diately experienced by the execution of the works at Wallsend and Bill Point, will create a strong desire among the members of the Corporation for the early accomplishment of the remaining improvements described in this Report, and which will not require more than two years to execute, whenever the necessary funds shall be available. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very obedient, humble Servant, Engineer's Office, Guildhall, Dec. 8, 1842. Estimate for the Removal of the Shoals, consisting of Sand, from the Channel of the River Tyne, between Newcastle and Hay Hill Point. Cost of five jetties, as per plan, in the bight opposite St. Ditto, three jetties opposite St. Anthony's Ditto, three jetties in the bight above Bill Point Ditto, seven jetties in Bill Reach or Long Reach.. Ditto, six jetties in the bight below Walker Ditto, one jetty at Willington Ditto, sevea jetties on the Jarrow shore. 1,353 0 0 £805 0 0 Total number of persons committed to the Gaol and House of Correction during the three months ending Dec. 31, 1841...... Ditto, ditto, 1842.......... 284 375 906 10 0 845 0 0 Increase as compared with the corresponding period of last year, Number of Prisoners confined in the Gaol and House of Correction. 91 1841. 1842. Debtors.. 27 23 Felonies for trial at the Assizes Ditto ditto at the Sessions Misdemeanors ditto £15,492 10 0 1,549 5 0 0 £17,041 15 Prisoners under sentence in Gaol 254 Ditto, five jetties on the north shore of Jarrow Slake...... 4,405 10 0 For stone, clay, and other contingent expenses in the construction of the above jetties, 10 per cent. THE REVENUE:-ALARMING DECREASE. By the Morning Chronicle of yesterday (Jan. 6), which we have received by express, we learn that the national revenue continues to fall away with portentous rapidity. The revenue for the last quarter (says our contemporary) bears fearful evidence of the ruinous policy pursued by the party in power. On the year ending 5th January, 1843, as compared with the year ended 5th January, 1842, there is a decrease of £922,630. On the quarter ended 5th January, 1843, as compared with the quarter ended 5th January, 1842, there is a decrease of not less than £940,962, though the property tax has been two quarters in operation. There is here enough to awaken reflection in the most inconsiderate. A deficiency in a single quarter's revenue of between eleven and twelve hundred thousand pounds, indicates a downward progress of the people, which calls for the most serious attention of every interest throughout the country. Calculating by the last quarter, the falling off in the Excise alone We put it to the national creis little short of three millions a year. ditor, whether, if this state of things continue, he can entertain a rational hope that the sources from which he derives his interest will Educational Analysis.-There were 62 prisoners in the calendar, varying in age from 14 to 61; of whom 19 could neither read nor write; 31 could read, or read and write im. perfectly; 3 could do so well; and for the rest there was no return. LAUNCH OF AN IRON CLIPPER.-We feel great pleasure in announcing to our readers the launch of another iron vessel from the building-yard of Mr. J. H. S. Coutts, at Walker, on the forenoon of the 4th Jan., amid the cheers of a select party, assembled on the occasion, Mrs. J. T. Carr performing the ceremony of breaking the bottle. The vessel is called the Flash-a name well chosen, being indicative of speed, which the vessel gives every promise of possessing. She is of the description of vessels called clippers, and, for beauty of model and excellence of workmanship, bids fair to excel any She is constructed vessel yet afloat, either of wood or iron. upon the parabolic principles, laid down by Chapman, the most celebrated and scientific marine architect on record. We feel surprised that a translation of his works into the English language, has not been long ere now effected; and we consider our shipbuilding friends are indebted to Mr. Coutts, for setting them the example of following so jnstly famed an authority. The Flash is intended for the fruit trade, and is owned by our worthy townsman, J. T. Carr, Esq., Mr. Coutts, and Mr. Peacock, a resident of Gibraltar. Mr. Coutts has favoured us with the following particulars : She has two water tight bulk-heads, dividing her into three compartments. The decks are constructed on the same prin. ciples as those of the Prince Albert, with an iron tongue between each deck deal, rendering the process of caulking almost unnecessary. She will have Newall & Co.'s wire rigging, Porter's anchors, Caldwell's revolving windlass, and Ericsson's sounding instrument, all patented; with saloon and state-rooms capable of accommodating from 12 to 16 passengers; two water tanks, one fore the other aft in the entrance and run; iron cook-house; iron gig boat, with air chambers sufficient to keep the boat and eight men afloat, in the event of being swamped; two compasses, neutralized upon Professor Airey's principles; and, in short, no expense is spared to render the vessel complete in all respects. -Newcastle Chronicle. The "glass" was lower, Jan. 13th, according to observations made in Newcastle, than it has been for thirty years past.