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

THE SUB, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENUNG, SEPTEMBER 9, 185.

subject of admiration with all on board. No guns
are yet on either the upper or main deck, but work-
men were busy about a massive wrought-iron car-
riage and slide, the under part of the latter being
fitted with as many wheels and pinions as there are
in a clock, for working 12-ton guns through central
ports. As the Minotaur's engines are the largest
that have yet been tested in her Majesty's navy,
they deserve a brief description here. They are
built on Messrs. Penn's horizontal trunk principle,
and, with the exception of a slight excess in the
diameter of the cylinders and an increased length of
stroke, might be taken for those of the Warrior.
They have two cylinders of 1041 in. diameter (effec-
tive), and 4ft. 4in. length of stroke. They drive a
fixed four-bladed screw having a diameter of 24ft.
6in. and a pitch—set for yesterday—of 25ft. 6in., the
screw having a varying pitch from 22ft. 6in. to 28ft.
6in. Steam is supplied to the engines from 10 boilers,
having 40 furnaces, each furnace with a length of 7ft.
9in., and a breadth of 3ft. 2in. Yesterday a band
of picked stokers from the steam factory of Ports-
mouth yard held charge of these furnaces and
fed their rapacious mouths with the choicest
steam coal. The boilers contain 4,800 tubes,
and hold collectively 186 tons of water. The coal
bunkers of the ship carry 730 tons. The entire

weight of engines, boilers (filled), screw, and shaft-
ing, spare gear, hydraulic engine and ram, coal
bunkers and coals, is as nearly as possible 1,800
tons.

The steering apparatus of the ship consists of the
ordinary straight tiller (an iron forging 23ft. long)
and a beautiful hydraulic arrangement fitted by
Mr. Humphries (Humphries and Tennant). The
electric wire fitted to the Silverton signal dials com-
municates to and from all parts of the ship to the
quartermaster in charge of the wheel, the officer in
charge on the bridge or forecastle, the captain in
his cabin or on the poop, and to the engineer in
charge on the platform of the engine-room. Nothing,
indeed, has been neglected that practical knowledge
or professional science could suggest to render the
ship the most perfect man-of-war in the world.
The Minotaur left Portsmouth harbour yesterday
morning shortly before 11 a.m., under the command
of Commander Brett, of her Majesty's ship Asia,
for the trial course in Stokes Bay. Mr. John Din-
nen, Inspector of Machinery Afloat to the Admi-
ralty, was on board to report officially for the in-
formation of their Lordships ; Messrs. Thomas
Penn and Matthews represented the makers of the
engines, and Messrs. Ward and Murdock conducted
the trial as the Admiralty representatives of Ports-
mouth dockyard. Rear-Admiral G. Wellesley, C. 8.,
Superintendent of Portsmouth dockyard, was also
on board, as were several other naval officers. The
ship drew 23ft. lin. of water forward, and 24ft. tin.
aft, and had her safety-valve loaded at 251 b. 'The
wind was light from S.W., and sea perfectly
smooth. Several runs were made over the mea-
sured mile, but owing to a deficiency in the vacuum,
a priming of the boilers, and other contretemps
growing out of these facts, the trial of the ship's speed
was postponed until this morning, when, if circum-
stances prove favourable, a second attempt will be
made. Nothing, therefore, now remained to be
done except to give the ship a run out S.E. clear
of the east end of the Isle of Wight, and test her
when there in making circles with her ordinary
wheel apparatus, and also with her hydraulic steer-
ing gear. When outside the Nab a slight ground
swell was experienced, nothing to speak of in an
ordinary sense, but still just one of those " liftings"
from the bottom of " old ocean" that frequently
makes a vessel of common size feel "lively." The
Minotaur is a vessel of uncommon size, yet she yes-
terday,
outside the Nab, not only felt lively, but
also " rolled" with exceeding grace and smartly as
could be wished, It is a rare quality in an iron-
clad
to do this in the manner the Minatour did yes-
terday, and favourable auguries were drawn of her
future behaviour at sea in stiff gales and tumbling
seas in consequence. The result of the trials as far
as they went were as follows :
Circles—Ordinary Steering-wheel, but with men at re-
lieving tackles ; full boiler power ; helm to starboard—
Time in getting helm up, lmin. 45sec. ; turns of wheel, 3 ;
men at wheel and the relieving tackles, 47 ; half circle
made in 3min. 33sec. full circle made in 7inin. 28sec. ;
revolutions of engines, 49; angle of rudder, 26 deg.
The Same with Helm to Port.—Time in getting helm up,
lmin. 4sec. ; turns of wheel, 3; men at wheel and tackles,
47 ; half-circle made in 3min. 47sec. ; full circle made in
7min. 15sec. ; angle of rudder, 19 deg. ; revolutions of en-
gines, 39.

