The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-01 00:00:00

THE NAVI.

Ron' ,ours have been current for the past week
that t he Princf3ss Royal, 91, screw, fitting out at
Port £mouth Its flagship of Rear-Admiral Smart,
Co ir.mander-i n-Chief of the Channel Fleet, was in
v.), rotten a state that the Revenge, 91, screw
'steamer, at Devonport, was about to be substituted
Tor her. This is contradicted by the authorities at
Portsmouth, where, whatever may be the ship's
condition, no steps have been taken to examine into
it since she received a new stern in No. 1 dock sub-
sequently to her last commission. Rear-Admiral
Smart hoisted his flag on board yesterday. Mr.
John Davey, inspector of machinery afloat, has also
joined the ship for service with the Channel Fleet.

The kimoitalite, 51, screw, Capt. G. Hancock, is
ordered, to receive stragglers belonging to the ships
of Rosa-Admiral Erskine's division of the Channel
Fler,t, for conveyance from Spithead to Lisbon.
Should all the stragglers be recovered, the Immor-
tulite will scarcely find room to stow them.
The Stork gunboat to the Excellent gunneryship
at Portsmouth, went out of harbour on Tuesday,
and steamed to the back of the Wight to test her
breech-loading guns. During yesterday and Wed-
xesday sbe has taken up a position off the Sirius,
up Portsmouth harbour, for the purpose of testing
the Armstrong and Whitworth guns against a plate
from the sides of the Trusty.

It is rumoured at Devonport that Capt. Henry
Broadhead, now in command of the screw steam
skip Donegal, 101, 800 horse power, one of the
Channel Squadron, is likely to be appointed to the
screw steamship Warrior, 36, of 1,250 horse power,
at Sheerness.
The gunboat Hind, tender to the coastguard
steamship Russell, 60, Capt. G. Wodehouse, at Fal-
mouth, arrived in Plymouth Sound on Wednesday
afternoon with some seamen, and went up Hamoaze.
The banjo of the propeller of the screw steam
ship Hero, 91, Capt. Ryder, in Keyham steamyard,
has been patched, and she will shortly be removed
from No. 3 dock.
Steam was got up yesterday (Thursday) morning
on board the screw steam frigate Narcissus, 50,
Capt. Risk, in the basin at Keyham steamyard, to
try her machinery.
The gunboat Porpoise, 3, was hauled yesterday
into Keyham steamyard, to have her air pump and
condensers overhauled and repaired.
The naval apprentices' brig Nautilus, 6, Lieut.
B. Grant, was hauled into No. 4 dock at Devon-
port dockyard.
Ttte gunboat Redwing, tender to the gunnery
ship Cambridge, 42, Capt. A. Jerningham, in
Hamoaze, took one of her customary trips into
Plymouth Sound yesterday for practice with the
Armstrong gun.
The boys belonging to the training ship Impla.
cable, 24, Commander J. W. Dorville, in Hamoaze,
were exercised yesterday, sending up royal and
topgallant yards, loosening sail, &c.
Commanders J. Dorville, E. D'O. D'A. Aplin, J.
J. S. Josling, and W. Bowden have been promoted
to the rank of Captain ; Lieuts. E. L. Strangways,
W. T. F. Jackson, E. E. Maunsell, T. A. Swin-
burne, W. H. Phipps, J. Murray, R. H. Burton,
W. F. Ruston, T. L. Ward, and J. S. Hudson
have been promoted to the rank of Commanders.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Commander S. B. Dolling
to the Implacable, vice Dorville, promoted; .and E.
Dyer, clerk, to the Princess Royal.

~~

tiveness, the most experienced members of the corps,
and, as the result of that consultation and conside-
ration, had issued a list of names nomina' ed by the
various companies of the regiment, mer ,y italicis-
ing, as commanding officer, those whom he thought
most deserving of promotion. The r. suit was the
election by vote of the following gentlemen to be
non-commissioned officers alphabetically arranged,
the last number showing the company to which
they belong :

_
Company. Company.
Aitchison, Sergeant 6 I Fotheringkam, Sergt.... 1
Brown, Sergeant. 4 Macconochie, Sergeant .. 5
Cameron, Sergeant 2 , Masson 6
Campbell, Sergeant -
Dunlop (C.B
Edward (Indian medals) 1 Oliver, Sergeant 1
Ferguson 6 Pringle, Sergeant .. 6
Mr. FENWICK—How many voted ?
Lord ELcao-276.
Mr. FENWICK—Out of 850 ?

Lord am:l—That was not his business. It
was open to every member to vote, and the unani-
mity of the corps in the election was shown in the
fact that in the first list of 30 nominations issued,
there were 10 approved of by himself and the
Council, and in the final list of 14 appointed, nine
names were italicised by the commanding officer.
(Cheers.) Under any system whatever there must
be heartburnings and jealousies on this question.
When there were many applicants for places, and
only a few places to be filled, disappointment must
follow, and when those so disappointed communi-
cated their feelings to their friends, of course dis-
content was spread, however small the grounds for
this discontent might originally have been. In
his position of commanding officer he had two duties
to perform—one was his duty to the Government,
a duty rigidly defined by the law; the other to
promote to the utmost extent in his power the
harmony and the efficiency of the body under his
command. To any regular, constitutional, and
proper expression of the sentiments and feelings
of the regiment he was always ready to listen, and
although a memorial signed Sy 80 members out of
850 of the effective strength of the regiment had
been sent to him after it had first appeared in a
daily newspaper, he was not indisposed to discuss
the question either in that general meeting, or with
a deputation appointed by it.
A lengthened discussion followed, which termi-
nated in the rejection, by a large majority, of a
motion to appoint a deputation to wait on the
commanding officer. The noble lord then said
that anonymous letters had been published in a
morning journal affecting his conduct as a com-
manding officer. That was a breach of discipline
which he intended tobring before a court of inquiry
if he could find the writer, and it would also be
his duty to institute an inquiry as to the originator
of the irregular memorial to which he had referred.
He should be happy to see any one as to the best
mode of officering the regiment in future if they
came to him in a regular manner; but it must be
understood distinctly that he would stand by the
last appointments. (Cheers.)
The protracted proceedings terminated by the
noble lord and the leading malcontents shaking
hands together very cordially, by three cheers for
Lord Elcho, and three more for the London Scottish
Rifles.

=ELATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON TITL' LONDON
AND SOUT.H-WESTERN .RAILIra r,

The following is a more extended report of the
concluding portion of the inquest than appeared
in The Sun of yesterday:—
Mr. F. Hohler, of Kingston, said he left the
Waterloo Station by the 5.15 train—the train that
followed the 5.10. At the Epsom junction they
were stopped by two danger signals. They were
both alight, and the train therefore came to a dead
stop close to the second light. Heard a man call
out there had been a frightful accident a little
below, and he at once jumped outand ran on to the
junction to render what assistance he could. He
got a light, and after helping some persons, went
forward with two porters. There was a first-class
carriage turned over between the up and down
lines.' One of the porters Palled " Good gracious !
here is a man under here." Witness looked under,
and saw the body of a man underneath. Witness
could only see his head and shoulders, as a railway
mat was over the rest of the body. The deceased
man was lying on his face, and the whole weight
of the carriage rested on the back of his head and
body. A door of the carriage was forced off and
lying near his feet, which were covered with the
sand and ballast. Witness helped to turn over the
carriage, and a gentleman stepped forward and felt
the deceased's head, and said that death must have
been instantaneous. The carriage under which de-
ceased was found was the only carriage which had
fallen upon the six-foot way. The others had turned
to the left and gone over the bank. Deceased, when
found, was lying with his head up towards London,
and witness was sure his legs and the lower part of
his body was quite covered by the gravel and bal-
last whiclehad been torn up by the carriage leaving
the rails and thrown over it. Witness took the
door which had been forced off and a cushion, and
helped to place the body on them. That was the
body the jury had seen that day. George Wyld, M.D., examined—l live at 12,
Great Cumberland-street, St.Marylebone. On Mon-
day afternoon last I was a passenger by the 5.10
train to Guildford. I travelled in the middle com-
partment of a first-class carriage marked " Guild-
ford." I took my seat in the right-hand corner, with
my back to the engine. I believe the carriage was
about, the middle of the train. I did not notice
any guard's van attached to the train as I entered
the carriage; but I can state that after the accident
I saw no guard's van behind us. Two other gen-
tlemen entered the same carriage that I rode in, one
of whom took his seat on my right hand in the
corner, leaving a seat vacant between himself and
me, and the other took the diagonal corner, oppo-
site my first fellow passenger. I observed that the
gentleman who occupied the diagonal corner was
of dark complexion and pale, and that immediately
on taking his seat he covered his face with a white
f
cambric handkerchief, as it intending to sleep. I
took no further notice. of him until I felt a certain
bumping. I should have thought very little of this
bumping, but having been in the accident at
Hitchin in September, 1859, I knew very well that
it indicated something wrong. I felt that it was
utterly useless to move, and I therefore sat fast in
the corner. I then perceived the gentleman in the
diagonal corner stagger to his feet, apparently con-
fused and only half awake. The next moment the
carriage began to heel over towards my side, and I
instinctively seized hold of the partition between
the seats with my left hand. I looked to the left
and almost momentarily saw the ground through a
hole or chasm in the carriage. Immediately after-
wards the gentleman 'who had been in the diagonal
corner fell backwards, his knees being drawn up
towards his head, while his hands, instead of being
convulsivily extended, were held up about a foot
from his face. I observed that his face was per-
fectly calm, wearing net expression of fear or pain.
On falling, ho instantly disappeared through the
chasm. Whether the aperture was caused by the
door being open or the side of the carriage driven
out I could not tell ; but the carriage was falling at
the time and was very near the ground. I did not
hear the gentleman utter a cry or a sound. My
believe is that, not being quite awake when the
accident began, he rose up hurriedly and was
precipitated through the chasm. I cannot say
how far the carriage went, but my impression
him on the gravel. I saw no attempt
in
is that it must have caught him andptmagdreoubnyd
anybody in the carriage to open the door, and
I don't believe that it was opened by the act f
any
passenger. I cannot say positively whether the
window on my side was down, but think most
likely it was so. The window, however, was not
large enough to let a. man_through, and I think he
must have fallen out through the doorway. He
pas
Tsheed
this evidence negative
Cmoeroinnerfa—llDinoges not
the idea which has been put forward, Mr, Bedford,
as to the deceased having thrown himself out of
tin carriage.
Mr. Bedford—Certainly I have not given any
have complained
countenance to such a report ; I
that it should ever have been circulated.

••• • AGY• • •./
Mr.nalrymple( (solicitor for the railway com-
pany)--I think it is sufficiently clear that the door
of the carriage must have been wrenched off, but
as this unfortunate gentleman was found under-
neath the carriage it was at first supposed that he
had been in the act of getting out of it when it fell
over. If any member of Dr. Baly's family has been
pained by the statement of the secretary of the
company on that point, I am.. sure Mr. Crombie is
sorry that he made it. It was the natural infe-
rence he drew from the information given to him
at the time.

Dr. Wyld's examination continued--I cannot
tell whether the door on my side of the carriage
had been locked or not. I did not observe any
officer of the company lock it. I have no doubt
diagonal compartment.
now that the deceased was the person who sat in
the
I got out myself
through the window, Vilich became the roof of the
carriage when it had upset, and' I said to my other