The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-13 00:00:00

Julian

GOLD IN CEYLON.

In our last ordinary issue we announced the all-but
certainty of gold in' Ceylon ; and have now the pleasure
to state that doubt is entirely removed by the arrival of
the joint report (then expected) of Mr. McCartney, the
superintendent of police and Mr. T. Power, assistant-
Government agent, which says, that they witnessed the
diggings and washing of "two pons of earth" which
contained " very many minute particles of gold."
Their report is dated " Yattegodde, 11th March (yes-
terday) and is unavoidably hurried in order to reach
Colombo in time to be forwarded by Government to the
Secretary of State by the out-going Overland Mail.
We may add that the Modliar (native headman) of
the district sent in yesterday to the Government agent
of Colombo a specimen of the gold which he also saw
dug by the sailors, and that Mr. Layard will leave for
the spot this evening.
The locality is about 40 miles from Colombo—near
Girooele, on the road from Negombo to Kornegalle. A
good carriage road runs all the way from Colombo to
the scene of action.

We have as yet no precise information as to the pro-
portionate quantity of gold which the earth contains ;
but it cannot be insignificant seeing that the sailors who
made the discovery, and are old Californian and Austra-
lian diggers, continue at the work.

Our next we hope will be the result of personal
Lnspection.—From, the Colombo Observer, March, 12.

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

An accident occurred on Monday evening on the
Manchester and Huddersfield branch of the London
and North-Western Railway, through a train running
off the rails, by which the driver was killed, and the
stoker and one of the passengers were severely in-
jured. The train, which was not a fast one, left Leeds
at 4 p.m. for Manchester and London, and kept its time
as far as Mossley, which it left about ten' minutes be-
fore 6 o'clock. About five minutes later, when within
about 30 yards of the bridge which carries the line
across the Stalybridge and Greenfield turnpike-road,
the forewheels of the engine appear to have gone off
the line. The line curves to the right in a radius of
about half a mile, and the outside wooden key at the
extremity of one of the rails is supposed to have been
out, and allowed the flange of the left forewheel of the
engine to press the rail outwards, so that the end of
the next rail projected, and the wheel would at once
mount the rail. The end of the rail is split, showing
the exact spot at which this was done. The wonder is
that the train did not go off the line immediately, out-
side the curve, over a descent of about 20 feet into
the turnpike road. The driving wheels and trailing
wheels, however, probably delayed the catastrophe
which ensued, and traces only of the front wheels
are left on the iron chairs supporting the rails (of
whic'i many were broken) for 450 yards, when the
train, having left an embankment and entered a cutting,
ran into a bank on the lefthand side, on the outside of
the curve, near the Hevrod footbridge over the line.
The shock of the engine striking the bank had the effect
of turning the locomotive round, and throwing it across
the up line of rails, while the tender was forced from it
by the sudden jerk, and thrown on one side across the
down rails. John Wainwright, the driver, and Thomas
Hellam, the stoker, were afterwards discovered under the
tender, and were both seriously hurt. Wainwright had
some of his ribs broken and forced into the lungs, so
that he survived only until about nine o'clock the same
night. He leaves a wife and two children. T. Hellam,
the stoker, was found to have one of his legs cut entirely
off by the wheels of the engine passing over him, and he
had sustained a compound fracture of the other. There
were not many passengers in the train, and though two
second-class carriages were much broken and knocked
to pieces, only one of their occupants suffered injury.
This was Mr. Abram Scheops, a German commercial
traveller and jeweller, of 37, Stanley-street, Manchester,
who sustained a fracture of one leg and a dislocation of
one of the hip joints. The two injured men were carried
to a public-house near the spot for a time, and after-
wards removed to the Manchester Infirmary. It was
not expected that Hellam would survive many hours
yesterday afternoon. The guard's van was much
broken, and Neal, the guard, who was in it, was
a good deal bruised. Probably he owed his life to the
van being thrown on its side, the bottom being tern
out the moment before. He managed, however,
to run back to Mossley station, where he was in time
to stop a luggage train from following. A second
guard, James Pickles, was in one of the second
class carriages, and, escaping with a bruise on one
cheek, ran off to Stalybridge to stop any down
trains coming from London or Manchester. Mr.
George Cooper, chief superintendent of this secttion
of the line, was telegraphed to at Stockport, and
was in a short time on the spot with an engine
and .workmen. Mr. Ellis, superintendent of permanent
way, and Mr. Carter, of Huddersfield, with Dr. Harri-
son, and other medical men, were forwarded as early as
possible, and after every attention had been paid to the
injuries of the passengers the former directed his atten-
tion to restoring the line to working order.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the East
India House, when the thanks of the Court were voted
unanimously to Mr. Russell Ellice (chairman) and Major
James Oliphant (deputy-chairman) for their great appli-
cation and attention to the affairs of the East India
Company during the past year.
THE LATE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR RICIARD
ARMSTRONG.—This distinguished officer died on the 3d
of March, on board the ship Barham, during his voyage
homeward from Madras. Sir Richard Armstrong was
only son of Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong, of Lincoln,
and born in 1782. He entered the army as ensign in
179 G, serving during the whole of the Peninsular cam-
paign, and then entered the Portuguese service, and re-
mained for six years in Portugal, which nation he
greatly esteemed, and where he is still remembered with
affeciion by many friends. Sir Richard served as Bri-
dier during the first Burmese war, as Major-General on
the Staff in Canada, and finally was appointed Com-
mander-in-Chief of the army at Madras, which com-
mand he resigned from impaired health. Sir Richard
received medals and cLasps for his services during the
Pen.nsular war, besides badges of distinction from the
Portuguese Government. He was a Knight Commander
of the -Bath, Knight Commander of the Portuguese
Order of the Tower and Sword, and Knight Commander
of St. Bento D'Aviz. Sir Richard Armstrong was
Colonel of her Majesty's 32d Regiment.

