The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-24 00:00:00

THE GRAND SWINDLE.

The case of the Central Gas Company was before a
select committee of the House of Commons on Friday
and Mr. Denison applied for powers to raise an additional
capital of £lOO,OOO for new works. The requirements of
the company since its formation had necessitated the
erection of additional works, and at the present date
£36,000 was owing under that head, The company would
have been enabled to have discharged the debt of £36,000,
to which he had alluded had it not been for the frauds of
Mr. Higgs, the late secretary of the company, which were a
matter of common notoriety, his defalcations having
amounted to twice that sum, or something over £70,000.
Higgs had carried on this system of fraud since the year 1862,
and the result had been the astound ing defici ency named. It
would be asked where was the system of audit under which
such operations could have taken place. Higgs had been in
the service of the company for seventeen years, and the
directors had considered that they could place great confi-
dence in him ; and, with reference the auditing of the
accounts, there was an act of Parliament of 1851 which
empowered the Corporation to appoint auditors on their
own behalf, such officials to be paid by the company.
Directly the Act came into operation they appointed two
gentlemen, namely, Mr. Chatteris and Mr. Begbie, who
were both members of eminent City firms, for the purpose,
and those gentlemen had continued in that office ever
since, so that the Corporation were as much to
blame in that matter as the directors. These frauds went
on under a system of running audit, and under the super-
vision of auditors appointed, not by the company, but by
the Corporation. He did not know how his learned friend
would deal with this matter in opposing the bill, as he
declined to chew him (Mr. Denison) his cards ; but
at present, at any rate, he thought that the Corpora-
tion of London did not come forward to oppose the bill
with cleaner hands than did the directors who were pro-
moting it.

Mr. Henry Chatteris was examined. He said :I am
a member of the firm of Chatteris, Nicholls, and Chatteris,
public accountants, and I was appointed an auditor of the
Great Central Gas Company in 1851, in which office I con-
tinued till the end of 1860, being annually reappointed
by the Common Council. At the end of 18601 became an
auditor of the company, appointed by the directors, and
have continued so up till the present time. Mr. Begbie,
of the firm of Begbie, Robinson, and Hockley, was my
colleague. He was appointed in the same manner as
myself, and has continued so up till the present time.
The Corporation never appointed us after the year 1860.
I knew Mr. Higgs, who was a clerk in the accountant's
office of the gas company. There were six or seven clerks
in the office. Ido not know whether he held a leading
position. I believe he had been in the company's employ
for sixteen or seventeen years. It was one of the rules
of the office that the accountant should receive from
the company's collectors their lists. The collector
was to take the money he received direct to the bankers,
and then take the list and receipt to be passed into
the company's books. I have ascertained since Higgs has
absconded that that course was not pursued since 1862,
but that Higgs persuaded the collectors to take the lists
and money to him, and he would pay them into the bank.
The accountant has told me he did not know of this pro-
ceeding. The late investigations sbew that Higgs was in
the habit on some occasions of keeping the whole of the
money, and in other cases making out smaller lists, and
then paying in the smaller sums.
After some further important evidence had been taken
the committee adjourned.

THE ACCIDENT AT THE DELABOLE
SLATE QUARRY.

The fearful accident to the Delabole slate quarry which
took place on Wednesday, and which we have already
mentioned, is described by the Western Morning News.
The Old Delabole Quarries, which have been famous for
centuries for the slate which they produce, are situated in
the parish of St. Tenth, about two miles and a half from
Camelford, and give employment to between 300 and 400
men and boys. The quarries form one huge pit, which has
an area of fifteen or sixteen acres, and is in parts 350 feet
in depth. From the surface of the ground to the top
of the immense slate rubble heaps which surround the
quarries, is over another 100 feet, so that the workings
extend nearly five hundred feet perpendicularly. The
slate and refuse is raised from the bottom by draw-

