The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-14 00:00:00

and that sum is included in the estimated liabilities.
From the 30th June, 1853, to the 30th June, 1855, there
bad been an increase of 75 in the number of clerks em-
ployed, of 13 in the guards, 37 policemen, Anil 158 per-
ters. Of this increase 31 clerks, 7 guards, 16 policemen,
and 44 porters were required at Paddington. The addi-
tional charge upon revenue since 1853 on that account
amounts to 21,0001., of which the increase at Paddinfr-
ton is about, 9,0001. The main cans° of ti e increase in the
expense is owing to the extension of lines and increase in
the number of stations..' Since the' 30th of June, 1853,
52', miles of railway worked by the company and 28 sta-
tions have been opened for traffic—namely, 5 miles from
Grange-court to Hopebrook, 11th of July, 1853 ; 91
miles to Wycombe, Ist of August, 1854 ; 12i miles, Bir-
mingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley, Nov. 14, 1851;
8 miles to Radstock, same day ; and 17i
miles, Ist of
June, 1855, Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester Railway.
These additions made to the establishment could not
have !Ibeen dispensed with. After adverting to the
means adopted by the company to secure efficient clerks
and servants, and a recommendation that Mr. Brunel's
allowance of 3,5004 for engineering services be continued
for another year, they state they have much pleasure in
recording their opinion of the able, efficient, and zealous
manner in:which the company has been served by its
officers, and, regarding
_them as a body, that it is impos-
sible tb speak too highly of them. The committee ad-
vert to the satisfactory increase iu the traffic during the
past three years, and think it but reasonable to expect
that the time has come when the goods and. mineral
traffic will be greatly increased, and by salutary arrange-
ments the whole (d it will be developed with advantage
to the proprietors. The goods traffic is at present
managed by Mr. Newcombe in the north, Mr. Forbes in
the west, and Mr. Drewe in the south. The committee
propose that in future Mr. Newcombe should be the
head of the goods department, and that a thoroughly
competent person under him be placed in the north.
With regard to the development of the coal trade, the
committee make various suggestions, and show from the
increase of traffic on the Shrewsbury lines that loss on
the guarantee to those companies will soon be reduced
to a very small amount. Since 1850 the increased re-
ceipts on the line between London and Bristol amount
to 200,000/. a-year, some portion of which is attributed
to the new lines.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.

THE IRISH JUDICIAL BENCH.

The Evening Post has the following remarks
apropos to the motion of Sir J. Shelley in reference
to the state of the Irish judicial bench. Referring
to the case of the venerable Baron Pennefather,
whose great mental faculties are as unimpaired and
vigorous as they were a quarter of a century ago,
the Post maintains that his defective vision—espe-
cially as regards the trial of criminal cases—is a
disqualification so positive that it cannot be got
Over :

" As an illustrative ease, we may refer to a remark.
able circumstance on the trial of Kirwan for the murder
of his wife at Ireland's-eye. The Jury, after they had
been some tune in deliberation, returned into court and
sought an explanation of a passage in the evidence. Mr.
Justice Crampton, one of the presiding judges, told
them he had left his notes at home, but, as he had a per-
fect recollection of the matter, he would state it from
memory. And the learned judge did so. the memo-
, rial on behalf of Kirwan referred to this proceeding on
the part of the judge, which was strongly objected to,
o r the ground that hts notes were not actually pro-
duced, and the irregularity was relied upon as the chief
point in favour of the criminal, whose sentence subse-
quently was commuted from death to transportation
for life. It is clear that Baron Pennefather, from
the loss of sight, courd take no notes in a criminal
or any other case, and, as such a duty could not
he delegated, blindness necessarily involves complete
disqUalification for the ditcharge of judicial functions,
no matter how clear and vigorous may be the faculties
iu other respects. It is a singular coincidence that the
two oldest judges in Ireland or any other partof the globe,,
Baron Pennefather ao,d Mr. Justice Torrens' are to be
the judges of assize at the approaching North-West Cir-
cuit—the former being in his 85tb, and the latter in his
84th year. Chief Justice Lefroy is the junior of both,
being in his 82d year. Mr. Justice Crampton is younger,
but only by a • very few years, as he was, we believe, a
Fellow of Trinity College 'when the foundation-stone of
Nelson's Pillar was laid, and the Bank of Ireland was
opened in College-green. 'We need scarcely say that we
have no desire to utter a word reflecting in, the least de-
gree on any one of those learned judges. Some time since,
as we have already mentioned, when strictures of the
same kind were uttered by a portion of the press, we de-
procated such conduct, urging that functionaries like
Baron Pennefather, who had spent a long life most use-
fully in the public service, were entitled to forbearinee,
even when they somewhat exceeded all reasonable limits
in their accustomed vocation. We cannot, however,
help admitting that, since we 'addressed that remon-
strance to our contemporaries, time has been running_ his
e)uNe, and we are no longer in a position to assert
that men who Lave exceeded by 20 years the grand cli-
macteric are competent to discharge the onerous, deli-
cate, and deeply responsible duties of judges, not alone
affecting the property, hat-the liberties and the lives of
the Queen's subjects."