The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-30 00:00:00

ACCIDENT BY GUN COTTON.

Monday evening Mr. W. Baker held an inquest at
the London Hospital, on view of the body of H. Redford,
aged thirty-three, who was in employment at the con-
greve rocket manufactory, of Mr. Q. Forsyth Wade,
West-Ham Abbey-marshes, and who with Michael Gur-
ney and H. Tuft, lost their lives by an explosion of gun
cotton.

J. Brayley, principal of the factory, having described
the accident,

Mr. Wade said he had the evidence of scientific gen-
tlemen to show that the accident arose from compressed
air, which being overheated ignited the gun cotton.
Mr. Edward Horton Wilmot, assistant lecturer, at the
London Hospital, said that Mr. Wade requested him to
prepare some cotton which would not take fire easily. He
manufactured a quantity which he submitted to the weight
of a 141 b hammer; the blows being repeatedly given.
He believed that the accident arose from the compres-
sion of atmospheric air, which, being overheated, gave
out its caloric, and set fire to the cotton, causing the
explosion. This would ignite at a heat of from 320 to
350 degrees. He believed that every precaution was
used to prevent an accident, both in the preparation of
the gun cotton, which was made not to explode, and in
the care taken to fill the cylinder, and his surprise was
that one did occur.

Mr. P. B. Wall, gunpowder manufacturer, said that
he prepared the cotton, which was made weaker than
usual. He believed the accident arose from compressed
air. He has used the gun-cotton since October last, for
making rockets, and has had only one accident, when a
biy was injured. That occurred while using the
monkey. He has since used the lever, which gives
a more gradual and regular pressure, and no accident
has since occurred. When the explosion be alluded to
took place, the cylinder or tube was about one foot long
and two inches in diameter, and about ten ounces of
cotton were rammed in the tube. He thought the
gun cotton useful for artillery practice, and it possesses a
far greater range of power.
Dr. Letheby, lecturer on chemistry, said that it was
his opinion the accident arose from friction of the cotton
on the sides of the cylinder. Had it taken place by

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

Lord REDESDALE protested against that portion of
the Bill which provided that the Commissioners should
sit in Parliament as he considered no good would accrue
from it. He should say not content to the Bill.
Lord CANIOYS advised the Government to well
consider the 23d clause.

=After a desultory conversation the Bill was read a
second time and ordered to be committed on Friday.
BATHS AND WASHHOUSES BILL.
The House then went into Committee on the Baths
and Washhouses Bill.

Lord CAMPBELL stated that the object of the Bill
was to provide baths and washhouses of such a cha-
racter as should be accessible to all classes of the people.
The maximum charges, under the Act, would be 6,3.
for a warm, and 3d. for a cold bath. The Noble Lord
ridiculed the idea that the baths and washhouses to be
established by this Bill, would enter into competition
with the baths at present in existence, which were only
intended to be used by the wealthier classes of society,
and urged their Lordships to adopt the clause.
Lord MONTEAGLE opposed the clause on the
ground that it was contrary to every just principle of
economical science.

The Bishop of LONDON supported the clause. He
thought that a few private interests ought not to be
allowed to interfere with the interests of the public at
large, more especially with such advantages as were
proposed to be conferred by this Bill.
After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM,
Lord STANLEY said that the establishment of
public baths was of great public advantage. With
regard to the erection of two classes of baths, it had
been defended by the Noble Lord who brought forward
the motion on the same principle as lunatic asylums,
where one class of patients were charged, and the pro-
fits from them went to defray the charge of the
poorer class of patients. He was prepared to support
the clause as it stood, but would suggest the propriety
of fixing a minimum as well as a maximum price.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE made a few obser-
vations which were inaudible in the gallery.
Lord MONTEAGLE said that nothing had occurred
to change the opinion he entertained, and being satisfied
that he had done his duty, he would not press his objec-
tions further.