ing engines, each of which is in connection with a wooden
framework overhanging the pit. These frameworks are
called poppet-heads, and have pulleys in their upper por-
tions, over which the drawing chains work. Beneath these
pulleys are tables communicating with tramways, which
are moved backward and forward by means of windlasses.
On these tables truck carriages, or "cradles," are run,
and they are then pushed out to the extent of the
framework, in order to receive the material drawn up.
On Wednesday afternoon, about five o'clock. the largest
poppet-head on the works gave way, with scarcely a
minute's warning, the tremendous era,-11 being heard at a
very great distance. In its fall the 1 cad carried with it
all who were at work upon it, and buried several men who
were in the pit beneath, about 300 feet below. Several
persons had very narrow escapes. One of the men who
fell from the top had only a broken arm and a few other
slight injuries, and was able to walk home with the assist-
ance of two of his fellow-workmen. Another escaped with
his life, but is seriously injured. A little girl who had
come with her father's tea also fell into the pit with the
debris, but was very slightly hurt. A Mrs. Wallis, who
had brought her husband his tea, was likewise on the
poppet-head when it gave way, but, fortunately, was
standing just where the ground opened, and saved her life
literally by climbing up the falling rubbish. There were
sixteen men working just under the head on a level in the
side of the cliff. One of them heard something.above,
which he describes as a " crack," and called out to his
comrades, "For God's sake run, the cliff is coming.''
They accordingly ran to a projecting rock or shed, and
were all saved. A minute later and they must have all
been buried alive. Up to a late hour on Wednesday
evening the following had been dug out of the rubbish,
dead :—Thomas Courtis, Thomas and William Henry
Langdon, two brothers aged respectively six and nine
years, who were on the poppet-head, having come there
with tea to their brother. Their father was killed some
years ago in the same works. William Langdon
grandfather to the boys—this old man some time since
was discharged from the pit, and had only begged himself
on again last week—William Toms, Joseph Hosken, and
Thomas Avery. William Prout was taken out alive, but
died while his comrades were taking him to his home.
James Penfound was also very seriously injured, and there
were many others who were more or less hurt. The con-
tinual falling of the rubbish greatly delayed the operations
of the men who were working to rescue their fellows,
and they had to desist from operations for the night.
Meantime every assistance was rendered to the injured
by Dr. Pearce, the medical man of the company, and his
assistant, who were quickly on the spot, and were kindly
aided by Messrs. King and Newsom, of Camelford, and
Mr. Wade, of Boscast le. At the time of the cessation of
operations on Wednesday night very wild rumours pre-
vailed as to the number killed. It was known that there
were several more to be accounted for, but amidst the con-
sternation which prevailed it could not be certainly ascer-
tained who who were missing. Among those thought to be
killed were a young woman named Fanny Wallis, who,
having come to the pit with tea to her father, fell in with the
poppet-head, and was supposed to have had a child in her
arms ; a young man named John Henry Bone, a shoemaker
by trade, who was performing his first day's work in the
quarry; and Matthew Mitchell, of Catnelfcrd. The scene
at the pit was most heartrenei .Ig—parents weeping over
their children, and children over their parents. Too much
cannot be said in praise of some of the men, who risked
their own lives to save those of their fellow sufferers,
especially of a workman by the name of James Kellow,
and two companions, who worked with a will amid the
falling of large stones and rubbish, and thus succeeded in
saving at least one life. Two of the men killed belonged
to Wadebridge,- and lad only begun to. work in the
quarries the same day. A large number of men
were again at work by daybreak on Thursday,
and had not laboured long before they heard
some one groaning beneath their feet. They went to work
more heartily than ever in the direction from which the
sound proceeded, and in the course of an hour they came
near enough to hear the man speak, and to recognise him
as William Rowe. A message was at once sent to hit
almost broken-hearted wife, informing her that her hus
band was still alive, and it was hoped not much injured.
It should be stated that the system of working the quarry
by poppet-heals has for some time past been under-
going a change; some that were formerly worked have
been abandoned, and in a short time the whole quarry wil.
be worked by means of inclines and tramways, whici
have been constructed, and found to be safe, efficient, ane
economical.

Late accounts say that no less than sixteen person.
have lost their lives through the accident. These include
thirteen men, two boys, and one woman. One man is
reported to be dying through the effects of the injuries
which he received. Four bodies have not as yet beer
recovered.

HARD NAMES.—For some time there has been
a reaction in America against the early custom of the
English settlers in superseding the Indian names of places
The process of restoration, however, does not promise tc
be an unmixed good. A newspaper published in the
region of Lakes Memphremagog and Winnepesauket
remarks that " the fish in Lake Holleyhunkemunk
Maine, are superior to those of either Lake Weeleyobacool
or Moosetockmegantuc. Those of Oh auhungogungam aun,
were very fine, but they all got en ked to death in tryini
to toll whozo_tim