-Correspondent. AT GATESHEAD UNION. Ta BOARD MEETING, held this day, it was unanimously resolved:-That this Board approves the conduct of William Rowntree, the Clerk of the Union, and of John Pattison, the Relieving Officer for the Gateshead District, in supporting the authority of the Superintendent of Pauper Labour, and in causing William Miller to be taken before the Magistrates-who convicted him of using threatening language to the Superintendent, and ordered him to find sureties to keep the peace, and in default to be committed to Durham Gaol; and that this resolution be advertised in the Gateshead Observer." Board Room, Dec. 27, 1842. GATESHEAD BOROUGH QUESTION. OPINION of MR. SERGEANT TALFOURD on the CASE submitted to him in 1836, by the Town Council:QUERIES. Your opinion is requested 1. Whether, by the 6th section of the Municipal Corporations Reform Act, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Gateshead, are not now the Body Corporate heretofore called the Boroughholders and Freemen of Gateshead, and, consequently," the Boroughholders and Freemen for the time being," mentioned in the Act of 1814? 2. Whether the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Gateshead, were not justified in removing from office the Stewards and Town Clerk of the ancient borough, and in requiring them to deliver up, to the new Council, all deeds, monies, goods, valuable securities, books, and papers, belonging to or concern. ing the Boroughholders and Freemen? and if so, whether, with reference to the 65th and 60th sections of the Municipal Reform Act, the order in Council, and notice given by the Mayor and Town Clerk, are such preliminary measures as can be proceeded upon? 3. Whether, under the 92d section of that Act, the new Council are entitled to receive the rents and profits of the Windmill Hills, and the houses and mill purchased since 1814, and conveyed as herein before mentioned?" 4. With reference to the 2d section of the Municipal Corporations Reform Act, which, after reciting that," in divers cities, &c., the common lands and public stock of such cities, &c., and the rents and profits thereof, have been held and applied for the particular benefit of the citizens, freemen, and burgesses of the said cities, &c., respectively, or of certain of them, and have not been applied to public purposes, it is enacted, that every person who now is, or hereafter may be an inhabitant* of any borough, and every person who has been, or may be, admitted a freeman or burgess of any borough, if this Act had not passed, &c., shall have and enjoy, and be entitled to acquire and enjoy, the same share and benefit of the lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and of the rents and profits thereof, and of the common lands and public stock of any borough or body corporate, and of any lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and every sum or sums of money, chattels, securities for money, or other personal estate, of which any person, or any body corporate, may be seised or possessed, in whole or in part, for any charitable uses or trusts, as fully and effectually, and in such time and such manner, as he or she, by any statute, charter, bye-law, or custom, in force at the time of passing this Act, might, or could have, had, acquired, or enjoyed in case this Act had not been passed: provided always, that the total amount to be divided amongst the persons whose rights are herein reserved in this behalf, shall not exceed the surplus which shall remain after payment of the interest of all lawful debts, chargeable upon the real and personal estate out of which the sums so to be divided have arisen, together with the salaries of municipal officers and all other lawful expenses, which, on the 5th day of June, were defrayed out of or chargeable upon the same,"-whether the Boroughholders and Freemen are entitled to retain the property in dispute, or to receive from the new Council any proportion of its proceeds? or whether the reservation in the Inclosure Act of 1814 does not refer to other persons and rights than individual appropriation ? And, generally, what, under the circumstances, will be the * Many of the Boroughholders are not inhabitants of the borough, and, under the new law, are not burgesses. most advisable measures for the Council to pursue, relative to this property, in discharge of their duty to the burgesses of Gateshead OPINION. 