10 SEPTEMBER 1853, Page 2

4t Aittruplis.

At a General Court of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers,' on Tuesday, Mr. Richard Jebb made a statement to show what had been done during the last twelve months. He complained, that while the ex- pectations of the public were raised, the powers of the Commissioners were further limited. Nevertheless, they had executed, either at the ex- pense of the public or of the owners of property, brick and pipe sewers to the extent of 28i miles in length, contracted for or put in hand 12i miles, making a total of 41 miles in length, at a cost of 142,853/. Besides this, they had superintended the drainage-works, costing 80,5211.; making a total of 223,374/. They had also expended 36,880/. in repair- ing, cleansing, or opening sewers; and while on all sides they had at- tended to the more immediate wants of the public, the main view they had acted on was the principle of intercepting sewers, which could at any time be made available for any great plan to intercept the entire sewage of London.

Powers have been given to the Commissioners to raise funds not exceeding 200,0001.; and it would be their duty to consider how they may spend that 1noney to the greatest advantage. lint the public must not expect that al- though the Commissioners have an accession of money they can lay down sewers wherever they are required ; and it never was the intention that the sewers-ratee should cover the expense of providing a sewer for every street. It is the duty, of proprietors to make the sewers in the streets; and if they be required of an extra size as main lines, then the Commissioners are only called upon to pay from the district rates for the extra size so required to be made. Modern refinement requires that more sewers should be made than formerly ; but people have not learnt that those luxuries derived from good sewerage must be paid for by those who enjoy them.

The Secretary was instructed to raise money on the security of the rates, according to the provisions of the act of last session.

The sempstresses who are employed in the worst-paid species of slop- work have taken advantage of the great demand for the articles they pro-. duce, and have actually " struck " for an advance of their miserable pay. It is believed, as almost every one will hope, that the poor creatures will gain their object : several shipping-houses have already made offers of an increase.

The operatives in the London building trade continue their new tactics —striking in detail for higher wages, and thus gradually compelling the employers to succumb. It is said that there is no unity among the latter. The lightermen of the Thames have resumed work ; having obtained a portion of their demands, and agreed to forego the remainder.

The librarrof the British Museum, which had been closed for a week, was reopened on Thursday to persons having the privilege of admission' - and Will remain open during the present and succeeding month from the hours Of nine a. as. to five p.m. The department of the Museum allotted to antiquities and curiosities will be open from ten to five o'clock.

Pardington and Woods, the driver and stoker of the express-train which ran into the disabled tender at Hornsey, have been again before the Clerken- well Magistrate this week. Mr. Clarkson appeared for the Great Northern Railway Company and Mr. Rawlings defended the prisoners. A surgeon's certificate was read at the Saturday's examination, expressing a hope of a "favourable issue" in all the cases. After some discussion as to the propriety of going on with the charge, it was arranged that the witnesses should re- peat their previous statements and submit to cross-examination. From this it appeared, that Radbourne, the man who ran back with the flag, did not take with him fog-signals ; he thus violated the 77th rule. Radbourne saw the driver and stoker face to face, with their backs to the road, and talking. He thought that if they had seen him they could have pulled up in time. Mr. Williams, the superintendent of police, believed that it is "quite pos- sible for an engineman to pull up his engine at the Ilornsey station it he notice the danger-signal from the post, as he can see it 1174 yards from where the accident occurred. I have never stated the contrary." At the examination on Wednesday, Mr. Child, the surgeon, reported that Mrs. Harrison was in a most dangerous state. The evidence adduced on this occasion bore hard against the prisoners : several witnesses stated that the train could have been stopped in time if the fixed danger-signal had been seen ; whereas the locomotive continued its speed almost to the moment of the collision. Mr. Cooter, the station-master, saw the driver reverse the engine when at the station ; there was no diminution of speed. When the tender got off the rails, he told Itadbourne to run back quickly with a red flag ; he did not procure fog-signals because it would have caused a little delay. Mr. Sturrock, locomotive engineer to the Company, stated that the driver could have stopped in time had he noticed the fixed signal. Mr. Da- vis, a passenger in the train, deposed that he saw Radbourne with the red flag, and heard him "scream oat" as the train passed ; he noticed no les- sening of speed before the collision. John Fordlaam, a grocer's shopman, who was at the station, ran back with a red flag ; he believes the prisoners saw him, and then attempted to slacken the speed : but Fordham had not got far from the station with the flag. [This witness was complimented by the Magistrate for the energy he had shown.] The head guard, and Mr. Denniston, superintendent of the line, were unconscious of any signal from the driver or slackening of speed : had the driver given a warning when he came in sight of the fixed danger-signal, four breaks could have been ap- plied, and the train could speedily have been stopped. Mr. Owen, locomotive foreman at Peterborough, was called on the part of the accused; but his evi- dence was of little assistance to them.

Mr. Tyrwhitt, as Mrs. Harrison was in a dangerous condition, resolved to remand the accused : his intention is ultimately to commit them, not to pronounce judgment himself. Captain Wynn, of the Board of Trade, has been officially investigating the causes of the accident. Under his direction a number of experiments have been made ; and it has been ascertained that trains going at an express speed, supposing the driver sees the fixed danger-signal the instant it can be sighted, and signals the guards to put on the breaks, can be stopped before arriving at the platform.

