The Sun. — 1857-04-09 (London, England)

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN 1856.  A report of the railway accidents of last year is embodied in a blue-book of some 80 pages. It appears that in 1856 281 persons were killed and 394 injured on railroads in the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Of this number 112 were killed and 16 injured who were neither passengers nor servants of the railway companies, 142 killed and 80 injured who were servants of companies or employes of contractors, and 27 killed and. 298 injured who were passengers. The first category includes 2 persons who committed suicide, 67 killed, and 7 injured while trespassing, 28 killed and 2 injured at level crossings, 1 killed and 2 injured while on a bridge which was thrown down by a load on a train, and 11 persons killed and 5 -injured by being run 'over or struck by trains at stations. Of the servants of companies 30 were killed and 46 injured from causes beyond their control, and 112 were killed and 34 injured owing to misconduct or incautiousness. Of the latter 2 were killed and 2 injured while shunting, 20 killed and 39 injured from accidents to trains, and 7 killed and 5 injured from being run down or struck by trains while discharging their duties. One man, a guard, was killed by the blow of a bridge. The greater number of those servants killed or injured from want of caution were crushed between buffers, run over, or fell from trains in motion. There is a large annual number of 'victims from being crushed between the buffers of carriages which are being coupled together. Of the passengers eight were killed and 282 injured from causes beyond their control, and 19 killed and 16 injured from incautiousness. Of the 71 accidents reported on in 1856 it appears that in 7 cases only were the accidents attributable to circumstances which could not be guarded against, and that in only three of the cases were the accidents solely attributable to such circumstances. In 27 cases the negligence of the inferior servants entered into the cause of the accident. The remaining causes of accident are classed under the following heads—viz., (Moots in the construction of works or rolling stock insufficiency of accommodation or appliances for safety—insufficient staff, and inadequacy of the system of working. A general review of accidents reported since 1810 shows that the great majority of accidents are attributable to causes over which the managers of railways have control, but which, from negligence or false economy, they do not remedy. What is called " negligence" of servants in cases of accident is often a habitual infringement of the regulations with the guilty cognisance of the managers, or else a iotactice which has grown up in the absence of defined rules. " This," observes the report, "is an important fact, because the public have a right to require that the traffic on railways shall be conducted with the greatest attainable degree of safety." It is thought, on the other hand, that freedom from railroad accident is not to be secured by external interference, but by efficient and responsible internal management and the maintenance of strict discipline. It is suggested that all important railway accidents should be inquired into publicly by a competent officer or tribunal, the coroner's inquest being a tribunal ill-suited to such inquiries.