The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-28 00:00:00

THE SMALL DEBTS' BILL.

The following petition from the Incorporated Law
Society has been presented " to the Right lion. the
Lords spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament as-
sembled :"

Vv
" The humble Petition of the Incorporated Society
of Attornies, Solicitors, Proctors, and others, not
being Barristers, practising in the Courts of Law
and Equity of the United Kingdom.
" Showeth,—That very late in the present session of
Parliament, a Bill was introduced in your Right Hon.
House, and is now pending, entitled An Act for the
more easy Recovery of Small Debts and Demands in
England.'
" That it is intended under such Bill to create vari-
ous courts for the purposes thereof, and to vest the ap-
pointment of judges of such courts in the Lord Chan-
cellor.

" That various Bills have from time to time been in-
troduced into Parliament for the above purpose previ-
ously to the present session of Parliament, and that in
such Bills it was proposed and intended that the judges
to be appointed should either be barristers-at-law or
attornies-at-law.

" That, by the Bill now pending in your Right Hon.
House, the Lord Chancellor is so. restricted in the ap-
pointment of judges as to be prevented in future from
the appointment of any attorney-at-law, however well
qualified to be a judge of any court, to be created under
such Bill in case the same should pass into a law.
" That new clauses have been introduced in such Bill
in the other House of Parliament, and various restric-
tions in the jurisdiction and powers of such intended
courts, and of the judges to be appointed under such
Bill.
"That your petitioners humbly represent to your Right
Hon. House that many attornies-at-law are qualified to
be appointed judges under such Bill.
" Your petitioners humbly pray that in such Bill the
Lon' Chancellor may
be empowered to appoint any at-
tornies-at-law to be judges in the court to be created
thereunder whom his Lordship may consider duly qua-
lified to be such judges."

THE LATE COLLISION ON THE

BRIGHTON AND HASTINGS RAILWAY.

INQUIRY BY THE INSFECTOR-GENERAL.
HASTINGS, WEIVESDAY AFTERNOON.—This forenoon
Major General Pasley arrived at Pevensey station, ac-
companied by Mr. Clarke, the managing director from
Brighton, to inquire into the circumstances of the recent
collision on the Hastings or South-coast line, on Monday
last, for the information of the Board of Trade. The
gallant General's first proceeding was to inspect the spot
where the collision happened. The railway in this part
seems far from being complete, only one line is laid
down for the transit of trains, and hundreds of excava-
tors are working day and night constructing the ballast-
ing for the second line of rails. From the evidence
collected it appeared the company's contractors had
several locomotives employed on the line to assist in
carrying ballast trains to various parts of the works, and
to prevent delay occurring to the passenger trains,
sidings had been made by the contractors at various parts
in order that the ballast trains might, as it is termed,
" shunt" off; to allow the ordinary trains to pass, and it
was in one of these sidings at Pevensey where the col-
lision took place. A few minutes before the Brighton
train, which leaves Pevensey station at two o'clock,
was due, one of these ballast engines, which was
coming up in the opposite direction, stopped at
the siding in question, and backed into it for the
purpose explained. Shortly afterwards the train came
up at a speed of about twenty-eight miles an hour, when
on its arrival within six or seven yards of the points of
the siding, the engine• driver, Stephen Clarke, discovered
that the " switches" were not properly adjusted, and a
violent collision with the ballast trains was inevitable.
He instantly shut off his steam and reversed the engine,
and jumped off, leaving his stoker at the tender break.
Scarcely a moment elapsed before the engines met. As
regards the switches, which are on the self-acting
principle, it is difficult to say whether any party is to
blame. A youth, it seems, had been appointed by the
contractors to attend to them, and he has since ab-
sconded ; but, according to the statements of the differ-
ent parties examined to-day, there does not appear to
be any fault attributable to him. The ,witches are
worked by leverage, and thc? duty of the party under
whose charge they were placed was, when a ballast train
required to pass out of the sliding, to connect the points
with the rails of the permanent line. This is etl cted by
pulling forward an iron handle, to which the leverage is
attached, and the moment it is let off the points fly back
to their original position, and disunite themselves from
the permanent rails. They were found in good working
order alter the accident, in consequence of which
it is presumed that some shingle, of which the line of
Pevensey is made, or some other hard substance, must
have got between the points and prevented them acting,
unknown to the party employed. Considering the
serious character of the collsion, it was astounding how
all parties, particularly the stoker and guard of the pas-
senger train, escaped with their lives. Both engines
were much damaged. The tender of the ballast engine
was thrown on the top.of the earth waggons, and pre-
sented a dilapidated appearance. The engine-driver and
stoker of this train were, a moment before the collision,
standing on the tender; both escaped by throwing them-
selves off. At the conclusion of the inquiry at Pevensey,
General Pasky, with Mr. Clarke, left for Brighton, to
examine the carriages that composed the train, which
had been taken to the Company's depot adjacent to the
terminus in that town.