Ordinary Steering-wheel, with Half-boiler Power (helm
to starboard)..—Time in getting helm up, 51sec.; 34 turns of
wheel, with 53 men ; half circle made in 4 min. ; full circle
made in 7min 56sec ; angle of rudder, 33 dog ; revolution
of engines, 40.

The Same with Helm to Port—Time in getting up helm,
53sec, with 56 men; turns of wheel, 3-i; half circle made
in 3min 51sec ; full circle in 7min 43sec ; revolutions of
engines, 40.

Circles—HydraulicApparatus—Full-boilerPower—Helm
aport—Time in getting up helm, 27sec, with 2 turns of
wheel, 1 min ssec, with 2-} turns. Half circle madein3min
35sec; full circle in 7min 58se3; angle of rudder, 26 deg.
Helm astarboard—Time in getting up helm, lOsec, with
1i turn of wheel, 24sec, with 1f turn, lmin 35sec, with 5
turns. Half circle made in 4 min llsec; full circle in Bmin
4sec ; angle of rudder, 19 deg.

Hydraulic Apparatus—Half-boiler Power—Helm to port
—Time in getting up helm, 13sec, to turns of wheel ; lmin
20sec, with 21 turns of wheel ; half circle made in 4min
13sec ; full ditto in Bmin 16sec ; angle of rudder, 30 deg.;
revolutions of engines, 40.

Helm to Starboard—Time in getting up helm, 18sec, 2f
turns of wheel ; 39sec, with 21 turns of wheel ; half circle
made in 4min 4sec ; full circle, in 7min 56sec ; angle of
rudder, 34 deg ; revolutions of engines, 39.

The experiments in turning the ship round in
circles by the hydraulic apparatus alone were made
in the absence of Mr. Humphries, the head of the
firm that fitted the apparatus on board, and there
may therefore he some good reason against judging
the principle in its application on board the Mino-
taur by the results obtained yesterday. So far as
those results went they not only gave a great infe-
riority to what was obtained frem the ordinary
steering-wheel, but they were infinitely inferior in
every respect, the most forcible illustration of which
was the utter absence of controlling power in giving
or checking the force from the ram piston to the
rudder head. Hydraulic steering of ships will be a
grand innovation upon the old-fashioned wheel,
rope, and tiller system, if in the former system it
can be as evenly applied and checked as in the latter.
The Minotaur was to resume her trials this morn-
ing, but would probably not conclude them until
Monday.

DEATH OF MADAME KOSSUTH.—The Movimento
announces the death of Theresa Kossuth, wife of Kossuth,

the Hungarian ex-dictator, on the Ist inst., at Turin. The
deceased was 55 years of age. In accordance with her
wish the body will be conveyed to Genoa, and interred in
the English Protestant cemetery at St. Beningo by the side
of her only daughter, who died three years ago.
IMPORTATION OF WINES INTO ENGLAND.—Mr.
W. Ray Smee, in the preface to his pamphlet upon

