The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-30 00:00:00

Manor, n pi ,turn, gallery, 100 feet In length, for the re•
coption chiefly of portraits of the moit ernin. ut men of
the press nt day. His present collectio❑ of pictures at
the manor is already among the largest, if not the lar-
gosts of modern date in this country, and it is constantly
being extendtd. The new gallery will be-fitted up in the
richest manner with carved oak and polished marble,
now preparing.

authority of the most eminent engineers of the day,
that it will effect any saving of time—in fact, the
distance gained is mostly, if not entirely, gained
between London and Peterborough. In order to
undereand this part of the case clearly it should be
viewed solrily with reference to a direct communica-
tion between London and York, that is, irrespective
of branches, regar ling the main line from London to
York on the one hand, and the direct extension of
existing lines on the other.
The direct line from London to York will be 188
miles. Its cost (of this main line alone), in the esti-
mation of the most eminent engineers, cannot be less
than the whole of their assumed capital of 5,000,0001.
The extension of the Northern and Eastern line
from Cambridge to the York and North Midland at
Monk Frysbone, will be 132 miles, the cost 1,950,0001.
It should be borne in mind that to complete the
chain of railway communication between Ipswich,
Harwich, Colchester, Stowmarket, Bury St. Ed-
mund's, Newmarket, and Cambridge, a line must be
made from Cambridge to Peterborough ; whilst from
the north, to give the desired communication between
the manufacturing districts and Lincolnshire, a line
must also be made from Bawtry to Lincoln ; there
would still be wanting a line from Lincoln to Peter-
borough, to perfect the entire chain of railway com-
munication ; and that line must be made in order to
accommodate the heart of Lincolnshire.
Again I must refer your readers to the map; they
will perceive at a glance that there must be one
line of continuous railway from Bawtry, by Lincoln,
through the heart of Lincolnshire, by Peterborough
and Cambridge, to London, and I am sure, if they are
not Proprietors in the Witham Navigation, or unfor-
tunate Shareholders in the London and York, they
will acknowledge that another new, expensive, and
entirely competing line from Bawtry to London can-
not be justified on any ground of national importance,
and cannot hold out any reasonable prospect of return
to the Proprietors.
The third point of inquiry in the memorandum
issued by the Board of Trade is, as to the amount of
advantage afforded to the towns and districts more
immediately affected.
It' we take up the London and York line from its
London terminus, and trace the route to Peterborough
in connexion with other existing and projected lines,
we find that the towns and districts which it would
accommodate may be otherwise provided for at much
less expense, and, consequently, to their much greater
advantage Hitchin and Biggleswade may be accom-
modated by the Eastern Counties projected extension
from Ware to those places • Bedford by the projected
branch to that town from the London and Birming-
ham Railway; St. Neot's and Huntingdon by the
projected line from Ely to Bedford, which will inter-
sect the main trunk of the Cambridge and Lincoln
at St. Ives; Peterborough, by the Cambridge and
and Lincoln line; proceeding northwards from Peter-
-borough we find that Stamford will be accommodated
by the Syston and Peterborough line, and the branch
from the main trunk of the Cambridge and Lincoln,
uniting it with its ancient natural port of Spalding;
Newark, by the projected extension line from Not-
tingham to Lincoln, leaving Grantham the only place
of any note which will not be accommodated by lines
actually projected and now under the consideration
of the Board of Trade; surely no man in his senses
will say that a parallel and competing line of railway
from Bawtry to London is required for the accom-
modation of Grantham, which might be united by a
branch to the main trunk of the Cambridge and Lin-
coln line.
The loop from Bawtry by Gainsborough, Lincoln,
Boston, and Spalding, to Peterborough on the one
hand, and to Sheffield and Wakefield on the other, is
designed to connect Lincolnshire with the manufac-
turing and mineral districts. The writer in the
Journal in reference to this loop says—" Its great
merit appears to be, that it furnishes a direct commu-
nication north and south for the chief towns of Lin-
colnshire, and at the same time affords them the
means oisending their produce to the largest markets,
and furnishes an outlet for the extensive manufactur-
ing districts through and to which the Manchester
and Leeds, and Sheffield and Manchester Railways
go; we look, therefore, upon the line, without the
loop, to be an imperfect work, and but very indiffe-
rently filling up the great chasm left, or we may
rather say made, by the establishment of the present
railways."
That the line, without the loop, would be imper-
fect, every one must admit—whether the loop will
give the most direct and the cheapest communica-
tion between Lincolnshire and the Manchester and
Sheffield and Manchester and Leeds Railways, and
whether it will afford that accommodation to the traf-
fic between Lincolnshire and the manufacturing and
mineral districts which its great importance demands,
are questions of serious moment, and it behoves those
who have embarked their money in the London and
York scheme to ponder them well.
Facts and figures are stubborn things. As I have
before stated, the London and York Company, with
a view to connect the manufacturing districts with
Lincolnshire, propose to make the following branch