The following are the names, as far as Mr. Clarke, the
manager, has been able to learn, of the sufferers, with
their injuries and actual state up to eight o'clock this
morning:—

The Rev. Mr. Brown, of Tonbridge, Kent, severe frac-
ture of the leg below the knee, face cut, and other
external injuries ; progressing favourably at Hastings.
Captain Nightingale, his lady, and his two daughters,
much cut about the face and head, besides bruises about
the body. No serious injury.
Mr. Dyke, of Brighton, injury to the head. He was a
passenger in a first-class carriage, and was looking out
of the window at the moment of the collision, and was
thrown completely out by the concussion.
Three ladies (names unknown) belonging to Hastings,
much cut about the face; also a gentleman (name un-
known), one of the fore-fingers taken off.
George Ragg, the stoker of the passenger engine,
lying at the sluice-house, Pevensey, scalded and burnt.
When discovered he was found insensible alongside of
the furnace of the engine, with the boiling water pour-
ing on him from the broken guage-pipe, and his clothes
on fire in various parts; recovering.
Stephen Clarke, the engine-driver—internal injury,
but expected to resume his work in a few days.
Several others are reported to be hurt, but their names
cannot be ascertained; the injuries, however, are be-
lieved to be confined to bruises. It is stated there were
about forty passengers in the train.
It will be observed that most of the persons injured
were first-class passengers. This arose by the first class
carriage being placed next to the tender, and no luggage
van intervening.

The medical gentlemen who were in the train, and
relieved the suffering of many of the suff,rers, were Dr.
Hamilton and Mr. H. IL Wbon, of Fitzr,y-square. They
were, we understand, sitting in the same carriage with
the Rev. Mr. Brown, but fortunate], escaped injury.

Mr. George Robins sold artdLMeineconlsn,ea, fwewhi years
realisedearssine
since,
the d
not sell, the valuableln estates of Lg
I.rlyy onevat l u
ahbat
l e
he ol
good
iprices ; he has now ajoenbnyoultviceeodd,thae 0:
eporloep.er o
It nly es from
seven
asiles
see tihiye
tfahme ead city
ene of Lin-aneeineat
,ab cis"! easn ad large
what
sixty-w
quaL
ifityv ee af ceraeks
poofles sp
ee
fn v
eenot ayk
years
than
tim b
egr;
easy shipment of the timber, the estate
materially adds to its value and its importance is, the
being
a mile from the navigable river Foss, which connects the
Trent and Witham streams, and opens a market for the
timber in the dockyards of the Humber and the Thames.
It is exnected at Lincoln that this sale will cause a lively
compAition. About the period of Lord Monson's sales
Mr. Robins sold the famed Riseholme estate, within a
mile of the ancient city of Lincoln, for sixty thousand
guineas, to the late Lord Bishop of the diocese. The
neighbourhood is accounted a favourable situation for
investing secuuly.
REASONS FOR PULLING DOWN WESTMINSTER•
BRIDGE.—The following is the report which has been lately
published by the committee appointed to inquire into the state
of Westminster-bridge:—The foundation is giving way, and
the bridge sinks every year—there is never more than one
arch passable at a time—it is blocked up every other month
—it is decidedly dangerous—it is anything but ornamental
—it is no longer useful—if it is not pulled down, it will
either fall in, or else be carried away—it will cost a less sum
to build a new bridge than to keep the present one in repair.
We must say we never recollect reading a report more con-
vincing than the above.—Punch.
The environs of Gironville, in the Meuse, have been
lately greatly infested with wolves, which have frequently
made their appearance in the streets of the village. A short
time ago, a person going from Fremer6ville to Saint Martin,
was attacked on the road by one of these animals, but having
a stout stink in his hand, he attempted to beat it off. The
combat lasted several minutes, when at last the man struck
the beast so severe a blow on the head, that the latter turned
tail and wont ell, howling with pain. Fortunate it was that
it dil so, for the man was nearly exhausted by his exertions,
and his otaft Tas broken by the force of the lag blow.