The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-05 00:00:00

THE NEW WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

It has been at last decided that the building of this
bridge is to commence in the ensuing month of May.
It is intended, by the plan, to consist of three arches,
the chief arch rising 18 feet from the springing. Sir C.
Barry is the designer, and we doubt not that this bridge,
when completed, will bring out in bold relief the New
Palace at Westminster, and prove to the eyes of the
world that the architect of that palace has been able at
last to master a great difficulty, namely, that of showing
to advantage one of the finest edifices in the world
erected on a disadvantageous site. In designing, this
bridge the architect has followed the rule which we are
surprised has not, even in later times, been more rigidly
adhered to than it has been, which is, that in the con-
struction of .a bridge the aim of the architect ought to
he to have as few arches as possible, in order that
the middle of the stream, or chief current of the
river, may flow freely without the interruption which
is caused by an unnecessary number of piers, large
arches being at all times desirable, and by which,
too, the expense of construction is considerably les-
sened, as is shown from the simple fact that the pre-
sent Westminster-bridge cast double the amount in its
erection as compared with Blackfriars-bridge, on ac-
count of the number of arches. The present bridge is
1,220 feet long, and 44 feet wide. The new bridge is
intended to be wider, but the inconvenience and danger
of the rise and fall will be entirely obviated in its con-
struction. The present bridge consists of fifteen arches,
and was finished in the year 1750. at a cost of 389,5001.
The expense of the new bridge will, of course, be con-
siderably less ; but we do hope that the approaches to
the new bridge will not be dealt with in a niggardly
manner by the proper authorities. The houses, in order
to give effect to the structure, both on the Surrey and
Middlesex side of the river, ought to come down with
" one fell swoop." The piers of the bridge are to be of
stone, and the abutments or caps of iron. During the
erection of the new bridge, the present bridge is in-
tended. to be used for ordinary purposes. Banquets, or
raised footways, will be erected in the fir-t instance, and
these will eventually be amalgamated with the proposed
roadway of the new bridge, thereby avoiding the neces-
sity for the erection of a temporary wooden bridge,
while, at the same time, it will save an immense waste
of public money, the lavish expenditure of which has
unhappily been the bane of most of our modern struc-
tures.

THE MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, April 4.—The General
Screw Steam Shipping Company's steam-ship Queen of
the South, Capt. W. H. Norman, sailed this afternoon
with contract mails for Adelaide, Port Philip, and
Sydney. The mails taken out by this vessel are con-
tained in upwards of 300 bags, and measure 32 tons.
The Queen of the South takes out nearly 90 passengers,
among whom is Sir Chas. Hotham, the newly appointed
Governor of Victoria, with his suite, and also a very
full cargo of manufactured good's of a valuable character,
for the Australian markets. Mrs. Chisholm having
visited the port today, on the occasion of the departure
of the Queen of the South, the Southampton Emigra-
tion Committee availed themselves of the opportunity to
present this excellent lady with an address ; and she
subsequently inspected the site of the proposed emigra-
tion depot about to be erected, and gave her approbation
to the details of the establishment, which is intended to
accommodate both Government and private emigrants.
A plan of the building has also been presented to Sir
Charles Hotham. The Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's steamship Colombo, Capt. T. S. Russell, took her
departure at 2.30 p.m. to-day, for Gibraltar, Malta, and
Alexandria, with the outward East India, China, and
Mediterranean mails. The Colombo has 72 passengers,
a very large cargo, and specie valued at 124,8731. 3s. 2d.
for India and China, and 11,203/. 10s. for Malta and
Alexandria. The Colombo also takes out several beauti-
ful English horses and ponies for the Pasha of Egypt,
and some first-class carriages fitted up complete for the
Egyptian railway from Alexandria to Suez.
ARRIVAL OF THE MARCO POLO IN AUSTRALIA.—By
the overland mail we have received accounts of the arri-
val of the celebrated ship Marco Polo, of the Black
Ball line, after another unparalleled passage of
seventy-four days twelve hours, from port to port, the
fastest ever made by a sailing ship ; and the third
passage she has made from Liverpool to Melbourne, and
beaten all competitors. But we are sorry to say that,
after she was inside the Head of Port-Philip, she was
got ashore through the inefficiency and mismanagement
of the pilot who was on board. The following is an ex-
tract from a letter, dated Melbourne, January 30, re-
ceived by Messrs. James Baines and Co., from their
agents at Melbourne, respecting the unfortunate occur-
rence ;—" It is our painful duty to inform you that the
Marco Polo, after passing through the Heads, and while
in charge of a pilot, was run ashore on a sandbank,
about two miles inside Shot Heads Bluff, near Light-
house Point. This occurred on Wednesday, the 25th
inst. Captain M‘Donnell immediately proceeded to
town, and the writer having procured the assistance of
two steam-tugs, proceeded to the ship, in company with
Captain M`Donnell and the harbour-master, to see what
steps could he taken. Up to this time, we regret to
say that the efforts used have been unavailing ; but suc-
cess is still hoped for, and every available means shall
be used to accomplish it. She is lying on a soft sandy
bank, with 15 feet of water round her at low tide, and
for the present has not suffered any damage. The at-
tempts to tow her off at high water were unsuccessful,
and lighters have been sent to take out luggage, &c.
All the passengers have landed, and to-day her Majesty's
sloop Electra went to her assisrance. Captain MeDon-
nell is almost distracted with this sad termination to so
successful a voyage. At lastaccounts she had not made
any water. The blame is altogether attributable to the
inefficidicy of the pilot, 4nd an official bavestigatioa is
obe held." - • -