The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-12 00:00:00

First instalment—lL
Proportion of gross assessment—lOL
That upon an account with the above form being made
out and placed in the hands of the proper officer, every
landlord shall, within a limited number of days, be at
liberty to pay the proportion,thereof charged to him or
his tenants (viz., the first instalment or one-tenth), and
upon payment thereof, shall receive from the officer cer-
tain dockets or cheques, each of which shall be estimated
' at the value of a man's daily hire, and which shall in
amount be equivalent to the gross assessment charged to
him and his tenant:-,"as in the case above supposed
(which is an extreme case, the gross assessments being
one-fourth of the valuation)—the payment of 11. entitles
the party to 200 tickets or cheques.
In like manner, the tenant, in case the landlord shall
omit to mil himself of the advantage thus afforded him,
shall, at the expiration of the time limited, be at liberty
to pay the amount so appearing charged to him, and
receive the amount of dockets to which the landlord
would be entitled, that is, on payment of the tenth he
shall become entitled to the amount of labour, equal to
the gross assessment.
That such landlord and ratepayer, on presenting such
cheques or dockets to the secretaries of relief committees,
shall be furnished with men sufficient to execute his or
their immediate work, or having procured sufficient
hands in his own neighbourhood, whose names appear on
the relief registry, he shall be at liberty to pay them
with these cheques or dockets, which, on being presented
to the proper officer, will entitle the party holding them
to a cash payment for the same.
It is proposed that the relief committees shall continue
as at present. That the rate of wages should be regu-
lated by the magistrates in each locality.
That public works on roads, and unproductive employ-
ment, shall be continued only so far as to afford employ-
ment to those to whom the above plan will not extend.
The entire assessment being a charge on the estate of
the landlord, it is but reasonable that he should have the
alternative of availing himself of the entire labour
created thereby, for which an ample field will be afforded
him. And as an inducement to the tenant to assist the
landlord with payment of the gross assessment, by the
payment of the instalment, he shall receive a sufficient
equivalent in increased labour placed at his disposal.
Both landlord and tenant will be interested in endea-
vouring to engross and employ all the hands on the
labour register of the relief district, and by taking them
from the public works, render the continuance of such,
and the expensive machinery attendant thereon, wholly
unnecessary.
By this means the public tax will be put in progress
of easy collection, Lands will be improved by draining
and subsoiling, increased production will follow by the
better cultivation of the land, and instead of a necessity
continuing for employment on unproductive works, roads,
&c., they will be carried on only to a limited extent, and
at reduced expense to the public.
As, however, all Public Works to be henceforth exe-
cuted are intended to be of a useful and reproductive
character, ample provision will be made for all unem-
ployed labour on the labour registry beyond that re-
quired for private individual purposes in the manner
proposed. And where, of necessity, unproductive works
must be resorted to, for the employment of the people,
where AO others of a beneficial or remunerative charac-
ter can be found, landlord and tenant will be stimulated
to afford employment, and by withdrawing the men from
the labour registry, diminish the means of executing
such works and the taxation consequent thereon. And
thus, by creating a spirit of competition in the labour
market, between the three distinct classes, Landlord,
Tenant, and the Board of Works, affording a tenfold
remuneration to the two first classes, a prospect of rea-
sonable remuneration to all, a demand for labour, will,
it is hoped, be created sufficient to engage all the unem-
ployed labourers of the country, in works of a useful
and productive character.

RAILWAY ALTERATIONS IN
BIRMINGHAM FOR 1847.
(From the Birnzingham Advertiser, Jan. 7.)