1. I feel this case to be attended with great and peculiar difficulties, arising from the anomalous condition of the borough of Gateshead, previous to the Municipal Reform Act, on the one hand, and from the provisions of that statute on the other. The first question presents itself in a double aspect:-First whether the present Council stand in the situation of the former Freemen and Boroughholders as a body corporate; and second, whether they succeed beneficially to the enjoyment or control of the property held by the former body. As to the first, I think the corporate existence of the Freemen and Boroughholders is transferred by th eAct to the present Corporation; for the Act treats Gateshead as having a subsisting Municipal Corporation, and there seems no evidence of any more than one corporate body of the borough ever subsistingas the incorporation of particular trades does not seem to me at all to affect the question. But I own that, after mature consideration, it seems to me that the weight of subsisting evidence is in favour of the claim set up by the individual Freemen and Boroughholders, to the preservation of the property administered by the Stewards, as being within the 2d section of the Act, and not applicable to the general fund of the borough, without their assent. It appears to me, that, referring to the earliest charter now extant-to the ancient administration of the property-and to the recent Acts of Parliament-the privilege and property is substantially individual; and that it is more easy to reconcile the deviation of a part of the funds to public objects-chiefly local, but, in one instance, of a general nature-to an acquiescence in the parties interested, than to find, in any of the sources of title, a public purpose or object. The whole course of enjoyment has been irregular and anomolous; for it is impossible that the churchwardens for the time being, or the vestrymen before whom they passed their accounts, could grant leases-they not being a body corporate, nor having any corporate name-and all such leases being thereby void in law. Although, therefore, arguments may be fairly raised in favour of the theory, that the property appertaining to the borough belonged to a Corporation in part for public uses, I incline to think the private beneficial interest of the Freemen and the Boroughholders will prevail, if the evidence, now capable of being discovered and produced, shall decide. On the whole, therefore, I think that the legal estate in the possession of the late Boroughholders and Freemen is vested in the new Corporation, but that the beneficial interest is in the individuals of these classes, and in those who may succeed them, pursuant to the 2d section of the late statute. 2. I am of opinion that the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Gateshead, are justified in removing the Town Clerk and Stewards of the ancient borough, and in requiring them to deliver up the papers and effects which they held in right of such offices; because I think that, even supposing it were clear that the Boroughholders and Freemen have personal rights secured by the 2d section of the late Act, still that the officers who administer the funds must be subject to the control of the new Corporation. It can scarcely be contended that there is any other body corporate who can appoint or dismiss them, or who can hold lands in Gateshead; and, therefore, in any view of the greater question, I think the Council have the authority of dismissal. I also think that if such power exists, it has been legally exercised by the course adopted. 3. I am of opinion that the Council are empowered to receive the rents and profits of the Windmill Hills, and the houses and mill purchased since 1814; but the inclination of my opinion is, that they are not entitled to apply them, pursuant to the 92d section of the Act, as public property and to public purposes. 4. For reasons already suggested, I think the Freemen and Boroughholders are entitled to receive the proceeds of the estates now vested in the Council, but for their benefit. If I am right in the view I take of the general result of the evidence, the application of portions of the proceeds to public uses was voluntary or permissive on their part, and not in pursuance of the original grants of the property. If I am wrong, or further evidence shall vary the case, the whole will form part of the borough-stock, to be administered by the Council for general purposes. I observe nothing in the evidence which can mark out an intermediate line-defining part of the proceeds to belong to the public, and part to individuals. 