The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-14 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

NEW STANDING ORDERS

Yesterday tlienewtandinWOider;;ei.atinir, to the passing
of Railway Bills through the House of Commons, as am aided
for use in the ensuing session, were issued. Two altercione
are to take place in the appointment of Committees. The Select
Committees on petitions for private Bills are to divide them-
selves into Sub-Committees, " each consisting of seven mem-
bers at least," and to make regulations for the transaction of
business. The Committee on Standing Orders is to consist of
" eleven" instead of " seven" members—Eve to be a quorum.
The following are the new provisions introduced to meet the
cases of such Railway Bills as were before the House last ses-
sion, and which are likely to be introduced in the next :
ONE-TENTH PART OF THE AMOUNT SUBSCRIBED TO
BE DEPOSITED.—" That previous to the presentation of a
petition for a Railway Biil, a sum equal to one-tenth part of
the amount subscribed shall be deposited with the Court of
Chancery in England, if the railway is intended to he made
in England ; or with the Court of Chancery in England or
the Court of Exchequer in Scotland if such railway is intended
to be made in Scotland; and with the Court of Chancery in
Ireland, if such railway is intended to be made in Ireland. Pro-
vided that the above order shall not apply to any railway Bills
that have been before Parliament dosing the present session,
and which may be again introduced in the next session, or
which are already provisionally registered, or the subscription
contract for which may be already executed, or partly executed
on the 29th of July ; but with respect to such Bills, a sum
equal to one stwentieth of the amount subscribed shall be de-
posited as before provided."
The following are the new Standing Orders applicable tosuch
Bills ashave been ordered to be engrossed in session 1845 :
NOTICES IN NEWSPAPER!..; AND GAZETTE.—" That. the
promoters of such Bills shall give notice by adveriisemeut for
six suecessive weeks in the months of October and November
in the London, Edinburgh, or Dublin Gazette, as the case
may be, and in the local paper or papers which may usually be
in circulation in the part of the country through which the line
of railway is proposed to pass, of their intention to present a
petition fur the re-introduction of any such Bill."
COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE WHETHER. PETITION BE THE
SAME AS THAT IN 1845.—" That upon any petition for leave
to bring in a Railway Bill, which shall be presented to the
House during the session of 1846, and referred to the Committee
on petitions, the Committee do examine whether the said pet I-
lion he the same in substance as any petition for the same Fut-
pose, and from the same parties, which was presented in the
session of 1845 ; and in that case, whether any Bill brough` into
the House in pursuance of such petition in the session of 184),
was pending in either House of Parliament on the termination
of such session ; and if so, whether a subscription contract, as
required by the standing orders, binding in the usual way the
subscribers to the undertaking, has been entered into and is
valid at the time of such inquiry, and whether the deposit of 51.
per cent. upon such subscriptien is lodged in the manner re-
quired by the standing orders."

IF PETITION SAME, STANDING ORDERS TO BE HELD TO
BE COMPLIED WITII.—" That in such case, wad on proof of
such notice having been given as aforesaid, and in caie it
should appear that such Bill had, at the end of the session of
1845, been pending in the House of Lords, or if pending in
the House of Commons, had been ordered to be engrossed,
the standing orders with respect to any such Bill shall be
held to have been complied with."
COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE WHETHER BILL BE THE SAME
AS THAT IN 1845 —" That the Committee on any such Bill
do examine whether the Bill be in every respect the same
as such former Bill at the last stage of its proceeding in this
House in the session of 1845, and that in such case no evi-
dence shall be received by such Committee; but that on the
reception and adoption by the House of a report from such
Committee, that the Bill referred to them is in every respect
the same as such former Bill at the last stage of its proceed-
ing in this House in the session of 1845, such Bill may be
ordered to be engrossed without any further proceeding in re-
spect thereof."

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.
FRIDAY, A 1:G. 8.

REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE UN

GROUP X OF RAILWAYS.
LONDON AND YORK RAILWAY (SHEFFIELD
BR ANCII ) BILL.
Lord Courtenay reported from the Select Committee on
Group X of Railways, to whom several petitions against
the Bills comprised in the said group, together with the re-
port of the Board of Trade thereon, were referred, that, in
the case of the London and York Railway (Sheffield Branch)
Bill they had heard counsel in support of the said petitions,
and had also heard counsel in favour of the Bill; and that
they had examined the allegations contained in the preamble
of the Bill, but the same had not been proved to their satis-
faction.

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE
EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.
ADJOURNED INQUEST.
LITTLEBOROUGH, Ave. 13.—The inquest on the body of
Richard Peaks, the stoker, who was killed by the accident
which occurred near this village on Monday, the 4th inst., was
resumed at twelve o'clock to-day, at the Falcon Inn, before
Mr. C. C. Lewis, coroner for the county of Essex.
The same gentlemen who attended on behalf of the Com-
pany on the former occasion were present oir this—viz., Mr,
Duncan. solicitor ; Ale. Hanson, manager of the traffic de-
partment ; Mr. Phipps and Mr. Lawford, engineers of the
line; and Mr. Fernihough, superintendent of the locomotive
department.
The first witness called was
General Pasley, who gave the following evidence :—I came
down to inquire into the accident the day after it occurred,
and first proceeded to Chesterford, and thence to the place
at which the accident happened, in company with Mr.
Phipps, Mr. Hanson, Mr. Jackson, and several other per-
sons whom I did not know. Mr. Law ford joined us after-
wards. I saw two second-class carriages, the tender, and
the horse-box on different parts of the line, near the spot at
which the accident occurred, and from which they had been
removed. The rails and everything else had at this time
been replaced. The accident, as 1 was informed, happened
about a mile from the end of the incline, and a mile and a halt
from its summit. I was shown a rail where the engine ran
off, and I questioned the engine-man respecting it. I also
asked questions of Mr. Jackson, Mr. Randle, jun., and others. 1
bad a good deal of conversation with Mr. Phipps and Mr. Law-
freVr,leifetb ev act zios,_ Xll. me then svere.vreseut at..the acci,
what I heard from these persons and from the examination 1
made, I formed an opinion as to the cause of the accident, which
was, that it must have arisen from excessive speed in descend
ing a gradient stated to be I in 157, along a curve of which
the radius was stated to be two miles, on a new railway
not thoroughly consolidated; and 1 think it possible that
the outer rail of that curve may not have been raised
quite so high as is usual in curves in proportion to
the radius. On seeing the rail I formed the opinion
that it was split by a downward blow, such as it might receive
from the jumping of the engine. The engine-man said lie
thought that the wedge of the joint must have got loose, that
the end of the rail was consequently thrown up, and that the
flange of the wheel of the engine striking against it caused the
fracture of the rail and the accident ; but I was not of that
opinion, because, in the first place, there was no mark on the
end of the rail, such as the wheel would certainly have made if
it had come in contact with it in that manner ; and because,
in the next place, there was a mark on the surface of the rail,
and on the splinter which had been separated from the rail,
showing that the blow must have been downwards. Still the
jumping of the engine must have been excessive to cause the
rail to split.
CORONER—Do yeu think there was any irregularity its the
line immediately before the spot where the engine went. oft?
General Pasley—ln a railway newly opened it is possible for a
subsidence to take place in a particular rail, and for two or
three of the sleepers to be a little deranged ; but still in diet
case no accident would happen if the speed were moderate. On
the other hand, if the speed be excessive, a very slight subsi-
dence is sure to cause an accident.
The Coaorsze—Having regard to the state of the line, and
to the incline where the accident occurred, what, in your
opinion, is the speed with which a train might proceed on it
with perfect safety ? General Pasley—l should think it might
proceed at the rate of 18 or 20 miles an hour with pet feet
safety.
The CORONER— Should you consider any speed beyond that
attended with danger? General Pasley—Not if the road were
well consolidated.
The CORONER—I am speaking of the line as it is.
