The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-02 00:00:00

CAPTAIN HUSK 'S REPLY.

Bonchurch Hotel, Isle of Wight,
22d November, 1858.
Gentlemen,—lt is difficult for me to give expression to
the feelings with which I have received your complimen-
tary address and the handsome testimonial which accom-
panies it. lam reminded by it that, when I removed from
Liverpool to London, the officers of the Grand Junction
division of the line gays me a service of plate as a mark of
their regard ; and that, in 1853, the associated officers o
the London and North Western Company presented me, at
a public dinner, with a valUable addition to it.
You have now, for the third time, conveyed your approval
of my conduct during the long period that we have been
connected together.
It is deeply gratifying for a public officer on his retire-
ment to receive such an address, spontaneously signed by
more than 5,000 of his fellow-labourers, from " the humblest
workman en the line up to the leading officers of the ser-
vice ;" but I very sensibly feel how undeserving I am of
such a marked expression of good-will and esteem.
To each and all who have signed the address, equally to
those who have subscribed to the testimonial, I respectfully
tender my warmest and most grateful thanks for thehonour
they have thus conferred upon me.
The service of the largest commercial undertaking in the
world cannot fail to be a subject of general interest, and the
officers and servants of such a company must always occupy
a prominent place in the public eye.
It has ever been your pride to maintain your position,
each in his peculiar sphere, with credit to yourselves and
your employers; and your success may be gathered from
the fact, that, from time to time, very many of your body
have been selected to fill the highest, railway situations
abroad and in our colonies, while the more circumstance of
being educated in the London and North-Western school
has proved a ready passport to any railway office in Groat
Britain.

Viewed in its social aspect, as affecting the well-being of
the English public, the importance of your individual
duties, unobtrusive and unregarded as they may appear, can
scarcely be over-rated. A railway company which, irre-
respective of its connections with kindred lines, daily
conveys over its own railway and branches an average of
nearly 30,500 passengers, and more than 16,000 tons of
merchandise and coal, and for this purpose maintains a
daily service, every working day, of 450 passsenger and 370
goods trains, necessarily exercises an important influence
on the interests, the comforts, and the conveniences of
society at large. That such a service should be carried on
year after year, if not with entire exemption from casualty
(from which nothing human is free), with a remarkable im-
munity from accident, is due, not so much to the regula-
tions laid down for its guidance, nor to the supervision of
any manager, as to the admirable discipline, the intelli-
gence, and the individual vigilance of the servants.
When it is remembered that a momentary forgetfulness
or abstraction of mind on the part of any one of the thou-
sands who have signed the address may produce the most
lamentable consequences, and that such instancas aro of
very rare occurrence, it must be admitted that the conduct
of railway men may fairly challenge comparison with any
department of operative labour. The British public is

generous, and while severely visiting any act of careless-
ness, whereby its safety is compromised, is ever ready to
do justice to the exertions of those, especially in the lower
walks of life, to whom it owes so much. I earnestly hope
that you will long continue to retain that public confidence
and sympathy which I am satisfied you deservedly possess.

Much of your success results from that harmonious feeling
which prevails throughout the higher staff, and from that
kindly union which exists between the officers and men.
A cultivation of these friendly relations is as essential to
your own comfort as it is conducive to the efficiency of the
service. The association of classes is much better under-
stood than formerly, and the effect, while generating feel-
ings of personal regard, maintains respect, and improves
the discipline of large bodies of men.
The proprietors of the railway have not been insensible
to the moral and spiritual welfare of those they employ;
and the churches aid schools they have erected bear testi-

mony to their desire to elevate their condition. Sunday
labour on the London and North Western Railway has

always been restricted within narrow bounds. If, from the

constitution of society, the use of the arterial lines of na-
tional communication cannot be dispensed with, there is a
wide difference between such a limited use and the employ-
ment of the railway for purposes of mere pleasure traffic.
Your directors have always kept this in view, and have en-

deavoured so to regulate the duty as to afford every man
in the service the means of attending on public worship.

It might easily be shown that this policy has not interfered
with the pecuniary success of the line, while it has tended

to raise the character of the service and the class of men

employed on it.

Permit me, however, on this the last occasion I shall
have of addressing you, to add one friendly word to my
humbler co-labourers in the service. Your directors and
officers can only afford you the opportunity of attending
the service of God, yet me earnestly entreat you to avail

yourselves of such a privilege : rely on it, in proportion as
you do so, you will find your own comfort and that of your
families increased, and you will certainly realise the truth,
that religion " has the promise of life whi.ch now is, as well
as that which is to come."

And now, gentlemen—old compan ions of many a long
day and night of anxious toil—farewell ; it is a painful
word at all times, in this instance, you have deprived it of
much of its poignancy by the feelings you have conveyed to
.me. Though officially severed, I shall never cease to feel
the deepest interest in everything that concerns your wel-
fare, and I shall ever cherish most highly the parting token
of your regard. It will continue a perpetual memento of
the many years we have laboured together, and of that
assistance and support I have ever received from you, by
which alone I have been enabled, in any degree, to fulfill
• the onerous duties which have fallen to my lot.—l remain,
gentlemen, your obliged and faithful friend and servant,

• MARK HUISH.
To the Committee, the Contributors to the Testimonial.
and Subscribers to the Address.

THE BO3IBAIF TRANSPORT.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

It is fully believed that the Bombay transport,
with troops for India, is safe. The following
telegram from Queenstown was received at the
Admiralty 6.30 p.m., Ist Dec., 1858, from Sir
Henry Chads :
On the 27th ult., at noon, the barque Amazon
spoke the Bombay transport, in lat. 52.15 North,
long. 20.39 West, with three masts gone by the
deck; no want of assistance;_ crew engaged in
rigging jury masts.
Another account says ;—By the arrival in the
Downs of the ship Henry Crook, from Saguenay,
further tidings of a very sad character have been
received of the missing troopship Bombay. The
Henry Crook spoke the Bombay on the 21st Nov.
(three days after she was seen by the schooner
Emma), in lat. 48 North, long. 20, and learnt that
the unfortunate ship had lost her chief officer and
half of her crew. The Henry Crook confirms the
report made by the Emma of the Bombay having
lost her mainmast and mizenmast, and her disabled
state. She was still running to the W.S.W., well
away into the broad Atlantic.

LATEST NEWS.