The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-19 00:00:00

same :-

Liverpool to Warrington, distance 19 miles, fare... 4 6
Charge for luggage, the over-weight 1081 b., at Id. 4 6
I then wanted to book for Preston, but could get a
ticket no further than Parksidc, a distance of 6
miles, for which I pai3, fare
Charged for luggage
The same train proceeged on to Preston, a distance
of 22 miles, the fare for which is
My luggage was again ;aken off the train, and I
had to pay again 3 6
I expostulated at the Warrington station, on the ex-
tortionate demand of 4s. for the luggage for six miles,
but could get no redress ; and, on my asking the book-
keeper at Parkside for a ticket for the luggage-charge,
the civil reply was, " Did I think he wanted to pocket
the sum ?" and, on my observing, from his remt.rk, I
was ignorant of his intentions, he became exceedingly
boisterous. Is this the way the public should be
treated, and those who have frequently to make use of
the Railway transit ?

If you have space for these observations, it wi
have a good tendency to serve the public, and
Your very obedient servant,
London, April 13, 1841. A TRAVELLER.

Very shortly after the re-assembling of Par-
liament Lord Lyndhurst is to present in the Peers a peti-
tion from dramatic authors and others, who are interested
in what is called " free trade," in theatricals. It is stated,
and we believe the statement, that his Lordship hai a
strong feeling upon the question, and is disposed to give
the ot'jectof trio petitioners all the support in his power. Of
course it is no party question, but one of great general
importance, and while there was no prospect that a second
winter theatre would be opened, the petitioners would
have a firmer ground of claim than they will possess
when there are two houses to which dramatic authors
may resort. The whole point at issue is, which
system gives most encouragement to the drama,
and to those dependent upon it ? We know that in
all oth-r professions, trades, and callings, prosperity
is pr, mated by competition, and there can be no good
reason fir th]nking that the case would be different as re-
gards dramatic authors and actors. Those who say that
r.-striction is beneficial, and therefore argue for two large
theatres only, are bound to show that limitation in the
abstract is good ; and if so, .why are we to have two
theatres? It the argument be cf any value, those who use
it are bound to show that one patent theatre would b,
better than two, if two be better than three, and
three better than four. But the truth iv, that we
have outlived the age of patents, and the best
answer to those who require free trade under a
legislative enactment is to tell them that practically
they have free trade already, and that any body who opens
a theatre may keep it open, if he thinks almost in de-
fiance of the public authorities. We own we see little
that is to be pained by any Act of Parliament; but at the
same time we are anxious to see all restraint and limita-
tion removed, so that nobody shall hate an opportunity of
saying, ei her as author or actor, that he ha: not had a
fair chance in consequence of the continuance of the pa-
tent system, which, from the first, was as great a mistake
as if Charles 11. had said there shall only be two hat-
makers, two tailors, or two bakers and butchers in the
metropolis.
GREENWICH RAILWAY.—The following is a
statement of the number of passengers, and amount re-
ceived each day of the fair, Good Friday, and Easter
Sunday, at the offices of the Greenwich Railway :
Number of Passengers.
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
Monday
Tuesday •• 14,760
The cold, and unsettled state of the weather, reduced the
number of passengers considerably this yea-, as compared
with the last. The receipts on Easter Monday, 1840,
were 1,050/.
TAXED AND UNTAXED BREAD--Mr. Carr,
baker, of this ci'y, has this week exhibited in bis window
two wheaten loaves, labeled "taxed loaf, sixpence," and
" untaxed loaf, sixpence," the weight of the latter being
24Ibs. grcater than the former. Persons who offered to
purchase the larger loaf were told they might have it for
sixpence, and the amount of tax, twopence halfpenny.
Here was a palpable demonstration of the effect of taxa-
tion, adapted to the plainest understanding. —Carlisle
Journal. Other bakers might imitate this example with
effect, and so ensure the abolition of the Corn-laws,
which will give them much additional employment.
THE DEANERY OF YORK. One hundred
and twenty-five years, it d; have passed since a case
like that which occupied the late visitation has engaged
the attention of any of our Ecclesiastical Courts.

ON THE lIVIPROVEMENT OF

RIVER e.

The wisparet of the Dordogne consists of two, three,
and sometimes four lofty waves, which follow each other
rapidly, damming back the whole breadth of the river, and
ascending the channel for a great length, often breaking
at their e ests and overthrowing every obstacle that they
meet. Their presence is also made known by a terrible
noise. Those of the Dordogne, which are the most re.
markalle in Europe, attain only an elevation of from five
to six feet.

The mascaret of the Dordogce traverses about two
leagues of the channel of the river from St. Pardon a
Libourne in 33 or 34 minutes.