The Bill then went through Committee.
Their Lordships then adjourned. •

HOUSE OF COMMONS. June 29.
There being only sixteen Members present at Four
o'clock, the House stood adjourned till to-morrow at
Twelve o'clock.

THE " NO-HOUS:

The following Members wet
took the chair, and the Hous,
quence of there not being 40 3
Barnard.
Thornely.
Brotherton.
Duncan.

E" YESTERDAY.
ire present when the Speaker
le stood adjourned in conse-
&Umbers present :

Greene.
Hamilton.
Pattison.
Christie.
Ward.
Wakley.
Trelawny.

Bowring.
Hindley.
R. Yorke.
Kemble.

COMMITTEE on the NAVIGATION
LAWS.

The Select Committee appointed by the House of
Commons to inquire into the operation of the navigation
laws re-assembled on Thursday. The following mem-
bers were present:-Mr. M. Gibson (chairman); Mr.
Liddell, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Ricardo, Sir Howard Douglas,
Admiral I)undas, Mr. Hume, and Mr. Lyall.
Mr. Robert Anderson was examined.
By Mr. Liddell-He was a shipowner resident at
South Shields, and was chairman of the Shipowners'
Society at that port. He had been engaged in the
North American, the East and West India, the Medi-
terranean, the Baltic, and the coasting trades. He had
a general knowledge of the operation of the navigation
laws, and he considered that they afforded employment
rather than protection to British shipping. The witness
handed in a statement of the average rates of freight
from 1817 to 1846 for timber from Quebec, deals and
tallow from St. Petersburgh, and coals from Newcastle
to London. In the first four years from 1817, the
average rate of freight for timber from Quebec was
21. 16s. 3d. per load; in the second four years it was
12/.. 7s. 6d. per load; in the third four years, 21. 9s. 4:id.
per load; in the fourth four years, 21. Is. lOi-d.; in the
fifth four years, 11. 18s. 9d.; in the sixth four years,
21. ls. 3d.; in the seventh four years, 2/. ls.; in the
eighth four years, ending in 1845, 11. 14s. Bd.; in 1846
the average rate was I/. 19s. Id.; and at present it was
2/. ss. per load. The average rate of freight for deals
from St. Petersburgh was, for the four years com-
mencing in 1817, 41. 3s. lid. per load; for the next four
years, 41. 3s. 9d.; for the next, Si. 12s. 6d.; the next,
31 Bs. 101 d.; the next, 3/. 9s. 6d.; the next, 3/. Cs.;
the next, 21. I Is. 1,1 d.; the next, ending in 1845, 2/.
19s. 4d.; and the average rate at present was, he be-
lieved, 41. 2s. 6d. per load.
Mr. Mitchell-It appears from your statements that
the rates of freight in the Canada trade, which was pro-
tected, have fallen since 1817, while the rates in the St.
Petersburgh trade, which was not protected, are the
same now as they were in 1817?
Mr.
Anderson-It is so.

By the Chairman—At present England had the whole
of the Russian trade; but in consequence of a late treaty
of reciprocity with Russia he apprehended competition
with the vessels of that country, because the Russians
allowed their new ships to trade to the Russian ports
for the first three years without paying port charges,
and they were allowed to come to this country on the
same terms as British ships.
By Mr. Liddell—The various treaties of reciprocity
which had been entered into with foreign countries by
successive Governments had proved very injurious to
British shipping. He had before him a statement, which
showed how these treaties, and the many other relaxa-
tions in the navigation laws which had been made from
time to time, had affected the trade of Newcastle. The
statementincluded the amount of shipping engaged in
the import and export trades between Newcastle and
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Prussia, Mecklenburg,
Hanover, Oldenburg, the Hanse Towns, Holland, and
Belgium ; in short, every country, north of France, ex-
cepting Russia, the trade with which he had stated Eng-
land already had. Taking the average of the years
1520, 1821, 1822, and 1823, which was previous to the
dates of many of the treaties with those countries, he
found that there were entered inwards 99 British vessels,
and 92 foreign vessels ; and that 330 British and 218
foreign vessels cleared out with cargoes. In the year
1844, 113 British and 332 foreign vessels were entered
inwards ; and 557 British and 1,068 foreign vessels
cleared cut with cargoes. In 1846, the number of
British vessels entered inwards was 102, and the num-
ber of foreign vessels was 449 ; the number of British
vessels that cleared out with cargoes was 629, and the
number of foreign vessels that cleared out was 1,379.
The result of the 23 years was, that British vessels
trading between the port of Newcastle and the foreign
countries he had named had increased only 70 per cent.,
while foreign ships had increased 489 per cent.
ByMr. Ricardo—During the last 30 years there had
been an increase in British shipping, but not at all in
proportion with the increasing trade of the country.
The increase of sailing tonnage, exclusive of colonial,
during that period, would amount to about 300,000 '
tom.