5. On the whole, I think the Council of Gateshead are bound to seek, by the best and safest means, a judicial determination The case is not one in upon their rights and their duties. which, in my opinion, they can properly resort to the summary process, given by the late statute, whereby Magistrates may compel displaced officers to surrender books and property at the instance of the Council; but that the proper course will be, after a formal demand, to proceed, either by motion for a mandamus to compel the delivery of the papers, or by action at the suit of the present Corporation, to recover them, and any monies withheld by the displaced officers. In that action the beneficial interests of the Boroughholders and Freemen may not necessarily be decided; but I do not see any other course than these two which the Council can adopt; and if they adopt the latter, they should propose to try the question in the fairest and cheapest manner, by the admission of documents, and endeavour so to shape the admissions as to lead to an adjudication upon all the points affecting their powers, and the rights of the individuals who dispute them. Temple, Feb. 25, 1836. T. N. TALFOurd. THE DIOCESE OF STATE OF EDUCATION IN EXETER.-An inquest (says the Patriot) was held in the neighbourhood of Exmoor, Devon, at which nine of the jury The following are some of the signed the verdict by mark. humorous particulars of the examination : Coroner: Did you know the defunct? Witness: Who is he? Coroner: Why, the dead man. Witness: Yes. Coroner: Intimately? Witness: Werry. Coroner: How often have you been in company with him? Witness: Only once. Coroner: And do you call that intimately? Witness: Yes; he was very drunk and I were very drunk'; and that made us like two brothers. Coroner: Who recognized the body? Witness: Jack Adams. Coroner: How did he recognize him? Witness: By standing him on his head to let the water out. Coroner: I mean, how did you know him? Witness: By his plush jacket. Coroner: Anything else? Witness: No; only his face was swelled so as his own mother would not have knowed him. Coroner: Then how did you know him? Witness: 'Cause I warn't his mother, Coroner: What do you consider the cause of his death? Witness: Drowning in course. Coroner: Was any attempt made to resuscitate him? Witness: Yes. Coroner: How? Witness: We searched his pockets. Coroner: I mean, did you try to bring him to? Witness: Yes; to the public house. Coroner: I mean, to recover him. Witness: No; we warn't told to. Coroner: Did you ever suspect deceased of mental alienation? Witness: Yes; the whole village suspected un. Coroner: Why? Witness: Because he alienated one of the Squire's pigs. Coroner: You misunderstand me: I allude to mental aberration. Witness: Some thinks he was. Coroner: On what grounds? Witness: I believe they belonged to Squire Waters. Coroner: Pshaw! I mean, was he mad? Witness: Sartenly. Coroner: What! devoid of reason? Witness: He had no reason to drown himself as I know of. Coroner: That will do, Sir. (To the jury): Gentlemen, you have heard the evidence, and will consider of your verdict. Foreman: Your worship, we are all of one mind. Coroner: Well, what is it? Foreman: We don't mind what: we are agreeable to anything your worship pleases. Coroner: No, gentlemen; I have no right to dictate; you had better consult together. Foreman: We have, your worship, afore we came, and we're all unanimous. Coroner: I am happy to hear it, gentlemen. (To the clerk): Mr. Hisks, take down the verdict.-Now, then, gentlemen? Foreman: Why, then, your worship, it's "Justidable Suicide ?" and begs to recommend to mercy; and hopes we shall be allowed our expenses! The Coroner, with his pedantic Latinisms, was about as stupid as the witness. If he had spoken plain Saxon, he would have been understood. HINTS TO GAS COMPANIES.