The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-02 00:00:00

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Touching the means of preventing railway acci-
dents the Saturday Review has some remarks which
well deserve consideration at a time when the public
seems disposed to plunge into one of its periodical
panicß. Tho suggestion that companies should
double their lines is practically next to impossible.
The expense would be such as no shareholders could
be found to face. It would reduce the value of
many properties by one half ; and as most of the
great lines are competitive, it is obvious that a rail-
way which did not double its lines would have a
,great advantage over one that .did :
A much more feasible proposal is to run fewer express
trains. The public, it is said, do not fill the express
trains, which is quite true, and they do not want to go so
fast, which is doubtful. If the North-Western and the
Great Northern both ran a train at the same hour and the
.same price to Manchester, and the Euston train ran forty
imiles miles an hour and the King's Cross twenty-five, how
many travellers would pass Euston, and go on to get slow
ness and safety at King's Cross ? We believe that the
traffic manager of the Great Northern would be able to
count them on his fingers.

The Saturday Review is, therefore, brought to the
conclusion that it is the public, who will not be con-
tent to travel loss frequently and less rapidly, that is
really responsible for the accidents. If one company
will not supply the demand for fast and frequent
trains, another will.
OFFICIAL LIQUIDATORS.

"A Contributory" complains that great injury is
inflicted by the present system of remunerating
official liquidators of companies wound up in Chan-
cery. The remuneration is calculated on a scale
based on the number of days employed, and the amount
of assets distributed among unsecured creditors. By this
means the liquidators are plainly told that the longer
they are the more payment they will receive. No
encouragement is offered to exp3dite the liquidation,
though it is manifestly to the advantage of both
creditors and contributories that every facility should
be given by the court for speedy winding up. It is
argued by some persons that if the per tentage were
allotted to the liquidators irrespective of the time
consumed by the work, they would often receive a
sum quite out of proportion to their labour. The
contributory replies that even in such a case there
would be a positive gain, as a rapid liquidation
would economise a host of other expenses.
It may reasonably be inferred that very few
of the parties interested would wish to see
the legal proceedings, which are always sufficiently
tedious, prolonged for the sake of a possible diminu-
tion in one branch of their expenditure.
THE FIRST TELEGRAPHIC REPORT.

It is not generally known that Mr. George Wilson,
whose unlooked-for death has thrown such a gloom
over the Christmas season in Manchester, was asso-
ciated with the first newspaper telegraphic report on
record. He was connected with the late Mr.
Ricardo in establishing the Electric Telegraph Com-
pany, and was assisted by Mr. Varley, the eminent
electrician, who was then very young. It is said
that Mr. Wilson was the first to suggest the scheme
of telegraphing . public news, and this is probable
enough, from his habitual sagacity and foresight.
As a director of ono of the local railways, lie was
engaged in laying down a line of electric wires
from Manchester to Leeds in the year 1847, at
the time Mr. Cobden stood for the "West Riding.
Mr. Wilson, anxious to give prominence to the pro-
ceedings, had several miles of wire run on tempora-
rily to Wakefield, so that Mr. Cobden's nomination
and election were telegraphed from Wakefield to
Manchester. The account appeared in a second edi-
tion of the Manchester• Times, in the afternoon of the
day itself, and this was the first of those marvellous
newspaper reports by telegraph which now enable
our orators, while speaking at the Land's End in the
evening, to address Hull, Newcastle, and Dover by
eight o'clock in the morning.