the place, a youth was knocked down opposite the
Mansion-house, and the wheels went over his head and
neck; he was removed to the hospital, where he died
soon after.
A disastrous Fire in Mark Lane broke out on the
morning of the 19th, in a house occupied by several firms;
thence it spread to Seething-lane, taking firm hold of
the extensive premises of Hayter and Howell, army-packers;
the roof of the Corn Exchange caught the
flames, and half a dozen more buildings were fired.
When the Fire Brigade arrived, they devoted their
efforts to save the Exchange and those houses on which
the flames had not much hold, and in this they succeeded;
but the house in Mark Lane and Hayter and
Howell's were destroyed. The loss of property has been
estimated at £100,000. The premises in which the fire
commenced were very extensive, having been formerly
used as the town residence of one of the foreign ambassadors.
It was erected after designs by Sir Christopher
Wren, and presented an example of the magnificence of
the early city mansions. Every room was beautifully
panelled; the staircase, which was upwards of six feet
wide, was formed of carved oak; and splendid specimens
of scroll-work adorned the various ceilings. At the rear
of the house stood wliat was formerly the ambassador's
private chapel, but of late years it had been converted
into a warehouse.
On the morning of the 19th an accident took place on
the Eastern Counties Railway, whereby nine men lost
their lives. Upwards of twenty men were engaged near
Brentwood station in ballasting the line; about eight
o'clock, they had just emptied a ballast-train; the
morning was very foggy; while some of them were on
the up-line, an up-train clashed into the midst of them;
eight were killed on the instant, and another died a
minute after. At the inquest, which terminated on the
23rd, it appeared that the morning was extremely foggy,
that the train was not behind its time, and that there had
been no negligence on the part of the driver; but sufficient
precavitions had not been taken to make the
aware of the obstruction. The jury found that
the deaths had been caused by misadventure, and expressed
their regret that more caution had not been
exercised for the protection of the men employed on the
line.
On the night of the 20th, a serious accident happened
on the Great Western Railway. An excursion train,
returning from Bristol, came into collision with a horse-box
which had been allowed to remain on the line, near
the Wootton Bassett Station. The engine and four
carriages were thrown off the line, and overturned, and
several of the passengers seriously injured. An investigation
took place before the magistrates at Swindon,
and William White, the policeman in charge of the
station, was condvited of neglect of dnty, and sentenced
to two months' imprisonment.
There has been Another Fire at Gravesend; it broke
out about one o'clock on the morning of the 21st, on the
premises of Mr. Drasen, a linen-draper in Queen Street,
near the market-place, and destroyed these and some
adjoining houses. A number of watermen had met
together on the previous evening to commemorate a
rowing-match for a prize given by the proprietors of the
Rosherville Gardens, and these men were assembled, to
the number of 150, in an hotel called the Town Arms
Tavern, just opposite the house in which the fire took
place; and it appears to have been caused by squibs and
other fireworks let off by them in the street.
Two steamers have been Shipwrecked at the same spot,
between the island of Jersey and St. Malo. On the
morning of the 16th, the Superb was to have started
from St. Helier's on an excursion trip, but in consequence
of her machinery requiring repair, another vessel, the
Polka, was substituted. It was soon discovered that she
had sprung a leak aud was fast foundering, but she was
kept afloat till she reached some small rocks called the
Minquiers, on the coast of France. The anchor was
then dropped, aud all the people on board, among whom
were several ladies, were conveyed by the boats to the
rocks; and after passing the night in that situation,
they were picked up by the steamer South Western,
from Weymouth to St. Malo. On the 24th, the Superb
was herself wrecked at the same place, and with a much
more melancholy result. She left St. Malo at seven in
the morning, and a little after nine, stnick on the Minquiers
rocks, then under water. A number of the
passengers got into one of the boats and put off: but it
speedily sank, though in smooth water, and they all
perished. Fortunately the tide was falling, and soon
left the ship high and dry on the rocks. Signals of distress
were made, and after two hours, the survivors were
saved by the Jupiter cutter and the Courier steamer.
Besides those who perished in the boat, two children
were thrown overboard by the shock when the vessel
struck. The persons lost were Mr. Gossett, a merchant of
Jersey, and his wife; Mr. Jackson, his son and daighter;
Mr. Rottenbury, Miss Price, Mr. Sedgwick, and three of
the crew. The survivors, about 40 in number, were Ianded
at St. Heliers. An inquiry into this disaster must
necessarily take place.
Two infants, of three years and fifteen months old,
children of Robert Wardell, a labourer at Wetwang,
were Drowned on the 23rd. At the inquest on their
bodies, their mother gave an affecting account of their
death:—" I went to glean in a field of Mr. Hill's, and
took my two children with me. I left them under a
hedge with some other children, and went off to glean.
About 1 o'clock they both came over to the side of the
field where I was. I gave them some cake, set them
under a hedge, and told them to wait until I got another
glean, and then I would take them home. A pond was
near where I left them, but it was fenced off. About a
quarter of an hour after I went to the place where I had
left them, and I said, 'Have I two little bairns here?'
as I usually did. I was surprised at not receiving an
answer. I then began to look about, and on going to the
pond I discovered the legs of one of the children projecting
out of the water." A surgeon was immediately
sent for, but he was unable to restore them to animation.
The Lille correspondent of the Boulogne Interpreter,
states that the child of an English tumbler, named
Elliott, was Killed while performing there feats with his
father. The little fellow upon being thrown into the
air from his father's foot, instead of falling upon his
feet, by some unlucky movement, fell upon his head,
which caused a dislocation of the neck, and, as a matter
of course, instant death.
SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.
THE Board of Trade Returns for the month ending
the 5th August, show a decrease of exportations on comparison
with those of August 1849, to the amount of
334,858/.; but the exports of the month ending August
1849 were unprecedented, and exceeded those of August
1848 by £2,012,500. The decrease in the present return
of exports is chiefly on cotton manufactures and yarn,
together abont £200,000.; on woollen manufactures,
£142,665.; silk manufactures, £18,864.; and on metals,
£130,842. On the other hand, there is an increase on
linen and woollen yarns, and on raw wool; on machinery,
coals, and culm; and on alkali: in the aggregate
about £200,000. The total exports during the first seven
months of the year were £37,808,072. against £32,879,865.
during the same time in last year. Among the imports,
those of grain show an advance compared with the same
month in 1849, of 500,000 quarters. After a considerable
time of stagnation, the consumption of coffee shows a
forward movement; that of tea and sugar, continues in
its steady line of advance.
The total amount of income-tax paid by the several
Railway Companies in England and Scotland for the year
1849 was, according to a recent return, £237,909. 13s. 10d.;
the amount for England being £218,899. 18s. 10d., and
that for Scotland, £19,009. 15s. The London and North-Western
paid 50,684/.; the Great Western, £24,631.; the
Midland, 19,438/.; the London and Brighton, £17,056.;
and the Eastern Counties, South-Eastem, and South-Western,
upwards of £16,000.
A notice to the public has been issued from the
General Post Office relative to Sunday Postal Arrangements.
It declares that the regulations which have been
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