-At Sheffield, the charge is 4s. 2d. per 1,000 feet; Leeds, 6s. 8d.; Liverpool, 6s.; Cheltenham, Glasgow, and Bradford, 7s.; Paisley, Newcastle, and Sunderland, 7s. 6d. The high charge made on the Tyne and the Wear, we need hardly remark, arises from the dearness of The effect which coal on the banks of those two rivers!!! lowering the price of an article like gas has upon its consumption, was, perhaps, never better exemplified than in the statistics of Manchester. In 1833, when the charge was 10s. 6d. per 1,000 feet, the profits were £8,292; in 1834, it was 10s. 3d., and the profits £10,191; in 1835, 10s., profits £13,510; in 1836, 9s., profits £16,196; and in 1837, 8s. 6d., profits £18,712. In 1838 it was further lowered to 8s., and the profits realized £19,376: in 1839, the price was 7s. 6d., the profits £24,658. The last reduction in 1840 was to 7s., and the profits increased to £24,738; in 1841, to £29,694; and in 1842, to £34,232. These facts speak for themselves. THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.-The present Most Reverend Prelate, Edward Harcourt, has filled the episcopal Thomas office longer than any of his English prodecessors. Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1486, lived 51 years after his first consecration, and 32 years after his elecThis long enjoyment of the tion to the archiepiscopal see. episcopal dignity was unsurpassed, until the time of Edward Harcourt, who was consecrated in 1791, and became Archbishop of York in 1807; consequently, was 52 years ago a Bishop, and has been 36 years an Archbishop! HODGE'S HINT.-The great man of the village, being at dinner, allowed one of his tenants to stand while he conversed with him. "What news, my friend?" said the squire. "None that I know of," replied the farmer, "except that a sow of mine has had a litter of "What will the thirteenth thirteen pigs, and she has only twelve teats. do?" asked the landlord. "Do as I do," returned Hodge: "it will stand and look on while the others eat " CAUTION TO COACHMEN.-An Irish gentleman, travelling It by the mail, was disturbed in a nap by the coachman (on the relinquishment of the reins to another driver), to solicit a compliment. was no easy matter to make Pat understand the coachman's object. At length, however, he drew sixpence from his pocket, and handed it over with many imprecations for the interruption, and added, "If you had not waked me, fellow, I'd have given you a shilling." CURIOUS FACT IN NATURAL HISTORY.-Several instances are on record where the domestic hen has, in old age, put on the plumage of a cock, had spurs, crowed, &c. We are informed by a gentleman, whose observations we can rely upon, of a peahen which has, at the present time, put on the plumage of the peacock.-Garner's Natural History of the Coanty of Stafford. LOTS OF BAIRNS AT EYEMOUTH.-If the man be happy whose quiver is liberally filled," the ladies at Eyemouth must have qualified their liege lords to talk boldly with "the enemy in the gate." I never saw such swarms of children as the door of every domicile presented. They were crawling in and out of boats, or creeping on the quay or jetty, and, as I foolishly imagined, in momentary risk of drowning. "Do children frequently drop in?" I inquired, in a paroxysm of alarm, of the jolly hostess. "Aye, aye, the fule things, they often fa' ower yon "God bless me!-Lost of course?" pier," she answered, coolly. "Na, na," returned the landlady: "noo an then, to be sure, a bairn's drooned; but there's maistly some idle body in the way to fish them oot, the deevils!" Though the worthy hostess spoke so ooolly on the subject, I thought it rather a risk, to allow two-year-olds to tumble into twenty feet water, depending on there being "maistly some idle body in the way to fish them out."-Maxwell's Wanderings. SONG.* OH! are you truly fond of me, Decide on what is best? We maids are oft in earnest, when And if you think we care for you, I feel that I could love you well, But fear to tell you so, Lest but a sense of vanity Is all your heart should know. A SACRED SONG, SUGGESTED BY THE ANTI CORN-LAW SOIREE IN NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, "And GoD said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the Farth, and every tree, in which is th fruit of a tree yielding seed: to you it shall be for meat."-Genesis, i. 29 "While the Earth reinaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."— Genesis, viii. 22. ALL BOUNTFOUS LORD! thy teeming Earth To Man, his dwelling place to be, HEAVEN'S great decree, with impious pride, And smitten with a law-made dearth The fairest island of the Earth! The UNIVERSAL FATHER gave The Gateshead Fell Ball took place on Thursday, Jan. 19,in the public rooms, and was attended by upwards of 130 ladies and gentlemen of the neighbourhood. The ball was led off by Mr. James Smith and Mrs. John Sowerby, and dancing The music under the leader. was kept up till an early hour. ship of Mr. Bagnall, and the decorations and arrangements The Mayor of Newcastle (T. Dunn, Esq.), and Mrs. ham), Mr. J. and the Misses Cookson, Dr. and Mrs. Headlam, "THE REPORt of the SOUTH SHIELDS COMMITTEE, APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS IN COAL MINES, containing an Examination of Safety Lamps, Ventilation, Scientific Instruments, Infant Labour in the Mines, Plans and Sections, Scientific Education of Officers of Mines, Government Inspection, and Medical Treatment after Explosion; with Plans and Appendix.