The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-22 00:00:00

MR. LEVER.

Mr. CONINGHAM rose to move the following of which
he gave notice :—That Mr. Irwin's petition, relating to the,
Royal Atlantic Mail Steam Navigation Company, be re-
ferred to a select committee, to inquire into the allegations
of the said petition.
The SPEAKER said that he understood there was no
charge against the hon. member (Mr. Lever) since he be-
came a member, and he thought there was no‘precedent
for the present proceeding. He would leave the matter in
the hands of the house.
Mr. LEVER said that as he was a mercantile man and
engaged in large works it was most desirable that the
charges against him should be investigated without delay.
Sir J. PAKINGTON said that whatever the period
might bo nt which the charge wan made, he thought the
hon. member should have an opportunity of vindicating his
character without delay. (Hear, hear.)
Sir G. GREY said that he had consulted precedents on
this point, and he found that it was only in cases where the
charge made against an hon. gentleman affected his cha-
racter as a member of this house that an inquiry of this de-
scription was granted.
Mr. LEVER, in accordance with the expressed feeling
of the house, then rose to make his explanation. He went
through the petition clause by clause, and denied the various
allegations as they related to him. He denied that Mr.
Irwin was the originator of the Atlantic Mail Steam Packet
Company, and he entered into various details to show that
the other statements were not sustained by facts. He stated
also that Mr. Irwin had been convicted for forgery, and
sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, and fined £5O
at the assizes in Ireland in 1835. He said also that Mr.
Irwin had availed himself of the benefit of the Insolvent
Court to get rid of the costs of a suit against him insti-
tuted by him (Mr. Lever).
After some further discussion, the motion was negatived
without a division.
BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY BILL.

The house then proceeded to consider the Lords' amend-
ments to this bill.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the house
disagree with the amendments of the Lords which related
to the proposed appointment of a chief judge of the court.
Sir 11. CAIRNS seconded the motion, which was agreed
to without a division.

Some of the amendments up to clause 20 were agreed to,
except those in question, which were negatived seriatim.
On clause 21, which related to official assignees, '
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the house
disagree with the amendments of the Lords to this clause.
Mr. M. SMlTH•contended that they ought to postpone
their decision relative to this clause until they disposed of
some of the subsequent clauses when the whole subject in
connection with official assignees was raised.
Sir H. CAIRNS defended the bill as it originally stood,
and said it did away with many grounds of com-
plaint in respect to official assignees, because it pro-
posed to remunerate them by salary instead
of by per tentage as at present. Under the arrangement
proposed by the bill, it creditors did not wish to have any
official assignees to deal with the bankrupt's estate they
were not compelled to do so. To some extent he agreed
with the objections that had led the alterations in the other
house in this clause. But at the same time at this period
of the session he could not take on himself the responsibi-
lity of endangering the passing of the bill by offering any
opposition to the clause.
[LEFT SPEAKING.]

TATTERSALLS'-(TillS EVENING).

GOODWOOD STAKES.
7to 2 agst Elcho (take 4to 1)
7to 1 agst Starke (taken)
8 to 8 agst Schism (taken)
10 to 1 agst Brownie (taken)
10 to 1 agst Canary (taken)
100 to 9 agst Shipwreck (taken)
GOODWOOD CUP.
4to 1 agst Optimist (offered)
6to 1 agst Mons Etoile (taken)
7 to 1 agst The Wizard (taken)
Bto 1 agst Thormanby (taken)
10 to 1 agst Ben Webster (offered)
Ivanhoff was struck out at 9 a.m. this day.

ST. LEGER.
100 to 6 agst Lady Ripon (taken)
THE DERBY.
30 to 1 agst Cellarius (taken)
60 to 1 agst Lacydes (taken)

BORING 211ROUGII MOUNT CENIS.

A communication from an engineer, addressed to
the Perseveranza of Milan, gives some details re-
specting the cutting of the tunnel through the
mountain above mentioned :—" M. Ferruzzi, one of
the Ministers, some deputies, several scientific men,
and M. Somellier, a French engineer, went a few
days back to Bardeneche, and for some hours wit-
nessed the working of the machines for cutting the
rock. The opinion of the scientific men who were
present, and among whom were MM. Sella, Cado-
lina, and Pecceto, is that the mechanical difficulties
of the cutting will be fully overcome. The perforat-
ing machines, in somewhat less than an hour, made
70 holes in the mountain at the end of the opening.
The holes which were made in the centre, in order
to permit a breach to be effected by blasting, were
three centimetres (rather more than inch) in
diameter ; the 'others made round it for the same
purpose were two centimetres. The depth of the
holes was from 60 to 90 centimetres (rather more
than 23 inches to about 35k.) From repeated ex-
periments made in masses of schist with a single
perforating instrument, it was proved that 10 mi-
nutes' labour was sufficient to make a hole of 60
centimetres, whereas by the ordinary means three
workmen would be occupied for an hour in effect-
ing one. The machine employedicuts simultaneously
from 20 to 30 holes in a space of 4 square metres—
that is one in which it would not be easy to employ
three or four men. The machine thus presents an
advantage which, as regards space, is three or four-
fold, and as regards time sixfold, what could be
done by workmen. That advantage is, however,
somewhat diminished by the fact that the machine
must be dragged back to a distance of 100 metres,
or more, whenever blasting has to be resorted to,
and that it cannot be got to work again until after
the ground is cleared of the fragments of rock, and
until the front of the mountain is made tolerably
smooth. But it is certain that when the work-
men shall have obtained greater skill they will
be able to perform the three operations of bor-
ing, blasting, and clearing away in three or
four hours at the outside. When operations
can be commenced on the side of Modane, as
they will be in a few weeks, it is certain that
six metres of rock can be removed in a day.
This will make more than two kilometres
(five-eighths of a mile each) a year, and..s4
probable from what is now being aeeemPli ne"
inated by
the cutting of the tunnel may be
ttehrnel engineer,
that three kilometres may be obtained. In that case
1864. It follows that M. Grattoni, t
said
fi
finished
hheads
harder, water
water
runs little risk by offering to bet,r
how-
done, 100,000 f. that this gretitoni.
in five years. Unforerec obstacles
ever, arise from the roifki b °
lealth°lllo of no great resistance,
rocks
place. But nothing
obstacle: iv:oh-Asi bebe feared.
the side of Bardoneche,
springing, or fissurse:cht
thus far causes
used by water filtering through,
vitelicions veins ; and instea ofin
Tisheofrocska,iiszt
iusufficien-cy
and in which are a
conveniencebeinV
of moisture.
as had been, feared, some is caused by