the former plans of the same gentleman when
tried in rifled cast iron 32-pounder guns in 18G2. For rea-
sons already given they reject both the systems of lead-
coated projectiles.as unsuitable for heavy charges."

Railway Collision.
..-

On Saturday a destructive collision took place at
the Hoghton station, near Preston, on the East Lan-
cashire section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail-
way. About 7 o'clock a heavy goods train, consist-
ing of 25 waggons, from Liverpool, arrived at
Hoghton. Eight of the waggons belonging to it
had to be shunted upon a siding on the lower side
of the station, and without any delay this work
was proceeded with as soon as the train landed.
They were " tailed" into the siding with an old
rope, which was in such a very bad state that it
had to be pieced three times before the waggon
could be got across the line. Immediately after they
had been run into the siding, some of the officials
observed that they had been scarcely run up far
enough. A signal to this effect was given to the en-
gine-driver, and he thought it would be best to push
them up properly, instead of pulling them on with
the rope which had been previously used. In order
to do this he had to run across the line, with a num-
ber of waggons at the rear of his engine, and then
cross obliquely to the siding. Aboutthis time a goods
train from Normanton, in Yorkshire, to Preston and
Fleetwood was due at Hoghton, and as the danger
signals along the line it was travelling upon had
been on during the previous shunting it was thought
best by the officials at the station to allow them to
remain up for a moment or two until the waggons
had been pushed back by the engine which was then
about to cross the line. But it so happened that the
foreman of the platelayers on the Hoghton portion
of the line was near the signals—which are some dis-
tance from the station—at the time, and as he saw
that the line past the station was clear, and not
knowing that it was intended just then to run the
engine and the waggons behind it across for the
purpose of driving the already shunted waggonsfur-
ther into the siding, he turned the danger-signals off
and the approaching goods train, which would have
stopped if they had been on, ran past at a brisk
speed. Directly it had passed the signals the other
engine crossed the line at Hoghton station, and was
then reversed to drive up the trucks. The driver of
the now approaching train could not, however, see
what was being done here, in consequence of a sharp
curve between the place where he was at and the sta-
tion, and as the signals indicated a clear road he
drove on, down the decline ahead, at a speed of be-

tween 15 and 20 miles an hour. In a few moments
afterwards he noticed the engine and waggons across

the line at the station, but the distance was so short
—he was only about 100 yards off—that he had no
possible chance of bringing his engine to a standstill
or of materially checking its speed. The cmsequence
was that his train dashed along, and as the engine
and waggons ahead could not by any contrivance
be then got out of the way there was nothing in
prospect but a terrific collision. The ticket clerk
(Thomas King) at lloghton station shouted out to
the guard, a man named Cleeves, that there was
danger immediately ahead ; and the latter managed
to jump out of his van a few yards before the col-
lision took place. The engine of the train which
was running up caught two of the waggons across
the line, and dashed them to pieces. It then became
entangled among the wheels,of one of the waggons,
was thrown off the rails, and after rushing onward
for about 10 or 15 yards it turned completely off
the road, ran down the embankment, went into a
hedge, and was almost overturned. The driver
(Henry Vickers, of Preston), and the stoker, held
on to the railing of the engine after it left the metals,
and remained at their post until fairly off the foot-
plate by the overturning of the engine. Fortunately
neither of them sustained serious injury. The driver
received a cut on the side of the head, but it is not
of a dangerous character ; while the stoker received
nothing beyond a smart shock, consequent upon the
violence of the collision. The van out of which the
guard had jumped, and which was next to the engine,
was forced right upon the tender. While being
thrown up in this manner, the top of it came in con-
tact with the broken edge of the tender, and it was
completely torn off. The body of the van was
nearly broken to pieces ; the springs framework,
and one or two of the wheels were smashed and
crushed up, and the articles it contained were strewn
about in every way—in fact, the van was fairly torn
to atoms. The two waggons which were struck by
the engine were in a similar state—they were com-
pletely smashed up, and their contents, between 50
and 60 bales of cotton, several bags of bran, and
some hampers of potatoes, were thrown about in
the wildest confusion. Six other waggons were
also broken more or less; some had their sides
staved in, others had their buffers smashed, and a
few had their connecting rods, wheel boxes, springs,
&c., broken.

•
SEBASTor o .—A communication from Sebastopol
in the Union says—" It is difficult to imagine a more
desolate place than this poor town ; it is a positive sepul-
chre. Its sloping hills, once covered with picturesque gar-
dens, are transferred into arid wastes ; one can no longer
distinguish the places where the vines grew, and a barren
moss replaces all the verdure which formed, 10 years ago,
such a charming panorama. The country is depopulated,
and despoiled of all its commerce. The factories are de-
serted; the cultivation of tobacco, which might compete
with that of the Turkish, declines every day ; and the
landed proprietors have almost entirely renounced making
wine. We were accustomed to see a whole fleet of barges
full of fruit issuing from our port ; the importation now is
nearly double the exportation. In 1864 there entered the
harbour 888,000 robles worth of merchandise, two-thirds of
it corn, and only 140,000 roubles worth went out. This year
the difference threatens to be still more formidable, for the
choking-up of the water courses has dried up the meadows
and caused great prejudice to the rearing of cattle. The
French ought to come and make a new campaign hero, but
one entirely of peace and industry. This time they would
gain large profit, after an ordeal much more speedy and less
painful than that of a siege. We have an especial want of
some superior vine-dressers. Viticulture is4n distress from

the following circumstance :—Since the emigration of the
Tartars, the care of the vines is confided to the soldiers
sent here to form the garrison ; there are some from Arch-
angel, Helsingfors, and Polotzk, who have never seen a
grape in their own country, and are there incapable of turn-
ing the vine to profitable account. Instead of wine, they
make a blackish sort of liquor, alike devoid of name and
taste. With respect to tobacco it is the same ; whilst the
Crimea would suffice to supply the whole of Russia with
these two essential objects of contemporary consumption,
and even to export them to foreign countries. Seriously,
for European traders, there are enormous profits to be
realised in this country without any risk, and I think it
can never recover itself without the aid of such intelligent
adventurers. We should want hands from the South of
Europe chiefly, for the Germans are only good at corn.
Much corn cannot be produced here ; the sun parches the
ear before it comes to maturity ; but the same sun produces
all sorts of fruit in great abundance and of prodigious size.
Without exaggeration, there is a harvest of millions to be
reaped in the Crimea, in fruit and tobacco, and nothing
would be easier than their exportation."