-London: LONGMAN & Co.Gateshead: DOUGLAS, Observer Office," The South Shields Committee-consisting of Robert Ingham, Esq., President, Dr. Winterbottom, and R. Shortridge, J. W. Roxby, John Clay, Errington Bell, R. W. Swinburne, W. K. Eddowes, and Anthony Harrison, Esqrs., with James Mather and Thomas Salmon, Esqrs., the Honorary Secretaries-appointed in 1839, after a dreadful loss of life in the St. Hilda pit ("one of those devastating explosions that place a whole district in mourning"), to investigate the causes of accidents in coalmines-have completed and published a Report, which may be truly described as a monument of ability and perseverance-and of humanity, too, which breathes in its every page. Within the last twenty years, it appears, upwards of 680 persons have lost their lives by explosions and their consequences, So fearful a morin coal-mines on the Tyne and Wear alone. tality is of itself sufficient to affix the stamp of popular gratitude on the Committee's exertions; yet it is not thus only that the value of the Report is exhibited. To Great Britain, it is truly stated, the coal-mines are of "more consequence than mines of gold and silver-they set her stupendous machinery in motion, raise her to a position the highest in the scale of nations, and bring her vast dependent territories, scattered over the globe, wich all their valuable productions, within the easy To secure so vast access and jurisdiction of the parent state." a source of wealth from wasteful as well as dangerous systems of exploration, and the operatives engaged in it from sickness and death, are, consequently, matters of the first moment to a commercial community. These, the Committee have bad seriously in view, and, in our opinion, they have successfully pointed out a road on which both life and capital may henceforth travel much more securely than before. The great objects of inquiry and consideration with the Committee have been :-Safety-lamps, ventilation, scientific instruments, infant labour in the mines, plans and sections, scientific education of officers of mines, government inspection, and medical treatment after explosion. The whole of these matters are dwelt upon at considerable length, and the "conclusions" of the Committee thereon expressed with remarkable clearness and impartiality. The safety-lamps hitherto in use-even the very best of them are considered by the Committee as only comparatively Davy," indeed, without a complete safe instruments: the " shield of glass or other material, is pronounced, and upon sufficient evidence, to be "most dangerous," and to have been "productive of those accidents in mines against which it is too confidently and generally employed, at the daily imminent risk of The various lamps of Dr. Clanny producing such calamity.' (who, in this country, says the Report, appears to have been the first man of science that conceived it possible to enter into a contest with the destructive element, and who, sustained by his unwearied philanthropy, has never ceased, for thirty years, to devote his talents and exertions to mitigate the horrors consequent upon its explosions)-of Sir H. Davy, of Mr. George Stephenson, of Mr. Henry Smith's improvement of Mr. Stephenson's, of Upton & Roberts, of Mr. William Martin, of Mr Richard Ayre, and of M. Mueseler and M. Lemielle of Belgium, are severally considered, and their merits and defects pointed out, with great candour and fairness; and the Commit ee express their opinion that the best description of lamp to be employed in fiery mines, is one on the principle of the Improved Clanny and the Mueseler Lamps-the latter with a continuous gauze cylinder-a lamp in which "the supply of air is derived entirely through the upper part of the construction over the glass shield;" but even this, as before stated, is not to be re. garded as absolutely safe. The Committee, however, justly regard lamps as only se. condary considerations-and report, we fear with much correctness, that the "tar more important and safer system of venti. lation has been comparatively neglected" in the working of coal-mines. An indicator of danger (for a safety lamp, after all, is only so far valuable,) has been, thus, preferred, "either from erroneous conviction, or other less defensible cause," to the removal of the danger itself, through processes