LONDON AND YORK RAILWAY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,—The Times of the 24th inst. contained an
advertisement on the part of the London and York
Railway Company directing the attention of its
readers to a statement of the merits of their under-
taking to be published in Ilerapath's Railway Journal
of Saturday last; that statement, as embodied in a
leading article of the journal, headed London and
York Railway, is now before the public, and deserves
the most serious consideration on the part of those who
have embarked their money in any one of the
various projects for accelerating the communication
between the metropolis and the north.
I am surprised that the writer of the article in ques-
tion should have felt it difficult to enter on a matter
of so much importance as a new line of railway to
York, when he was able to demonstrate so clearly as
lie has done the necessity which exists for a new line
of railway, east of the existing lines, to accommodate
the extensive and productive district I) ing to the
north of Cambridge; his difficulty was not to demon-
strate the necessity for such new line of railway, but
to show that the project of the London and York was
the one best adapted for the purpose; this was the
difficulty with which he had to grapple, and that he
felt it to be no inconsiderable one is clear from the
candid admission he afterwards makes,' viz.—" We
could have wished, and so we have repeatedly said
in this journal, and to the promoters of the London
and York line privately, that it had started from Cam-
bridge or Ware, and gone into the York and North
Midland at Burton Salmon." -
I freely admit that a new line of railway to the
east of the existing lines north of Cambridge is re-
quired, and I could wish, with the writer of the article
in question, that it should start from Cambridge and
go into the York and North Midland. I never could
see why the new line should start from London and
terminate at York—why an immense outlay of capi-
tal should be made and important existing interests
be most deeply and injuriously affected, for objects
which can be much better attained at less than half
the cost and without detriment to any interests ; it isa
case which more than any other demands the dispas-
sionate consideration of an impartial tribunal, and I
am confident that no array of names, no extent of in-
fluence, no tact in getting up deputations or memo-
rial, will operate on the minds of the Railway Com-
missioners of the Thud of Trade, or withdraw their
attention from the real merits of the case, and a just
appreciation of the many important interests involved
in it.

