The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-31 00:00:00

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PRICE sd.

danger in this -mode of travelling has grown with exp-
rience of it. That impression is much stronger now,
and more widely diffused, than it was at the commence-
ment of railway travelling upon a large scale. This is
precisely the opposite of that which the railway projec-
tors anticipated. When accidents first occurred they
I said, It is no wonder—this is a vast affair, full of mi-
nute particulars, which all require attention. You can-
not expect that all these tall go on smoothly and cor-
rectly until the persons who should attend to them
have had experience. When this experience has been
acquired, accidents will cease." Tiiis seemed at the
time not only a plausible but a well-founded pro-
phecy : but it has turned out a false one. It does
not appear that experience has done so much
in preventing accidents as the habit of danger
has done in making the attendants careless. Some omit
to show the proper lights—others go to sleep upon the
roaring engine which they should direct—others, again,
forget to put the turnings where they ought to be put,
or omit to take them away where they ought to be
taken away. We have assumed that the general im-
pression of the risk and danger in railway travelling is
greater than it was some time ago. In every examina-
tion
of the kind one must start somewhere, with a fact
as little disputable as possible. We think the increase
of the general impression of danger is quite notorious.
But has this impression been fairly produced ? Has it
been produced by facts, or by untrue, or not wholly true,
representations? We really think it has been produced
by facts—by the records of accidents which have occur-
red, too frequently confirmed by the reports of coroners'
inquests. We do not dispute that there has been some
exaggeration, and some prejudice at work in the com-
ments( upon railway t..e.c:dents which havensppetrPfirtli
some quarters, but we think ❑ot so much as would form
a just balance against the suppression and extenuation
which take place on the part of those who have a
pecuniary interest in the good fame of the railways,
and the prejudice in favour of them on the part of those
who love novelty, and what they consider " great sci-
entific improvement." If, then, the increased public
sense of the risk and danger of railway travelling be a
just impression, derived from actual events, we are next
to consider whether the fault be inevitably in the na-
ture of this mode of travelling or be not—whether the in-
creased sense of danger is the natural and necessary re-
sult of the increased use of this mode of travelling, or
the result of some existing defects which are susceptible
of cure. It certainly is sufficiently unsatisfactory, not
to say alarming to the public, to learn that the old mode
of travelling is day by day becoming practically more
impossible, owing to the laying down of coaches, and
other circumstances, while, at the same time, not only
the apprehension but the evidence of the risk and danger
attendant on the new mode is increasing. Under such
circumstances, it seems to us that the proprietors and
directors of railways should be much mere anxious to
satisfy the public than to defend themselves or their
servants.

EVENING EDITION.

- -
practice was discontinued, and the establishment by
Government of-the prison at Parkhurst, in the Isle of
Wight, has almost entirely superseded the necessity of
sending )oung boys to any private asylum. In the mean.
time, a portion of the funds haves been expended under the
sanction of the Committee in various other-ways, for
the relief and benefit of prisoners upon their discharge
from prison and otherwise, and the surplus dividends
have been accumulated, and with further donations and
legacies, now consist of the following sums of stock,
viz.:—
£5,500 31. per cent. Consols, producing per annum.£l6.s
£2,200 New 31/. per cents do. 70
£l,OOO .3/. per cent. Reduced do. 30

£8,503 £265
Having thus glanced at the past history of the In-
stitution, the Committee now turn to their proceedings
during the past year :
At the meeting held en the 31st October last, a
further alteration was made in the division of the two
accounts, arid it was resolved—
" That a.ll 'the future subscriptions, donations, and
legacies, except!thi-Chancery Annuity of 1001., be ap-
plied to the permanent account, and that the same be
laid out in the public funds, in the names of the
Trustees, under the direction of the Committee."
And the Committee were requested to look out. for
premises for the purpose of carrying out the objects of
the Institution, as regards the establishinent of an
asylum.
Before taking any steps for the purpose, it was
thOught desirable by 'the Committee (from the esta-
blishment of the Boys' Prison at Parkhurst, and from
other reasons), that for the present, their inquiries
should be confined to the establishment' of an asylum
for discharged females.
A sub-Committee, accompanied by the late Sher-
riffs' Messrs. Evans and Wheelton, inspected the female
asylum Of the Refuge for the Destitute, and entered
into a negotiation with the Corporation of that Asylum,
to ascertain whether an arrangement could be m ide fur
jointly erectiug an asylum ; but the sub-Coruniittee
were of opinion that no such arrangement could be
made, and therefore recommended the Committee to
endeavour to find a suitable spot for building an asylum

ingly actively engaged for sometime in looking out for
suitable premises for the purposes of an asylum, but
without success ; and as it was found the expenses of
purchasing land, conveniently situated, and of erect : g
and maintaining the necessary establishment were
greater than the present state of the permanent fund
would justify, they felt compelled to abandon the idea
for (he present ; and subsequently they entered into an
arrangement with Miss Neave, by which that lady
undertook to receive into the Royal Asylum for Des-
titute Females, twenty females, to be sent by the
Sheriffs, for the sum of 300/. a-year, and the further
sum of six shillings per week for each person sent
beyond the number of twenty, in pursuance
of which arrangement several persons have been
sent accordingly. This arrangement has been made
as experiment, and in order to make a beginning, as
the funds arising from the Refuge Account have ❑ot
for sonic years been applied in sending discharged
prisoners to any asylum. The annual sum agreed to
be paid is rather more than the dividends of the per-
manent account, and the Committee must therefore
appeal to the liberal consideratioa of the public to
enable them to continue the arrangement they have en-
tered into, or abandon it at Midsummer next. The
subscriptions and dividends during the last year have
amounted to the sum of 85/. 18s. 6d., by means of
which, and with the annuity of 1001. received from the
Court of Chancery, the late Sheriffs have been enabled
to relieve the following cases :—Ten persons who were
transported were relieved with 4/. 14s. Ninety-four per-
sons against whom bills were not found by the Grand Jurv,
or who were acquitted, were relieved with 16/. ss. 6d.,
and fifty other persons and their families relieved with
the sum of 25/. 18s. 6d. One hundred and forty-two
debtors or their wives and families were relieved, and in
some cases their discharge from prison obtained, at an
expense of 61/. Is. ld., making a total, 296 prisoners
relieved for the sum of 107/. I Is. Id.
The Committee also beg to report that John Capel
and Edward Foss, Esqrs., have, during the past year,
retired from the offices of Trustees, and Mr. Alderman
John Johnson, and Edward Archer Wilde, Esq., have
been sleeted in their room ; and the Committee feel they
would not be doing justice to Mr. Capel and Mr. Foss, if
they passed over in silence the occasion of their resig-
nation. They were appointed Trustees at the forma-
tion of the Permanent Account, of which Mr. Foss
was one of the most active promoters, and both to him
and to Mr. Capel are the thanks of the Society clue for
the kind interest they have ever taken in its welfare.
The Committee have had a declaration of trust of the
funds belonging to the Permanent Account prepared,
and the same has been executed by two of the Trustega,
and will be completed by the others on their return to
town.

The Report was unanimously received and ordered to
be printed and circulated, on the tion of Mr. AN.
DERTON.'

Upon the motion of Mr. CHARLES PEARSON, Mr.
Thisselton Dyer was re-elected Treasurer of the Fund.
Thanks having been voted to the late Sheriffs, Messrs.
Evans and Wheelton, Messrs. Fiss and Capel, and the
Chairman, the meeting separated.