the
h,
ews itnhees
voaf
imported into England lFueraonfcethaetseonwt)ipenensny per bottle customs duties,
dur-
ing the last five years:-1860, £1,037,000; 1861, £953,000;
1862, £717,000; 1863, 698,000; 1864, about £BOO,OOO. The
official account for 1864, since published, differs but little
from the one given by the author, being £793,000. In this
total, which represents the entire value of the wines of
France, and which is comparatively of little importance,
the red wines, that is to say those generally consumed at
dinner, are about £340,000, whilst the importation of eggs
from France amounts to £714,000, and butter £859,000.
With these figures, we ask how it happens that the red
wines of France, which are one of its principal productions,
and of which England has the greater need, because these
wines cannot be obtained from its own soil, nor from any
other country, only are consumed for a smaller sum than
half that of French eggs and butter, both of which Eng-
land produces as well as France ? Is there not in this an
anomaly deserving the attention of the two Governments ?
The official returns show that Spanish and Portuguese
wines imported into England amount in value to four times
more than French wines. The following account gives
the value of wines imported into England in 1863 :
French wines, £698,000 ; Portuguese, £1,017,000; Spanish,
£3,457,000 ; Italian; £61,000 ; from Holland, £155,000 ;
Hamburg, £50,000 ; all other places, £59,000 total,
£4,497,000. And if the quantity of the same wines is con-
sidered, the inferiority of France is even more striking.
In 1864 there was imported into England—Spanish wines,
7,791,000 gallons; Portuguse wines, 4,345,000 do.; French
wines, 2,723,000 do. Nevertheless, the wines of France
in continue are a light ordinary drink, whilst those of Portugal and
those Spain are rather the wines of liqueur. This unfortunate
statee° of things for the wines of France must necessarily
in
leunn;tilartehechliagrhatedwiennesst,omawhidchutaierea dmruuunhk
less
ake
thanbeer
that is to say, until the duty
for
French
taken in wine glasses,
wines is reduced to one penny per bottle.—
L'lnternational. •

The British Museum and National Gallery.

The following facts and statements in respect of
the proposal to open the British Museum and Na-
tional Gallery on week nights, and to found branch
museums for London, likewise to be opened on week
nights, have been issued :
The working classes of London are cut off from the
open country, at the same time that the increased value of
house property compels them and their families to live in
narrower apartments. It is too much to expect the work-
ing man to sit in the crowded room from the time he leaves
his work until, rising from his bed, he again goes forth to
labour until the evening.
And yet London is worse provided than most provincial
towns with free museums and libraries. Neither for the
million of people living south of the Thames, nor for the
City of London, nor for the vast east-end population, is
there a free museum or gallery.
I. The museums and picture galleries in London are in-
accessible to the bulk of the people, first, by reason of dis-
tance from their dwellings. The British Museum, the
Kensington Museum, the Geological Museum, and the
East Indian Museum, the National Gallery, and the Na-
tional Portrait Gallery, compromise them all.
Mr. Cole, of the Kensington Museum, gives the follow-
ing evidence on this point :—" In September last, 1,150
visitors freely gave their names and addresses. Of that
number 402 came from the provinces, 71 were foreigners,
201 came from beyond six miles, 87 within six miles, 91
within five miles, 205 within four miles, 203 within three
miles, 146 within two miles, and 114 within one mile ; so
that a large majority may be said to have come from beyond
three miles.
There is however a second hindrance equally formidable.
Museums and picture galleries are opened when the work-
ing men cannot visit them,and closed when they wouldvisit
them. Unlike all the places of public resort for the working
classes, which may be closed by day, but are opened in the
evening, the museums and picture galleries, with one ex-
ception, are closed at night and opened by day. "I once
made some inquiries as to the number of persons visiting
the National Gallery, and I will give the figures—Oukof a
total of 1,669 artisans only 137 had ever been to the Na-
tional Gallery even once. Of late, however, there was one
exception. The Kensington Museum has now for some
years been opened three evenings in the week. It is the
most inaccessible to the majority of the people. being in a
remote corner of the metropolis ; and yet, in 1860, the su-
perintendent says more than half a million of people have
visited it between the hours of 7 and 10 o'clock in the even-
ing. "On Monday nights the majority of visitors are cer-
tainly working people, who come in their fustain jackets,
with clean collars, bringing perhaps a wife and two orthree
babies and children."
It is therefore proposed that our other museums and pic-
ture galleries also should be opened on week evenings. "I
cannot conceive why the National Gallery should not be
lighted up at night, if properly prepared, and if the ventila-
tion were made what I presume it could be made, and what
indeed it has been proposed that it should be made by our
engineer, Capt. Fowke, who submitted a plan to the late
Government to add very much to the space of the Gallery
and improve the lighting of it." Since Mr. Cole said this,
the National Gallery has bean enlarged, its ventilation has
been improved, and hose laid down in the various rooms,
but it dill remains closed in the evenings. " I feel certain,"
said, Mr. Cole, " the workingclasses wouldavail themelves
much of it, if it were opened in the evenings, and the open-
ing were made known properly." Mr. Wornum's only ob-
jection against the gallery being visited in the evening is,
that the crowd of visitors would be too great. " Otherwise
I do not think the pictures would be injured, and I think
that the people would enjoy it very much." The same facts
apply to the museum. Said Mr. Cole, "My opinion is that
there are parts of the British Museum which might be
lighted up. The library, I apprehend, could, if it were
thought desirable, bo lighted up from the outside, suppos-
ing there was any apprehension of risk from lighting in the
inside ; but when you bear in mind that there are open fires
throughout the rooms, and that people have to walk about
with open lights, I entertain no doubt that gas is not more
dangerous than that, whatever the danger of that is. Then,
again, supposing it was thought that there are parts of the
British Museum that should not be subjected to the risk
of lighting, I cannot see why the Natural History depart-
ment, being separately housed, should not be lighted up."
"The Lord President for the time being, Lord Salisbury,
appointed a commission, consisting of Professors Faraday,
Hofmann, and Tyndall, with Mr. Redgrave, our Inspector-
General for art and a Royal Academician, and Captain
Fowke, R.E., our engineer, and their report has been laid
before Parliament. The substance of their report is
that there is nothing innate in coal gas which renders its
application to the illumination of picture galleries objec-
tionable. The question was put to them whether they

