The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-08 00:00:00

THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.

The following is the report of Lieut.-Col. Wynne
as to the condition of the line of railway between
London, Cambridge, and Norwich

The under bridges and viaducts on the line between
London and Norwich are very numerous. Not only
(says Col. Wynne) do all the bridges require to be strut-
ted, the ends of the longitudinal timbers being in many
instances decayed through half their thickness; but the
extent of the decay requires to be fully ascertained, es-
pecially at a!! the bearing parts, where the decay is al-
ways the greatest, and the results to be apprehended the
most serious. This cannot he satisfactorily done, at least
in the large bridges, without relieving one-half of the
bridge from the traffic, while the other half is undergoing
examititien. The great deterioration these bridges have
undergone from the ravages of decay, with the consequent
reduction of original strength, is a condition of things
to cause the most serious apprehension, and until every
bridge has undergone a careful overhauling in the man-
ner T have saggested, I am of opinion that the public
cannot travel over the railway between London, Cam-
bridge, and Norwich without incurring serious risk. The
re,ult of my examination of the permanent way was to
I show that, whilst vast numbers of old sleepers have been
removed and replaced by new ones, evidenced by the
great piles of old sleepers lying along the line in different
places, and which were fl a state of decay such as I have
rarely met with, numbers yet remain in the line quite as
much gone. Although this is a matter of serious mo-
ment, it is not so bad as that of the bridges ; for the
sleepers, though much decayed, have some soundness at
the core, and the danger c )uld be met for the time by
maintaining a greatly reduced speed over the line.
Sneuld the permanent way not be renewed till after the
reparation of the bridges is completed, it will be neces-
sary, for the public safety, to prescribe limits to the
speed of the trains. A large section of the line south
of Cambridge I found wet and scantily ballasted."
Captain Galtou, transmitting the above report by
direction of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Coun-
cil for Trade, to the Secretary of the Eastern Counties
Railway Company, requests that the notice of the
Directors be drawn to the above portion of the re-
port, and adds :
" My Lords instruct me to point out that the Act
3d and 4th of Victoria, chap. 97, under the provi-
sions of which they ordered the railway to be in-
spected, does not empower them to take any further
steps in the matter, but they direct me to express
their opinion that, under the circumstances stated in
the report, it is necessary that the subject should re-
ceive the immediate and careful consideration of the
directors, and my Lords will be glad to learn, with
as little delay as possible, the view of the directors
as to the course they intend to pursue.

LAURA GAY.—A. Novel. 2 vole.—" We have read
novels of scenes and incidents more exciting than this,
but rarely one written with finer taste, or affording
deeper interest by the power of unaffected and attractive
expression used in narration, colloquy, and description.
The author is a man of elegant and manifold acoomplish-
ments, versed deeply and extensively in art and litera-
ture, and by no means unacquainted with the world and
of politics and fashion. Laura Gay and Charles Thorn-
ton are admirable characters, admirablj portrayed.
They are the centre of a throng of diverse and interest-
ing idiosyncrasies, and all, cleverly grouped together,
form a fine picture that will make the fame of the author.
—Observer.
The continental letters describe an improvement in
the exchanges. At Hamburg money had become com-
paratively abundant and discount had fall en to 5i per
cent., with the prospect of a further red action. The
rate of exchange had consequently rallied, and bills on
London were very scarce. In Holland there was a
similar tendency, and at Paris also the rate is firm,
nothwithstanding the scarcity of money an d the gloom
on the Bourse.

. ,

Whereas by an Act, passed in the s-ession of Parlia-
new, filfSeu,„in the sixteenth and seventeenth years of
tho reign, of her present Majesty, intituled " An Act to
amend awl conYolidate the laws relating to the customs
of the United Kingdom and of the Isle of Man, and cer-
tain laws relating..,to trade and navigation and the Bri-
ti6h posseasion4,'", it is enacted that " if the Legislature
or Proper glaigliGtive authority of any of the British pos-
sessiottaarCuad shall present an address to her Ma-
jests', praying her Majesty to authorize or permit
the conveyance of goods or passengers from one
part of such possession to another part thereof, in
other than British ships, it shall thereupon be lawful
Jro her Majesty, by Order in Council, so to authorize
the conveyance of such goods or passengers on such
terms and undor such conditions as to her Majesty may

Jew. good."
And whereas an address has been presented to her
Majesty by the Legislative Council and the House of
ARsembly of the Cape of Good Hope, praying her Ma-
jesty. to authorise and permit the conveyance of goods
and passengers from one port of that colony to any
other port of the same in other than British vessels.
:Now, therefore, her Majesty, by and with the advice
of her Privy Council, and in virtue of the authority com-
mitted to her by the said recited act, doth order, and it
is hereby ordered, that from and after the day of the
date of this order, goods and passengers may be conveyed
frorn any one port of the colony of the Cape of Good
Hope to any other port thereof in other than British
ships.

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commiseioners
of her :Majesty's Treasury and the Right Hon. Henry
L.thouchere, one of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries
of State, are to give the necessary directions herein as
to then) may respectively appertain.

C. C. GBEVILLE.

FOREIGN OFFICE, DEC. 3.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint James
Brant, Esq., now hor Majesty's Consul at Erzeroum, to be
her Majesty's Consul at Damascus.

FOREIGN OFFICE, DEC. 31.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint
Chatles Wilthew, Esq., now her Majesty's Consul at Aca-
pulco, to be her Majesty's Consul at Islay.

FOREIGN OFFICE, JAR. 5.
The ()neon has been pleasea to approve of Mr. John
Edward Naylor as Consul at Liverpool for the Republic of
Peru.

BOARD OF TRADE, WHITEHALL, JAN. 7.
The Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of
Privy Council for Trade and Plantations have received,
through the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a copy
of a despatch from her Majesty's Agent and Consul-Gene-
ral in Egypt, reporting that the Viceroy of that country
has revoked the decree prohibiting the export of grain
from the Egyptian dominions.
BOARD OF TRADE, WHITEHALL, TAN. 8.
The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade
and Plantations have received,lthrough the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, a copy of a note addressed by
Count Walewski to her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris,
stating that, in consequence of a representation from her
Majesty's Government, the French Government has con-
sented to allow British passenger steamers, which are by
law obliged to carry a cannon and twelve charges of pow-
der for making signals, to enter and quit French porta
without depositing on shore tho powder carried.