The Sun. — London, England, 1859-08-23 00:00:00

THE SERPENTINE. ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE. The ornamental water in Kensington-gardens and Hyde-park, for the improvement of which the House of Commons has just voted the sum of £16,500, has existed for about 140 years. In the time of King William 111. the valley now occupied by the Serpentine was channelled by the windings of a brook called the West Bourne, interrupted at intervals by marsh grounds, ponds, and gravel pits. In the reign of George I. these ponds were united by excavation, and the lake was formed by the con struction of a weir across the rivulet near Knights bridge. At first, and for many years afterwards, the Serpentine derived a constant and abundant supply of limpid water from the rivulet, originating at a point where it is not now possible to determine accurately, not far from the Royal Oak, by the union of seveaal streams, taking their rise in the Hampstead and Highgate hills. Thence it pursued a devious course along the Bayswater valley to the Bayswater Tavern, then a lonely resort of high waymen. Not only is all trace lost of the channel of the rivulet, its waters being now conveyed by the Ranelagh sewer, but the valley its elf is oblite rated by successive artificial deposits, the ground being raised to a continuous level and covered with streets and squares. About 30 years ago the first streets were built in this now populous neighbour hood. As street followed street , a nd threw its drain age into the brook, it gradually changed its charac ter, and from being a trout stream it became an open sewer. In a few years the Ser p entine, which was fed from it, was contaminated to such an ex tent that in 1834 an act was passed (4 and 5 Will. IV., c. 96) empowering th e Commissioners of Sewers to construct across the brook, at the point at which it passes under the Uxbridge-road, a weir of the height of two feet, and to carry off its intercepted waters into the sewer which crosses Hyde-park from the foot of Albion-street in adirection parallel with the Serpentine. The result of these works was to divert from the Serpentine the greater part of the drainage and soil passing down the brook; but when ovorthe water rose above the level of the top of theweir (winch was very frequently the case), it of course continued to flow into the lake. In 1836 the quan tity of mud at the upper end had so much increased it was judged necessary to construct a coffer dam near the bridge to pump out the water and cleanse the channel. -This work was effected and the whole of the mud cleared rway at a cost of about £3,000, but no further measures were taken for excluding the sewage. Nothing more appears to have been done until, in 1848, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, in consequence of the general com plaints which then arose, instructed Sir J. Rennie to investigate the condition of the lake, and to re port on the best means of improving and maintain ing it in a wholesome state. He reportedthat there was in the lake a deposit of from 1 to 6 feet of of fensive mud, the existence of which he attributed entirely to the polluting influence of the Bayswater stream, and the scanty supply of fresh water. He recommended 1. That the sewage should be effectually ex cluded, and 2. That the foul mud should be removed, the surface of the channel regulated, the pits filled up, and that gravel should be strewed along the mar gin for some distance. He contemplated that a sufficient supply of water should be obtained either from the water companies or by making reservoirs at the sources of the Brent or the Verulam. None of these improvements were carried into operation, and the subjeet appears again to have dropped until the appointment of Lord Llanover to the office of First Commissioner of her Majesty's Works. In accordance with the indications of Sir J. Rennie, he directed an estimate to be prepared for the thorough cleansing of the lake in St. James's-park and the Serpentine. In this estimate it was proposed that the mud should not be removed, but that after being properly drained, it should be used to regulate the channel, and finally, that the whole should be coated with concrete to the depth of from 9to 12 inches. The expense of effecting this improvement was to be £45,000 for the Serpentine and £ll,OOO for the lake in St. James's : park. As every one knows, this pro posal was carried into effect with perfect success in the latter, in the winter of 1856-57, the reqnired sum being provided by the Treasury in anticipation of the vote taken in the ensuing session of Parliament. With the exception that in the year 1849 an al teration was made in the weir at the head of the Serpentine of such a nature as to divert a still larger proportion of the contents of the Ranelagh sewer from the lake, but not to prevent frequent overflows, nothing whatever was done from 1836 until last winter. The rapid extension of the area covered by buildings having led to a corresponding increase of the quantity of water