would prefer to have the gas insulated from the gallery by
means of glass, or whether they would prefer that the glass
should be away, and the gas in a chamber open ; and they
were unanimously of opinion that, for the good of the pic-
tures in crowded galleries, it was far better to have the gas
in a chamber open. The effect of the gas, upon a hot
summer's evening, in the museum is so conducive to venti-
lation as to reduce the temperature two degrees ; and the
ventilation is so much improved, that the rooms, having
great crowds of people in them, are purified at onco by the
lighting of gas. Our experience is, that bad ventilation
in rooms is perhaps the most injurious thing that can hap-
pen to pictures."
The pictUres at the Kensington Museum have received
no harm whatever through the burning of gas. "Professor
Faraday says that unburnt gas is, chemically, not injurious
at all ; if you take a picture, and put it into a bath of gas,
if the gas is properly prepared, as the best gas is, no da-
mage would arise."

11. But were our present museums and picture galleries
opened in the evenings, they would only be within reach
of a portion of the people.
It is therefore suggested that ;simple yet commodious
rooms might, at a trifling cost, be provided ; it may be
partly by Parliament,-partly by subscription and by local
authorities, as branch museums for working people. The
central museums and picture galleries would be as the
centres of circulating libraries. The less rare productions
and duplicate articles might be lent to responsible authori-
ties for these branch museums for a given period. Iron
rooms for museums at a trifling cost might be planted, like
iron churches. These would be the pioneers for perma-
nent stone or brick buildings, which would follow. "What-
ever is in the South Kensington Museum, and is able to
be removed, is freely lent under the rules to every school
of art throughout the whole country. The collections con-
tained in the museum are lent; and collections of porcelain
and other things, to the value of £20,000 or £30,000,' have
been travelling safely round the country, to the vark,us
schools of art, during the last five years, and they have
travelled by railway and by sea. I should like to put in
the exact cost, for it has been so trifling as to be hardly
worth consideration—that is, the public cost ; £l,BOO has
been the public expense.

