The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-16 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

LANCASTER AND PRESTON.—Third-class carriages will
run in future with every train on this line.
A body of police, upwards of a thousand strong, has
been despatched viii the North-Western line, to the scene
of the stoppage of the great railway works.
SHEFFIELD AND HUDDERSFIELD.—This company is
amongst those which suspended their works during the
monetary pressure. The workmen thrown out of em-
ployment number upwards of 4,000.
It is said that one great railway contractor has more
than £7,000,000 of contracts incomplete at this moment ;
and although 2,000 have recently been discharged from
his employ, he yet pays £50,000 a-week in wages alone.
It is said that one great railway contractor has more
than £7,000;000 of contracts incomplete at this moment ;
and, although 2,000 workmen have recently been dis-
charged from his employ, he yet pays £50,000 a-week in
wages alone.
A RAILWAY'S PROSPECTS.—At a court of inquiry held
at Driffield, last week, to assess the amount of compensa-
tion to be paid for land at Driffield, required for the Mal-
ton and Driffield Junction Railway, it was stated by Mr.
Atherton, Q.C., that the whole of the traffic between
Malton and Driffield had been conveyed on the back of a
donkey

DISCHARGE OF RPOLWAY LABOURERS.—About 400
railway labourers were discharged from the Stamtbrd and
Rugby works near Morcotton Monday, in consequence of
the present alarming state of affairs in the monetary
world. Mr. Pickering, the contractor, stated that about
1200 others would be discharged from works in which he
is concerned in other parts of the country.
On the arrival of a goods train at the Edinburgh Station
of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, on Wednesday
last, the engine driver discovered that a man, sound asleep,
was lying along the buffer beam in frolit of the engine.
The sleeper was immediately aroused and questioned,
when he admitted that he had placed himself on the beam
at the Falkirk Station, in 'order to be conveyed to Linlith-
gow ; but as he was somewhat intoxicated, he had fallen
asleep, and had not awoke until aroused by the driver.
On Thursday Mr. Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce
granted an interim injunction until Thursday next, when
the motion will be heard to restrain the North Stafford-
shire Railway Company from entering upon certain lands
and sattworks, at Satalbach, in Cheshire, belonging to the
plaintiff, Mr. Ilarker. on the ground that the notice served
upou...the plaintiff, under the 85th section of the Lands'
Clauses Con;olidation Act, with the view of entitling the
Com.pany of taking possession without the owners cOnsent,
was liaufticieut for the porpoee.

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.-011 Thursday, a porter
at the Tewkesbury station was mounting the break as u
train wts leaving, when, from some cause,not clearly ascer-
tained, he got jammed between one of the trucks and the
stone archway opening into the street, and was crushed
sn dreadfully that he died shortly after.
CURIOUS SEIZURE.—Last week a first-class carriage
was seized at the Chelmsfori station in paymeat of £3l
One for poor rates to the parish of Margaretting, from the
EaQtern Counties Company. The company and the parish
authorities have been at. variance on the subject ; and as
the appeal to the quarter sessions had been abandoned by
the company, the chairman of the bench had issued a
warrant for the above proceeding.
From official returns it appears that the amount of traf-
fic for the last week, on upwards of 3.227 miles o? railway,
was £178,975, thus accounted for :—£82,091 for the con-
Neyence of passengers only, £47,998 for the carriage of
goods, and a remainder of £48,886 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £25,091 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was about 2525.
AMBERGATE RAILWAY.—The directors of the above
company have let the contract for making that portion of
the line which lies between the junction with Notting-
ham and Lincoln Railway at Colwick, and their works at
Bottesford, a distance of about eleven miles. The con-
tractors will now be enabled, during the winter, to make
preparations for proceeding with the bridge over the
Trent, being the heaviest part of the work, early in the
ensuing spring. This contract will complete the line
between Nottingham and Grantham.
THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT WINSFORD.—At
inquest at. Winsford, the verdict was accidental death. It
was proved that the proper signals were given, and that
the deceased engineman had been cautioned before leav-
ing Crewe against proceeding too quickly when getting
near Winsford, as the coal train would have to shunt
there, and the impression on the minds of the jury ap-
peared to be, that Blacaburne, seeing the enzine of the
coal train on the up line, was under the impression that
the whole of the coal train was so also, whereas the coal
engine was in -the act .of shunting, and part of the train
was on the up line, against which his engine struck.

BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD RAILWAY.—The pro-
ceedings of the demurrer in this case, brought by agree-
ment before the Vice-Chancellor. were commenced last
week ; and have since been continued on Monday, Tu-
esday, anti Wednesday last. Opening arguments for
the company are concluded, and the reply for the Great
Western is now in progress, having been resumed on
Friday. Should the decision be in favour of the Narrow-
gauge Company, the Great Western will loose this line ;
but if the other way they will not gain it, as the decision
would only be that the Great Western has a locus staridi
in the Equity courts for "something," and the validity
of the agreements of sale will go over for decision on the
hearing of the cause and the answers put in by the Nar-
row-eauge Company. The losing party will appeal to the
Lord Chancellor.

AN ACUTE TELEGRAPH AGENT.—A station agent of a
certain railway, who has likewise the charge of the tele-
graph, lately received, by means of the latter, news of the
suspension of payment of a hank sixty or seventy miles
off, with instructions to communicate the same to its
branch office, situate in the quarter to which the message
had come, which, of course, was then to suspenu payments
also. The agent was is 'cote man, however, and he re-
flected; before doing this, that a small sum which he had
lodged in the branch bank before, might be endangered
thereby. So, saying nothing to any one, he very coolly
walked down to the bank, and having drawn out his little
deposit in gold, he handed over the rriesage in writing
that he had received per telegraph. We pr:sume, undo r
the circumstances,_ that the telograph agent will be consi-
dered to have acted a very natural part.

PREVENTION OF RAILWAY ACCILENTR—OR Monday,
at the monthly meeting of the Liverpool Polytechnic So-
ciety, the largest audience of the season 'ever assembled at
the Royal Institution to Lear Mr. Spence's highly-inte-
resting paper " on the active and inactive states of iron,"
which elicited the warmest applause, and also the thanks
of the hearers. Afterwards, Mr. Henry Huline, surgeon,
of Moss-street, suggested a method tier preventing the la-
mentable effects of collisions on railways. The diagram
skewed a couple of strong luggage waggons placed before
the engine, heavily weighted with iron, lead, or the like,
-as freight or with ballast, having between the waggons
three or four pairs of strong parenthesis-shared springs,
similar to those used in the Railway Station, Lime-street.
Each of the engines being protected in this manner, at
• whichever end the collision Occurred, the shock would be
neutralised before it reached the carriages, and materially
broken. The weight would also prevent the tendency to
leave the line. Self-acting breaks might be attached to
the waggons, and the latter might be placed either before
the engine or after the last cartiaq-e. Mr..Hultne was
highly complimented by the society.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—The mains and wires are
now laid up to the premises in Exchange-buildings. taken
for the company's offices. Some temporary delay has,
however, occurred in the present tenant obt. ining posses-
sion of the offices to which .he is about to remove; but,
until that is accomplished, the telegraph will be worked at
Gloucester-street night and day. The communication is
now complete between this town and London, vivia"Man-
chester, from which place the wires extend to Normanton,
where there is a telegraph station ; thence along the North
Midland line to Derby, where also there is a telegraph
station ; thence by the Midland Counties to Rugby, where
there is another telegraph station ; and thence by the
London and North-Western line direct to Euston-square,
where this and other northern tines of telegraphic com-
munication are connected with those extending to the
south and south-eastern coast. Of these, the principal
now open are those having telegraph termini at Dover, at
Gosport, and at Southampton. With these ports ue, in
Liverpool, may now communicate in a few minutes. As
the telegraph stations are now open day and night, of
course any important intelligence can be transmitted
throughout the kingdom with a speed surpassing every
need of even this railway age.