draining into the Ranelagh, the diversion sewer constructed in 1834 became wholly insufficient for its purpose. It was therefore resolved by the Metropolitan Board, at the instance of Mr. Burslem, the representative for the district of Paddington, to construct a new sewer along the Uxbridge-road, in a direction parallel to that already existing, and of sufficient size to con vey the whole contents of the Ranelagh to the sewer already referred to as crossing the park from the foot of Albion-street. The communication between the sewer and the;Serpentine still, however, remains open, and in case of an extraordinary fall of rain, sewer water in an extremely diluted state may still enter the lake. It cannot be supposed that this very slight contamination is sufficient to produce any ap preciable effect on the water ; so that practically the first point insisted upon by Sir J. Rennie has been accomplished. The entire immunity of the Serpen tine is one of the many good things which we are led to expect from the completion of the main drain age scheme. • What is the present state of the Serpentine? Ac cording to Mr. Hawksley, " its water is essentially clear, sweet, and inodorous. . . . It is nevertheless, to some extent, loaded with confervoidal and other forms of vegetation of a very primary and harmless character." What could be more satisfactory ? "Neither sensibly nor chemically is there much that is wrong in the greatly abused water of the Serpen tine." Truly, if the only evil we have to contend with consists in the presence of those microscopic proto phytes, whose influence is rather to purify than con taminate the water in which they exist, we scarcely need a steam-engine and a filtering-bed three-quar ters of an acre in extent, costing £16,500 down and £3OO annually, to remedy it ! But the public is too strongly convinced of the unwholesomeness of the present state of the Sepentine to be put off by any such quibbling. From the observation of many years—observation for which no science is required —the foul smell, of the lake has become so familiar to the frequenters of Kensington Gardens of all classes, that neither Mr. Hawksley nor all the scientific evidance in the country would convince them to the contrary, and they are not likely to place much confidence in a remedy the whole re commendation of which is based on the denial of the very existence of the evil to be remedied. It may be freely admitted that the water itself contains little that is likely to be injurious to health. The minute vegetables to which, as Mr. Hawksley truly says, the present turbidity of the Serpentine is mainly owing, have frequently been much more numerous than at present, and it is probable the re cent introduction of lime, by destroying the crus taceans which feed upon, will produce a similar in crease as the season advances, and that the lake will again assume the emerald green colour which was so intense last September. Even in its pre sent condition the water of the Serpentine will not bear comparison with that of the lake in St. James's-park. While the latter is bright and clear, and has a sufficient staff of nature's scavengers (water fleas and cyclopes) to prevent the too great multiplication of miscroscopic orga nisms, the former is muddy, its scavengers have been limed to death by order of Government, and it is impregnated with ammonia in such quantity 418 to com mun a al kaline reactii cate to it what the chemists call an alk on. This condition is a mere conse quence en l o w f ka th ie eputrescence of the mud at the bottom. deposit at theYbo indeed, tells us—" That the vast not affect th e oni, black and deep as it is, does condition of the supernatant water." Common sense a nd we shall endeavour to a contrary conclusion ; to show that this may be suppo.rted by the careful anal • It is characteristic of analysis of facts. mud which consists o f or ganic debris t hat i t gives off from its surface gases o f s everal kinds, the relative proportions • of which differ according to the nature of the orn- a • and the stage of its decomposition. ii , th n i i s c matter actively the mud itself becomes• process goes on act inflated by of the interstitial development gas, exactly in the same manner that dough does in the process of fel , tnentation. It is thus rendered buoyant, and r i ses in fragments which float about on the su r f ace. Every one has heard of the floating island on D oi ._ went water, which consists of a mass of mud inflated with bubbles in precisely the same manner—the im portant difference being that in that instance the gas is not mephitic, resulting merely from the de composition of vegetable matters, not from sewage, as in the Serpentine. The quantity of this floating mud varies extremely, according to the temperature and direction of the wind. We have observed it in such quantity as to form a yeast-like scum, extend ing over an area of 2,000 square yards. This we believe to be the real source of the offensive emana tions. The products of the decomposition of the mud, which, if exposed directly to the action of the water, would be oxidised and converted into cora aratively inoffensive products (ammonia and car t:ionic acid), is protected and carried up to the sur f& tie by the mechanism we have endeavoured to d es , *vibe, and there becomes.