The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-15 00:00:00

SOUTH-EASTERN.

The gross receipts for passengers, parcels, mails,
goods, cue., for the four weeks ending August 28,
amounted to £99,427, from which is deducted
£2,134 for collecting and delivering goods, &e.,
leaving £97,292. To this sum is added £2,014 for
rents and sundries, and £5,320 for steam-packet
service, making together £104,626. From this is
deducted the expenditure, including rates, taxes,
tolls, Government duty, and expenses of steam-
packet service, amounting to £37,908, and leaving
£66,718 available for interest on loans and divi-
dends on shares.

OUDE (LIMITED).
The directors of this company, in their report,
express their deep regret at the calamities which
have befallen this portion of the Indian empire,
and which have necessarily impeded the progress of
the Oude railway. On the formation of the company
the directors made application to the Hon. the East
India Company for the accustomed guarantee of 5
per cent. Their application was referred, as usual,
to the public authorities in India. Feeling confi-
dent of a favourable result, and being anxious that
no time should be lost, they sent out Mr. Robert
Garratt, an engineer of eminent abilities, to make
the necessary surveys. These, however, had no
sooner been completed than the mutiny broke out,
and he was obliged to seek refuge at Cawnpore,
where, after having assisted in the defence of that
post, he perished in the general massacre. Fortu-
nately, his death- has not deprived the company
altogether of the result of his labours, as they have
been put in possession, through his successive com-
munications, of most of the information necessary
to form an estimate of the requirements of the line.
From communications held with the India-house
the directors have every reason to conclude that as
soon as tranquillity is restored to the province of
Oude, which may be confidently anticipated in the
ensuing cold weather, the Government of India
will be anxious to recommend the grant of the
guarantee, with a view to the immediate com-
mencement and vigorous prosecution of operations.
An arrangement has been entered into with the
directors of the Central Oude Railway Company to
the mutual satisfaction of both parties, and which
only awaits the guarantee of the Government and
the confirmation of the respective constituencies.
As soon as these negotiations are finally settled,
*the proposed conditions of union will be submitted
to the shareholders at a meeting specially convened
for that purpose. The accounts show that £11,164
had been received from the Ist of January, 1857,
to the 24th of June, 1858, and £4,007 expended,
leaving a balance of £7,157.1

THE CATASTROPHE ON THE OXFORD

RAILWAY.

The coroner's inquiry into the circumstances
attending the fatal collision on this line on the 23d
of last month was resumed yesterday before Mr. T
M. Phillips, coroner, at the Bell Hotel, Brierley-
hill.

Mr. King, solicitor, Stourbridge, conducted the
case for the company. Capt. Tyler, the Govern-
ment Inspector, was present. Mr. Fenton, the
chairman of the company, was there again, as were
many officials employed on the line, persola who
had been injured by the collision, or in the interest
of the relatives of those who were killed by the
same calamity. Mr. 'Rupert Kettle, of the Oxford
Circuit, appeared, instructed by Mr. Horner, soli-
citor, of Brierley-hill, on behalf of Mr. Harley,
tailor, of Dudley, who was himself injured and
whose wife was killed.
Mr. George Lindslev, locomotive foreman of the
Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, de-
posed to the weight of the experiment train. There
were 17 carriages and a van, and two empty car-
riaes. The gross weight was 116 tons 9 cwt.
Robert Gransmore, inspector of rolling stock,
said—l saw the trains leave Worcester on the 23d
August. It was my duty to inspect them. I was
at Worcester in the morning when the trains came
in. There were two ordinary luggage vans and
two second-class break vans. One of the break vans
was an ordinary luggage van and the other was a
goods van. The breaks were in good condition.
There were three screw coupling chains and four
side chains broken. That was all that I found de-
fective. I can't say whether the chains produced
are the same. The chains that were broken were
replaced by other chains for the return train.
The chains that were broken were not used
again. It is not a common occurrence for so many
chains to break in one train. There was also a second
class break in addition to the two other breaks in
the first train that returned in the evening. When
the train returned at night the carriages were
coupled together, two by a goods coupling instead
of the passenger couplings that had broken, and
a third by the two ordinary side chains. The-break
on the last van was. in good working order when
the train left -Worcester. - The second-class break
,van was in the middle of the train. I don't recol-
lect any instance previously in which more than
one chain broke in the course of a journey. On
examining the chains and couplings, my opinion of
was that there might
been downl but I formed no
havet h the causebeen
ao
snatch"t h e breakage
ef
the
engine, or the guard's
break might have
opinion, as'l was told they broke at starting from
aexamined the carriages
beforestation. they
Ileft tohir Worcester, eislter
, on the 23d of August.
I made two examinations, because while examining
the train the first time I was interrupted by the
arrival of the other train.

