The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-28 00:00:00

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

(THIS
,DAY_)

HOUSE OF LORD 3.

Room D.
This Committee met this =filing at eleven o'clock, the Earl of St.
Germans in the chair, when the case again=t the

GMAXGOVT, ZurarztiEs, /1.113) C.8.7a/a3.7.,M,

and on behalf of the

ciAtzpoNIAN (uumrlums AND MANG-
HO L IV/ DIZILNCRES),

rejected by tkeContlit ongi was resumed.
Mr. Cocxeuax was rising to address the Committee, when
Mr. AklltEWs, interfered, andsiiAld that, after the evidence which
had been offered Anerday on behalf Of the Caledonian branches, he
was about to offer some reo;.::!..iug evidence.
After afew observations on the p'Cnt, this course Was assented to.
Mr. Miner, civil engineer, was called afid examined. He said the
object of the NitbSdals scheme was to connak in the completest
manner with the north and south. The Caledoniali bad no proposi-
Ilan :fist year for the accommodation of Aninui tifiA Dumfries,
whereat the Nithsdale scheme of last /ear was substantally the
same as the sciiate of this year. Besides, the Caledonian branches
afforded no accommodation whatever for Ayrshire to the south. Hd
considered the break of Annan Would interfere with the working of
the traffic in an efficient manner. The Dmlmagadder branch would
not accommodate the Nithsdale traffic, and With regard to the Dum-
fries and Edinburgh traffic, it could be arranged that the earlier
trains of the Nithsdale line would run to meet the later trains on the
Caledonian. _ _

Mr. Coextiente then rose to address the Committee. In the course
of his °beefed:ions he said he would not trespass on any of the
decisions which their I.,ordships had come to, but he would submit
whether. it would not be cdilMetent with those decisions, and In order
to do justice to the Caledonian, that they should at least postpone
that portion of the scheme of the gitiAltile Company which was in
competition With the branches proposed by the Caledonian, or at
least such part of it at Would protect the through traffic of the Cale-
donian Company. Ile would ndl an the present occasion struggle against
the granting to the Nithsdale compdify ^portion of their line beta eun
DumfrieS and Cumnock, but he would, at the least, take his stand on
the letter of Mr. Hops Johnstone, and pray that e portion of the
scheme between Carlisle and Dumfries should he gralli.esi to the Ca-
ledonian. No doubt they had tieen told that the Nithsdale Would not
compete with the Caledonian Company, but any one at all conver-
sant with the country must know, that to the through
traffic would their attention be sure ultimately to be
directed. It had been clearly 'shown by the evidence,
offered in the earlier stage of the Case, that the course of trade from
Kilmarnock was in the direction of Glasgow, and therefore there
could be no doubt that the through trade would be aimed at, an order
to make up for the deficiency of local traffic, is hich he was certain
would be sure to arise. With regard to all the traffic passing from
Aynhire or the south, it would be perfectly indifferent whether the two
companies met at Annan or at Gretna, While by making the break at
Annan, the Caledonian Company would have that protection which
their through traffic imperatively required. Again, with regard to
the mineral traffic upon width so much had been said, it would be
a matter of perfect indifference who:her these minerals came from
Canobie along the Kithsdaie line all the way from Gretna to Dum-
fries, or whether it came as tar as iknuan, or ou the Caledonian
scheme, and then passed from Annan to Dumfries on the
Nithsdale. With re,., ard to the shi!ep and cattle
coming from Galloway, the most of which, as had been shown,
would get on the tiithsdale hoe at Dumftlea, It would be a matter
of no moment whether the break between the companies existed at
Amman instead of Gretna. It would be as math the interest of the
Caledonian Company as of the Nithsdale Company, to afford .very
accommodation to sushi a traffic. There trust be a break
somewhere, and he submitted with conthiceee, that with
rigaril to the whole traffic passing along the line, it
was a matter of perfect indifference where it took place. So much
as to the question of convenience. lie now came to the main Argu-
ment adduced on the other side against giving the Caledonian any
portion of the line. It was stet d that the portion of the scheme
south of Dumfries was the best paying portion of the line, and that
it was required to make the portion between Dumfries and Cumnock
remunerative. This sounded strange from parties who had at-
tempted to show such a strong case of local traffic. If the local
traffic on the Cumnock portion, adduced before the Committee, was
sufficient to warrant the construction of that portion of the line,
then there was no plea left why they should have tile portion south of
Dumfries; but if it was otherwise, if the Cumnock Fortson could not
pay without that from Dumfries to the south, that was some reason,
he admitted, why they should have the portion between Dumfries
and Amman. But with regard to the remaining portion
between Annan and Gretna, that was absolutely necessary for the
protection of the Caledonian interest, in fact, to save that Company
from ruinous competition. If the Nithsdale was so goad a scheme,
if it was a bona fide undertaking, then surely it could not be essen-
tially injurious ,o a line of 92 miles, to take seven or eight miles ftom
it. Besides, a great deal of the claim of the Nithsdale scheme
to the portion from Annan to Gretna was based on
the assumption that Annan would be a port of considerable trade,
whereas, he submitted, that as soon as the Caledonian was opened a
great deal of that traffic which had been alleged to be shipped at
Annan would pass south along that line. Regarding the Canobie
branch, he sula_nitted that the Caledonian (Latighohn branch) was
better than that as a means of accommodating the district.