In the memorandum issued by the Board of Trade
;o the public several points were enumerated as those
nto which inquiry would be made. It may not be
unprofitable to your readers, at least to that portion
of them who are interested in the question, to advert
to those points, and to consider in how far the scheme
of the London and York Company is calculated to
satisfy the inquiries of the Board of Trade.
The first point is as to the ability and bona fide in-
tention of the promoters to prosecute their application
to Parliament in the next session fur a Bill to autho-
rise the undertaking.
I will assume, as I have no doubt is the case, that
the ability and bona fide intention of the promoters
of the Bill to prosecute their application to Parlia-
ment in the next session, is unquestionable.
The second point is, as to the advantages to be ob-
tained in a national point of vier:, in completing or
extending important lines of railway communication.
The scheme of the London and York Company is
neither the completion nor the extension of an im-
portant line of railway communication ; on the con-
trary, it involves the construction of 330 miles of
railway, wholly independent of, and to a great extent
competing with, other existing lines, whilst, from the
vast amount of capital which must be expended in its
construction, the number of tunnels, viaducts, high
embankments, apd deep cuttings, which are requisite
to give it a gradient of one in 200, i# cannot hold out
any commensurate advantages to the public.
In a national point of view, we may consider the
scheme under three distinct heads :-
1. As a new and independent line from London to
Peterborough.
2. As connecting the fertile districts of Lincoln.
shire with the southern and eastern parts of the king-
dom, and with the manufactures and coal fields of the
north and west.
3. As facilitating the communication between the
metropolis and the north of England and Scotland.
As a new line from London to Peterborough it is
wholly unnecessary; no one can trace its route be-
tween the London and Birmingham Railway on the
one side and the Northern and Eastern on the other,
without involuntarily exclaiming, why did it not start
from Cambridge ? It is evident from the nature of
the country it will traverse, that it must be most ex-
pensive and difficult in its construction ; the first 30
miles from London will require an enormous outlay of
capital, then it will pass through some of the finest
garden land in England, and, after all, it will be a
competing line with an existing and important rail-
way, which has the strongest and most unequivocal
claims to the protection of the Board of Trade and of
Parliament.
In short, any one who takes a map of the country
in his hand, and traces the proposed new line between
London and Peterborough, must perceive that it is
wholly uncalled for by local wants, and cannot be re-
garded otherwise than as a wanton interference with
private property, and an unjustifiable invasion of the
rights and interests of others, without affording any
adequate advantages to the public. The promoters of
the undertaking may disregard the wishes and the
private remonstrances of individuals, but they cannot
escape the control of public opinion and the calm and
deliberate judgment of a competent and impartial
tribunal.
As a means of connecting the fertile districts of
Lincolnshire with the southern and eastern ports of
the kingdom, and with the manufactures and the coal
fields of the north and west, the London and York
line is badly conceived, and cannot stand in com-
parison with other projects fer attaining the same
objects. •
It wholly disregards Cambridge, the most important
and populous town between London and York, which
has always been the centre of traffic for all the sur-
rounding districts, and ought to be on the direct line
of any railway communication between the metro-
polis and the north, and between the fertile plains of
Lincoln and the ports of Ipswich and Harwich;
moreover, in a national and commercial point of view,
the metropolitan terminus of the London and York
line will be in no respect equal to the termini of the
Eastern Counties Railway. The Tottenham and
Farringdon-street Junction will afford the most cen-
tral and convenient terminus in London, as well for
passengers as for the traffic of the agricultural coun-
ties, whilst the Thames Junction Railway and the ex-
tension of it to the river side, opposite Woolwich,
" will afford to the Government the terminus of a rail-
way placed practically at the doors of Woolwich
Arsenal ;" in addition to which a junction could be
readily efected between the Eastern Counties and
Blackwell Railways, so as to connect the manufactur-
ing districts with the docks.
As regards the communication between Lincoln-
shire and the manufacturing districts and coal fields
of the north, the promoters of the London and York
Company have entered into a conditional agreement
to buy up the Witham Navigation, and to construct
a single line of railway along the banks of the river
Witham, from Lincoln to Boston, and from Boston
across the fen land, through Spalding, to Peterbo-
rough; from Lincoln by Gainsborough, Bawtry, and
Doncaster, the line is common both to the London
and York and the Midlands; but to communicate
with the manufacturing districts and coal fields the
London and York propose to make a branch from
Bawtry to Sheffield of twenty miles, another from
Doncaster to Wakefield of nineteen miles, and a third
of four miles branching out of the Wakefield branch
into the York and North Midland, to communicate
with Leeds—in all forty-three miles of railway ;
whilst the Midlands propose to attain the same objects
by a branch of eight miles from Doncaster to Swin-
ton, and another of near four miles from the North
Midland to the Manchester and Leeds—in all twelve
miles of railway.
I am most anxious to avoid any mis-statement, or
to give rise to any misconception on this most impor-
tant subject, but I ask your readers, who are inte-
rested, to refer to the published plans of the Company
and to judge far themselves. I maintain that a single
line of rails carried transversely across Lincolnshire,
from Lincoln to Boston, and thence by Spalding to
Peterborough, will not meet the wants, or accommo-
date the traffic, of that most fertile and Firodnetive
county; and that the proposed communication by the'
ondon and York lines with the manufacturing and
mineral districts will be unnecessarily expensive, and
consequently disadvantageous to the community at
large. Neither the Board of Trade nor the Houses
of Parliament can disregard these considerations, for
if there is one principle more than another which, in a
national point of view, should govern their decisions in
respect of competing lines of railway, it is that the
existing intert h s
otsf,
the hocuol
Englandmd bem u
apnnri
cde
af et
sirrocneodtbi
ae
tnldv
most direct and least expensive line, m connexion with
eln a
dLondon
andAst hen facilitatingor
on that the London and York scheme will save
eight or nine miles in the entire distance over any
route which can be laid down as an extension of the
Northern and Eastern line; but I deny, on the

railways, viz.— _
From Bawtry to Sheffield •
From Doncaster to Wakefield l9 miles,
From the Wakefield branch into the York

and North 11lid1and,tocotnmunicate with
Leeds O.• 4 miles,

43 miles

The Midlands attain the same
object by two short branches
into existing lines, one from
Doncaster to Swinton....
The other from the North
Midland into the Manches-
ter and Leeds ............... 4 miles 12 miles

8 miles

31 miles.
thus affecting a saving of 31 miles of railway without
materially, if at all, increasing the distance to be
traversed.