of ventilation. The Committee refer to the unwise and fatal notions that have hitherto existed on this subject, and point out the course which should be adopted, for the common benefit of the miner and the mine-owner. They mention the astounding fact, that in some extensive mines, abounding most largely in explosive gas, the rate of the ventilating air-current is reduced so low as one and one tenth of a foot, one foot, and even 66 of a foot per second! in consequence of the limited proportion of pit and shaft area to the enormous extent of excavations, "sometimes extending beyond seventy miles, where nearly 400 acres are supplied with atmospheric air by single pit." This is a horrible fact, and induces us to ask the coal-trade if the possibility has never occurred to them of a verdict of "manslaughter" being returned in cases of death ensuing from so shocking a neglect of duty to the pitmen. And the existence of such a system evidences folly as well as inhumanity; for it has been clearly shown, that in well-ventilated coilieries, not only do the men respire more freely, but the road ways are kept dry and repaired at less expense, and the timber lasts longer by several years. As this appears to us one of the most important parts of the Report, we feel it would be wrong to abridge the conclusions to which the Committee come, on the subject of ventilation. They find:- That the imperfect state of the ventilation in the northern mines is caused by too few shafts in proportion to the extent of underground workings; that the cost of sinking those shafts has been unduly exaggerated; and that the saving of expense from destruction of brattices, waste of ropes, injury from explosion, &c., eventually compensates for the increased first outlay on the necessary additional shafts. That only increased velocity, and diminished length of air currents, can secure against the recurrence of explosions; that, for this purpose, one shaft ought to be apportioned to at the most 40 acres, which is much more than the proportion in the metallic mices of Cornwall, or in the coal mines of Staffordshire-often more than in those of Lancashire, and sometimes in those of the northern coal-field; and that no "winning" or extraction of coa! in a new mine shall be allowed to be made, unless two distinct and separate shafts have been previously put down, which should be secured by act of parliament. That for facilitating the easy passage of air without obstruction, the areas of the upeast shafts should invariably equal, if not exceed, the areas of the downcast, instead of bearing, as they now do, in many instances, a proportion of 2 to 1. This is clearly evident when it is considered that the heated products of the air, after combustion, as nitrogen, carbonic acid, &c., in ascending the upcast, are expanded nearly one. seventh, by the increased temperature of the furnace, from the time of their descent through the downeast and passage in the works. That the plan and mode of ventilation by high-pressure steam, recommended by Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, the distinguished inventor of the Bude Light, as developed in his communications to the Committee, fully detailed in the Report, seem peculiarly adapted for accomplishing, at small expense, and without derangement to the present system of working, a vast increased and manageable rate of current. That this power, although manageable, is almost illimitable, and can be applied to sweep the galleries with the almost irresistible force of a hurricane, guided only by the safety of the works when the men may be absent from the pit, rendering it, before their descent, pure, healthy, and safe. That considering its power, safety and economy, facility of execution and command, ventilation by high-pressure steam is peculiarly fitted for the present condition of mines, and adapted for them in every stage of their operations. That it appears one of the most important and valua ble suggestions, and, if fully and properly applied, preferable, as far as relates to its effects on the safety and healthiness of the mine, to any in vention of modern times. That in addition to these improvements in ventilation, the plan of exhausting the gas by drifts driven along the face of dykes, which are found to dam back and accumulate the gas in great abundance, and perhaps aid in creating it, and which has flowed up through the natural divisions of the coal, backs,slines, or cleavages, is deserving of extensive application. That the support which the natural position and dip of coal seams, their structure and their interruption by faults or dykes, give to the suggestion of draining