compressed atmosphere, being overheated, it would have
happened before, as took place in the case alluded to by
Mr. Wall.

The CORONER summed up, observing that no blame
was attributable to any one.
Verdict—Accidental death.

HOUSE OF LORDS, June 29.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool-II
sack shortly after Five o'clock.
QUALIFICATION OF PEERS (SCOTLAND) •
BILL.
This Bill went through Committee, on the motion of
the Earl of ROSEBERY.
POOR-LAW ADMINISTRATION BILL. )
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE then rose to movel
the second reading of the Poor-law Administration Bill.,
The object of the Bill, as their Lordships were doubtless
aware, was to have the Poor-law Bill, which all, he
thought, would agree was an excellent measure, pro-
perly carried into effect. Hitherto certain individuals
only had been entrusted with carrying out the provisions,
but the present measure proposed to increase the means
of carrying out its administration, by increasing the re-:
sponsibility and number of the public functionaries,
under it. It was maturely considered whether the power,
to be exercised under this Bill should be vested under
three Commissioners, or under one; but it was even-
tually thought that it would be better to vest it in they
individual, and to have others joined with him in carry-
ing out the details of the measure. Another improvement
suggested was, that the head of the board should have a.
seat in Parliament, and by that means every explanation.
asked for would be given by a person who was competent
to supply it, and so assimilate it to the Board of Control..
The Noble Marquis concluded by moving that the Bill;
be read a second time, and on an early day, should
there be any objection to the details, an opportunity)
would be given for considering them in Committee.
Lord BROUGHAM said that he adhered in all essenJ
tial points to the great law of 1834, and he believed the{
present Bill was an improvement in the machinery for
carrying the Bill into effect. The Poor-law Commisl
sioners and their secretary, no doubt, were very obi
noxious to those who were agitating the country by,
demonstrations and by invectives through the
press, and it, therefore, was the duty of Par.
liament to see that they did not suffer the
law to be carried out improperly. He re-t
gretted, however, that the Commissioners had not mani-
fested the firmness for which Mr. Chadwick and Captaiti
Nicholls had been remarkable. The law had thus, in
many instances, been improperly administered, or it had
not been carried out in the spirit in which
it was passed. The Commissioners had not bad till)
moral courage to stand up for the pure administratiod
of the law, owing to the severe censure of the press.' It
was a most lamentable thing that the Commissioners had
been dismayed by public clamour. If a man or apublic body
were innocent, those censures would pass them by
innocuously, and as they had but a public duty to pert.
form, they should not have heeded those censures. The
law was not framed to benefit the rich, but to benefit th
poor, and the man who would carry out the law in its int.
tegrity was the best friend the poorcould have. They Ma culla
have allowed these "paper-pallets," as Cromwell called
the attacks of the press, to pass over their heads un-
heeded, and not have succumbed to the clamour of anti-
poor-law demagogues and vituperative diatribei.
When they came to debate the measure he should
be ready to fully discuss the measure—he should
then be ready, as now, to condemn the conduct
of those who had flinched from carrying out the principle
of the law, whilst, at the same time, he should be ready
to bear his testimony to the merits of those who had
performed the duties assigned to them in the proper