This subject was also one which excited greatly the at-
tention of Cond 'mine, while on his voyage down the Ama-
son, In reference to which he gives the following account
in his work, at page 193 Between Macapa and North
Cape, in the place where the great channel of the river is
contracted by the islands, and particularly opposite the
mouth of the Arawari, which enters the Amazon on its
northern shore, the flux and reflux of the sea presents a
singular phenomenon.
" During the three days nearest the full and change of
the moon, the period of thehighest tides, the sea, in place
of taking six hours to arrive at its height, attains the lat-
ter in two or three minutes.

" We may conceive that this cannot come to pass tran-
quilly; we hear at a distance of one or two leagues, a ter-
rible noise which announces the approach (if the pororoca.
This is the name which the Indians of these parts give to
this impetuous wave. As it approaches the noise in-
creases, and we then see a promontory of water of from
twelve to fifteen feet in height, then another, then a third,
and sometimes a fourth, which, following each other
closely, occupy the whole breadth of the channel. This
wave advances with a prodigious rapidity, breaking up
and sweeping away every obstacle from before it. I ha'e
seen in some situations a great mass of land borne before
it, majestic trees rooted up, destruction of all kinds.
Everywhere that it has passed, the shore is clean as if it

. _ .
had been swept with care."
The most recent notice of this interesting subject is in
the Report of the Committee on Waves, appcinted by the
British Association in 1836, in which the Committee have
adopted the views of Bremontier. I will, however, first
refer to the rt port by Sir John Robinson and John Scott
Russell, Esco for their description of the bore :-
0 17, A tidal bore is formed when the water is so shal-
low at low water, that the first waves of flood tide move
with a velocity so much less than that due to the succeed-
ing part of the tidal wave, 43 to be overtaken by sueeeeding
waves, or whenever the tide rises so rapidly, and the water
on the shore or in the river is so shallow, that the height
of the first wave nf the tide is greater than the depth of the
fluid at that place. Hence in deep water vessels are safe
from the waves of rivers which injure them on the sbcre."

There appears to be a general agreement, that the pre-
sence of the bore is most strongly evinced as it passes over
a portion of the channel which is encumbered with a sand.

ink.

Condamine and Bidone have partly art lved at the cause,
so far as their views are stated in the foregoing pages,
where they attribute the bore to the sudden influx of the
waters of the tide, after having attained sufficient head to
overcome those of the ebb.

If to the above we include the prespnoe of an abrupt
contfaction of the width of the p flannel, this latter them-
Etance; taken in conjunction with any obstacles in the bed,
such as the sand.bauks noticed by Condamine, will, in my
humble opinion, be sufficient to account fur the formation
of the bore.

The examples of the bore of the Severn, and the mas-
caret of the Dordogne, are precisely similar ; in both
rivets we see the effeet of a gradually contracted channel
producing a great increased rise of tide ; and we find th
phenomenon alluded to occurs where the passage of that
augmented tidal wave is checked by the presence of sand•
hanks, and a sudden change in the configuration cf the
channel ; or by the latter becoming violently contracted.
Thus the Severn experiences a rapid contraction at the
islands of Flatholme and Steepholme, and also at Beach-
ley. near the mouth of the Wye.
During spring tides the rise at St. Ives, in Cornwall, is
eighteen feet, at Pads:ow twenty-four, at Lundy Island
t
Minehead thirty-six feet, at Kingsroad, near the
entrance of the Avon; forty-eight feet, and at the entrance
of the Wye fifty feet.
At this distance the tidal wave attains an el,vaion of
thirty-two feet above that at the entrance of the Severn or
Bristol channel.
fjigher up the Severn, beyond the confluence of the
Wye, there the elevation of the tidal wave is thirty.two
feet above it; level at sea, the channel becomes much ob.
strutted by rocks sad sand-banks, which have the effect of
rapidly elevating its bed, Fifteen miles above the mouth
of the Wye, the Severn takes an abrupt turn in its course,
forming an angle of nearly sixty-six degrees with its pre-
vious direction. This and several other similar obstrue.
tions to the passage of the tidal wave so affect i°, that we
find that at Gloucester the rise of tide is only about eight
feet ; the whole of which arrives at its full height in a few
minutes, coming up in a bore, having a crest or face of
from four to five feet.

