The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-14 00:00:00

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DEPUTATION TO THE BOARD OF
HEALTH:

Yesterday afternoon, a deputation appointed by a
public meeting of the ratepayers of All Saints, Poplar,
held at the Town-hall on the 6th inst , waited upon Sir
Benjamin Hall, at the General Board of Health, White-
hall, for the purpose of presenting a resolution which
had been agreed to unanimously in reference to the
sewage of that district.
The deputation consisted of Mr. S. Knight, county
magistrate ; Mr. J. Fuller, churchwarden, Messrs. J.
F. Pannell and H. Shaw, overseers ; Mr. S. E. Ellison,
surgeon ; Mr. W. Pearce, Mr. T. Hughes, and Mr. C.
C. Ceeley, Yestry clerk. They complained of the state
of the sewage throughout the district in question, but
more especially of the open sewers in North-street and
King-street. They desired that the Board of Health
should, if it had the power, interpose its authority, so as
to compel a more efficient drainage and sewage of the
district, without which it was impossible the health of
the district could be preserved. Another ground of
complaint was, that a large amount of sewage was
turned into the canal, and the water became in a most
filthy and unhealthy condition.

Sir B. HALL, who received the deputation with great
courtesy, said, he was most anxious to do every.
thing in his power to assist in checking evils of the
kind mentioned, or in removing any nuisances which
might be considered detrimental to the public health ;
but he wished it to be known that that department
had no control over the Commissioners of Sewers.
He knew that the Commissioners of Sewers were
most anxious to do their duty, and to see their works
carried out properly and efficiently, and, at the same
time, as expeditiou;ly as possible, but the task was such
dptcaheirsoshetsperlai:oserercia,ystn:toowaane that they could not do all they wished. In
any future legislation upon the subject, it would be ne-
nuhpatil
hglaeoee
rretai 1 thetiene
t: 1
aoadistrictifnndt sewershe makess ee sewers et
should
meouuonl
dfd
responsibleetbr
he tehiprel
areceeosdnfpoteurrcnot
under
respective
rtheceocmounn ternodl
aotf a
ioncseonftrtahle board
al
Cinomamcciosrsidoanneaeppwoiinthtedthtee
inquire into the corporation cs f London.threem olt would, in
s great Isis (Sir B. Hall's) opinion, be
quite
anything like a sanitary condition of the inhabitants of
the metropolis unless they attained
first, that the Thames should be Purified ri be
al et toob j Bel: us
—r e
by the construc-
tion of intercepting sewers ; second, that every street
should have a sewer run through it ; third, that the
owner of every house should be compelled to make a
i p
drain from his house to that sewer, which drain should
be properly trapped, thus abolishing all cesspools. Tye
whole question of offensive trades most also come nner
consideration : and, if those trades were to be permitted
in the metropolis, all the appliances that art and science
could suggest must be enforced for the purpose of pre-
venting the annoyance to which the public were at pre-
sent exposed. Another and very important inquiry
must also be instituted when Parliament assembled
as to how far the metropolitan water companies had
complied with the engagements entered into in 1852.
The period of three years given to the water companies
theirtobTrihnagmes,and from
supplies fortohmerbseyouorncdest,heetpdiard
tidal influence ceof
theses-
sion, and a question so important to the sanitary condi-
tion of the public as the water supply must be fully gone
into. The whole subject of sanitary reform, and the
amendment of the Board of Health Act and the

Nuisances Removal Act should be considered as soon as
that board could have any leisure, so that bills upon those
important subjects might be brought in early in the
ensuing session. At that moment, however, it was im•
possible to do more than attend to the present epidemic
and reply to the innumerable letters which reached the
board, and which were much increased in consequence
of persons writing to them on subjects which did not
come under the jurisdiction of the department. It must
be recollected that he (Sir B. Hall) had only been at the
head of that office about 3 weeks ; that the law was
most imperfect ; that when he entered upon office the
cholera was on the increase ; and that he had to make
all the necessary arrangements for meeting the disease
and checking it as far as possible. This, be was happy
to say, had been effected to a very great extent, and be
had been, generally speaking, ably and cheerfully assisted
by the local authorities. The gentlemen of the deputa.
tion would see that at that time the Board of Health did
not control the Commissioners of Sewers, but he should

be happy at all times to receive suggestions from local
authorities which they conceived would in any way tend
to promote the public health and improve the sanitary
condition of the people.
The deputation then retired.

THE COLLISION AT CROYDON.-EXPE-
RIMENTS BY CAPT. TYLER.

On Tuesday a series of experiments, of considerable
interest and importance, as tending to throw light upon
the causes of the recent fatal railway collision at Croy.
don, were made by Captain Tyler, of the Board of Trade,
on the Brighton line, between Reigate and Croydon.
The South-Eastern Company was represented on the
occasion by Captain Barlow, the superintendent of that
line, and the Brighton Company by Mr. Slight, their
secretary, and Mr. Hawkins, their locomotive superin•
tendeut.