THE WASP FAMILY.

(From Chambers' Journal.)

The economy of the wasp family posselfses considerable
interest, and deserves far more attention than in our hos-
tile state of feelings towards the race we are already dis-
posed to believe. It is only necessary that the real cna-
racter of the tribe should be known, to remove at least the
blot of laziness from it. That they are a set of bold, inso-
lent, daring robbers, no one can deny.
The society consists of males, females, and neuters,
each having their appropriate functions ; but the males,
on the whole, leading the quietest and least arduous lives.
The females are the hardworking foundresses of the colo-
ny, and the neuters are wasps of all work—robbing, fight-
ing, defending, nursing, and building indifferently, and by
turns. Their history commences most conveniently for
our purposes in the spring. At the conclusion of the pre-
ceding summer. the males, after pairing, all died, and there
remained but a few females behind of all the busy ranks
which crowded the vespiary. These are awakened by the
return of spring. The solitary wasp finds herself imme-
diately summoned to active duties. She has to construct
the carcase, and to excavate the earthwork, for her future
people and city. Serious as is the task, she has to effect
incessanti al
lit
er l nrg
ie ; t a
toil,
s are equal
rmsingleituo
lilighten
ohttehtei companion
undertaking
e labourrtatkol
n c
by a heer
single
tihoursoo of
a cil,
e
seen buzzing about in the sunny mornings, looking out for
a site. It is soon found : it is some dry, warm bank ; and
here she sets to her work. She perforates it, and forms a
long circuitous tunnel, at the extremity of which she figs
out a vault of considerable dimensions. After the labour
of excavation is ended, the walls are to be plastered, and
to this fresh duty she at once addresses herself. Surely
every person has seen the nest of the wasp, and wondered
at its exquisite and delicate architecture of celled paper ?
Behold the architect! The nest is really made of paper:
it was for some time a puzzle to our philosophers. Reau-
mur appears first to have detected the wasp in the very
act of this manufacture. He beheld her alight on a deal
window-frame ; and watching, saw her tear a bundle of
delicate hair-like fibres, about an inch in length, from it,
bruising the woody fibre with her mandibles, until it be-
came like a fine lint. This is the material from which the
papyraceous plaster is to be prepared. She has built the
walls of the city, it remains for her to commence the edi-
fices, and supply the population. She builds a terrace of
hexagonal cells, of marvellous exactness, and suspends it
by paper pillars from the roof of her texture. These ter-
races emulate in elegance and artistic skill, and far sur-
pass in utility, the famous hanging gardens and terraces of
the renowned city of old. A few hundred cells are thus
constructed, and at length an interval of comparative
repose awaits the labourer, while she proceeds to fulfil her
more proper duties as a parent. In the cells the insect
deposits her ova, gluing them to the walls by an adhesive
substance.. These are soon hatched, they become larvw,
and are for some time entirely dependent upon their pa-
rent's exertions for their supply of food. . She has to
forage for this numerous and voracious progeny, and runs
about from cell to cell with the utmost solicitude, while
the grubs put forth their mouths, and are fed by her just
as the " callow brood" of a bird is fed.