Few persons in Birmingham have considered the altera-
tions, much less calculated the results, which will be
effected by the several projected railways that are in-
tended to pass through the borough. Treating on the
very important matters connected with the gigantic
schemes about to commence, either in a commercial,
financial, or social point of view, would he a work that
would perplex and bewilder our most gifted pbiloscphers
and political economists. We will give a cursory notice
from memory, not pretending to official correctness, of
the several lines of railway affecting Birmingham, with
their connecting branches, which were authorised to
be constructed last session—the lines on whose stage
the memorable and yet to be renewed " battle of
the gauges" was so determinedly contested :—the Lon-
don and Birmingham Extension, the Birmigham, Wol-
verhampton, and Stour Valley, the Oxford Junction,
and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley
Railways. These great undertakings, which will during
the present month be simultaneously commenced, when
completed, will connect this vast district of coal, iron,
and hardware with all parts of England. Birmingham
will then form, in a still more complete sense, the " mid-
land metropolis" of railways—the centre to which all
lines, east, west, north, and south, directly or indirectly
tend. For the completion of the two principal lines
which pass through the heart of the town—the Birming-
ham Extension and the Oxford Junction—our enter-
prising and eminent townsmen, Messr?. Branson and
Gwyther, are the contractors. They commence with
the Oxford Junction at Adderley-street, up to which
point, we believe, Messrs. Grissell and Peto have entered
into a contract with the directors.. From Adderley-
street to Milk-street, across Oxford-street, Meriden-
street, &c., there will he half a mile of viaduct. The
elevation of the arches will be from 55 feet to 35 feet
in the clear, the highest of them being over Oxford-
street. The tunnelling of this line commences at Park-
street, running under Shut-lane (at which point it
actually crosses the tunnel of the London and Birming-
ham Extension), and under Carr's-lane Chapel, crossing
High-street, and proceeding in its course to Monmouth-
street, which is the limit of Messrs. Branson and Gwy-
ther's contract. The London and Birmingham Exten-
sion commences at the present North-Western terminus,
crosses the canal by the proof-house, through part of
the burial-ground, Park street, passes under Shut
lane, below the Oxford Junction tunnel, and goes under
Moor-street, High-street, Worcester-street, until it
reaches Colmore-street. In the route from Shut lane,
the house of Mr. Perry, High•street, the premises oc-
cupied by Mr. Hall, Aris's Gazette office, and by Mr.
Fisher, part of the King's Head Inn, and the houses and
shops on the right hand side of Worcester-street, opposite
the King's Head, to the end of Colmore-street, will have
to be taken down. Here the work of demolition will
be very extensive. The whole of the erections from
Worcester-street to Hill-street, includiug the entire of
Colmore-strcet, Queen street, Little Colmore-street, a
great part of Peck-lane, King-street, Pinfold-etreet,
Well-street, Vale-street, &c., will be included. The
New-street end of King-street will be widened 26 yards,
to form the principal entrance to the grand central
station, which will occupy nearly the whole of the space
above referred to from Worcester-street, bound by the
back of New-street, Lower Temple-street, and Pinfold -
street. The Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour
Valley branches off from this last-mentioned point under
' Hlll-street, the Old Wharf, Broad-street, &c., to Nineveh.
The Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railway
will join the Oxford Junction in Snow-hill, where there
will be an extensive and commodious station. The ex-
tent of the great and important changes which will be
effected by this concentration, in two central points of
the borough, of the several railways which pass through
the counties of Warwick, Stafford, Worcester, and Salop
and the mercantile advantages of public convenience'
arising from this source, it is impossibl to calculate. It
is no exaggeration to say that thousands of houses of the
lowest class will be cleared away, and there will be a
gratifying destruction of social wills and moral pesti-
lences, which have long been particularly offensive to the
neighbourhood in which they have been permitted to
exist. It affords us great satisfaction to state there are
no grounds to fear that the construction of the tunnels
through the centre of the town will endanger the build-
ings under which they are to pass. In the centre of the
town a shaft has been sunk to the depth of about 50 feet,
the level being about six feet lower. Another shaft has
also been sunk near the canal wharf, Easy-row, by the
contractor for the tunnel portion of the works of the
Stour Valley.

WARE.—SHOCKING RAILWAY ACCIDENT ON PRI'.
DAY.— On Friday evening an accident occurred at the
place where the railroad crosses the highway on a level
near the station. A train had just lett the station at
Ware, and gone to Hertford, and another, the 4.50
p.m. train, was just coming up from liertL.rd, when a
man who had arrived from the direction of the post=
office attempted to cross the line. The gatekeeper tried
to stop him, and received a blow in the face fur his pains.
