The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-06 00:00:00

THE TERRIBLE COLLISION ON TIE
LONDON AND _BRIGHTON RAILWAY.

BRIGHTON, THURSDAY.

The sufferers by the frightful catastrophe in the
Clayton tunnel are doing well. Three of the seven
patients in the County Hospital have been dis-
charged as convalescent—Thomas and Geo. Noble,
brothers, who received scalp wounds and were much
shaken, and Thomas Parker, who suffered under
severe bruises and contusions. The four remaining
patients in the County Hospital are Elizabeth
Westcott, bruised and scalded; W. Arnold, right
leg amputated below the knee ; Timothy Tester,
severely scalded and bruised ; and the little
child, Edwing, of London, whose arm was severely
scalded, and both whose legs were broken. No re-
lapse is apprehended by the medical men, from Pre-
sent appearance, in either of these cases.
The London papers, containing the scene in the
Coroner's Court yesterday, upon the threatened
committal of Mr. Slight, the compasy's secretary,
have been in great demand.
The Coroner's inquest has been postponed until
after the next board meeting of the London and
Brighton directors, which will scarcely take place
before Monday. If they will confide the custody
of the documents required by the Coroner to some
officer of the company other than Mr. Faithfull,
the solicitor, and send that official into the Coro-
ner's court with the papers in his possession, the
Coroner will, on his refusal to produce them,
commit him to prison. Should they, however, be
advised that the documents are privileged commu-
nications, it is not expected they will take this
course, but leave the Coroner to settle the matter

with the company's solicitor, who yesterday ad-
mitted that the documents are in his possession.

THE B.RIGHTON RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sir,—A most important point, specially affecting
the Sunday excursion, traffic from Brighton, seems
to have entirely escaped the notice both of the
Coroner's inquest and of your numerous corre-
spondents.
Under the provisions of the Greenwich Railway
Act, no train or engine can, on Sundays, enter or
leave either of the London-bridge termini between
the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Consequently no
train can on that day be despatched from the
Brighton station much later than 9 a.m., with any
chance of reaching London before the afternoon, if
it be liable to be impeded by a Parliamentary train
calling at all stations on the way. The time, there-
fore, during which the whole of the complicated
business connected with the excursion traffic must
be completed in the crowded terminus at Brighton
on the Sunday morning is practically limited to
about one hour, say from 8 to 9 a.m., taking into
account the time before 8 a.m. requisite to collect
the coast line traffic from 40 miles east and west of
Brighton, and to sort and re-arrange the various
trains after they have arrived there, en route for
London.

There can be no doubt that the extreme pressure
thus placed upon the company's officials within
such a limited interval of time has most important
bearing upon the original causes of the late most
deplorable accident.
In order, then, to reduce the chance of further
casualties of the same nature, it follows either that
the number of excursion trains must be limited, or
that means must be found by the Brighton Com-
pany to accommodate an unlimited number with
speed, punctuality, and safety. In fact, as yon have
yourself already remarked, the enormous traffic now
converging at Brighton has entirely outgrown the
capacity of the original line, and the shareholders
must boldly face this unpleasant truth, and prepare
themselves either to stand the fire of competition or
to provide the additional facilities now become ab-
solutely essential.

If they will take the advice of one intimately ac-
quainted with the wants and capabilities of their
district they will adopt the latter alternative, and
will lose nothing by it if ordinary prudence and
honesty guide their coarse. Additional lines of rails
between Norwood (up to which point there are al-
ready four lines) and Brighton are out of the ques-
tion, owing to the number of tunnels, the magni-
tude of the earthworks, and the intervention of the
South-Eastern Company's territory from Stoat's-
nest to Redhill.

There are, however, peculiar facilities for com-
pleting parallel lines at a short distance, both east-
ward and westward of the main line. The keys to
both routes being already in the hands of the
Brighton Company, it will be their own fault if
they do not strengthen their position while they
can at a very moderate cost and with the certainty
of gaining a large access of traffic from the new
country opened up.
To the westward of Brighton the company has a
line running northward from Shoreham to Hors-
ham. They have also the joint ownership of first-
class lines from the London-bridge, Victoria, and
Waterloo stations, to Leatherhead. By connecting
Leatherhead with Horsham, via Dorking, the dis-
tance being not more than 15 miles, they would
carry out the Brighton line as originally projected
by George Stephenson without a single tunnel on
the entire length, and with an increase in the total
distance of only six miles as comnared with the
existing or direct line.
This relief line should be the first commenced, as
it might be completed within two years, in spite of

the Parliamentary opposition threatened by the
South-Eastern Company, and will be self-support-
ing from the very day of its opening. Attention
should then be directed to completing the commu-
nications to the eastward of the main line.

Upon this side you have trains now running from
Brighton as far northward as Uckfield. In the last
session an act was obtained by the landowners to
enable them to extend the Uckfield line to Tun-
bridge Wells by way of Groombridge, mid such
arrangements can be made by the Brighton Com-
pany as will place them in possession of the district
so far to the northward.
From Gro:mbridge there will be no difficulty in
carrying the line forward, either into the East
Kent system at Farnborough, by the formation of
some 20 miles of new line, or into the Brighton
Company's own main line at Norwood or Croydon,
by way of Osted to Caterham. The latter is un-
doubtedly the preferable route, as it will give far
greater accommodation to the county towns of
Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and will secure to the
Brighton shareholders return for their capital already
sunk upon a portion of this proposed eastern loop.
Such is a brief outline of what I believe to be the

true policy of the Brighton Company if they desire

to maintain their 6 per cent. dividend, and I raus'
urge it upon them, regardless of the strictures o

" S. G. 0." upon schemes of further railway ex•

tension.

Management by Boards, and the divided respon-
sibility thence arising, is the root of the evil, and no
railway' will ever be worked either profitably or
safely until each system is placed under tEe sole
charge of one man, who must be subject to no con-
trol beyond those of public opinion and the law of
the lawl. All railway officials (directors excepted)
are agreed D PK/ a this as the correct theory; but the
problem yet to be solved is how to obtain a sufficient
number of leading men in whom is combined the
necessary amount of energy and skill with an average
share of commercial morality, the misfortune being
that most really clever and honest men can do much
better for themselves than by taking service under a
thankless and dissatisfied body of proprietors.
Reverting to the future of the Brighton Company
—though they will of course give no heed to my
advice—let them at least be warned in time of what
is expected from VI; :n, and let them not complain
if they find themselves in the next session of Par-
liament beset on all sides by their envious and not
Very scrupulous neighbours and rivals, who are not
only exulting over the fearful blow which has been
dealt upon the once haughty and boastful manage-
ment of what was thought the best-conducted line in
the country, but are already preparing to utilize it
as capital to serve their purposes in the dire en-
counters of the committee-rooms, which you will
have to ree,,,,a
in the ensuing spring and summer.
London, Sept. 5.
.NEMO.