Dr. Darwin says he once beheld a curious act of a wasp :
it had caught a large fly, and in rising with it into the air,
the breeze caught its wings, and nearly wrenched it from
the wasp's clutches. The insect immediately alighted,
and deliberately sawed off the wings of its victim, when
it was able to carry it in safety away. There was some-
thing nobler than instinct in this action; nor is it by any
means an isolated example of insect sagacity.
The mode of governm'ent is
.republican : there is no
recognised head, as with the bees ; yet an amount of even
military discipline, and the utmost order, are to be found
among the subjects. The goOd of the common wealth
seems to be the prevailing object of each insect. If the
workers are- building, each has its own spot, about an
inch square, assigned to it, as the amount of work it is
expected to execute. It was an interesting discovery of
Mr. Knight, that wasps also have sentinels. These are
placed at the entrance of the vespiary ; they run gently in
and out of it, and give immediate notice of the approach
of danger.
One of the most striking facts in the natural history of
the Vespidm is the occurrence of an annual massacre in
he
October.. Then the vespiary is indeed a scene of horri-
oo''ib tc;
teiel s'iFsydeosiu)sre"odg is generally
f ws ei
carnage.t Twasps, whose
remarkablyaf-
fection strong, seem
frenzied rage against them.
Theytfbeilcthen to
° atrocities
forease to feed their larva ; " they do worse," angrily
writes Reaumur ; " the mothers become implacable mur-
deresses; they drag the helpless larvm out of their cells,
slay them, and scatter them outside ele nest, strewing the
very earth with their dead carcasses. There is no com-
punction ; the massacre is universal." A wise purpose is
fulfilled by this apparent cruelty. The coming winter
would rapidly destroy, by a far more miserable death, all
that are killed on this occasion ; and it is a stroke of
mercy to terminate their sufh,rings by a blow. The early
frost .destroys the murderers themselves. The scene is now
in truth altered ; " the populous city has -become waste,
and without inhabitents," saving some one or two females,
which spend the winter in the depths of the vespiary.

Nov. 16, 1547.

THE CHOLERA AND THE SANITARY

QUESTION.

(From the Journal of Public Health) 01
That dreaded scourge of humanity, the cholera, allA
to he sweeping slowly and silently towards the prodf;rd
of Western Europe. For some time past, it has rar_7o-e
the cities of the East, and is now following a course
what similar to the one it took during the last
Our object, in alluding to this subject, is not to ►;
alarm in the public mind, but rather to warn goverP , ,
and our local authorities, in order that proper nions"
be adapted to avert as far as possiJle the danger
A
threatens us. To be forewarned is to be forearaleu
regard to many epidemic diseases ; and however WI? t
obscurity may be which veils
.the whole history 01
terrible malady, there is one fact which has bon,.
blisbed by universal experience, and that. is, that o°o
is always most virulent in its attacks in those loca,:0
where sanitary measures are most neglected. I;3t.
blishment of this fact is- one of the fruits of the lo
bought experit nee of former years, and any negleet,iti
appears to us to involves degree of moral guilt a1t()1,`,06•
criminal in its amount. The following docunicot:,o
fished by the Leeds Board of Health in January,
only one out of the many which might. be re-Pn"'il
with advantage at the present time. It was signed 110
physicians and thirty-eight surgeons of the town, :Wei
cholera had declined, and states the result of their'
rience as follows ttl#
" We whose names are undersitmed, are of o:inion 000
streets in which inalgnaist cholera prevoi.ed most led
were those in which the drainage was most imperfect' 041,11
the state of the general health a the inhabitants
greatly improved, and the probability of a future vis),
from such maJgrant epidemics diminished, by a genenV,
tficient system or drainage, selnerLge, and paving,
enforcement of better regulations as to the cleanliness
street."
This deliberate opinion of a large hod

.rge .4 of e.. --of>
medical practitioners, given with a full knowlv(V.,oo
the facts of the calamity which had befallen their 1."'41(
iike a voice from the past calling on u- to t-scapebytclot
measures from the evils which overtook them up,' of
Will it be listened to-? Will the dictptes.of
humanity he obeyed by those who art' in authority ?VI
that ill-judged opposition to the most necessary tY
measures be continued until it is too late to ward
pestilence ? We trust not ; but, on t hecontrary. 4#
rather hope that the awakening of a bitter spirit 1110,1"1
all to co-operate zealously in tulvaneintt the publii‘' fjaner
have the should
a satisfaction edri o"tri destroyer
having come
douirie our ":•ownei alsoknl
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