General Pasley—l think on descending such an incline on
a newly made line the steam should be altogether, or nearly
shut off.
The CORONER—Do you consider the speed of 30 miles an
hour an unsafe speed on this particular part of the line ? Ge-
neral Pasley—l should think it so until the road was perfectly
consolidated. But I consider that the speed of the train in this
case must have been excessive from the result ; because, if it
had been going at a moderate rate it would have stopped, not
have run so far, or left the permanent way and run over to the
bank. In fact it would have stopped upon the permanent way.
I was once witness of an engine going off the line, and it stopped
at a distance of 20 yards from the spot at which it left the rail.
(It may be as well to state here that the distance at which the
engine was found from the split rail, at which spot it went off,
was found to be 153 yards.) On that occasion we were going
at an exceeeingly slow rate.
'lhe CORONER—Are there any other reasons why you think
that the accident was caused by excessive speed ? General
Pasley—As I said before, the curve may have contributed to it.
1 have seen an engine thrown off the rail by a curve.
The CORONER—Did Mr. Phipps and Mr. Lawford agree
with you in that opinion ? General Pasley-1 don't know. 1
did not question them, as they had not been present at the ac-
cident. Mr. Lawford told me he got down from the train
before the accident occurred, hut he said lie thought that
the speed had been excessive the stage before he descended. I
supervised and reported on the line before it was opened. I
cannot say I examined every part of it. 1 examined it so as
to enable me to form a judgment as to the general state of the
line and its fitness for traffic. The line was in very good order,
much better than many other railways which I have inspected,
and on which no accident has happened. It is impossible to
examine the position of every sleeper and every rail separately.
Instead of a day, it would take me a month to do so. 1 in-
spected this line from one end to the othsr, and I must say 1
consider it one of the beet lines, and in the best order, of those
I have inspected.
A juror—Did you examine the incline on this part of the
line yourself? General Pasley—l of course saw all the in-
clines and curves, but how am I to examine them without
taking the level and radius of each ? I can only judge of them
by my eye.
The juror—l think you said that the outer rail was not suffi-
ciently high, and that the accident might be in part attributed
to that circumstance ? General Pasley-1t did not so occur
to me at the time of my survey.
The juror—Would it not be essential that you should have
subordinate agents who would co-operate with you for the pur•
poses of a more minute examination ? General Pasley—l have
an assistant; but if you mean that I am to examine in detail
every rail, and every curve, and every gradient, and every
sleeper, then I say that such a course would occupy .snontlis
instead of days, and would besides be perfectly unnecessary,
as there are platelayers all along the line to see that all is right
after each train passes. It is only necessary on new lines to
go cautiously at first. On one railway, which I inspected, 1
reported that a viaduct was too weak, and the railway in con-
sequence was not opened for a fortnight, during which the ne-
cessary alteration was made. But if you expect me personally
to examine every detail connected with the construction of the
railway, you expect what is impossible and unnecessary.
The juror-1 do not expect anething of the kind; but 1
think that where there are curves and inclines, there ought to
be a close examination of them.
General Pasley—l have examined many hundreds of miles of
railways, and have seen trains run off of curves the first day, and,
therefore I say, that the trains ought to go slowly on curves
and gradients until the railway is well consolidated. Having
repeated his impression as to the cause of the accident, the
witness proceeded to say—So long as an accident appears a
mystery, it operates against railway travelling ; and I always,
however mysterious it may appear before inquiring, find, upon
inquiring, a clear solution of it. In a railway not properly
consolidated, one or more of the sleepers may sink a little,
causing a slight subsidence of the rail, but sufficient, as hap •
pened on the Northampton and Birmingham Railway, to throw
the engine off the line. Then, again, a particular state of the
rail may have the effect of throwing a train off the line if going
very quickly, and not if going slowly. The Great Western
Railway twist up their express trains under circumstances
which had not given rise previously to any accident ;