"I should think if the Government were disposed to give
the ground of the Victoria-park that a gallery as well as a
school of art might be founded there at a cost, say of £5,000,
perhaps not exceeding that ; and I should think that the
people in that part of London would contribute half the
amount ; and then if a structure were prepared (for East
London) I do not hesitate to say that the South Kensing-
ton Museum could keep it filled with a rotation of objects
which would be changed every year as long as it lasts."
" Thus our museums would not really entomb instead
of exhibiting their content; making every addition of them
to decrease as well the probability as the possibility of any
one object being often examined. Our first steam-engines
might then bo exhibited to the ironworkers of the Isle of
Dogs, instead of being hidden in the store-room of Ken-
sington. Working men's exhibitions show what the people
want; they provide themselves in this way with temporary
museums ; they light them up in the evenings ; they crowd
into them with their wives and children, even though they
have to pay for admission. What a permanent happiness
would it be to them to have warm rooms, with interesting
objects, and pictures on the walls, always at hand, free of
cost ! What a refuge for young men in lodgings ; what
competition with places of vice ; what retreats after labour
for the husband and wife together ! Our climate shuts the
people up from out-door enjoyment one half of the year.
The public-house or the casino is now too often the only
place left open to them. Our Government have gone to
great expense to provide parks and out-door places for the
people, but they scarce have done anything to provide them
with in-door places of resort during the winter months.
The Government or Parliament would then indeed act as
a beneficent father, hi providing for the masses of London
branch museums, and insisting upon the opening of these,
as of the British Museum and National Gallery, on week
evenings, when work-people have leisure to visit them.
li " Lord's-day Society, 20, John- st., Adelphi, June 9."
" P.S.--By the petitions' report of the last session it will
be seen that during it there were presented to the House
of Commons alone petitions, praying for the opening of
metropolitan museums and picture galleries in the even-
ings, and for the formation of branch museums, likewise to
be opened on week evenings, signed by no less than 10,022
working men, all living in London, nearly all of whom
dated from the factory, workshops, foundries, and like
places where they were at work. From the description of
themselves, as printed in the Parliamentary return, it will
be seen that they comprise organ builders, zinc workers,
labourers, cabinetmakers, turners, engravers, carpenters,
engineers, lithographers, printers, compositor; wheel-
wrights, typofounders, cardboard makers, shipwrights,
boilermakers, brickmakers, employes of wholesale druggists;
plasterers, bricklayers, stonemasons, blacksmiths, petters,
plumbers, painters, men at Reid's brewery, men at Tru-
man and Hanbury's brewery, steampress printers, piano-
forte maker; steam-fire enginemakers, shoemakers, iron-
founders and forgemen, vinegarmakers, journeymen tailors,
journeymen hatters, marble workers, watchmakers, 'jewel-
lers, coachmakers, gas engineers, tinmen, clerks and por-
ters on railways, brass-finishers, polishers, glass-cutters,
floorcloth makers, colour maker; tanners, and leather-
dressers, ecc.—Sept. 7. H. STEVENS."