Just at this moment the train came up to the spot, and
the buffer threw the unfortunate stranger on the line,
with his legs across the rail. The consequences mry
easily be imagined. Both of his legs vi ere cut off below
the knee. Ile was conveyed to the Cherry Tree, under
the care of Mr. John Reilly, surgeon, who happened to
be at the station at the tine of the accident. We could
not ascertain hia place of residence, but he states• his
name to be Roe.—.Herts County Press.

We regret to have to announce that an accident of a
very frightful character, and attended with fatal con-
sequences, occurred at the Weybridge station on the
South• Western line, on Saturday evening. The following
are the particulars of this melancholy affair:Amongst
the passengers by the half-past five p.m. train from Nino
Elms, was an elderly person of respectable appearance,
and whom we understand has been since identified as the
schoolmaster at the Chertsey Union. This person had
paid his fare to Weybridge, which is the nearest station
to Chertsey, but it seems that on the train arriving there
at twenty minutes past six o'clock, although the name of
the station was called out repeatedly, and several pas-
sengers had alighted, the deceased, who was seated at
the extreme end of a second-class carriage, and most
probably dozing, did not become aware of the fact until
after the train was in motion, when he instantly opened
the door and jumped out, and as the, other passengers
thought, had alighted in safety, as the train had not then
cleared the platform. The result, however, was not so.
Whether the deceased had failed to Jose his hold
of the carriage, or had got any portion of his dress en-
tangled with it, is not known, but it is quite certain that
he must have been speedily thrown down between the
platform and the metals, and dragged several yards, as
at the spot where he had attempted to get out was found
the iron heel tip of one of his boots, firmly dviven into
the edge of the platform, and from thence, for nearly
twenty yards, the brickwork was grazed and besmeared
with blood. The servants in attendance at the station
had no intimation of an accident having occurred, until
one of the passengers, crossing the rails after the train
had left, heard a groan, and, when the porters proceeded
to the spot, they found the deceased lying upon his face,
and as they approached him, he turned over and expired.
The sight that presented itself was of the most horrible
and sickening kind. The left leg and thigh had been
torn away from the hip, the right leg was broken in three
places, and the foot was all but separated. The deceased
was conveyed to the station, and the attendance of a
surgeon procured as speedily as possible; but, of course,
his services were of no avail. The body was afterwards
taken to the Hand and Spear Tavern, adjoining the
station; but the landlord refused to receive it. Mr
Keene, the governor of llorsemonger-lane gaol, was in
the same carriage with deceased, and he, with other
gentlemen, concur in stating that the servants of the
company were not in any way blameable.

SURGICAL UPERATIONS BY THE
INHALATION OF ETHER.
The following particulars, connected with the intro-
duction of the recently-discovered ethereal influence:to
patients in the course of undergoing surgical operations
at several of the metropolitan hospitals on Saturday,
and which was generally adopted at those institutions on
that day, will doubtless be read with considerable in-
terest.
Mr. Ferguson, the eminent surgeon of King's College
Hospital, having signified his intention of operating on
three patients by the inhalation of ether in that institu-
tion, the theatre was crowded by members of the medical
profession, amongst whom were Drs. Forbes, Todd,
Rudd, Farrar, Pehridge, Avery, Bowman, Drewett,
Hall, Thompson, Robinson, Cartwright, Stevens, and
others. The first patient operated upon was a young
woman, a sempstress. She had been admitted on the
31st ult., suffering severely from an abscess formed by
constantly sitting at needlework. It was the second time
it had so formed. It appears that she had it opened on
Thursday, and the operation rendered necessary on Sa-
turday was the removal of what was described to be a
blind external fistula. The young woman when brought
in bad a handkerchief tied over her eyes, and seemed
exceedingly weak. Having been placed on a kind
of couch, the inhalation of the vapour was proceeded
with, and in a few seconds she fell asleep. Dr. Forbes,
perceiving Mr. Ferguson was about commencing the
operation, observed that the patient was not effectually
etherised, adding, as a proof of his assertion, that she
still clenched his hand. In the next moment, however,
the knife had completed its work, without a murmur
from the patient, or the least muscular action. The
apparatus was only kept to her mouth till insensibility
was apparent, not more than two roinUilii. She reCOli
vered to a state of consciousness immediately after the
operation. On Mr. Ferguson asking her if she was aware
the operation was performed, and whether she felt any
pain, she replied that she was confident sho felt the use
of the knife, but experienced not the slightest pain.
