The other great military gathering for practice and exercise in the autumn is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, under the command of Major-General D. Lysons, whose head-quarters are fixed at Etching Hill, a mile from the little town of Rugeley.

31. RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.-It is no new coincidence that this time of year should be marked by the frequency of railway accidents, but there is something alarming in the number and fatality of the accidents of the last few weeks. Ever since the disaster at Wigan the perils of railway travelling have been kept constantly before our minds by a variety of minor accidents. Every few days we have heard of some train having had a great escape at "facing points,' or having just evaded a fast express, or encountered a slight collision; and now, before the inquiry into the Wigan accident is closed, a fresh disaster is announced, scarcely less terrible in its character, though not fatal immediately to so many passengers. A collision which occurred on Saturday, the 23rd, at Retford, is marked by peculiarly distressing circumstances. The workmen of a large Sheffield firm had started early in the morning by a special train on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line for a day by the seaside at Cleethorpe and Great Grimsby. At Retford this line is crossed on a level by the Great Northern, and as the excursionists neared this junction they saw a train on the latter line approaching them. The excursion train reached the crossing first, and before it could pass, the Great Northern train dashed into it, cutting it completely in two, and smashing to splinters the carriages with which it came in contact. The engine of the Northern train was also thrown off the line, and dashed into a signal-box, which was completely demolished, and the materials were scattered among the sufferers. It is only wonderful that the consequences were not more disastrous. As it was, three persons were killed on the spot, and about forty others have received severe and, in some instances, dangerous injuries. Of course there was an end of the excursion, and the survivors went back to Sheffield and Deepcar to announce the catastrophe.

But the list of casualties began immediately after the Wigan accident. At Glasgow, on August 4th, as the Wemyss Bay train was coming into the Bridge Street station, a pilot engine was run out and came into collision with the train. Two carriages were smashed, and twelve passengers more or less injured; of these, six

were women.

Seven persons were dangerously hurt, and several others sustained scratches and bruises, by an accident which occurred on the Great Western line, between Salisbury and Wilton, on the 5th. The line is a broad-gauge single one, and the train which was due at Salisbury was thirty-six minutes late. The station-master at Salisbury, on the time for a luggage train to start from that place becoming due, telegraphed to Wilton-a distance of about three miles-to stop the train from Bristol until the luggage arrived there. The stationmaster at Wilton telegraphed that the line was clear, and that he

was then engaged in getting a van belonging to Blondin (who had given an entertainment at Wilton Park the previous day) on the railway. Meanwhile the passenger train from Bristol went on to Salisbury, and the two trains came into collision between Wilton and Salisbury, a few yards from a large bridge spanning the railway.

A London and North-Western train, from Leeds to Liverpool, came into collision with a Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's coal train, which was being shunted at Clayton Bridge station, near Ashton, on the 4th. The passenger train was more than twenty. minutes behind its time. The signals were set against it, but partly in consequence of fog and partly from the slippery state of the rails, it was going at the rate of almost six miles an hour when the collision occurred. The train was very full of passengers. Nineteen persons, including several ladies, were taken into a waiting-room to be examined by medical men, but they were found able to pursue their journey or return home. The bruises were mostly on the face and head.

On the 2nd there was also a collision near the Redhill station of the South-Eastern Railway between an up passenger train from Tunbridge and an engine of the London and Brighton Railway Company drawing a goods train out of the goods shed. Both engines were thrown off the rails and much broken, and the rails for several yards were broken and torn up.

A serious collision also occurred on the North-Eastern Railway, a short distance from North Shields. The passenger train which left South Shields for Sunderland at 8.25 came in violent collision with the eight o'clock passenger train from Newcastle for South Shields. Great alarm was occasioned, and a number of passengers were severely shaken.

