The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-11 00:00:00

THE POTATO CHOLERA.

Much is said, and has been said, concerning -what
are termed " years of famine," but it is not generally
known, that since the introduction of the potato into
this country, no year has ever passed whieh,'in some
remote locality or other, has not been such to the un-
fortunate inhabitants. The climate of Ireland is so
unsettled, its soil so various in quality, and the potato
so liable to injury from excess of either drought or
moisture, that we have no hesitation in stating the
startling fact of this annual famine as one we can
vouch for, upon our own personal knowledge, and
against the truth of which we challenge contradic-
tion. Neither does an autumn pass without a
complaint peculiar to those who feed solely
upon the new and unripe potato, and which
ever since the year 1832. is known by the people as the
potato cholera. With these circumstances the Legisla-
ture ought to be acquainted, inasmuch as they are cala-
mities that will desolate and afflict the country, so long
as the potato is permitted to be, as it unfortunately is,
the staple food of the people. That we are subject, in
consequence orthat fact, to periodical recurrences of
dearth and disease, is well known and admitted ; but
that every, season brings its partial scourge of both
these evils to various remote and neglected districts in
Ireland has not been, what it ought long since to
have been, an acknowledged and established fact in the
sanatory statistics of the country. Indeed, one would
imagine that, after the many terrible visitations
which we have had from destitution and pesti-
lence, a Legislature sincerely anxious for the health
and comfort of the people would have devoted itself, in
some reasonable measure, to the humane consideration
of such proper sumptuary and sanatory enactments, as
would have provided not only against the recurrence of
these evils, but for a more enlightened system of public
health and cleanliness, and a better and more comfort-
able provision of food for the indigent and poor. As it
is at present, provision-dealers of all kinds, meal-mon-
gers, forestallers, butchers, bakers, and huxters, com-
bine together, and sustain such a general monopoly in
food, as is at variance with the spirit of all law and hu-
manity, and constitutes a kind of artificial famine in the
country ; 2nd surely those circumstances ought not to
be permitted, so long as we have a deliberative legis-
lature, whose duty it is to watch and guard the health
and morals of the people. —Carlton, in Dublin Univer-
sity Magazine.

ACCIDENT AT WESTMINSTER-DRlDGE......Wedn9sday
morning, about twelve o'clock, a man named
Jenkins, a labourer employed in the securing of West,-
minster-bridge, missed his footing, and fell into the
Thames. Several boats put off to his assistance, and he
was rescued, and after restoratives were administered he
was conveyed to his home.
FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—A fatal accident
occurred on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway on Sa-
turday last, to a person of the name of William Solomon,
a labourer, employed a short distance from Kendal. An
inquest was held at the Hyena, on Monday, before Mr.
R. Wilson, coroner, when the following particulars were
adduced :—James Dixon, of Kendal, railway labourer,
sworn and examined, said, " On Saturday morning last
I was at work on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway,
near Mr. Bainbridge's house, in the township of Natland.
The deceased, William Solomon (who was also a la-
bourer on the line), was working beside me at the same
place. He was bringing a waggon down the line, to be
coupled to one which I had assisted to fill. The wag-
gon was laden with sand and stone, and was moving
down an incline towards our waggon, and deceased was
to stop it by the use of the break. We thought the
waggons were coming too quick, and we called on de-
ceased to use the break; and, when he was stooping for
the break, another waggon which was behind him over-
took the one he had charge of, and jambed his head be-
twPcm the two waggons, and crushed his skull. He imme-
diately dropptal down upon the ground, and I, with the as.
sistance of some other persons, removed him to Kendal.
We brought him on in one of the company's carts, and
he died on the way home. The deceased was walking
alongside the waggons when ho attempted to nut the
break on, and he had to stoop with his head between
the two waggons, the one behind overtaking that which
he was stopping by the break. There was a man at the
break of the waggon which was immediately behind the
one in deceased's charge. He was holding on at the
break with all his power, and there was no blame to bo
attached to him for the accident. There was a man at
the break of each waggon, and no one was to blame.
Deceased should not have stooped with his head between
the waggons ; it was not necessary for him to do so to
bar the break. The decease. was about 23 years of
age, and his death was caused entirely by accident."
Thomas Thexton, of Kendal, railway labourer, exa-
mined, said--I was present when the accident happened
on Saturday, which caused the death of William Solo-
mon. I have heard the examination of the last witness,
James Dixon, read over ; what he has there stated is
quite true, and I have nothing to add thereto. Verdict,
u AceidentAl doth,"