Two other patients (males), who evidently were suffer-
ing severely, were next operated upon with equal suc-
cess. One of them, on recovering from his insensibility,
remarked that he had had a dream.
On Saturday the inhalation was tried by Mr. Mac-
murdo, at St. Thomas's Hospital, in the presence of Mr
Green, Dr. Barker, Dr. Leeson, Mr. Clark, Mr.
Whitfield, and other gentlemen connected with the in-
stitution.
The effects of the ether were first tried on a patient
who is to be operated on hereafter. The inhalation,
although continued for upwards of three minutes, did
not produce insensibility un the patient first tried, and
the amount of cerebral congestion, contracted iris, and
other symptoms, were so unsatisfactory as to induce the
medical gentlemen to desist. The next patient was a
child, six years old, who had a scrofulous disease of the
index finger. Insensibility was speedily produced, and
Mr. Macmurdo immediately removed the finger. The
child did not attempt to withdraw the hand during the
operation, and on recovering asked if his finger was off.
He did not seem cognisant of the fact, and when asked
if the finger should then be removed, answered " No."
The child seemed to suffer no subsequent inconvenience,
neither did the patient to whom the ether was first ad-
ministered. On the whole the result was considered
very satisfactory.
At Charing-cross Hospital an operation was
under the influence of ether. It was the removal of a
large fatty tumour over the shoulder of a
th
y
attempted
_ for oue
from writer to
ngv, an,
twenty-two years of age.
state whether the non-success
Itisofdtthffie trial arosethe
defective construction of the apparatus, or the vapour
not acting upon the constitution of thefemale.
No doubt in course of time this valuable discovery
,
will be brought into general use in the numerous hos-
pitals throughout the kingdom.

EXPERIMENTS RITZ QUARTER-MA.IMM FRU-
BURN'S CONCUSSION SHELLS.—The select committee
vp
iocret,e redbut
ui
tn t fhaev oLuorr
dosf
ct, I- loer
r).nid oi
spsti ioonne
rosf these
eshells
ihna lit
heillg s er
Ad-
miralty having a predileetin in favour of metal fuses
over those made as in the present case with wood, a
trial was ordered at Portsmouth, which took place on
Chads, 8.t..N.,
tn.l Friday last in the presence of Captain
Major Lethbridge, R.A., Major Stevens,
R.M.A., and other officers. One hundred and twenty
shells were fired on both days. On the first day fifty-
' five shells were fired—thirty from an 8-inch gun of
ninety-six cwt., with a full charge of 151bs. of powder,
and twenty-five from a 32-pounder of fifty cwt. The
i shells were fired at a range of 2,450 yards. and at an do-
I nation of 20i degrees. Ten of the shells struck the
target, of which nine burst on striking, and one did not
i burst; one burst in flight, and of the remainder no ac-
i count was taker , -Is the height of the angle at which the
1 shells were, fired, and the great length of range, rendered
the task of hitting the target a very critical one. ,These
fuses have hitherto proved highly satisfactory, whilst
their small cost must recommend them for general use,
the expense of preparing them being only three half-
pence, whilst the brass fuses cost 6s. 6d. each.
ISLE OFWIGIIT MACKEREL.-011 Sunday and Satur-
day, nearly 10,000 fine mackerel were caught off the Isle
of Wight. The last boat which went into Portsmouth
yesterday afternoon took in upwards of 4,800, all fine
fat fish, which were packed and brought up to London
1
by the Bh. 30m. train on the South-Western Railway
last evening.