The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-10 00:00:00

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handed over intact to the charity, and 4e, vivtagd
Letween the three dioceses. They -*if 4.1414 Lb--
Atet4- , any part of the expenses of the festXli*elear: -: '
penses are paid out of the proceeds V-Ihe..eale fiar
tickets, but there is always a bale ce ;against the
stewards, which they have to in kLgoiid put
of their own private purses. -1,-At_ g.ife-rallir-
runs from 201. to 601. each steward. Hence there •
was some years ego some difficulty in get-
ting the required number of gentlemen (12) wil-
ling to undertake the responsibility of the steward-
ship, but no such difficulty has been encountered
this year. On the contrary, 14 gentlemen promptly
undertook the duties and responsibilities. The fol-
lowing is the list of stewards :—Mr. T. G. Parry,
High Sheriff of the County, Right Hon. and Rev.
Lord Saye and Sele, Rev.T. Selwyn, Canon of Glou-
cester, Rev. G. Evans, D.D., Rev. W. L. Darrell,
Rev. H. B. Evans, Thy. T, Peters, Sir M. C. Bowey,
Bart., Mr. W. Dent, Mr. W. H. H. Hartley, Mr. E.
Sampson, Mr. T. Turner, Mr. J. W. Walters, and
Mr. J. Yorke.
The festival is under the sFecial patronage of the
Qaeen. The Duke of Beaufort is the President, and
the Vice Presidents are Earl Fitztiardinge, Earl So-
mers, Lord Lyttleton, arid the Bishops of Gloucester
ar.d Bristcl, Worcester, arid Hereford. Tne Bi,hop
of Gloucester entertains a large party of visitors during
the week. The vocal and instrumental Went secured
by the managers of the fe,tival is of high rank in
the profession. In this respect Gloucester always
stands before Worcester and Hereford; the principal
vocalists are Madame SJittag, Madame Castellan,
Miss Dolby, Miss Williams, and Miss Lucombe,
Herr Formes, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. Phillips, Mr.
Lockey, and Mr. Lawler. The band is from the
Philharmonic Concerts and the Royal Italian Opera;
Mr. Blagrove, the leader, and Mr. Arnott, conductor.
The choral body is selected with care from the
choral societies and choirs of Exeter-hall, Bristol,
Norwich, Windsor, Worcester, Hereford and Glouces-
ter. Altogether the orchestra numbers in force about
200, which is quite sufficient for all the purposes of a
cathedral choir.

The scheme has already been briefly summed up.
The oratorios are the Messiah and Elijah, and part
of the Creation. Mendelsshon's sacred cantata, "Lauda
Zion," will be given, and a new sacred song by Dr.
Wesley, which was rehearsed today, and pronounced
by critics as one of the most beautiful of modern
productions. Dr. Wesley will conduct it in person,
and Mr. H. Phillips will sing it. This is one of the
few novelties of the festival. Among the sacred airs
allotted to Madame Sontag are the " Rejoice greatly"
and " With verdure clad," from the Creation,
Hear ye, Israel," from Elijah, and Handel's " Holy,
holy," and " Let the bright Seraphim." The prima
donna sings no less than four times at each of the
evening concerts.

The nave of the cathedral has been appropriately
fitted up for the sacred performances, and looked ex-
ceedingly well to-day. There is nothing glaring
about the additions and decorations, but all harmo-
nizes as nearly as it may with the building itself.
The concerts will be given in the County-hall, an
elegant room capable of holding two or three thou-
sand persons. It has just been beautifully painted
and decorated.