Room E

EXETER, TICOVXL, AND DORCHESTER.

The ommittee met at the usual hour, Lord Beaumont, 'chairman,

Mr. T. A. Mitchell examined by Mr. SLADE—Deposed that he was
personally acquainted with the trade of Bridport, and had been so
for mans years. It was the largest town between Plymouth and
Southampton; Its staple production was cordage and sailcloth. It
was most important for its interests that it should be connected by
a coast line with Southampton and Plymouth. The population was
about 8,000.
Cross-examined by Mr. HILDTARD —He did not Teside at Bridport,
and did not know whether the harbour was formed of two wooden
piers of 80 feet in length.
Mr. Acland, examined by Mr. TALliot —ls a magistrate of the
counties of Devon and Dorset, and resided aft Dorchester, formerly
lived at Honiton, and was well-acquainted with that portion of the
country. A marked contempt Wets shown of the towns of Bridport
and Lyme, and the other towns upon the coast by the. scheme at
present before the Committee. lie thought that the line proposed
by the Great Western was deserving of support, in consequence of
the communication which it afierded to the country north of Exeter.
Coals and other fuel would be brought by means of the Great Western
scheme from Radstock and other extensive coal fields to the southern
districts of Dersetshire, and also to the manufacturers of Bridporf, •
much better than by the narrow gauge lines proposed by tlie‘Exeter,.
Yeovil, and Dorchester Company.
Cross-examined by Mr. HILDTAID —lie thought it was desirable
to have railway communication between Exeter and Yeovil.
By Lord DENBIGH—There was at present a line constructed or In
the course of construction between Yeovil and ltadstock. _ _

_
Captain Mite examined by Mr. TatatoT—Had commanded the
mail packets from the port of Weymouth for 28 years, since the
railway had been made at Southampton, the port of Falmouth had
considerably fallen off. If a railway were made direct to Exeter,
the packets would return to Weymouth.
Cross-examined by Mr. HILDYARD—There were no packets run-
ning now from Weymouth to the Channel Islands, they had been
discontinued by the Government because they could get the nails
carried much cheaper from Southampton.
Mr. Bine, glove manufacturer at Yeovil, gave evidence of the
amount of goods he manufactured. and the opinion he entertained of
the line proposed by the Grtat Western Company between Exeter
and Yeovil.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FLOGGING

