The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-25 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In yonr paper of Saturday last I observe a letter
from Sherborne terming the report of the railway meet-
ing :held at Weymouth on the 17th instant, a part of
which appeared in your journal the following day, as in-
complete and inaccurate, inasmuch as Sir John Audrey
is named as a Director of the Great Western Company
instead of the Weymouth, Somerset, and Wilts Company,
and that Mr. Eliot is described as taking the opportunity
of informing the gentlemen of the Great Western Com-
pany of the dissatisfaction, &c., instead of the gentlemen
of the Weymouth, Somerset, and Wilts Railway Com-
pany ; and further, Mr. Brunel is made to say that the
engagements of the Great Western are very numerous.
So they are, I doubt not ; but Mr. Brunel did not tell
the meeting so. And Mr. Hopkins said nothing about
the Great Western monopolising the whole of the south
coast, nor is it evident how they can monopolise the coast
at all by an internal line. In reply, allow me to ob-
s,...rve that it is immaterial whether in the delay of the
consLruction of the works at Weymouth the complaint is
directed to the Great Western Company, or the Wilts,
Somerset, anti Weymouth Company, as, virtually, they
are one and ase same company. The Great Western
Company having o,?en the originators of the line, car-
ried it through ParliaraLs.rit, and have since leased it to
themselves in perpetuity. 2.4 r. Brunel did tell the meet-
ing that the engagements of Great Western were
numerous, and that those engagements would not cease
until after the 30th November, and vvorls to that effect are
attributed to him in the report of the mepting which ap-
peared in the Dorset County Chronicle (a edt)), of which
I forward you). And, lastly, as regards Mr. Hopkins,
I copy an extract from his speech as reported in the
before-mentioned paper, where, in speaking of the two
competing lines, Weymouth to Exeter coastwise, and
Bridport to Exeter, with branches to the coast, he says,
" Was it to be endured that the Great Western should
have the monopoly of the country, and that ro indepen-
dent Company should carry out a line however its supe-
rior merits might recommend it ?"
I admit that my report is incomplete, as, had I sent a
verbatim one, it would have occupied an entire page of
1 The Sun. It is though substantially correct.
I should have been at a loss to understand why your
correspondent had so trifled with: the columns of your
caper had I not good reason to believe that he had an
eng;tgement from a morning paper, and was annoyed at
being fvrestalled by the report first appearing in The
Sun.—l an, Sir, your obedient servant,
YOUR REPORTER.

Weymouth, IN-; v. 24, 1845.

-- --
ACCIDENT AT THE OPENING OF THE BRIGHTON
AND CHICHESTER RAILWAY,—The Brighton and Chichester
Railway was opened yesterday (Monday) as far as Worthing,
General Pasley having certified that the line, although only
one set of rails is as yet laid dos-'n between Shoreham
and Worthing, is fit for traffic. Ile first three trains
from Brighton, and the first two from Worthing, went
through, carrying a considerable number pf passengers ;
but the third train from Worthing, which starts fifty: five
minutes after twelve o'clock, on arriving at
within a short distance of the residence of the latstThomas Lloyd, Bart., met with an accident whichs
ut_ri
Lansieqr,
inter-
rupted the traffic for the rest of the day. At thue_ pad,.
question two horses veers drawing acm the
waggons on a temporary line of rails, or rather
halfx
mile in
permanent rails which are laid down for aboutubaetve c e
.;1 pre-
this locality; and the driver neglecting t
ta bridle, the al; imal
caution of holding the leading horses
trails
train f e
started off into the permanent line_ thiivrasi
in advance of th,:'
just as the engine
was coming up, and the tender, which
was capsized off the rails,
engine, knocked downtbeardrstaelwrudgruavnerovthere
iiito.rseTwhehteennbdeer-
over, but remained on one of the rails
tzgeiennetwheasfurolsuntttrduirhuind is heels, killed it on the spet. The
•
so as to obstruct the passage. Fortunately, the pace of the
train being slow, none of the passengers were injured ; but in
consequence of the accident they were detained for two hours,
when they
were removed to another train and proceeded to
Brighton. All subsequent trains were more or. less delayed,
the whole of the afternoon being employed in an endeavour
to get the engine and tender righted. The driver of the
horses was taken into custody and handcuffed.
NEW ZEALAND.—lntelligence from Cook's Straits,
to the 17th May, came to hand yesterday. There had been
no outbreak, but it is clear there will be one as soon as the
Government attempt to remove the natives from the valley
of the Hutt, which has been three times paid for. Raupahara,
one of the chiefs concerned in the Wairau massacre, and to
whom the money was paid for this land lay Governor Fitz-
roy, had been to the Hutt to endeavour to persuade the na-
tives to leave, but they treated him with perfect contempt.
The Government must either give up New Zealand or force
the natives from this land, which has beets so dearly paid
for ; and whenever they attempt to give the settlers posses-
sion, then will the scenes of the north be re-enacted in the
south.—Svdstey Morning Herald, June 19.
Earl Ducie has consented to take the chair at the
Anti. Corn-law meeting, to be held in the public rooms,
Broadmead, Bristol, on Friday, • the sth of December.
Messrs. Cobden, Bright, and Milner Gibson, M.Fls., will be
present on the occasion. Mr. C. Villiers, M.P., is also ex-
pected,—Bath Journal.

RECEIPT STAMPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

am induced to solicit the indulgence of a
corner in your extensively circulated journal, in refer-
ence to stamp receipts.
Having resided some years in the metropolis, my avo-
cation has afforded me ample opportunities of witness-
ing the wholesale manner in which an important branch
of the revenue is defeated and evaded, by the almost
universal practice of traders and merchants in the City
giving mere simple acknowledgments, (frequently in a
book kept generally for the purpose by commercial
houses) thus avoiding stamps and, indeed, receipt
stamps are rarely considered necessary by a very large
number of houses of business.
The Government cannot be aware of the immense ex-
tent of this illegal practice, if so, the official authorities
connected with this particular department of the revenue
(who, I believe are pretty well paid by the country for
their services) must treat the matter with impunity. If
other branches in their public capacity, as the Customs
for instance in cases of smuggling, are so exact in re-
quiring, under heavy penalties, the strict letter of the
law, ought not this lucrative department to be equally
vigilant ?
I would humbly submit for the consideration of the
Legislature, that a uniform penny receipt stamp be
made compellable, and the only legal discharge for all
amounts above a certain fixed sum ; and I firmly believe
such an enactment would prove of equal advantage to
the revenue, as I am quite confident that under the pre-
sent system many hundreds of thousands, yea, millions
of pounds sterling, are annually paid without a stamp ;
whereas, by a uniform compulsory Act, as suggested,
no one would think of paying or receiving money with-
out the stamp, and books of such stamps would then be
universally kept by every house of business, and be also
in general request at private houses.
In connexion with this interesting subject, I beg leave
to name the heavy duties on fire insurance policies, so
detrimental, by preventing many, who would otherwise
avail themselves of the advantages of these provident
institutions.

I suggest these brief considerations during the Parlia-
mentary recess, and if deemed worthy of publicity, I
hope the nation will thereby derive relief and advantage
from the next Ministerial Budget.
Trusting you will excuse the length of my remarks,
allow me to remain, Mr. Editor, very respectfullyours,
A COMMERCIAL MAN.
Brighton, Nov. '24th, 1845.