An accident, similar to that at Wigan, occurred on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, at Miles Platting, near Manchester, on the 9th, by which eight persons were injured, one of whom has since died. The engine and part of the train passed over the points safely, but the last vehicle but one-a truck-struck the points, and was thrown off the metals. The last carriage—a third-class—which was crowded, was thrown over on its side, and one of the passengers, Mr. Newhurst, so severely injured that he afterwards died in the infirmary. Another passenger had his leg broken in several places, and five others were slightly hurt. The resemblance of the accident to the one at Wigan is borne out by the fact that the points were found set in the right direction. They are on the patent interlocking principle. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death," at the same time censuring the company for their inattention to repeated complaints made of the oscillation of carriages on the line.

A rather serious accident occurred on the 8th, on the Somerset and Dorset Railway, between the Cole and Evercreech stations. Several men had been engaged for three nights in succession loading

ballast-trucks with chalk, and the material was conveyed by train the following morning to Burnham. On the 8th the train, which consisted of the engine and tender, twelve trucks laden with chalk, and a break-van, supplied for the men, left the Blandford station about 9.30 a.m., following the ordinary passenger train. On arriving at Lamyatt crossing, one of the axles of the truck next the engine broke, and seven of the twelve trucks were thrown one upon another, the permanent way partially torn up, and the tender thrown off the line. Several of the men had the presence of mind to jump from the trucks, but others were hurled off with great violence. The train was brought to a stand within fifty yards from where the accident occurred, when it was found that six of the men had received severe injuries, one of them having had his leg broken in two places.

On the 11th the seven o'clock goods train from Exeter to North Devon, when about two miles from Exeter, got off the line while passing along the bridge over the Exe, and, after taking a zig-zag course, came in contact with the parapet, and the engine rolled over on its side into the river, taking with it the tender and two vans. The stoker jumped off, but the engine-driver stuck to his post, and went with the engine into six feet of water; fortunately for him, he was able to swim, and being uninjured he struck out for the shore, which he reached in safety. The engine is a total wreck, and only one wheel is visible above the water.

A goods train on the South-Western Railway, running from Portsmouth to Bishopstoke, took fire on the 7th, after passing Botley station. The driver endeavoured to reach Bishopstoke, but was compelled to detach the burning waggons from the other part of the train about a mile from the station. Four waggons, with their contents, were burnt, and the permanent way was slightly injured.

A Scotch express train had a narrow escape at Newlay station, near Leeds, on the 9th. The train, which leaves Leeds at 2.15, ran through two out of four horses which were drawing a waggon across the line. A man and boy who were driving escaped, and the train kept on the rails. The horses were literally smashed to pieces, and portions of their bodies were scattered in all directions.

While the 5.10 p.m. up-train from Southampton was on its way to London, on the 12th, one of the carriages containing a portion of the Australian mail caught fire. As soon as it was discovered, the carriage was uncoupled and the train sent on without it. The contents of the burnt carriage were sent on as soon as possible by special engine. No part of the mail was damaged.

A fatal accident happened at Eastbourne station on the 22nd. The two o'clock express train to London was six minutes late at starting, and the train from Hastings to Brighton, due at 1.59, was seven minutes late. The Eastbourne trains from Hastings have to cross over the up-rail just before entering the station, and those leaving Eastbourne for London and Brighton have to run on the

same metals for a short distance. Just after the up-train was despatched the Hastings train appeared round the curve beyond the station. It being impossible for the drivers to pull up in time, the two trains came into collision. The passengers in the Hastings train appeared to feel the shock most, several of them being injured, and a young lady, Miss Mary Constance Girling, of Holloway, so severely that she died two or three hours afterwards. The Rev. Mr. Bere, of Sunbury, sustained concussion of the brain. Mr. Frederick Simpson, a gentleman who was on his way to Brighton, and Miss Ranger, the daughter of a builder of Lewes, were cut on the head and much shaken.