Lomerschal, a Dane, has been charged 'before Mr. Combe, at the South- wark Police Office, with the murder of Eliza Grimwood, the unfortunate girl who was found murdered in her lodgings in the Waterloo Road, on.the 26th May 1638. Her assassin was believed, at the time, to have been a "tell foreigner with a large moustache," who had accompanied her, home. The charge against Lomerschal arose out _of some words he is said to have used to Jennings, a, woman with whom he lived. He was accustomed to beat her, she said, veiling her thatte.wmild "serve her as he served Eliza Grim- wood." Jennings talked about this, and Lomerscbal was arrested. He de- nied his guilt, and the words quoted against him, but admitted that he had threatened to serve Jennings as Eliza Grimwood had. Leen served. He was remanded on Monday, in order that further evidence might be obtained, es- pecially that of a cabman who could identify the foreigner: but it was found on Thursday that the cabman had been transported; and Mr. Combo discharged Lomersehal, observing that the charge ought net to have been made.

At the Mansionhouse, on Monday, SamuelEllen was charged with having stolen a Bank post-bill .for 301., forged an indorsement upon it, and issued it. Mr. Hall, a ship-broker, applied at the Bank for the bill; he paid for it, gave the necessary particulars, and promised to call in an hour. During that interval some person applied for the hill, and received it. It was next seen at 'Messrs. Moses and Son's shop in New Oxford Street, where Ellen tendered it in payment for clothes: he indorsed it "-George 'Thompson." The people in the shop seem to have had doubts about the bill. While Ellen went from one counter to another, he left behind a packet of hand- bills. The shopman inspected them : they were bills requesting Samuel Ellen, of Church Street, Soho, to return 'home to his family : Ellen was ac- curately described in them. Subsequently, the pseudo "George Thomp- son" was arrested, in Church Street. It appeals that he had previously re- 'turned home, and had been round the town recalling the placards. He was remanded.

The Police have seized no fewer than twenty-one French and German gam- blers, at a coffee-shop in Castle Street, Leicester Square : they were playing with cards. One of the men is manager of the place, and a second the door- keeper. The gamesters were evidently of a very inferior class of society.. 'When they were producedtbefore the Marlborough Street Magistrate, their solicitor urged that they -were not aware that gaming is unlawful in Eng- land. Mr. Hardwick thought it possible that many of them were really ig- norant on the point, and therefore he fined them only 408. each ; the ma- nager was fined 251., and the doorkeeper 5/.

Mr. Bruce, owner of the ship Gipsy, refused, apparently under some mis- apprehension of the actual facts, to pay a mate and a seaman their wages for a homeward voyage from Demerara. He was tummoned before the Thames -Police Magistrate. It appeared that in the Bay of Biscay the Gipsy fell in with an abandoned ship; she had but two feet of waiter in her. The .people of the Gipsy consulted, and thought the vessel might be saved, for the behoof of their owner. The master Of the Gipsy ordered the mate and a seaman to endeavour to take the abandoned ship into a Spanish port. The men gallantly attempted this. But the water inereased in her ; and eventually the two men were 'taken off by a passing vessel, which came in sight opportunely to save their lives. The master of the Gipsy died be- fore the vessel reached England, and the owner seems thus to have been uninformed as to the circumstances of the case. 'Mr. Yardley decided that the men were entitled to their -wages, and-said they deserved even more for their gallantry. A sad disasaster occurred in the Strand on Thursday morning. At the corner of Arundel Street, three houses had been pulled down—Noe. 186, age, and 187; and workmen were digging for the foundation of one larger building in their place. No. 184, occupied by Mr. Thompson, a tailor, was bored up • but either the supports were insufficient or the workmen had undermined them. About eight o'clock on Thursday morning, a boy who was taking down the shutters-perceived that the house was giving way—he rushed across the street, and escaped. The whole of the building sank down sideways, falling into the excavation, and leaving the party-wall be- tween it and No. 183 as smooth as-if every bit of wood inserted in it had been carefully removed. A female servant happened at the moment to be in the cellar under the street ; she was got out -unhurt. Mr. Thompson, his wife, and Mr. Thompson's foreman, were taken from the ruins dead,--ap- earently, they had died from suffocation, not from wounds. Rowe, the builder's foreman, received a compound fracture of the thigh, and was pro- nounced to be in a dangerous condition. -Had the fall taken place later in the day, the consequences must have been more fatal, as the workmen would have been employed near the side of the house, and the number of persons in the building-itself would have been greater. Traffic through that part of the Strand was stopped for two days, and measures were taken to secure the house next to Mr. Thompson s.

On the same evening, the floor of ,a room in the house occupied for a Ragged School in Brewer's Court, Great Wild Street, gave way while a meet- of the directors and friends of the school was proceeding. The alarm was increased by the report of the morning's disaster ; but, fortunately, no per- son was dangerously hurt, though some received severe bruises.

A man and his wife, named Daniels, residing in White Lion Place, Edge- ware Road, were so badly burnt by a fire which broke out during the night in the room they occupied, that they died soon after they had been dragged out and taken to the hospital.

"While four men were on a scaffold on-the exterior of Lord Denman's house in Upper Portland Place, a putlock gave way, and they were precipitated to the pavement. Two were so badly hurt that there were no hopes of their recovery.