The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-12 00:00:00

were far more culpable than the excited :and drunken
combatants or their seconds, and he would mark his
sense of the case by inflicting the lenient sentence above
mentioned.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

(YESTERDAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP I.

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. Ausnic addressed the Committee at some length
in explanation of the South-Eastern scheme, contrasting, as
he went over the details, the advantages which he alleged
the branches of the company for which he appeared bad over
the branches of the rival company. The whole expenditure
sought by the five Bills of the South-Eastern Company was
about three millions of money, for which 125 miles of railway
would be made. The rival scheme would cost about two
millions, for which 72 miles were proposed to be constructed.
Taking the two schemes comparatively, the distance now
from London to Dover was 87 miles; by the Mid Kent
South-Eastern line, with good gradients, the distance would
be 75 ; and by the South-Eastern (Chart) line, with in-
ferior gradients, 74 miles. The Brighton line, with bad
gradients, would be 75 miles and 2 furlongs. From London
to Tunbridge Wells the distance was now 40 miles. By the
South-Eastern improved line, with good gradients, it would
be 32 miles; and by the Brighton line, with bad gradients,
28. From London to Hastings the distance at present was
73 miles ; by the improved South-Eastern line, with good
gradients, it would be reduced to 64 miles; by the Brighton
line, with bad gradients, it would be 61 miles. From London
to Canterbury the distance now was 80 miles; by the im-
proved South-Eastern scheme it would be reduced to 60
miles; while by the• Brighton line, with bad gradients,
the distance would be 62 miles. The distance to
Maidstone was at present 55 miles. The South-Eastern
scheme would reduce it to 35 miles; by the Brighton line
it would also be 35 miles. These were the comparative dis-
tances of the two projects. The distance to Sheerness by the
South-Eastern branch, against which there was no compet-
ing line, would be 46 miles. The Learned Gentle-
man then proceeded to explain the history of
the reduction of the fares on the South-Eastern line
and their subsequent increase, in which he contended that
the reduction was a mere experiment to see if it were pos-
sible to carry on the company at the lowest possible rate of
fares—lower, in fact, than any other line in the kingdom.
The experiment had failed, and the fares were after a time
raised, though they were still lower than many of the
principal lines in the kingdom, and less than those charged
by the Brighton Company, while they ran more third-class
trains than almost any company in the empire.
Colonel Middleton, of the Maidstone depot, was examined,
with the object of showing the great advantage of the pro-
posed South-Eastern Kent lines to the public service.
Colonel Menzies, of Chatham, gave evidence to the same
effect, after which,
The Committee adjourned till to-morrow (this day) at
twelve o'clock.

APPREHENSION OF CART
ROBBERS.

Robberies of carts leaving Manchester for the country,
after dusk, have of late been numerous; information of
a dozen or more, to the amount altogether of upwards
of 501. in value, having reached the police since the
16th of January last. Most probably, they have just re-
ceived a check in the apprehension of four men, who,
there is little reason to doubt, have been for some time
engaged in this mode of plunder. Some time since,
Superintendent Taylor received information which led him
to believe that these robberies were committed by men
named James Hackett, John Dowd, and James Ryan, and
that a man named Thomas Cain, living in Little Ireland,
was in the habit of carrying their stolen goods for them
with a horse and cart. In consequence of this informa-
tion, a watch has been kept on the entrance into Little
Ireland ; and on Friday night, Frederick Hollis, one of
the constables of the D division, who was ,in plain
clothes, saw Cain, between seven and eight o'clock, with
his horse and cart, proceed along Oxford-road, through
Princess-street, Saint Ann's-square, by the Collegiate
Church, through Strangeways, and along the Bury
New-road. The officer kept the cart in sight, and
discovered that there were two men lying at the bot-
tom of it, who occasionally raised their heads, as if to
reconnoitre. Having proceeded to about 300 yards past
the Grove Inn, on the Bury New-road, the cart stopped,
and one of them (who proves to be Hackett) jumped out
of the cart, but after looking round, said, " Go on a bit
further." They went on till they got opposite to the site
of the Zoological Gardens, when they stopped again.
At this spot the officer passed them. It was dark, and
he could not observe their features very distinctly, but
he saw four persons about the cart, and saw them lift
into it what appeared to be a square chest. brit where
they got it he did not see. The cart was immediately
turned round, and driven back towards Manchester.
The officer followed, and as the cart stopped for two or
three minutes at the Grove Inn, he saw what appeared
to be a tea chest in it. When it arrived opposite the
Collegiate Church, Hackett jumped out of the cart, and
immediately afterwards. something having intercepted
the officer's view for a moment, the latter saw
Ryan and Dowd, in company with Hackett, in the
street, who followed the cart to Little Ireland,
and lifting the chest out, took it into the house
of Dowd's mother, at No. 25, Anvil-street. The officer
then went and reported what he had seen to Superin-
tendent Taylor, who immediately proceeded to the place
with another officer, and finding the door fastened,
forced it open. They found Hackett and a man
named Gill (a lodger, it appears) sitting by the fire,
and in a back room a great quantity of tea,
emptied upon a bed cover and table cloth, and a door
placed upon it. Hackett said ,he knew nothing about
it. Gill immediately said he would not get, himself into
trouble for that; Hackett, Ryan, and Dowd had brought
the tea there. On searching further, a grocer's axe,
used for opening casks, &c., was found on the premises.
Gill said that Hackett had carried the chest out of the
house. Gill, Hackett, and Dowd's mother were then
taken into custody. Cain was shortly afterwards appre-
hended; he said lie had net been on the Bury-road that
night. Dowd was apprehended about one o'clock, in
Rigby-street, Salford, and Ryan about an hour after, at
the house of his father, in Hayes street. They were taken
before Mr. Trafford, at the New Bailey, on Saturday, and
remanded till M.nday. In the meantime information
had been received that two chests of tea, of the
value of 61., had been stolen from a cart belonging to Mr.
John Howarth, carrier between Manchester and Bury,
on the night when the above occurred. It appears
that the tea was sent from the house of Messrs. Labrey,
New Brown-street, and delivered to Mr. Howarth,
at the Wheat Sheaf, Fennel-street. A carter mamed
Walker Gregory was dispatched about half-past six
with the tea to Bury. He called at the machine in
Strangeways, and the tea was then safe in the cart.
By the time he had got to Prestwich, Mr. Howarth
overtook him, and, looking into the cart, immediately
missed the chests of tea. It appears that the carter
is very diminutive in stature, and was compelled to lead
his horse all the way, circumstances which no doubt
greatly favoured the operations of the parties by whom
the tea was abstracted. The weight of the tea was
found to correspond exactly with that of the quantity
stolen from the cart, and the empty chests were disco-
vered by the police in the river Medlock, on Saturday
morning, about one hundred yards from the house where
the tea was found. On Monday morning, when the
case came on again before Mr. Trafford, the man Gill
was admitted as evidence against the others; and after
the above facts had been stated, the four male prisoners
were committed fur trial at the sessions, and the woman
was discharged.—Manchester Guardian.