Another railway collision occurred late on the night of the 25th, at Dodworth, on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, distant about two miles from Barnsley. It being Barnsley Feast, there were excursion trains to London, Hull, Grimsby, and Manchester. The return train from Grimsby arrived at Dodworth shortly after eleven o'clock. It was closely followed by another excursion train from Hull. Whilst so situated, the excursion train from Grimsby was run into by a goods train going to Barnsley and the south. No one was killed, but a great many persons were seriously injured, and Humphreys, a guard, was not expected to survive. The engine of the goods train was thrown across the rails, and in its course dragged several carriages along with it, all of which were smashed to pieces. The rails were torn up for a considerable distance, and the traffic was entirely stopped for more than nine hours.

By an accident which occurred at the Virginia Water station of the London and South-Western Railway, on the 25th, three wellknown race-horses were killed, and two jockeys who were in charge of them have been seriously injured. A horse-box, containing three horses, was placed on the Chertsey siding opposite the station, for the purpose of being attached to the down train due at Virginia Water, and, owing to some fault in the points, the train, instead of keeping on the main line, ran into the siding, and came into collision with the horse-box. Two jockeys named Spencer and Cornery were looking after the animals. Spencer was taken from the van in an insensible condition, and Cornery was much hurt. A stable lad named Lake was on the step of the van at the time, and was thrown up the embankment several yards. The horses-Druid, Queen Mab filly, and Virgin Queen-were so much injured that they had to be shot. They were to have run at Oxford on the following day.

About noon on the 27th, as a heavy goods train was ascending an incline between Colwyn and Llandulas, on the Chester and Holyhead Railway, the axle of a waggon broke, and a number of trucks were pitched across the metals, damaging the permanent way and delaying the traffic about four hours. The Irish mails up and down had to transfer their passengers and mails..

SEPTEMBER.

2. THE PILGRIMAGE TO PARAY-LE-MONIAL.-On this day (Tuesday) nearly 500 English Roman Catholics left Victoria Station by special train at 6.30 a.m. for Newhaven, on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Marguerite Marie Alacoque, at Paray-le-Monial.

Prior to their departure early mass was celebrated at many Roman Catholic chapels in the metropolis. Some hundreds of spectators assembled at Victoria Station to witness the departure, but there was no procession or formal ceremony, as had apparently been expected. The pilgrims all wore the badge of the Sacred Heart, and the different Roman Catholic orders and brotherhoods each sent their representative.

They carried with them but little of this world's goods, as their luggage was strictly limited to such bags and bundles as could be stowed in the netting of the carriages they sat in.

Nearly half the throng were women, dressed chiefly in sombre colours, though not in actual mourning; and nearly half of the men were priests, dressed in ecclesiastical garb, varying from the mere white collar and long black coat to cassocks and hooded cloaks surmounted by shovel hats. Many of the pilgrims had begun their pilgrimage in the north and west of England, or on the other side of the Irish Channel, for the general hubbub was traversed by a rich vein of brogue. Lord Walter Kerr, Monsignor Capel, and other members of the committee were present and travelled by the train, but the presiding genius was Mr. Cook, inquired for on all hands by good Catholics come by night train from Manchester and other places, and anxious at the last moment about their vouchers. Archbishops and bishops may have their day, but on the railway platform the tourist agent must reign supreme. Sisters of Charity, in their black stoles and corpse-like face-cloths, came by twos and threes, and as these friends and nurses of the poor passed towards the train the men raised their hats, according to the point of religious courtesy. Banners in long brown-paper parcels and flat deal boxes were safely stowed away, to be unfurled and carried in splendour at the crowning moment. Despite a very distinguished committee, numbering among its members that trump card of English Catholicism, a Duke of Norfolk, Lords Denbigh and Herries, Lady Lothian, Lady Herbert of Lea, and ecclesiastics of high rank, the lay contingent of pilgrims seemed to comprise but few persons of the upper class. It is understood, however, that many such persons have been liberal in subscribing, and have thus not only enabled others to become pilgrims who could not have afforded the expense, but have themselves made the pilgrimage by proxy, and, to quote the express words of the manifesto, have " shared in the graces of this national Catholic act of homage."

The ecclesiastics were so distributed that each compartment was