• Captain Tyler, Government Inspector of Rail-
. ways, said—After the accidentoecurred I attended
; and made certain experiments by direction of the
Board of Trade on the 28th of August, between
Round Oak and Brettel-lane. I asked the company
for, and I believe obtained, the same number of car-
riages that broke away on the 23d. These car-
riages were supplied to me, and they appeared to.be
such carriages as were in ordinary use. There'were-
two breaks, one behind and the other in the middle ;-
the one behind was a break van, the one in the
middle was a carriage with a break attached to it.
The break in the rear was sufficient to stop the
quilb'erdeaka, varying from two and
per hour. By running
tchiarr,eica.gupestaotldoiffaenrdenltsspadeeledss
speed of 10 miles an
h44o.lolr.yarrrdhse
was then applied and
the train stopped in 833 yards,_ and the carriages
stopped at 111 yards short of the point of collision.
e behindae
If the break had been put on when the train began
to recede it ought to have been brought up in a
short time, supposing the break to have been in
proper order ; that is, supposing also that the train
had Required
a speed of ten miles an hour ; but if
the rails had been slippery, and the train had been
allowed to acquire a rate of ten miles an hour, they
would probably run past the site of the collision,
but then the collision would not have been so
violent as it appears to have been. These oxperi-
ments have led me to the conclusion either that the
guard did not apply his break at all that night, or
else that he applied it within only a very short
distance of the point of collision. I may say that
the appearance of the break-screw tends to confirm
that opinion. (The screw was produced.) From
its appearance in connexion with the nut attached
to it, I am of Opinion that it was riot used on the
night of the- accident: - (The shackle draw-bar of
the first carriage that broke away was produced.)
The weld by which the eye of the strap is attached
to the shackle is deficient, so that it was holding
by only about a third of its strength. The iron is
somewhat inferior, but it would probably not have
given way if it had not been for its defective -weld.
I think Gransmore did all that was his duty to do
in examining the couplings and chains before the
train left Worcester. I don't see what else he
could have done more.

The Foreman—The guard Cook told us that he
six yards in width. Do you think,
Captain
Tyler,
applied the break when the separation was about
that if he had applied the break within six, or even
60, yards he could have stopped the train without
the collision occurring P
Captain Tyler—lls, certainly. •
By Mr. Fenton—lt was probably impossible for
the officials to have discovered the inefficient weld
by sight merely; but they might have done so by
actual strain.
Mr. James Edwin M'Connell deposed—l am en-
gineer of the line at Wolverton in Buckingham-
shire. I have examined the couplings, and find
that the approximate cause of the accident was the
defective welding in the strap of the bow of the
screw coupling, which made it only able to bear
one-third of the strain which it would otherwise
have borne. The effect of the hook breaking, in
my opinion, has led to the breakage of the screw
coupling. The iron of -which this hook is made is
of . a fair quality. The iron of . which the screw
coupling is made is of good quality, but I could not
tell whether it was a hard- tough iron without put-
ting it through the fire. The quality of the link is
inferior, or, as I am now inclined to think, it might
have been overheated in the welding. I have not
been present at any of the experiments, but from
the evidence of the guard Cook I am of opinion
that the break of which he had the charge—that
is, the behind one—was not applied on approaching
Round Oak station. The consequence would be
Ithat the break of the engine and tender and the
fare break-van ionithe momentum, would force the
kffer-springs of the carriage, bringing them closer