The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-30 00:00:00

It is certainly quite time that the question of
street accidents received very serious attention.
Year by year the traffic through the principal
thoroughfares of this mighty metropolis is on the
increase, notwithstanding all the anticipations of
relief to be given by new streets and additional
railway lines. A slight rise in the number of catas-
trophes during the last few years might therefore
have been reasonably looked for, but the regular
list of deaths from what must certainly be ranked
as a preventible cause amounts in the course
of the year to an aggregate which is really
frightful. A good deal of attention was excited
some time since by the statement of one of our
magistrates that the number cf persons annually
killed in the streets of London exceeded the victims
of all the railway accidents in the kingdom. The
dangers of the railroad are certainly not under-
rated, but few persons seriously set themselves to
consider the amount of suffering and mourning
occasioned by the accidents in the streets. It must
be remembered that we hear of only a part, seeing
that a great number of disasters occur which are
not absolutely or immediately fatal, but which
entail a great deal of pain, loss, and inconvenience
on the victims. If we restrict ourselves, however,
to the facts which are brought directly before us,
and examine the Registrar-General's returns for any
one week, we shall find quite enough to startle the
most indifferent. Taking last week's return as a
sample, we find that eight deaths from carriage
accidents were registered in the week. They oc-
curred in all parts of London—Whitechapel, Ken-
nington, the City. They befel persons of all ages,
from a child of nine, thrown under the wheel of a
waggon, to a pensioner of eighty, run over by an
omnibus. Sometimes they were the fault of the
drivers, as in an instance where the driver of a
van was convicted of manslaughter. Some-
times they were probably the result of
the carelessness or rashness of the sufferers
themselves, as would probably be the case with
children. Omnibuses, carts, vans, waggons, all
alike figure in the deadly list, and members of all
ranks and professions show the risk and the danger.
The other day a well-known country gentleman,
highly respectable, came to London on business to
meet his death from a street vehicle. Still more
recently an old college servant at Westminster was
hurried to his grave in the same fashion. Only the
day before yesterday an inquest was held by Dr.
LANKESTER on a clergyman killed in the Pentonville-
road, by the furious driving of a cart. The House
of Commons has not been spared the reminder by
SYDNEY SMITH, for one of its own members encoun-
tered a serious accident on its very threshold.
Surely, then, it is time that we should bestir our-
selves, and see if some remedy cannot be found for
so great
Spanish hidalgo,
and
general an evil. In spite of the
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liable to the possibility of disaster. The con-
struction of subways, and
the erection of light
bridges at certain busy corners and crossings,
would afford a manifest relief, and considerably
lessen the risk to foot
passengers. As for
the accidents occasioned by the rashness or reckloss -
passengers themselves, those, however
lcannot be reached by legislation, but
inahemessvenetarf hlybtfreequent catastrophes resulting from furl-
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toubt, by increased stringency in dealing with the
dender s. In the new bill for regulating the City
t raffio several clauses are introduced, prohibiting the
,employment of any one under a certain age as
drip ier, and stipulating that the driver's seat should
bo so placed in the van or waggon that he should
bi able to see on both sides, as well as directly in
:front of him. Before the session of 1860 is brought
to a close, we should like to see the whole question
Ireceive the attentive consideration of the Houses of
Parliament, for when three or four hundred of the
population of London alone meet with a violent and
frightful death in the course of the year, it is surely
only right that the Legislature should take the
trouble to inquire whether it does not lay in its
power to lessen the suffering by diminishing the
risk.

