The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1-141

sewer would ho necessary, towards which the Cenci-try
would never pay, unless they were bound to construct
it now. He thought the drainage would not be accord-
ing to the established rules, unless the Company built a
►ewer. .

Mr. JOHN GUNTER. thought it would be a great in-
justice to the Company to insist upon their building a

sewer.

ry
Mr. MULLINS did not conceive that the Court had
any power to obstruct the original casements of any
lands, or to preclude partie3 from using the usual an-
cient drain. The argument against granting the peti-
tion was this, that, to effect a possible public good,
they might inflict a possible private injury. He did not
see how the Court could refuse the prayer of the
petition.
Mr. BEACH denied that the right of the Company
to the drainage Lad been established by usage. Ac-
cording to the established practice of the Court, the
Company were bound to build a sewer, and therefore
he certainly should oppose any proposition for granting
the prayer of the petition.
Mr. GRACE thought, if the resolution of July last
should be rescinded, and the Company exonerated
from building the sewer, the independence of the Court
would be lost.

Mr. R. GUNTER, as a Proprietor of the Cemetery
Company, did not intend to vote on this question, hut
he thought he was perfectly justified in coming there
to offer any observations he might think proper.
Mr. R. CHAMBERS had no interest in the Cemetery
Company, but he should vote for the resolution, inas-
much as the land was in the same state it was when the
Kensington Canal Act passed.
Mr. FITCH thought the Company should be coin•
polled to build a sewer, if they wanted additional ac-
commodation.

Jr. WILLOUGHBY thought the Commissioners wcro
bound to enforce the rule tl..ey bad laid down for the
public benefit, in enforcing the building of a sewer in
front of the land.

Mr. LESLIE thought they ought to have had clearly
laid down to them what was the law. He wished to
know whether the Commission had the power, by
law, to say to any proprietor, you shall drain only in the
way in which we tell you. Under what statute, sup-
posing the Company inclined to go tolaw, could they
justify the cutting off the old drainage, and how could
they force the Company to build a new sewu? Toose
were points that ought to be cleave i up before they
could come to a decision on the question. rri/ ey would
disgrace themselves if they did not use the Compiny in
precisely the same way they would an inr'iviclual.

Mr. F. GOMM contended that the natural drain-
age of the land was into the Kensington Canal, and it
was perfectly anomalous that the Court should have
vi ntured to take upon itself to cut off' the drainage.
The Court had in a parail 1 case acted perfectly differ-
ent. Where the public required a sewer that the pro-
prietors did not want, the Court had no right to mike
the proprietors of land build such a sower at their own
expense.

The CHAramAN said the Cemetery Company were
by law required to drain under the suvr:ntcndence of
the Commissioners. If parties were to ask for an care-
ment, it eras the duty of the. Commissioners to see that
the private sewage wet made subscrsient to public con-
venience. If the of l easement had only been requirel
they would not have been interfered with, but now they
wished for greater accommodation. The Court was
bound to make the drain in the manner best for the
public good. The question was, whether by permit-
ting individuals to drain in their own way they were
not depriving the public of aly advantage which they
ought to have. He certainly thought the prayer of the
petition ought not to be granted.
Mr. BOUVERIE replied, and the Court divided—
For the motion 5
Against it ..
Mljority against the motion
The Court thea adjourned to Friday next.

THE. FALLS OF THE NIAGARA.