LOCAL CHARGES AND TOWN DUES AT LIVERPOOL:
Yesterday an inquiry was opened at St. George's Hall,
Liverpool, respecting the charges upon shipping and
other duties levied at that town. The investigation was
ender the superintendence of Captain .Drinkwater and
Mr. Blackburne, barrister, Government Commissioners,
and was attended by the representatives of various com-
mercial companies and corporations. The question of
town dues was first brought forward. Mr. Heron; town
clerk of Manchester, gave a good deal of evidence upon
the subject. Ho stated that until a recent period the
town dues were only levied upon about 100 articles; but
now they wero charged upon GOO articles imported into
Liverpool, and that the corporation were continually
adding to the number of articles chargeable with the
duty. The witness deprecated the town dues generally,
and said that their first effect was to put 120,0001. a-year
into the coffers of the Liverpool Corporation at the ex-
pense of the manufacturing and commercial interests of
the north of England. Mr. James Aspinall Turner,
chairman of the Manchester Commercial Association,
and other gentlemen, addressed the Commissioners, and
denounced the Liverpool town dues as unjust, unrea-
sonable, unconstitutional, and injurious to commerce.
The inquiry is likely to be a protracted one.
THE NORTHERN COAL TRADE.—NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,
Wednesday.—There was much activity last week in the
steam coal district of the Tyne, in consequence of orders
from Government to supply the squadrons in the East
and Baltic with coal. A large order was also sent down
by the French Government to send coals out to the East.
Freights rose from 451. a keel to 731. a keel to Constanti-
nople. Since then, in consequence of the ample supply
that has gone, the Governments have not sent any more
orders, but it is supposed have left the supply in the
hands of merchants to send out coal in the ordinary
course of business. The present rates to the East are
—GM a keel to Constantinople, 651. a keel to Gallipell
and GOl. a keel to Milo. A considerable number of
goal-
laden° vessels left the Tyne yesterday for the Baltic 'and
the Mediterranean, to deliver aboard the fleets. ,We
have now a considerable fleet of screw colliers engaged'
in the London coal trade, probably 14 or 15 sail, eaves-
sets of considerable tonnage. More vessels are also
building for the two companies engaged in the trade;
veld we believe the experiment has been pretty success-
ful, so that in a few years we may expect the London
coal-trade will be much modified, and the consumer in
the metropolis less dependent upon sailing-vessels and
the winds for b"s supply of this valuable mineral.
DISCOVERY OF STOLEN PROPEETY.—The police have
recently discovered a large quantity of stolen property
on the preiniaes of a `,` general dealer," in Bell-lane,
Spitalfields. The discovery arose from the circumstance
of a bale of Berlin wool having been offered by a man
named Chadwick to the very warehouseman from whose
premises it had been stolen. On the premises in Bell-
lane almost all the proceeds of a recent burglary at the
premises of Messrs.-Hargraves, in Gresham-street, were
found, and also jewellery to the value of 1,0001., part
of the 3,0001. worth of which Mr. Alexander, of Hatton-
garden, was robbed. Two men were convicted at the
February session of the Central Criminal Court for
being concerned in the latter robbery. The alleged re-
ceiver of the stolen goods has been apprehen( e .
LORD BROUGHA.3I'S BANIIIMPTCE BILL —The prelimi-
nary diecassion on Lord Brougham's bill for assimilating
the bankruptcy laws of Scotland to those in force in this
bcoeuenxtraymliiialesdnionw
eboemenmictoilenep, lewtehcebrearitdts tlirro;esesssetwreilial
be
regarded with great interest by the commercial classes
of both sections of the kingdom. Little doubt seems
entertained regarding the prospect of its being adopted,
and the only point upon which unanimity has to be ar-
rived at is as to the expediency of a precise incorporation
of all the provisions of the English law, includingthefull
penal authority of the commissioners and the system of
classified certificates. On thesematters the opinions of the
Scottish public are invited, the object of all
parties being
to make the bill conformable to their u;shes. Mean-
while, it may be remarked. that, whatever modifications
shall be ultimately deemed necessary, nothing, as far as
sound theory is concerned, can
justav the introduction
or
perpetuation of any esseettiel diffei-encee in the prac-
tice of Scotland and England. Supposing any parts of
jtetice tieni
ing English system can be shown to be so el,
astbsystemeas to render it undesirable that they should
ox
be introduced into Scotland, the only inference would
tr. not that Scotland should have a separate system,
b::t that ,the degree of perfection which is thought attain-
able in her case should by the necessary reforms be forth-
• with achieved eso on this side.