The experiments were chiefly directed to ascertain in
how short a time, and within hew small a distance, a
train of the bulk and momentum of the unfortunate ex-
cursion train could be stopped, or rather the second
division of it, with which the collision occurred, and
going at the rate of between fifty and sixty miles an
hour. For this purpose two trains were made up pre-
cisely as the " excursion" was, one by the Brighton com-
pany and the other by the South-Eastern, and laden re-
spectively with about 32 tons of iron and other mate-
rials, fairly distributed over the carriages, that being
calculated to be about the weight of the 450 passengers
and upwards, who were travelling with the division of
the excursion train which came into collision with the
ballast engine. In order that these trials might have
as much similarity as possible to an ordinary case of
driving a train, the men in charge of the trains were net
allowed to pull up from the first instant the distance or
the semaphore signal caught their eye, but at an arbi-
trary given signal, indicated by Capt. Tyler himself, at
a moment when they might not be expecting it,
Four trips were made between the junetion of the
two lines at Redhill, near Reigate, and Croydon. The
first was a South-Eastern train, and driven by men in
the employ of that company. It started from Redhill
at one o'clock, and eventually attained a rate of speed
of 62 miles for about a mile and a quarter ; and, when
travelling at the rate of 531 miles an hour, Capt. Tyler
gave the signal to stop, and the train was brought to a
stand at a distance of 2,077 yards from the point where the
signal was given, and that simply by the driver shutting
off his steam, and the guard applying the two breaks
attached to his van, without the engine having been
reversed. The second experiment was with a Brighton
train, driven by Brighton men. The last mile was run
in 66.4 seconds, or at the rate of about 54 miles an hour,
and the train was pulled up in 1,832 yards, after being
signalled to stop, by shutting off the steam, applying
two breaks, and without reversing the engine, or in
less space by 245 yards than the preceding train. The
third trial was conducted with a South-Eastern train,
and by a driver and fireman belonging to that company,
and the object of it was to ascertain in what distance it
could he stopped by the application of the same means,
and added to them, the immediate reversal of the engine
after the signal to stop. The result was that the
train, while going a mile in 66 seconds, was brought
mupinuattes
;thebutdissetavn of l,
seven seconds
seuunds79v‘o,ev3are-ds, or in w
lost
in the
two
minutes ; but seven seconds were lost in the ap.
of the breaks by the driver not sounding his
whistle until after he had reversed his engine. The
fourth and last experiment was with a Brighton train and
Brighton men, and, by arrangement, every available
means was employed to stop it on being signalled--
namely, reversing the engine, shutting off the steam,
applying the breaks, and causing the engine to scatter
sand along the rails. The effect of all this was that the
train, while travelling at the rate of a mile in 63 seconds
was pulled up in a minute and a half after the signal,
and in the distance of 1,389 yards.
Now it is stated, on competent authority, that the
collision took place at a distance of 60 yards on the
London side of the north semaphore signal ; that between
that signal and the south semaphore there is a distance of
373 yards and 2 feet ; and that the south semaphore
signal can be seen by the driver of an approaching up.
train 1,120 yards before he can reach it. The effect
of a comparison between these figures and the results
of the experiments of yesterday is to throw consider-
able light upon what might have been done by the
driver of the excursion train—shortly to be arraigned
on a charge of manslaughter—by simply attending
to the south semaphore signal, which on the day of
the fatal catastrophe stood against him at " danger."
Assuming the last figures to be correctly stated, and
pains have been taken to ascertain them accurately, be
had 1,553 yards and two feet in which to
pull ll'p his
train between the point where he might havefirst seea
the danger signal and the place of collision. By availing
himself, on the instant he saw the danger signal, of all
ithe
tr
iomeansstandof
a t hisat a yesterdaycommanddisdistance
aproves
v toeofal stop the train, the last ex-
pmtl:3astheyamrdigsh, tohravleu ybrouargdhst
could
before the point of collision ; but it also proves that,
omitting any one
of
those means,
train up till a distance of 237 yards beyond where it oc-
curred. There is this, however, to be said, that by ap-
plying any, though not the greatest amount of power
at his disposal, to lessen the momentum of the train on
ouhladve nobtre haveug htpre.
his
vented that collision, for he
couldh note
first seeing
had moreseeingthe
time
egetro
et out of the way, and though a
signal, the ballast engine would
concussion might not have been prevented, the force of
_
itco might
mpa
~et,i have
vel
y
littlebee damage.nsodiminished as to hay() smut

NARROW ESCAPE OF A TIGHT-ROPE PERFORMER.--
The entertainments at the Clifton Zoological Gardens en
Monday alumina were announced to conclude with Sig..
nora Pauline Violante's " terrific ascent on a rope 90
feet high and 300 feet long, amidst a brilliant display of
fireworks. Accordingly about nine o'clock Mada
was no t
attempts,ti tight
enough
Violante commenced the ascent, but it was soon venar;
to b • safe.
reached almost
it
the middle of the rope ; but at that part oscillated so
She,r cehPotwibelere trh,a after one ropeone o r two
violently that, finding her balance zone she threw away
her pole, fell across the rope, and luckily succeeded is
grasping it with her hands, and hung in mid air amidst
the screams of the assembled thou ands, joined to her
own piercing cries for help. For ten or fifteen minutes
she thus clung helplessly by her hands and feet, incapable
of dragging herself forward or backward so as to reach
an upright supporter, until at length a very long ladder
having been placed u •
right against the rope, she was
rescued from her peril)
fainting condition. ous position and led away in a
.. Such follies will never be abandoned
until one or m
ore !Ives hare been
'hum?.

U-~-~