during the Chester races; and to this deficiency of
locomotive power is to be mainly attributed the
lamentable catastrophe that has happened. The jury are
decidedly of opinion that the management of the railway
in question is defective and inefficient, thereby en-
dangering the safety of the public. In conclusion, the
jury recommend, that in order to guard against the
recurrence of a similar accident, there should be an
authorised servant of the company stationed at each
end of the Sutton tunnel, so as to signal the trains, and
thereby prevent two trains being in the tunnel on the
same line at one time. They consider also, that the
carriages of the railway company having to pass through
a tunnel of such a length as the Sutton tunnel, should
be furnished with lights; and they desire also to call
attention to the shortness of the intervals allowed for
the trains following each other on the same line from
the terminus and intermediate stations, which appears
to them to be attended with risk; and to express their
opinion that the intervals should therefore be increased."

At two o'clock in the morning of the 2nd, a Fire
broke out in the house of Mr. Elliott, a provision agent,
in Red Lion Street, Walworth. The family had retired
to rest, excepting the eldest son, Henry Elliott, aged
seventeen, who reached home at one o'clock from the
theatre. The house at that time seemed quite safe, and he
went upstairs to bed; but soon afterwards he was aroused
by a suffocating smoke entering his sleeping apartment.
He jumped out of bed, and when he opened the room
door the flames and smoke were rushing up the
staircase. He went to the back room and succeeded in
waking his parents and the other members of the family.
The father rescued his wife and two children, but
discovered the young man himself, who had given the
alarm, lying insensible on the first floor. He was found
to be quite dead; and, as the body was not much burnt,
it appeared that he had been suffocated.

On the morning of Saturday, the 17th, a Building
Fell Down in Gracechurch Street, killing or wounding
many persons. For some months past, Messrs. Bell and
Corbett had been erecting on the site of the Old Cross
Keys a very extensive building intended for chambers
and offices. It was four stories high, and reached the
whole length of Allhallows Church Passage; it was to
be "fire-proof," and the floors were made of iron
girders; the spaces being filled in with concrete. Such
progress had been made that the roof was soon to have
been commenced. On the above morning, the usual
number of workmen, from seventy to eighty, were
employed; a little before eleven o'clock, a snap was
heard, the centre of the structure sank into a ruin, and
drew with it the southern walls. Some of the workmen
escaped on to the roof of Allhallows Church, others on
to adjoining houses; six Irishmen slid down the gable
end of the building by means of the bits of iron stays
projecting from the wall; one leaped into the street
through a window thirty feet high, and was saved
harmless by alighting on a heap of sand; but a great
many were buried under the falling masses. The
labourers who had escaped, the Police, and the
passengers, immediately attempted the recovery of those in
the ruins; and in a little time between twenty and
thirty were got out. The search was then stopped,
from fear that the rest of the building would fall; and
it was not till the evening that the search could be
renewed. It would have been stopped again at dusk,
but the Great Central Gas Company promptly laid
down pipes and lighted the ruins with fifty or sixty
burners. Soon after midnight a corpse was found, and
at a subsequent period two others were recovered. Of
those removed to the hospital two died in a short time.
At the inquest on the bodies the evidence was concurrent
as to the sufficiency of the building, but it appeared
that the accident arose from the breaking of one of the
iron girders, and a verdict to that effect was returned.

Early on Sunday morning, the 18th, a Fire broke
out in Love Lane, Lower Thames Street, in the Rose
and Crown Tavern, a very ancient structure, said to
have escaped the Great Fire of London. A policeman
alarmed the inmates, who were asleep. In the mean
time, the lower part of the house became a mass of fire.
A man appeared at the third-floor window, and called
for a ladder; but he then disappeared. Screams were
heard by the neighbours. Elizabeth Chambers, a servant,
leaped from a back window; she fell upon the skylight
of the kitchen of the White Hart Tavern in Botolph
Lane, and was so seriously hurt that she could not
move, while the flames played round her. At length
two men managed to drag her through a window, and
she was conveyed to the hospital. The firemen could
do nothing to save the Rose and Crown; and all their
efforts were directed to preserve the adjoining houses
from destruction, as the flames had taken hold of four
of them. When the fire was subdued, a search was
made in the ruins, and the charred bodies of four persons
were found—three in the attics, and one on the second
floor. The sufferers were Mr. Richard Harvey, the
landlord; Mrs. Elizabeth Gray, his mother-in-law;
Abraham Clark, a lodger; and George Hare, the pot-
man. Mrs. Harvey had gone to Barking with her child
for a few days, the child being unwell; and her mother
had come to town to take charge of the house during
her absence. Mrs. Harvey expected her husband at
Barking on Sunday morning; but received, instead,
this terrible news. At the inquest no information was
obtained as to the origin of the fire. It would seem that
the fire-escapes were soon on the spot, but the flames
were already pouring from the windows so fiercely that
it was impossible to use them. As the maid-servant was
still in Guy's Hospital, the inquiry was adjourned till
the 2nd of June, to allow time for her recovery that she
might give evidence.

Another fatal Railway Collision has occurred on the
North Midland Counties line. On the 20th inst., the
engine of the train which leaves Derby for Leeds at
9.5 p.m. broke down, just after passing through the
Clay Cross tunnel, half-way between Derby and
Nottingham. The train was delayed about five minutes
while the engineer repaired the engine. As it was
starting again, a goods-train overtook it, ran into it at
a sharp speed, and smashed its hindmost carriages.
Mr. John Knight, of Bradford, builder, and Mr.
Meynell, of Tapton, were killed, almost on the spot;
Mrs. Knight was so contused that her recovery is
doubtful; and several other persons suffered most
serious injuries. A coroner's inquest was commenced
next day, and has already established that the
passenger-train was nearly half an hour late, and the
goods-train many minutes too early. Lieutenant
Douglas Galton, of the Royal Engineers, is attending
the inquest on behalf of Government.

The following information respecting Railway
Casualties is obtained from the returns made to the
Commissioners of Railways. The total number of
persons killed and injured on all the passenger railways
open for public traffic in Great Britain and Ireland
during the half-year ending the 31st December, 1850,
amounted to 123 killed, and 188 injured, and that they
may be classed as follows:—Nine passengers killed, and
138 injured, from causes beyond their own control.
Thirty-four servants of companies or of contractors
killed, and twenty-five injured from causes beyond their
own control. Thirty-four servants of companies or of
contractors killed, and eleven injured, owing to their
own misconduct or want of caution. Twenty-six
trespassers and other persons, neither passengers nor
servants of the company, killed, and five injured, by
crossing or walking on the railway. One suicide. Total,
123 killed; 188 injured. The number of passengers
conveyed during the half-year amounted to 41,087,919.
The length of railway open on the 30th of June, 1850,
was 6308 miles. The length of railway open on the
31st of December, 1850, was 6621 miles. Increase
during the half-year, 313 miles.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

The inauguration of the Exhibition of the Industry of
all Nations took place on Thursday, the 1st of May,
with all the splendour and solemnity befitting so great
an occasion. It drew together a greater assemblage of
people than ever was known even in this immense
metropolis; half a million of people, it is believed, was
massed together in Hyde Park about noon, when the