The coroner's inquest into the Kelvedon accident is still pro-
ceeding, the real point at issue being the state of the sleepers, which many witnesses declare to have been rotten, which the-officials of course pronounce perfect, and which have not apparently been changed. We cannot, of course, enter into the controversy till the verdict has been given, but we would call the attention of the public, which has an interest in not being killed, to the absurd character of the tribunal before which such questions are originally tried. A' local lawyer, and twelve little tradesmen and labourers, have to decide whether the Chairman of a great Company and numerous experts are to be believed or distrusted on a subject of excessive difficulty. Naturally the lawyer is impressed by the power of the witnesses, the jurors grow afraid of their own convictions, and the inquiry becomes a struggle between the surviving sufferers' lawyers and the Company, in which the facts very soon cease to be the object of search. We want a Rail- way Coroner with the rank of a Judge, a right to call special juries, and no professional practice.
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