But this is not all—a single line of rails between
Lincoln, by Boston and Spalding, to Peterborough,
will not be sufficient for the traffic which, if it be the
only line through Lincolnshire, must come upon fit. The
through traffic from Gainsborough and Lincoln, as
well as that from the fertile and populous district of
country to the north and south of the Witham, would
have no other outlet to the southern parts of the king-
dom, and persons going to and from London would
be taken round by Boston and Spalding; whilst,
after all, the heart of the country, the district along
which its population is chiefly collected, would derive
no advantage whatever from the line.
Of the two_ principal towns on the route between
London and York, Cambridge and Lincoln, one is
wholly disregarded, and the other hut very imper-
fectly accommodated, by the proposed scheme of the
London and York Company. Cambridge, including
its University, containing 29,000 inhabitants, but the
population of Cambridge gives a most inadequate idea
of the passenger traffic of the place,; it is the fre-
quent resort of visitors from all parts of the kingdom,
and three-fourths of the members of the University
being from the northern parts of the kingdom it has
especial claims to the most direct and the cheapest
lines•of railway communication with the north. This

important town and University are altogether disre-
garded by the London and York`Company, and with
respect to Lincoln, the advantages to be conferred,
are of a very secondary kind—a circuitous communi-
cation with the metropolis, and by a single line of
rails to Peterborough, crossing the important drains
and navigations which intersect the fen lands at right
angles, and affording no communication with, or ac-
commodation to, Deeping, Bourn, Folkingham, Slea-
ford, and the numerous and populous villages which
occupy the margin or table land which separates the
high ground on the west of Lincolnshire from the fen
on the east.

I will reserve any remarks on the engineering cir-
cumstances of the line, and the cost of construction
and of traffic, and of working expenses, which com-
prise the remaining points of inquiry to be made by
the Board of Trade, until the public has been fa-
voured with the promised observations on the charac-
ter and works of the London and York Railway. It
is matter of notoriety that these works are of no
ordinary character, and I shrewdly suspect that the
author of the article in the Journal " who could have
wished that the line had started from Cambridge or
Ware, and gone into the York and North Midland at
Burton Salmon," and yet tells us " that he does not
see how under any circumstances it can be mended,"
will not be grievously disappointed if the publication
of the report of the Board of Trzde on the Northern
and Eastern lines, in the course of the present week,
should relieve him from the further prosecution of the
difficult task he has undertaken.

I have seen and read the memorial of the promoters
of the Cambridge and Lincoln Railway to the Board
of Trade, and the documents which accompanied it,
and I shall be glad to see them printed and submitted
to the test of public opinion, from a firm conviction
that they embody the strongest case which can be laid
before Parliament. The Cambridge and Lincoln line
does start from Cambridge ; it is the extension of
an important line of railway communication, one that
was contemplated by the Legislature when the Act
for making the Northern and Eastern Railway was
obtained; that Act, the 6 and 7 William IV., cap.
93, is thus entitled " An Act for making a Railway to
form a communication between London and Cain-
bridge, with the view of its being extended hereafter
to the northern and eastern counties of England."
It is not my intention, on this occasion, to set forth
the merits of the Cambridge and Lincoln line, or the
deep and lasting injury which the carrying out of
the London and York scheme would inflict on the
Eastern Counties proprietary; I will merely observe
that the Cambridge and Lincoln line is the natural
trunk line for the district it will traverse ; that it
will form part of a complete chain of railway com-
munication between London and York, much shorter,
in point of time, than by the existing railways, and
affording the greatest amount of public accommoda-
tion with the leaatexpenditure of capital that whether