The vintage is now going on actively in the de-
partment of the Bouches-du-Rhone. The fruit is, in gene-
ral, of good quality and abundant. In many localities of
the neighbourhood the growers have this year been obliged
to have vats and casks constructed to receive the crop,
which is much larger than was expected.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The ingenious gentleman who told his
fellow-shareholders in the Great Western Railway
on Thursday that the speech of their chairman was
always one long homily on the virtue of patience and
the consolation of hope was not far from the truth.
Chairmen may change, but the:burden of their song
is the same. The Great Western Railway Company
has tried men of many kinds—landed proprietors,
city merchants, Privy Councillors, country brewers ;
and when the London and North-Western Company
intrusted their fortunes to the heir of a dukedom,
the Great Western, not to be behindhand, elected
the hrtir to a marquisate ; but whoever might fill the
chair he told the shareholders the old story. With
prudence and economy—and never were directors
more prudent and economical than those over whom
he had the honour to preside—brighter days were
sure to come. Districts teeming with a prosperous
and travel-loving population, or, at all event, rich
in mineral wealth almost beyond powers of expres-
sion, were on the point of being opened up, and
goods and passenger traffic would thereupon flow
over the old lines in increasing streams. All that was
necessary was that shareholders should trust the
directors, send in their proxies, and the result was
secure. Dividends would mount up, the credit of
the company would rise, the debenture interest
would fall, and it might even be necessary to reduce
the passenger fares to prevent more than 10 per
cent. being divided. And yet the wished-for result
has not been secured. The chairman on Thursday
was like the chairman of any number of past years.
An original shareholder who had attended former
meetings might have shut his eyes and forgot the
lapse of time as he listened to him. Mr. Potter
began with a regret that the dividend which the
directors felt justified in recommending was no
higher than two per cent. per annum ; he ended
by declaring his conviction that there was an
amount of business traffic and trade in the Great
Western district which only required a more com-
plete organisation for its development, and which
when developed would return a thumping dividend.
If the listener were of a speculative turn, he might
ask how it was that the directors had always
to tell the same tale of mingled regret and
hope, and with a little patience a satisfactory answer
might be given to the question. The chairmen of
the company are changed, but the policy of the board
is the same. It used to be said in the days of Mr.
Saunders, that the policy of the Great Western
Railway Company was the policy of its secretary ;
and, if we may judge by the acts of the directors,
the traditions of his principles still govern their course
of procedure. It is only necessary to refer to the
confessions of Mr. Potter. One of the facts which
he had to deplore on Thursday was an increase of
£16,500 in the rent-charges which must be paid
out of the income of the company, and the greater
part of the increase was, he acknowledged, due to
the opering of new branches, extending over 47
miles. These branch lines were for the most part
unproductive, and he said that as a rule the branch
lines of the Great Western Railway did not pay a fair
interest upon the capital expended on them; yet the
Great Western perseveres in promoting branch lines,
and in opposing independent companies whenever
the latter desire to engage in the same ruinous pur-
suit. Next to the wasteful construction of unremu-
nerative branches, and, indeed, of a piece with it,
is the vehement opposition of the Great 'Western
Company to any competitor seeking to enter its
field. Mr. Potter will not even now hear of such a
thing as free trade in the formation of railways. No
company has suffered more from the spirit of ex-
clusion than the Great Western, and none clings
more fondly to it. In order to secure a monopoly
of the west country traffic it promoted a railway
through Cornwall, which does not produce income
enough to pay the interest on its debenture debt,
and the Great Western, in conjunction with the
Bristol and Exeter and South Devon Companies, is
forced to come forward every two or three years, if
not oftener, to raise the deficiency by new guaran-
teed loans. With the same object of keeping the
western traffic to itself, the Great Western Com-
pany opposed, session after session, the bill
for making the South-Western line to Exeter ;
the expense of opposition was enormous, and
it was all thrown away, for the line is
made. The Great Western Company in the last
Session fought against what the directors call the
aggressions of the Midland Railway Company in
Gloucestershire' although every one feels that the
only result will be that money will be spent and the
Midland will gain its end. And just as the Great
Western Company has suffered loss after loss and
defeat after defeat in its defensive battles, it has
bled profusely in its equally ruinous victories. Af-
ter years of struggles it won the privilege of run-
ning trains to Birmingham and Liverpool, and in