TO THZ EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
bir,-1t may seem very hard if I say that the effect of
flogging is not fully appreciated even in my own, the medical
profession. But 1 have studied the subject, and I beg to
send you a few medical hints upon it.
Every lash, like every other kind of laceration or cutting,
affects the power of the heart. A patient sometimes never
rallies from the effect of a severe accident (such was the case
with Mr. Huskisson ) or a severe surgical *operation.
But this is not all. The skin, which some persons seem to
think may be treated like an inorganic substance, has a spe-
cial relation with the internal organs:-
1. A current of air falling partially on the surface is suffi-
cient by its action on the skin, and the sympathy of this,
through the ganglionic system, with the internal organs, to
induce inflammation of the lungs or of the heart, or of the
membranes which cover these organs.
2. The same event occurs from burns or scalds.

3. The same event occurs fro n flogging.
It is not the extent of the infliction merely which is to be
considered ; much depends on the peculiarity of the consti-
tution. The healthy are less affected than the unhealthy,
the sober than the drunken.
But any person may, as the effect of any of the inflictions
to which I have adverted, become diseased—diseased for life,
or diseased unto death ; and no man--no medical person—can
tell, a priori, who is to suffer or who is to escape.
. Floggi❑g is not to be treated of, then, as a thing skin-deep.
Many a soldier whom it was only intended to flog has been
slain, unknown even to the inflicter of the punishment; for,
as I have said, the medical bearings of the subject have not
been duly investigated.
It is somewhat singular that those persons who seem to
bear a surgical operation best are precisely those whom it
affects the most, and the most dangerously.
There are, besides, what we call idiosyncrasies, or pecu •
liarities, which, besides the fact 01 ill health, or bad habits,
render an infliction, which might generally be borne with-
out risk, most dangerous
In the tendency to disease of the brain, in disease of the
heart, flogging would be dangerous; and this punishment has
actually induced epilepsy and tetanus (or locked jaw).
I may refer to the writings of the late Mr. Rose* and Sir
C. Bell,t of Mr. Tr4vers,t &c., for examples of internal dis-
ease, especially inflammation of the lungs, induced by severe
accidents or operations ; but if this be true in regard to the
tissues in general, it is specially so in respect to the skin.
The great fact is, that as exposure to a current of air, so
a burn, and so a flogging, may induce disease—lingering
disease, and death.
I am, Sir (in haste), your obedient servant,
London, July 27. CENSOR.
* Med. Chir. Trans., vol. xiv., p. 251.
t Quarterly Reports, p. 241. ti
On Constitutional Irritation, vol. i. p. 145.

MILITARY FLOGGING:
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sm.—Having observed a late article in your paper, pro-
posing that a Society should be formed whose object should
be the abolition of corporal:punishment in the army, I would
suggest that they should also exert themselves to ob-
tain for the soldier a greater degree of comfort in barracks,
a better mess than the miserable allowance of three quarteis
of a pound of meat (including bone) per day, which, when
cooked, seldom appears more than one third of the quantity
which any perion whose means allow him would eat generally
at one meal, and, above all, an adequate pension on discharge,
atter having devoted his life to the service of his country in
unwholesome climates. These, Sir, would induce a better
class of men to enter the army, and by raising the social
condition of the soldier, avoid the necessity of having re-
course to the lash.
As things now exist, men are crowded in their barrack-
rooms—not even a skreen for the married soldiers is allowed ;
the rooms in winter are only lighted sufficiently to make
darkness visible, and the only accommodation for washing
is the spout of the pump.
The late fearful accident at Loodianah sufficiently proves
how much better the ends of economy (putting common
humanity out of the question) might be answered by a trifling
outlay in the first instance.
With regard to the flogging at Hounslow, I beg to state
that the mode of inflicting the punishment which has been
so much animadverted upon, and for which, among other
things, Colonel Whyte has been so severely blamed, is
usual in every regiment in the service.
I have the honour to be Sir, your most obedient servant,
July 26. AN OFFICER.