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TOWN Ir _A_ I, I-C.I;

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TOWN Ir _A_ I, I-C. I; BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. ¡ Ow iwdws w'ZI understand that we do not hold ourselves respon I sible for our able Correspondent's opinions. THE reckless way in which railways are pro- jected an; sanctioned, more especially in this j metropolis, has led to the destruction of much j valuable property, without adequate compensation to those who happened to carry on business, and j has been productive of much misery where the j dwellings of, the poorer classes have been pulled j down. Nothing seems to stop the career of the '1' iron horse. No sooner does a portion of that great work, the Thames Embankment, approach completion, than it is discovered that an under- ground railway is required, or supposed to be required, from Westminster to the City; hence a great portion of the roadway, which has been reclaimed from the river with so much labour, will have to be cut up again. The Midland Railway Company is digging a tunnel under the graves in old St. Pancras churchyard, and is about to build a high construction on arches over the centre of the burial ground, so that, when completed, the trains will rush past the very windows of the church, and rumble above and below the tombs of the illustrious dead, for in this churchyard lie the mortal remains of many dis- tinguished British and foreign personages. I have alluded to this contemplated cutting up of the Thames Embankment and to this desecration of an old churchyard, because they are the two latest instances of the recklessness of which I am speaking. Under the system by which railways are now "promoted," there is no cer- tainty that they are really required by the public. They are got up by contractors and engineers for the sake of the profit which they are sure to make either out of the actual construction of the line or out of the Parliamentary expenditure connected with passing the bill. Whether the line when made will pay or not, or whether it is wanted by the public or not, are both matters of no import- ance to them, for in either event they are certain to be gainers. Houses are pulled down, roads blockaded, and, in many cases, tradesmen ruined by these contractors' railways. It is, therefore, to be hoped that the Select Committee of the House of Lords, to which Lord Redesdale's proposals for remedying this state of things have been referred, will repert in favour of their adoption. Lord Redesdale simply requires that those who wish to make a new line shall give a substantial guarantee, in the shape of a subscription contract, that it is a solid undertakingjikely to be, on the whole, for the public advantage. AN inquiry-which has just closed-into the condition of the pauper patients in the Strand Workhouse more than confirms all that has been said as to the horrible doings in these places. From the evidence of a paid nurse named Beeton, it appears that the pauper nurses were, and are, so incompetent as to give medicines any hour and at any time to the patients; the patients were covered with lice; the laundresses got drunk on the wine and spirits intended for the sick the soup given to them was made out of the washings of the gruel; the wards were loathsomely offensive; the children's milk was sold to the patients by the nurses at a halfpenny per pint; in consequence of neglect, one man had a sore on his back naif as large as a sheet of foolscap paper; and the wards were so over-crowded that the sick lay wherever they could all over the house. This is a very brief summary of Mrs. Beeton's evidence, as far as possible in her own words. The doctor's testimony was to the same purport. He men- tioned that the only nurses he could obtain for the men's ward was a man who had been a footman, and another man in a chronic consumption. They attended to the sick after a fashion; but for about a month so horrid a state of things prevailed in the ward that Dr. Rogers could not bear to go into the place." He stated that his endeavours to remedy matters brought upon him a great amount of per- sonal antagonism and hostility from the guar- dians. A threat to reduce his salary was held in terrorum over him for a long time. I hear that the statement of the nurse Beeton, which has been in the hands of the Sick Poor Association for some weeks, includes particulars relating to two other workhouses in which she served, which are quite as shocking as anything yet published. A TESTIMONIAL has been presented to Captain Maury, formerly of the United States Navy. It consisted of a purse containiBg upwards of three thousand guineas-one thousand from Holland, another thousand from Russia, and the remainder from other countries. The banquet at which the testimonial was presented took place at Willis's- rooms, Sir John Pakington being in the chair, and a number of other distinguished personages; in- cluding several ambassadors, were present. Captain Maury's wonderful charts of the winds and of the ocean currents have been the means of effecting a saving of from XI,200 or el,300 to each ship of a thousand tons on a voyage to Australia or Cali- fornia and- back. His charts have likewise effected a saving 0U the voyages to Brazil, India, and China; and the great Humboldt said of him that he had discovered a new department of human knowledge, namely, the physical geogra- phy of the sea. The sovereigns of nearly every country in Europe have conferred orders of I knighthood upon him, or struck medals in his spe- cial honour. The English Government alone has failed to recognise his services, which is the re- verse of creditable to ua, seeing that, as the largest shipbuilding country in the world, we have benefited more than othera by his labours and re- searches. A REFbRT on the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade has been presented to Parlia- ment and here I may remark, parenthetically, that it is to Captain M tiiry's exertions we owe the existence of this department, which under Admiral Fitzroy's superintendence became so well known. The committee recommends the discontinuance of the weather forecasts, and the continuance of the storm warnings; that self-rendering instruments shall be furnished to six meteorological stations in ¡ England, and that the head-quarters of the de- partment shall be at K vvObservatorv, where all ob- I servation?, whether made on land or sea, are to be ¡ sent for th-) purpose of being digested and classi- I Red. Three recommendations will involve an. annual outlay of £ 10,000, but the results which will be attained by a maritime nation like England are not to be represented by any amount of money. IT has been determined to erect a white marble statue of Lord Palmerston beneath a Gothic canopy in front of the Houses of Parliament. Z.

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