the other direction to Weymouth and Salisbury.
To get the first victory it was obligati to sacrifice
its distinctive gauge, and thus incur a new and per-
manent expense, besides the direct outlay upon the
contest. And what has been the consequence of
all this struggle for exclusive possession and mo-
nopoly of traffic ? Engineers and the Parliamentary
Bar have been impoverished and shareholders have
been ruined. The introduction of the mixed gauge
has been a fruitful source of expense ; the company
has now 220 miles of it, and the number will soon
be largely increased, requiring for their maintenance
an outlay greater than if they had been broad or
narrow alone. The company has, again, numberless
small branches eating up the profits of the main
line, many of which were projected, not because
there was a chance that they would pay the interest
of their cost of construction, but in order to occupy
a district, and thus get a foothold of opposition to
any rival scheme. In the face of these facts, it is
astonishing railway directors do not see that it
would be to their interest to suppOlt the utmost
freedom in the making of railways. Once establish
the doctrine that any one should be at liberty to make
a railway who could get the consent of landowners
to sell the land required for its construction ; once
get Parliamentary committees to lay down the
fixed rule that no railway company should ever
be heard in opposition to a railway scheme on the
ground of competition, and thenceforward railways
would be made only when they were wanted and
gave, fair promises of remuneration. Ruinous con-
tests' and premature schemes would be abandoned,
railway companies would save money, shareholders
would receive better dividends, and the public
would be served more cheaply and more efficiently.
If any etew argument were wanted in favour of re-
viewing the principles on which Parliament deals
with railway legislation it would be found in Mr.
Petter's naive confession on Thursday. He told the
shareholders " candidly that the close and laborious
attention which the chairman and the officers of the
company were compelled to give to the Parliamen-
tary campaign to a very great degree abated and
impaired their efficiency in the administration of
the line." It is impossible not to see that the state-
ment is of almost as much interest to the general
public as to the shareholders in the Great Western
Railway. We connect it with the other statement
made by Mr. Potter, that after the Rednal acci-
dent the directors instructed their officers to look
over the rules relative to the repair of the perma-
nent way and the supervision of the platelayers, as
a precaution against the recurrence of such acci-
dents. The Rednal accident will probably cost the
company between £30,000 and £40,000, and the
loss may for a time stimulate the officers to fresh
vigilance. But the public ought not to forget the
acknowledgment of the chairman, that the line can-
not be properly supervised, because the energies of
the Board are engrossed by the Parliamentary
campaign. We thought in our simplicity that to
work the line they had made was the first duty of
directors, but it now appears that their most en-
grossing occupation is to prevent rival schemesfrom
the approval of Parliament. Would it not be for
their own interest, as it certainly would be for the
public safety, that they should be relieved from
this labour, and advised instead to provide for the
security of their passengers ?
POST.—There is scarcely a surer sign of hopeless
brutality than indifference to suffering in the brute
creation. Many a man who will kick his wife or
punch his neighbour's head on the ground, be it
more or less true, that the nails of the one or the
insolence of the other had justified the aggression,
will hesitate before he will wantonly torture a dumb
animal, unoffending and defenceless. The bully of
the district, the terror of his family and the dread
of his neighbours, will often be found credited with
the strange inconsistency that " he wouldn't hurt a
fly." But the human being who has passed beyond
this halting-place of a vile temper ; who can wreak
a savage ferocity on a stray dog without rhyme or
reason ; who can skin a cat alive remorselessly,
that the fur may retain a more brilliant gloss ; who
can drive a spike without hesitation into the quar-
ters of a weary bullock ; or, despite wounds and
debility, demand impossible labour from the most
willing and generous of all animals, the horse, may
be safely set down as an hopeless and incurable dis-
grace to humanity, to whom no atrocity should
come amiss, and for whom no punishment would be
deemed too severe. But if there be any circum-
stances under which this unnatural brutishness may
be held to be more unnatural and repulsive still, it
must surely be so deemed when it is perpetrated
permanently, systematically, and in cold blood, for
the sole inducement of gain. Sudden anger may
account. for and mitigate, if not excuse, any angry
blow ; but the disposition that can harshly practise
a constant torture upon a dumb animal in order that
a profit may be secured on its purchase and its
keep, need receive neither pardon nor leniency
from those whose duty it is to avenge such an
offence against all laws, human and divine. Those
who hold such brutality in abhorrence will there-
fore agree that a very lame conclusion has been 1