RAIL WAY INTELLIGENCE.
KENDAL AND WINDERMERE RAILWAY.—At a spe-
cial meeting of this company, at Kendal, or Friday,
the directors were authorised to borrow 16,0001. at
4f per cent., which will save the necessity of calling
up so much of the preference shares, and the company
per cent.
ORLEANS, TOURS, AND BORDEAUZ RAILWAY: The
French Government have amended the original con-
cessions granted to this company. The original lease,
which was 27 years 278 days, has been extended to
fifty years, to date as before from the entire comple-
tion of the double line from Orleans to Bordeaux,
which will be effected in about six 3ears from the
present time. The great advantage arising from this
augmented term is a reduction of 1 1-10 per cent. in
the sinking fund, and a consequent increase of divi-
dend to that extent. The company is permitted to lay
a single line of rails on the remaining sections from
Tours to Bordeaux, three years being allowed for the
addition of the second line to each respective section,
as may be thought most advantageous to the company.
The effect of this clause will be to spread over a pe-
riod of six years one-half the remaining calls, while
the last payment may be delayed for nine years from
the present time. The opening of the section from
Augoule'ine to Libourne is postponed until the comple-
tion of the line from Libourne to Bordeaux. By this
concession the company is spared the loss of working an
isolated portion of the line which by the new ar-
rangement will not be opened until all the remaining
sections are nearly ready for traffic. The French
Government, in agreeing to these modifications, have
imposed some new conditions on the company. It
may be remembered that the State undertook the
construction of this railway, leaving to the company
only the laying of the rails and the supplying of the
rolling stock. By the new arrangement, the stations
on the line have been added to the company's charge.
The maximum of this outlay will be 4,000,0001.
(160,0000 Two years were before allowed for the
opening of any section with a double line of rails
from the date of such section being delivered over to
the company by the State ; but by the new conces-
sion they are obliged to open each section for traffio
with a single line within one year of its delivery by
the Board of Public Works. The obligation to call
12,000,000 f. (480,0001.) within two years, or to show
an expenditure equal to that amount : the object of
this clause is to ensure the early completion of the
line. The company have proved the expenditure of
3,000,000 t. (120,0001.) for the current half-year.
NAMUR AND LIEGE RAILWAY.—THE LATE Is UN.
DATIONS IN BELGIUM.—The directors of the Namur
and Liege Railway having received information of
serious damage having been done to the works on their
railway by the late sudden and unexampled inunda-
tions in Belgium, made a tour of inspection over their
various lines of railway on the 27th August, accom-
panied by the resident engineer of the company.
They discovered that on the Mons and Manage line
two breaches had been made in the embankment at
Havre and Ville.sur-Haine, one of 230 feet, the other
of 164 feet in length. The height of the embank-
ments at those places places was 13 feet. At Obourg
there are 820 feet of the embankment carried away.
Near Mons 492 feet of embankment are more or less
damaged ; but not a single portion of masonry of any
kind has been injured, notwithstanding the immense
rush of water which took place. The traffic on one
half of the line, viz., from Havre to Mons, has been
entirely suspended on account of these injuries to the
works, which occurred on the 17th and 18th August
last. Immediate measures were taken by the resident
engineer to repair the breaches made in the embank-
ments, and the utmost energy continues to be dis-
played by the contractor, so that by the 10th (this day)
the trafice will be resumed to Mons, and by the be-
ginning of October the line will be completely re-
stored at a total cost to the company of about 2,000/.
sterling. On the Namur and Liege line very little
damage has been done to the works. The newly-
made embankments near Namur and Flone have
slightly subsided ; but as this effect must have oc-
curred during the ensuing winter, the consolidation
of these works will be hastened rather than retarded by
what has now occurred, and the expense will be borne
by the contractors. On Monday, -the 2d inst., the
directors, accompanied by the resident engineer, the
contractors, the resident director, and other officers of
the company, made an experimental trip with a loco•
motive carriage over the Namur line from the junc-
tion with the Government line near Liege (about one
mile and a quarter from the company's station at
Liege) to within a quarter of a mile from the station
at Namur, a distance of thirty-five miles. The
smoothness of the line was the subject of general re-
mark, and the beautiful order in which the works
generally appeared was highly gratifying. With
trifling exceptions the double line of w ay is laid
throughout the whole distance. The temporary sta-
tions and fences have yet to be placed, but all the
more important works are finished. The opening of
the line, therefore, for internal traffic will most pro-
bably take place about the middle of Oetober.
QUEBEC RAILWAY.—The directors of this com-
pany have issued an article, informing the Englieh
shareholders that they had succeeded in incorporating
class A shareholders, and thus limiting the amount of
their subscriptions. The privileges and advantages
possessed by the company may be briefly stated, as
comprising an equal participation with the provincial
class B shareholders in the gift of all the ungranted
land to the extent of five miles on both sides of the
first section of the line, amounting to above a quartet
of a million of acres; interest at 6 per cent. on de-
posit and calls until the line is opened for traffic • a
minimum dividend at 6 per cent. guaranteed by the
province for 25 years after the line is opened, which
is increased to a preferential dividend of 7 per cent.
during the 25 years, and in all perpetually thereafter
by the class B shareholders ; and an equal participa-
tion with the class B shareholders in the surplus
profits, after the latter have received 7 per cent.
The line is the shortest route to the Canadas through
British territory, and runs nearly parallel with the
boundary, as settled by the late Lord Ashburton.

ALARMING EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER. On
Thursday last the town of Airdrie was thrown into a state of
considerable excitement, in consequence of the explosion of
a quantity of gunpowder in the shop of a spirit-dealer named
Peter Galloway. It appears that Galloway had been empty-
ing the powder from an eighth barrel into a flask, for the
purpose of blasting on the following day; and, while doing
so, he held in his mouth a lighted tobaccepipe, from which
a spark fell into the barrel, when the whole instantly ex-
ploded, carrying before it all the partitions and walls, till it
reached the adjoining shop of Mr. John Shanks. In this
shop also there were 281bs. of powder, which exploded, knock-
ing out the windows, and throwing into the street a quan-
tity of goods which the shop contained. After the excite-
ment had somewhat subsided, the people, who had been at-
tracted by the noise of the explosion, went into the houses,
and found six men fearfully burnt. The men, we believe,
bad been drinking in the shop. Among the sufferers was a
child of tender years, belonging to Dundyran.