A very interesting branch of our railway intelli-
gence is that which concerns the construction of
lines in those countries where the deficiency of the
means of communication has hitherto proved a for-
midable obstacle to national progress and commer-
cial enterprise. In no part of our extensive terri-
tories has this been more strongly marked than in
our Indian Empire, and it is, in fact, only marvellous
that so necessary and profitable a work should have
been left so long in abeyance. The natives, what-
ever their prejudicesin other respects, havebeen eager
to avail themselves of the facilities offered by the
railway. Now that at last we have a change at the
India-office, we must hope that the old obstructive
policy will be laid aside, and that a harmonious
understanding between the Home Government and
the Indian Administration will encourage the pro-
gress of public works and the capacities of the
country. The half-yearly general meeting of the
Scinde Railway Company, which was held on
Wednesday at the London Tavern, was on the
whole encouraging. The opening of the Punjab
line, 253 miles in length, in April last year, has
produced a favourable effect upon the receipts.
Previous to that time only 45 miles were open for
traffic, during which time the expenses of the line
were 72 per cent., but in the six months ending the
31st of December the working expenses were re-
duced to 58 per cent. of the receipts—a satisfactory
change. The conveyance of cotton has already
become an important item in the traffic, GO or 70
trucks being carried over the line daily. The next
great point to be attained is the continuation of the
Punjab line from Mooltan to the Scinde Railway,
along the Indus Valley. The object of this exten-
sion is the formation of a continuous line from the
port of Kurrachee to Umritsui. This would be a
very important achievement, as Kurrachee is the
nearest port to Europe, and when direct com-
munication is established between it and the
Punjab and Delhi, the route to Calcutta
by means of the East India Railway will be direct.
The construction of the Indus Valley line will
shorten the time and distance between Scinde and
the Punjab, thus giving rise to a vast increase of
traffic; and the importance of the scheme commer-
cially has been strongly expressed at a large meeting
of merchants at Umritsur, and the merchants of
Kurrachee have presented a memorial to Govern-
ment expressing their anxiety for the construction
of the line. Kurrachee has risen in importance as a
harbour owing to the success of the improvements
carried out there, and the navigation of the Indus is
likely to be also much improved by the new steamers
constructed by Messrs. LAIRD, SAJIUDA, andNAPIER.
The shareholders present at the meeting were so
fully impressed with the importance of completing
the communication between Scinde and the Pun-
jab that they requested the directors to memorialise
the Secretary of State on the subject. We hope
that the matter will be taken up in earnest, and
that no official delay and negligent indifference will
be allowed to interfere with so seasonable a scheme.
The vast extent of our Indian possessions renders a
complete and rapid system of communication indis-
pensable to the welfare and development of the
country, and, the valuable time which has been
suffered to elapse without attempting these improve-
ments is no excuse for further unnecessary delay.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.

The Paris papers are more occupied -with the
Reform Bill, and other English affairs, than with
their own. The Constitutionnel analyses Mr.
Bright's speech at Birmingham, but none of the
papers seem capable of appreciating the vagaries of
the hon. Quaker member. They do not think his
phraseology elegant.
There is nothing of interest about Germany to-
day. The papers published in the Rhenish Pro-
vinces say that a -war with Austria would not be
popular there, because if attended with success it
would only consolidate the anti-constitutional re-
gime of which they complain. The Gazette de
Cologne says that Prussia has no idea of abandon-
ing her projects of annexation, and if the dis-
pute should terminate peaceably that result would
be the consequence of concessions made by Austria,
and not result from any other cause.
Literature is a good profession at Paris. At all
events some authors are well paid. Victor Hugo
received 200,000 fr. (say £8,000) for his three works,
4‘ Les Chansons des Rues et des Bois," the " Tra-
vailleurs de la filler" (just published), and the drama
of " Torquemada." The copyright of "Les Tra-
vailleurs" has been purchased by Messrs. Millaud,
the proprietors of Le Soleil (the Paris Sun), who in-
tend to publish a portion of the work daily in that
paper. It is said they gave £2,000 for the privilege.
A Mon. Jean Dumerst has just died in Paris at
the house of his daughter, Route d'ltalie. He was
born at Moulins in 1760, and was consequently 106
years old. He was in full possession of all his facul-
ties.

The Paris pickpockets are still going ahead. A
gentleman who had received 10,000 fr. in notes from
the Bank was proceeding home along the Rue
Vivienne, when a man spat upon his paletot, as if
by accident. The gentleman turned round very
angrily and told the person to be more careful. The
latter appeared to be extremely sorry, made many
apologies, and, taking out his handkerchief, wiped
the paletot carefully and elaborately. During the
operation he contrived to pick the pocket of the
gentleman of his pocket-book containing the notes.
The robbery was instantaneous, and the loser did
not feel the slightest touch. The pick-pocket bowed
very gracefully after wiping the coat.
The distribution of prizes to the competitors who
breed cattle took place yesterday at the great cattle
market at Poissy. M. Behir, the Minister of Agri-
culture, presided, and made an elaborate and in-
teresting speech relative to the state of agriculture,
the cattle trade, and other matters con-
nected with those subjects. M. Bchir, on
the part of the Government, admitted that
the agricultural body were suffering under great
depression, and said that every facility would be
afforded to the Commission of Inquiry about to
commence an investigation into the causes of the
depression, and the best mode to remedy it. " The
ieality of the sufferings of the agriculturists was
proved, and the gravity of the position might be
calculated from the fact that the average produce of
corn having fallen in 1865 to about 13 hectolitres
per hectare, each hectare had only produced 221 f.
71c., a sum nearly a third less than the average
produce of preceding years, which was in most
cases insufficient to remunerate the growers for
their expenses." M. Behir denied that free trade was
the cause of the lowness of the price of wheat, and
proceeded to refer to the cattle disease. in England he
said it had naade 150,000 victims. In France, however,
he thought all danger was over, and as far as his
department was cougerned be should persevere in