The Falls of the Niagara sfferd a magnificent ex-
ample of the progressive excavefon of a deep valley in
a solid rock. That river flows from Lake Erie to Lake
Ontario, the former lake being 330 feet above the
latter, and the distance between them being 32 miles.
On flowing out of the upper lake the river is almost on
a lea el with its banks, so that if it should rise perpendi-
cularly eight or ten feet, it would by under water the
adjacent flat country of Upper Canada on the west,
and of the state of New York on the east. The river,
where it issues, is about three-quarters of a mile in
width. Before reaching the Falls it is propelled with
great rapidity, being a mile broad, about 25 feet deep,
and having a descent of 50 feet in half a mile. An
island at the very verge of the cataract divides It into
two sheets of water ; one of these, called the Horse-
shoe Fall, is 600 yards wide, and 158 feet perpendicular ;
the other, called the American Falls, is about 200 yards
in width, and 164 feet in height. The breadth of the is-
land is about 500 yards. 'rids great sheet of water is pre-
cipitated over a leJge of hard limestone, in horizontal
strata, below which is a somewhat greater thickness of
soft shale, which decays and crumbles away more ra-
pidly, so that the calcareous rock forms an overha T-
ing mass, projecting forty feet or more above the hw.
low space Mow. The blasts of wind, charged with
spray, which rise out of the pool into which this enor-
mous cascade is projectel, strike against the shale bed?,
so that their disintegration is consteet. They also
waste away at (erten) seasons by the expansive as ton
of frost. The superincumbent limestone being taus
left without a foundation, falls from time to time in
rocky wastes. When these enormous fragments de-
scend, a shock is felt at some distance, accompaoiel by
a noise like a distant clap of thunder. Ater the
rimer has parsed over the Falls, its character, observes
Captain Hall, is immediately and completely change].
It then runs furiously along the bottom of a dee? w
sided valley, or huge trench, which has been cut lot°
the horizontal strata by the continued action of the
stream during the lapse of ages. The he-I of the river
here is streeed over with huge fragments of rock ; the
elfis on both sides are in most places perpendicular, and
the ravine is only perceived on approachieg the edge of
the precipice. The waters, which expand at the F, Us,
where they are divided by the island, are contracted
agiin, after their union, into a stream not. more than
160 yards broad. It is remaikeble that the iv it I- of
the pool into which the cataract is precipitated, ;Ind
that of the narrow channel immediately below, inst ad
of being in a state of tremendous agitation, is so tr
in-
cluil as to allow a ferry -boa.t to cross with ease, and
even to approach within the reach of the spray,
without experiencing any unusual motion. Various
expianations have been offered of this phenomenon.
According to- Mr. Gibson, the vast body of se4. green
water, instead of plunailig deep, as a solid column
would do, int) the sheet below, is drawn out in its de-
scent of 160 feet inter white rolls of attenuated foam.
He conceives, therefore, that most of the water falls
lightly in the form of spray, and the force of the rest is
broken by the debris which be immediately at the foot
of the fall. When the Falls were visited in 1829 by
Mr. R. Bakt w,ll, jure, be ascertained from .a person
who had :ived 40 years in that part of the country, and
had been the first settler there, that during that vele('
the Falls on the Canada side had receded 40 or 50
yards, in consequence o; the continued removal of
the shale, and undermining of the limestone, above de-
scribed. It seems difficult to specul ere on t,:e future
rate of recession of the Falls, for as they retreat the
height of the precipice may be reduced or: atigmentcd
by the varying hardness of the rocks, the division of the
stream by islands, and other modifying circumst oleos.
It in the course of many thousand }cars the Falls
should reach Lake Erie, 25 miles distant, that lake
might be effectually drained, inasmuch as the pretest
height of the Falls far exceeds the greatest depth of the
lake. It has been supposed that in this case the sudden
escape of the water might occa,ion a deluge on the low
lands bordering Ontario ; but in reply, Mr. De la
Beebe las objected, that as the bottom of Lake E'ie
shel, es very gently from the shore, the discharge, even
after the cataract had recede ? to the lake, would tal.e
place gradually, and it would require time before the
river channel was cut back to where the water is
deepest. It may also be questioned whether the entire
area of Lake Erie may not be converted into dry land
before the falls recede to its shores, so shallow is this
lake, its averaze depth being only 10 or 12 fathoms,
and so fast is it filling up with sediment.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS' COURT, MARcY 16

After the consent petitions and short causes had been d's-
posed of, the MASTER. of the ROLLS gave judgment in

KNIGHT V. FRAMPTON
Upon a point which his Lordship had reserved for considers •
Lion whether the widow of the late Mr. Knight was entitled
to dower. His Lordship was of opinion that the claim to
dower could not be sustained.
BOURNE V. THE ORIENTAL AND PENINSULAR STEAM NAVI

FROM LAST NIGHT'S GAZETTE

DOWVNING• STREE r, illinctr 16. 1841.
The Queen has been pleased t, app nt Wi.liam Cornwallis
Symonds to be Deputy Surveyor-General of the Colony of
New Zealand.

WHITEHALL, MARCH 13.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. Will;am
Chalmers to the church and parish of Daidy, in the presbytery
and county of Ayr, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Dr.
Alexander Hill.

OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, MARCH 13.
Brevet Major E. Sabine to be Lieutenant-Colonel, vice E.
Michell, deceased; Second Captain J. Howell to be Captain,
vice Sabine, Jan. 25; First Lieutenant J. F. Grant to be Se-
cond Captain, vice Howell; Second Lieutenant J. I. Macart-
ney to be First Lieutenant, vice Grant, Feb. 19.
MEmou ANDUM. —The dates of the commissions of the un-
dermentioned Officers of the Royal Artillery, have been
altered as follows: Seer nd Captain J. M'Coy, Jan. 25 ; first
Lieutenant J. J. Brandling, Jan. '25.

Commissions by the Lord-Lieutenant of Lanarkshire.

A. Campbell, Esq., to be Deputy Lieutenant, March 6.
Upperivard and Airdri? Corps of Lanarkshire Yeomanry
Cavery-11. Findlay, Gent., to be C,rnet, Feb. 23.
Commission by the Lo:d-Lieutenant of Kent.
East Kent Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry—C. M. Lush-
ington, Gent, to be Cornet. March 16.
Commissions by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.
Gloucestershire Regt. el Yeomanry Cavalry—W. Paul,
Esq., to be Captain, vice Estcourt, resigned, March 10 ; W.
. Guise, Esq„ to be Captain, vice, Masters, resigned, March
12 ; E. Hobson, Gent., to be Lieutenant, vice Paul, pro-
moted ; H. M. Grace, Gent., to be Assis!ant. Surgeon, vice
Fletcher, promoted, March 10.