Any sudden contraction of the width of the channel, nr
any elevation of the bed by the presence of a sand-bank,
must immediately have the effect of bringing into collision
these opposite moving masses of water, and the crested
wave or bore becomes apparent. Condamine tells us that
" the bore becomes visible in passing over a shoal, aad that
it subsides again where the water becomes deep;" and we
know also that the bore is at one time %i,ible in the ce:itre,
and at another on the sides of the river.
Thus, in the early portion of the flood tide, when the
waters of the river still run ebb in mid channel, the effect
of the presence of a shoal, or high bank of sand, would be
to divert the current towards the slLres of the liver, and
thus still further elevate the lateral tidal currents, which,
on attaining this additional height, must sprea I from shore
to shore, and form the breaking wave, or bore, visible
upon the sand-bank, over which it will range inn the ma.i-
ner described by Condamine, bearing before it in
course the whole mass of the previous ebbing waters, with
which it has now come into complete opposition.
The river Dordogne unites with the Gironde, about
forty miles from the embouchure of the latter, at which dis-
tance the Garonne is a'so received into the Gironde. Toe
mascaret," as the bore is locally termed in the Dor-
dogne, is not apparent either in its sister stream the Ga
rubric, or in their majestic recipient the Gironde, by which
name the subsequent course of the Durdogne and Garonne
is known after their union.

The velocity of the mascaret of the Dordogne, when
measured by Bremontier between St. Pardon and Libourae,
was found to be seventeen feet per second. This is, how-
ever, much less than the mean velocity of the tidal wave
from the mouth of the Gironde to Bordeaux, which averages
nearly twenty-five feet per second.

MARYPORT AND CARLISLE
RAILWAY.

Monday last was the day appointed for opening
about two miles more of. the Maryport and Carlisle
Railway—connecting it with the populous town of As-
patria. Soon alter ten heavy cannon v ere fired both in
ihe harbour and at the station—the hell rang, and off
went the train. At each station arid village on the
line flags were flying. and spectators assembled on
the embankments, whilt: the delighted passengers
were whirled through the beautiful vale of the Ellen,
whose banks were covered with wild flowers, and
the woods on each side teeming with freshness
and life. The echo through the valleys of the
engine's shrill whistle formed a pleasing discord
to the mellow strains of the band, which were
faintly heard in the distance. The portion which
has now been opened between Arkleby and As-
patria is formed on a splendid embankment thirty feet
in width, and averaging about twelve feet in height.
The bridge at Aspatria, which forms the present ter-
minus, was tastefully decorated with branches of ever-
greens and flowers, from the parks,at Brayton, forming
a grand triumphal 'arch. Aspatria and its vicinity was
greatly enlivened by the influx of gay visitors. The
trains performed six trips each day, and would carry not
fewer than 4,000 persons—the distance of eight arks.
The time required for each trip varied from fifteen to
twenty-five minutes. Sir Wilfrid Lawson showed his
accustomed generosity on the occasion, by providing
an ox and suitable accompaniments for the workmen
on the railway, who were bountifully regaled to the
number of about 200, in the new school room at As-
patria. Several gentlemen also partook of a cold colla-
tion provided by the worthy Baronet. It is a grati-
fying circumstance, that notwithstanding the scram-
ble that sometimes took place previous to start-
ing, and the crowded state of the conveyances
and tender, all went off without the slightest acci-
dent. Tuu coal traffic has lately become very
heavy—frequently amounting to 100 and sometimes
120 weggons per day—each waggon contionieg a 3. cwt.
Several new pits will shortly be opened, for it is found
that one continued vein of fine coal lies below the banks
of toe Ellen, which will now be profitable working,
owing to facilities for shipment afforded by the railway.
The passenger traffic is also rapidly increasing, aad in-
deed new sources of both goods and passenger traffic
appear to be opened up daily as it progresses. The
Company will now commence operatioir
iss at the,Carlisle
end ; and we understand the engineeringin a state
of great forwardness all along the line.—Correspoiactiit
of the Carlisle Journal.

CANTON BEGGARS —During the g
Last month
of this year upwards of 130 beggars tiled about the streets
of Canton, in consequence of the severe cold and con-
tinual wet.

Mr. W. A. Brooks, -14:1rist. C.F., of Stock-
ton-on-Tees, has just published a Treatise on a
very important subject—" The Improvement of
the Navigation of "livers, with a New Theory
on the Cause of the Existence of Bars." Ile
discusses at considerable length the causes of
these great obstructions to navigation, and the
best means of removing them, and gives some
useful directions for the protection of the banks
of rivers from erosion, and also for removing
shoals in the beds of navigable rivers. The chap-
ter on shoals might be studied with advantage
by the conservators of the Thames. The thllow-
ing extract gives an interesting description of that
remarkable phenomenon, the " Bore," which
produces often great damage on the Severn, the
Hoogly, and several other large rivers :
This subject has been treated at great length by Colonel
Emy, in his work " Du Movement des Ondes," in which
be tells us, that " in the Dordogre the phenomenon bears
the name of the Mascaret,' and is a pecnliar undulation
which announces the arrival of high water," In the
Amazon it is called the Roller.:; the Indians naming it the
Pororoca. In the lloogly it is named the Bore, by which
term it is also known in the Severn, and on the river
formed by the reunion of the Tigris and the Euphrates. In
the Seine it is called the Bar.