The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-18 00:00:00

GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION.

THE ARMY AND NAVY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The army and navy are much praised, and
with reason, but why cannot the heads of the above
departments adopt some measure which would en-
able young men of respectability, who have not the
means or interest to get appointments, to enter, not se
common soldiers but as second-rate officers, to rise
by their own merit ? Many young men would then
avail themselves to enter into the army who now are
precluded from doing so, not liking to associate with
the many queer characters who flock thereto.
Should this meet the eye of any of the influential
heads of the above departments it will have attained
the desired end.--I am, Sir, yours obediently,
Hull, Dec. 15, 1848. X. Y. Z.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
HUNTING APPOINTILENTS.
The Cheltenham stag hds., Wed., Beech Pike; Sat.,
sixth milestone on the Gloucester-road-12.
South Berkshire hds., Tues., Streatley; Sat., Hair-
hatch.
Carmarthenshire lads.,, Tues., Bankfelin; Fri., Aberg•
with.

Sir John Cope's lids., Wed., Pinge Wood; Fri., Ball
Marsh Court.
Craven lids., Wed., Henswood; Fri., Ashdown Park;
Sat., Asheridge-10i.
Eggesford lids., Tues., Kingsympton Park; Thurs.,
Calves Bridge, Lapford; Sat., Stone Moor-11.
liambledon hds., Wed., Wickham Gate; Fri., Al-
lington.
East Kent hds., Wed., Swingfield Park; Fri., Sweech
Gate.

Llanelly hds., Wed., Man Saut ; Fri., Mr. Barn's,
Talyclyn.
Mr. Littleton's hds., Tues., Half-way House. on the
Bodmin road; Fri., the kennel-10f.
N. F. H. bds., Tues., Bolderwood; Thurs., Hill Top
Gate; Sat., Earldoms-10i.
Lord Southampton's hds., Wed., Horton Inn; Fri,
Wappenham; Sat., Wicken Park-11.
United Puck, Thurs., Ridgeway Turnpike-9.
Vine lids., Wed., Bradley Wood; Sat., the Yine—i 1.
South Wilts hde., Tues., Middleton Farm; Fri., War. dour Castle.
Baron Rothschild's stag hds., Thurs., Stewkley-11.
Mr. Lowndes's hds., Tues., Winslow; Fri., Two-mile
Ah-11.
Lord Lonsdale's harrs., Tues.,llockliffe Grange; Sat.,
Puttenham-12.

OPIUM-EATERS.—The Lancet states that "the Lin-
colnshire poor are to abandoned to opium eating as in
sums instances to spend in the baneful drug 2s. 6d. out
of a weekly 35.!" a degree of fatuous devotion to the
Circean vice that would appal Coleridge or De Quincey
themselves. The same writer extracts a passage from
the evidence of a brother medical witness, a druggist,
that he himself sends 400/. worth a year more opium to
Ireland now than he did before; and Dr. Grindrod, the
ablest of all the temperance advocates, admits that in the
fens of Lincolnshire sad Cambridgeshire a vast quantity
of (Tit:nil is conciaraed. Vast must be the quantity eon-
smut(' somewhere or somehow, for, according to the re-
turns of the Board of Trade, issued on Thursday last,
acre was ao Ic-ss than S,COO lbs. of opium imported in
the single month of October, that being by no means a
comparatively large quantity, for occasionally as much aa •
32,000 lba. uro impinteci wishiu the game time.

Yesterday morning, about three o'clock, an accident ofa
peculiar and alarming character occurred on the Eastern.
Counties Railway, by the explosion of two barrels of
gunpowder, each weighing three quarters of a cut.
Providentially, however, the accident was unattendea
with loss of life. It appears that the barrels arrived et
Witham station about a quarter to three, and:were to be
dispatched one by the Maldon and the other by the
Braintree line. The porter, who also acts as night Inspector
on the up-train, went into the office to book his trait!,
and in a few minutes the London mail-train arrived--. 4
stopped short of the barrels, but on moving on again,
passed immediately over them, and some sparks falling
from the fire-box the gunpowder exploded. The shook
is indescribable, and the greatest alarm prevailed. The
explosion shook the houses at Witham, which is half e
mile off, and is said to have been heard at Colchester,
fourteen miles further. In the vicinity of the station,
the damage to the windows was very extensive. Ae
soon as the people about recovered self-possession, they
sought to discover the passengers, the carriages haying
been blown off the line, but as the engine continued its
course for a short distance, it is evident that the ex-
plosion could not have taken place until the engine
itself had passed over. Dreadfully alarming as the ac-
cident was, none of the passengers, twelve in number,
received any injury. The engineer and stoker were
found to be stunned but not hurt, and the guard es-
caped with his arm being bruised. The train was de-
layed wo hours.