by gas drifts scientifically applied, borne out by extensive practical demonstration of its great utility in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and partially in some instances in the Northumberland and Durham districts, leaves no doubt of the important advantages derivable from them, and which are the more valuable as no interruption of the slightest kind to the present mode of operating in mines, and but small increased expense will arise from their introduction; and thus there exists no real obstruction to their general and immediate adoption. The necessity of adopting in mines the use of scientific in. struments, by which the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere are most accurately indicated, is also pointed out with much truth and judgment; as is also the propriety of a registration of plans and sections (as in some foreign countries at present), by which the dangers of inundation, from breaking into old and unknown workings, would be materially (if not wholly) avoided. The importance of scientific officers as well as instruments in mines, is also very properly urged; and a compulsory system of government inspection of such officers is defended, as "perfectly compatible with the private rights of property and the freedom of trade:" being a principle of interference which has "already been acknowledged and acted upon by the Legislature with regard to railways, the professions, the manufacturers, and some of the trades, and is peculiarly applicable to miningunlike the former, far removed from an enlightened public investigation." These remarks have our hearty concurrenceas such of our readers must suppose, who are acquainted with our opinion on the principle of Capt. Fitzroy's Bill. The remaining portions of the Report apply to the medical treatment of persons injured by explosion, on which much valuable information is given; and we cannot more appropriately conclude our notice of the Report (which we wish our other claims would have allowed us to make longer), than by congratulating the borough of South Shields on the noble and chivalric spirit which has animated their Committee on the subject of infant labour in mines-the more especially as their Report on that head was written previous to the introduction of Lord Ashley's Bill. "A great source of danger in mines," says the Report, "in addition to the inhumanity of the practice, is the ecployment of boys of a very early age-frequently under. 10 years; whence have arisen explosions and accidents of a serious nature." Several of those accidents are quoted-and the Committee would prevent boys younger than 11 or 12 from being employed in coal-mines. In France, Belgium, and Italy, to the shame of England, it seems a law to this effect has existed since the days of Napoleon. We congratulate the Committee, therefore, as well as their townsmen, on the adop tion by the Legislature of at least this important section of the recommendation of the Report. We not only hope, but believe, that the labours of the Committee will make some noise in the world, far beyond the dis. trict in which they have been so zealously pursued and so honourably concluded. [We have observed, in a review of the Report in the Northern Advertiser of Thursday, that the writer does not fully understand the relative number of accidents in the Belgian mines, compared with those of the Northumberland and Durham district. It is accounted for in this way. The list of the Shields Committee is made by "individual research," by Sykes and themselves, in which only the most prominent description of cases, as explosions, ever reaches them, or can even with much trouble be ascertained. The Belgic list is an official registration from the Minister of the Interior, in which every accident, without exception, is registered. It is, we are sorry to say, not a freedom from a proportionate number of similar fatal occurrences in our mines, but from the want of their full official registry, that causes the discrepancy. As a proof, we refer to pages 148 and 149 of the "First Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of Children in Mines, &c.," in which it is stated, on this very subject, "The Sub-Commissioner has incidentally supplied us with remarkable evidence of the fact, that very few of the fatal accidents which take place in collieries come to the knowledge of the public; and that there is not only no public record, but that not the slightest notice is taken of them, even by the press." The deaths according to this list, in the year 1838, were 13; while in the same year, according to the Registrar's books, the Commissioners' Report state, the |