As e-e
arrived at in a case in point just heari at
Merthyr Tydvil, which seems to include a more
reckless and aggravated indulgence in savage
barbarity, combined with a brutal indifference
to the sufferings inflicw'l,
permitted for some time to shot: k than has been
the feelings of the
well disposed portion of the com.L'AnnitY• At the
instance of the " Royal Society for tn.:
Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals," it was found L'eT3sselTl
about a fortnight ago, to institute no less then
o
distinct charges of the most barbarous crudii?
against the :colliery manager, a Mr. Bedlington,
the veterinary surgeon, a Mr. Wiltshire, and &
subordinate servant, one Moses, all belonging to the
Rhymney Iron Company, working at a " cutting"
called the Tir Phil Level, in Glamorganshire. The
cruelty was exercised, and evidently had been con-
tinued for a long time, or the horses employed at
the works. Mr. Colam, the secretary to the society,
in consequence of information received, obtained an
official examination of the horses by Superintendent
Wrenn, of the Glamorganshire constabulary. That
officer found the poor animals in such a horrible
condition that he at once had them taken out of
their harness and sent to their stables. It was high
time. The wretched brutes—we mean the horses—
were covered with wounds, palpably caused by work
beyond their strength, but which work, despite the
wounds, was still exacted from them. These wounds
were ulcers of a large size and of long standing,
under the collars which had caused them, and upon
which those collars pressed whenever the poor
animals moved. There were many on each animal.
Moreover, these ill-fated creatures exhibited wounds
on their backs, which were accounted for by a state-
ment enough to turn one's blood cord. These
horses were actually forced to work in a cutting, the
roof of which was naturally rough and jagged,- but
which was lower than their own height. Many of
these horses measured 5 feet 2 in. at the withers,
whilst the roof of the cutting was only 4 feet 9 in.,
so that the poor beasts were compelled to perform
work, already too much for them, owing to the
ulcers on their shoulders, in a locality where every
step added to them a few more injuries on their
backs, and this was a process " of long standing.',
No wonder Mr. Colam remarked that " it Was
incredible outside a colliery." But there was
something more incredible still to relate in the
matter. The summary proceeding of Superinten-
dent Wrenn was reported by the subordinate
servant, Moses, to the colliery manager, Mr. Bed-
lington, when that humane individual ordered
the horses into work again the following day ! This
brutal intent was only frustrated by actual force on
the part of the police, and a body of constables was
left on the spot to prevent,pendente lite, any further
employment of the suffering animals. On Wednes-
day the case came on at Merthyr Petty Sessions,
when the above incidents were disclosed, and their
truth not disputed. A Mr. James, for the defence.
admitted the facts, but asked for a " nominal
penalty," on the ground that the defendants were
ignorant of the law ! He might just as well have
urged such a plea in a case of murder. He also
" hoped that the fact of other horses having been
substituted for the injured ones (the employment of
which had been prevented) would induce the magi!'
trate to inflict in this,the first offence, a mere nomi-
nal penalty." The decision of the magistrate seems
to have been upon a par with the extraordinary
nature of the whole affair. He " considered that
the company were in every respect to blame, and he
should act upon the impression that the fines would
be paid by them." He accordingly contented hire-
self with imposing penalties on this wealthy com-
pany, which amounted altogether to about £l4,
thus awarding no punishment whatever to the com-
pany who had been really the guilty perpetrators
of a barbarity disgraceful to the name of man.
Why should a fine have been inflicted at all, unless
of a really round sum sufficient to insure a due care
on the part of the company for the future. The
only penalty of any practical use by way of punish-
meat or warning would have been a personal inflic-
tion on those who had personally offended. There
is no lesson so likely to teach the cruel the enor-
mity of inflicting torture as to subject them to a
little of it themselves. Those who are most reck-
less of pain in others have the most decided objec-
tion to their own endurance of it. As it is, the
perpetrators got off scot free (save, we should hope,
from the disgust of even the colliery district). The
directors will give a cheque for the amount ; but on
the direction of the Rhymney Iron Company there
are respectable names, and perhaps they need hardly
be reminded that the stigma which even this most
lenient magistrate could not refrain from passing
on them yet remains to be cancelled, and that they
owe it to themselves, no less than to human nature
in general, to insure that it shall never be
repeated.