TR F SUN, LONDON, TITURSDAY MORNING, JANUARY no, 1

' viewed as an extension of the Nort:,Qrn and Eastern
Rai!way, or as a natural and proper line whereby the
Northern, Midland, and Eastern Counties may be
connected with each other, or as forming a connecting
link between the various railways, of which Cam-
bridge, St. Ives, Peterborough, and Lincoln will be
the respective centres, or as part of a cheap and in-
dependent line of railway between the metropolis and
the north, or as connecting the ports of the eastern
coasts and the metropolis with the markets, manu-
factures, and coal-fields of the north, it presents, from
its non-interference with existing interests, and the
small cost at which, from the nature of the district
traversed, it may be made, maintained, and worked,
advantages of paramount national 'importance, -,and
will afford a greater amount of public accommoda-
tion, for the outlay of capital, than any existing or
projected railway. It has, moreover, the cordial sup-
port of the Eastern Counties and Midland Companies,
who see in it the direct and cheap extension of their
own important lines of railway communication, and
who have mutually entered into an arrangement with
the promoters of the Cambridge and Lincoln line,
which, whilst in every other respect it leaves each
company perfectly free and independent, provides in
the most complete manner for the regulation and for
speedy and cheap transit of the traffic over the entire
line from London to York. The time occupied in the
journey from London to York, including stoppages,
will not exceed seven hours, and the cost of transit
will be less than by any railway which can be con-
structed between the same termini.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant, OBSERVER.
Jan. 27, 1845.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL ON THE
TAXING OF MACHINERY.
At a large meeting of the Spite Melds Weavers' Union
last week, an interesting correspondence between the
sawyers of Oldham and Lord John Russell was read by
Mr. Sherrard,, secretary of the Weavers' Union. The
sawyers' letter, dated September 17. 1844, refers to his
Lordship's memorable speech at the close of last session
as a justification of the liberty of addressing him on the
subject of their grievance, with a view of soliciting his
advice. The following is his Lordship's reply :
" Unsted Wood, Godalming, Sept. 24, 1844.
" Gentlemen,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter, signed byyour secretary, of the 17th instant.
I wish I could bring my opinions to some accordance
with your own, but I fear that it is impossible. While
you seek to put fresh restrictions on the skill and inge-
nuit) of mechanical inventions, it will not be in my
power to assist your endeavours for the benefit of the
sawyers. If I were to do so, I could not stop with your
trade. Nailmakers are in a similar situation, owing to
the new machinery for the manufacture of nails ; other
artisans and agricultural labourers will pray for te like
interference, to prevent the use of new machines which
interfere with manual labour.
" Now, my belief is, that those inventions tend to the
improvement of our condition as a people, and enable us
to support the great weight of taxation to which we are
subjected. Ever since I have known this country
machinery has been in progress towards perfection, per-
forming more and more the task of human hands, and,
at the same time, a great number of people have found
profitable employment.
" I know, and I deplore, that while this progress is
going on, many a workman loses the wages which skill
and experience have enabled him to gain. But, instead
of the perilous course of laying duties on machinery,
which would soon enable foreign nations to outstrip us
in the score of competition, I am of opinion that we
ought to give greater fl•eedom to trade, and, if possible,
so extend the demand for labour, that our population,
greatly increased as it is, may obtain a good price for
their day's work.
" I do not mean to pronounce any opinion on the late
tariff, so far as regards timber. If the sawyers of this
country are subject to unfair competition, they have a
a cause for redress so far as colonial timber is concerned.
—I remain, your most obedient servant,
" J. RUSSELL.
" Mr. Samuel Easthope, White Lion, Oldham."

EXPLOSION OF A LOCOMOTIVE
ENGINE—THREE LIVES LOST.
MANCHESTER, TUESDAY MORNING.—This morning a
most serious accident occurred on the Manchester and
Leeds Railway, by which three unfortunate men lost
their lives, and four others were seriously wounded. The
extraordinary state of confusion which now exists on the
line precludes the.possibility of obtaining the whole of
the particulars, but the following account will be found
correct :
At an early hour this morning the engineer and fire-
man attached to the Irk engine proceeded to the engine
shed, about a mile from the station, at Hunt's Bank, and
commenced getting it in readiness to take the quarter to
seven A.M. train to Leeds. The fireman put on his fires
about half-past four A.m., and in about an hour the steam
was up, or nearly so. The engineer then went under the
engine to examine the working parts, and the fireman to oil
them. They bad not been there long before the accident
occurred. Exactly as the clock struck six a tremendous
explosion was heard by several men on the premises, and
immediately an alarm was given. Mr. Craven, the resident
inspector of the works, on proceeding to the works,
found that the explosion had killed three of his work-
men, and injured four others, and done much damage to
the building. He thus describes the whole affair:—The
engine to which this accident has happened was to have
taken eut the quarter before seven train to Leeds, and
was in course of preparation for that purpose. The
engineer and fireman were both under it at the time of
the accident, examining the works. The roof of the
firebox seems to have given way, and the steam rushing
against the ground blew the engine through the roof of
the shed, which is nearly sixty feet high, carrying with
it more than twenty yards of the roof; and distributing
the fragments in all directions for upwards of one hun-
dred yards distance. At the moment of the explosion
the tender seems to have become detached from the
engine, and was turned over on its side, but was not
materially injured. The engine was on the middle line
of rails, in the shed where the men were at work, with
the firebox towards Manchester ; but when it
alighted it was completely turned round, and on
the outside rails, at a distance of twenty yards
from the place it was first standing. In its
way it passed over another engine, carrying with it the
chimney, whistle, and domes. The poor fellows who
were at work under the engine were dreadfully muti-
lated, both being severely crushed and burned to a cinder
—their heads and brains being completely crushed to a
jelly. The inspector was also much disfigured, and
killed on the spot. The names of the sufferers are
George Mills, engineer ; William Allcoek, fireman ; and
William Stone, inspector. James Neilson, John Wain-
wright, John Hall, and another, are seriously injured.
The engine was built by Mr. William Fairbairn, of this
town, and was first set to work in January, 1840, since
which time it has travelled a distance of 76,860 miles. It
cost 1,4301., and was considered a first-rate engine. The
damage done to the engine will not exceed 250/. At
the present moment the valves are in good working con-
dition, and one of them is protected from being tampered
with by any of the servants, being shut up in a box con-
structed for that purpose.
There is at present no possible means of accounting
for the accident ; but Mr. Fairbairn, and the practical
gentlemen are examining the machinery, with a view of
entering into detail before the Coroner, who will hold
his inquest to-morrow. The unfortunate men have left
wires and families to lament their untimely end.

