The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-13 00:00:00

BIRTHS IN THE

Males ••• ••• ••• "'
Females ••• ••• •••

Total ... ... ... ... ... 1,580
•In this number are included 20 by Scarlatika, 36
by Typhus Fever, and 13 by Diarrhoea.

INSTITUTION OP CIVIL ENGINEERS.
On Tuesday (William Cubits, Esq., President, in the
chair), the paper read was a " Description of the Mode
of Working an Inclined Plane, of 1 in 27k, on the Old
Branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway,"
by Captain J. M. Laws, R.N., Assoc. Inst. C. E.
The mode of working this incline was by a com-
bination of locomotive power and gravity. It was at
first proposed to be worked by a hortiontal wheel, rope,
and pullies, with a locomotive engine and train at each
end of the rope, so that one train might descend, while
another ascended the incline ; but as this method ap-
peared to be liable to many contingencies. by which the
regular traffic would have been deranged, and the ex.
pease of locomotive power increased, a balance weight
was substituted for the descending locomotive, one litic,
of rails being appropriated to it, and the other ret:ined
for the goods and passenger traffic. The balance weight
ofth ebreal"Wi Aitt-
rnectiluineen,tlaYnd this' was found to
consisted of a heavy break van, and a Dumb
waggons filled with sand ; but in plat* of latter,
loaded the, ooter,
alocaodaeldpciotaaltwthagegtoonpsowf etrheeti
be a most economical and advantageous way of work-
-11)g the coal traffic. When the Bill wag in asn Parliament,
it was stated in evidence, that there would be great dan-
ger in desceading so steep an inclination; but the experi-
ence of seven years—during which
broken several times, and the period the rope bad
allowed to run down by • break van bad once been
itself' without doing any serious
Pin
injury—had proved this o • ion to be erroneous. The
ordinary passenger trains ascended and descended the
incline at from 20 mil
being to stop at the es
to
25 miles per hour, the mode
foot of the incline to attach the rope,
then back the en •
the scotch at thogit top,
so as to draw the balance train off
the train ascended. oPihis when
mdsteam
oteheof working
te. ndnd with the most perfect success, and it was thought,
that if more attention was paid, in the construction of
railways, to what could be accomplished by gravity and
impetus, in combination with locomotive power. a great
Saving in the original cost of the line mould be the
result.
The wire ropes which had been used were manufac-
tured by Messrs. B. S. Newell and Co.; each rope was
rather more than one mile and a quarter in length, 3i.
inches in circumference, weighing 126 cwt., and costing
3161. Their average duration was about two years and
four months.
The following paper was announced to be read, at the
meeting of Tuesday, March 18th: " Account of the Sea
Walls at Penmaen Mawr, on the line of the Chester 4nd
Holyhead Railway," by Mr. H. Swinbuane.

SUGAR CAN/14. An inmport.atio❑ of ten cask s of
sugar canes bas taken place by a vessel which has just ar-
rived in the docks trom Madeira. Some trifling imports I we
of the sugar cane have been made on two or thre3 occbsi ins
from this place, and also from the West India Islands, but
we have never known an importation to take place of the
article to the same extent as on the present occasion, and
the arrival Le of some interest.