FOLKESTONE.—On and after Monday, the 27th
instant, letters, &c , for London will leave the Folkestone
post-office at 9.30 A.M. The box will be closed at 9.15
a.m., after which time letters and newspapers will be
received by one penny extra being paid till 9.25, when
the bags will be immediately dispatched. A day mail
will also leave our post-office for Dover at 1.50. There
will be no day-bags to and from London on Sundays.
The number of letters passing our post-office has, since
the opening of the rai:road to the town increased to not
less than five times weekly to that of former years.—
Maidalone Gaze.:
TIIE ROYAL PALACE AT HOLYROOD.—Some im-
provements have lately been made near the Royal
Palace at Holyroed, and negotiations have been pending
for the purchase of other property in Ann's-yard, near
the Palace, with the view of making further improve-
ments in the locality. It appears that the Com-
missioners of Woods and Forests have negotiated with
the Earl of Haddington for the surrender of the office
of Hereditary Keeper of the Palace, which office
was originally created by charters from the Crown,
and became invested in his Lordship and his heirs
of entail. In June, 1843, an award was made, whereby
the price to be paid by the Commissioners on behalf of
her Majestay to the Earl of Haddington, for the said
office of Keeper, and the whole profits, claims of pro-
perty and other rights thereunto annexed, or apper-
taining thereto, and all other estate, right, title, and
interest of the said Earl connected therewith, and for
the surrender of the said office, was fixed at the sum of
30,6741. Is. Bd. ; and the term of Candlemas then fol-
lowing (the 2d of February last) was fixed as the term
of entry from which the office rights, interest, and
properties should b© vested in her Majesty. The money
was invested in the Bank of Scotland, to be re-invested
in the purchase of lands to be settled in the same line of
entail, The Commissioners of Woods and Forests in
their recent report state that " the several purposes of
the Act (6th and 7th Victoria, c. 64), as fir as we are
concerned, have been carried into effect; but, as in terms
thereof they could not be completed before the 2d of
February, the conclusion of these transactions will be
included in a future report."
METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.—On Tuesday se-
veral houses were sold in East Smithfield, near the
London Docks, by auction, by order of the Commis-
sioners of the Woods and Forests, to be cleared away for
the new line of street, which is to pass across High-
street, Whitechapel, from Spitalfields Church to the
Docks. In connexion with these improvements in White-
chapel, a new street is being formed from Houndsditch
to Petticoat-lane, in the construction of which a large
number of very old houses had been removed. Among
the number was one, in which resided the Ambassador
from the Court of Spain, in the reign of Elizabeth, the
foundation, walls of which were in some part about three
feet in thickness ; adjoining which were discovered some
very large vaults.
CORONERSIIII' FOR TIM COUNTY OF :BERKS.--
E. Martyn Atkins, Esq., the High Sheriff of the county,
has just appointed a general county court, for the elec-
tion of a coroner, in the room of the late Mr. May, to be
held at Abingdon on Monday next. There are now six
candidates in the field, the whole of whom are expected
to proceed to the poll. Mr. Field, surgeon, of Reading,
who had solicited the suffrages of the freeholders upon
the death of the late Coroner, has retired from the
contest.