- diffused in the at- tore. mosp If t U. be the real explanation of the matter— TfiE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1859. and that it is so we think will appear to every one have beers obtained by means which differ from who has watched the Serpentine for the last few those in preparation as parts of a general system of years—of what possible use can it be to filter the drainage when I acted as one of the Commissioners water, to improve the supply, or, in short, to do any- of the Consolidated Sewers Commission. I now yen thing whatever except the one thing required—to ture to aver that if Sir Morton Pete, Mr. Stephen protect the water from the influence of the mud, son, and other Commissioners of the same class who either by removing the latter or by coating it with succeeded on that commission had justified their concrete, according to the practical proposal of Lord pre tensions to deal with questions of town drainage Llanover ? (and in respect to Mr. Stephenson I will add, if he But there is another ground of complaint of still had justified my own expectations from the princi greater importance, and one which more urgently pies which he adopted as one of the p aid Commis demands redress. To the masses who inhabit the stoners on the Health of Towns Commission), crowded streets of the metropolis the opportunity of neither the work in question, nor the work of the bathing free of expense is of incalculable value. Not interception of sewage from the Thames, nor other only is the practice in the highest degree conducive large sanitary works, would for so many years have to physical health, but it tends to foster those moral remained to be done. They had before them speci qualities the growth and development of which in mens of drains constructed specially for the work the lower classes are most apt to be checked by town of permeable land drainage, with reports settling life. The exercise of swimming, so invigorating to the principles for the drainage of all open spaces, mind and body, the previous effort which is required for the treatment of pools and of stagnant water, as to obtain mastery over a new element, the emala- well as the water-bearing strata forming the sites tion which is called into play—all these are invalu- of habitations. But the course which they have able agents in promoting among the poor that love taken on this as on other connected matters shows of out-door exertion, of successful struggle with that there are fundamental principles belonging to the powers of nature, which in this country so town drainage which they have yet to learn. markedly distinguish the educated from the vulgar. I beg to offer some justificatory explanations, as During the summer months thousands of children bearing on the question under consideration. I assemble, for the purpose of bathing, on the banks have, myself, in various reports, displayed the evi of the Serpentine; and, in spite of the efforts of the dente that in addition to the means for the removal Humane Society, many fall victims to the dange- of foul or soil water containing the excreta usually rous condition of its channel. If unable to swim, removed by drains from houses, complete town the bather, when wading into the water, suddenly drainage works comprehend the means for the re slips into a gravel-pit filled with semi-fluid slime, moval of surplus and stagnant water from the strata which half chokes half poisons him ; while the ex- forming the sites of houses and towns. It has been pert swimmer, as we are assured on the best autho- shown over and over again that, the general condi rity, should he be so unlucky as to be seized with tion of urban populations being similar as to house cramp, " becomes entangled in the slimy matter, drainage, the rate of mortality varies with the levels which so completely fills the mouth, nose, and ears on which the houses stand, or, in other words, with as to render in many instances resuscitation impos- the dampness of the subsoil as governed by those Bible ; and in those cases where animation is re- levels. Thus in respect to London, on dividing the stored, the constitution of the rescued person re- two great' districts, the highest and the lowest , in ceives a shock from which it never recovers." reference to the Trinity high-water mark, in 1838, The House of Commons the other night accepted the proportions of deaths from fever in the districts almost without question, and sanctioned by a ma- of an average level of 54 feet was one to every 425 rity of 97 to 12, the scheme of a projector who hay- of the population, while in the lower districts, at ing two ills to cure avowedly leaves the worst un. an average level of only 11 feet, the deaths were touched—actually does nothing for the other ; and, nearly double, or lin 255. Or, on the occasion of as a placebo, proposes a remedy directed against a the last visitation of cholera, into three levels—the mere mock disease, an insignficant consequence of lowest, the intermediate, and the highest—in the the real evil. No explanation of this result is to lowest, averaging only four feet, the deaths were 1 be found in the speeches delivered on the three oe- in 93 of the population ; in the intermediate, aver casions on which the project was discussed, for the aging 30 feet, the deaths were 1 in 256; in the only arguments adduced in its favour involved the highest, averaging 63 feet, tho deaths were only 1 assumption that the condition of the Sgrpentine in 346_ On a more close examination of the lower was not unwholesome. It is not, however, difficult districts their condition as to the excess of damp to account for the vote. The scheme was wholly was not as might be expected. In the Supplement unprecedented; not only were members unacquainted to the Report on the Sanitary Condition of the with its details, but they were not provided with Population of 1843 I cite d, as res p ects Westminster, the usual means of obtaining the required informa- the evidence of Mr. Rose, the death registrar of the tion ; they were consequently totally- unable to district of St. John the Evangelist, who, being judge for themselves of its real merits. On the asked to name the localities where fever cases were other hand, it was recommended with great confi- the most numerous and describe their conditions, deuce, and on the highest engineering authority. names various districts and describes them particu- The session was drawing to a close, the necessity lavly as low in site—e.g.:— of doing something appeared urgent ; and there- " Holland-street, Medway-street, Marlborough-place, fore the plan was accepted in failure of a b e t_ New extPete.vr•estrweeats,tewi(tfhorsmoveerriya oththeersiatveenoufesmsaurrrthoounroudinlig ter. Popular opinion has since been so : t q l uarer, Oftentimes nearly covered with stagnant water. plainly and so strongly expressed that Mr. The houses are small, very dirty and dilapidated, low in Fitzroy need not consider himself pledged to a men- situation, without any drainage, having stagnant water sure which, whatever else it may do, will not satisfy back and front." the public. We do not doubt that, as a method of The Second Report of the Health of Towns Com filtration, Mr. Hawksley's is the very best that mission, signedby Mr. Stephenson, in the following could be adopted, and that in an engineering point terms recognises similar conditions to be provided of view it deserves all the commendation given to for by appropriate drainage work : it in the House of Commons by Sir R. Stephenson; " The evidence we have received, and the reports of the but we maintain that no process of this nature can Commissioners who have visited the several towns, are uni possibly answer the purpose, on the simple grou nd form in their representation of the lamentable condition in which suburban districts, and sometimes even the more that it is not the turbidity of the water that is tom- crowded parts of large towns, are generally found from the plained of, but the offensive character of the mud. presence of open ditches and generally stagnant water. Patches of The two questions of water supply and of expen- land which the gradual encroachments of buildings have diture which have assumed so much prominence in often rendered useless for the purpose of cultivation fre the recent discussion, do not, after all, materially quently lie unoccupied and become receptacles for refuse of affect the main point at issue. In the estimate laid the most offensive description. If the soil be of a retentive nature, the evil constantly before the House of Commons in 1857, by Lord d fillatihr the formation m an a t e i ° a n ces f s s o t t a rm a i n s! Llanover it was proposed to accomplish the cleansing ture rendered most noxious from the effluvia arising from of the Serpentine for £45,000. Messrs. Easton and the decomposing animal and vegetable matter thrown into Amos now guarantee that it shall be done for them. . . The replies to the questions on this subject £50,000. If it were a question between two are almost without exception of the same character. . . Sometimes the pools are described as merely stagnant water plans, one cheaper than the other but not so good, not receiving any drainage into them, but more frequently it would of course be necessary to balance the in- they assume the form of open ditches and receive the con• feriority of result against the excess of expendi- tents of the sewers and drains of the surrounding houses. ture, and to decide accordingly ; but between a plan Evils of this kind are as frequent in the vicinity of the me of tried efficiency and one not in any degree adapted tropolis as in any other part of the country." to the objects in view no such comparison is pos- As respects the metropolis, these gentlemen had Bible. prepared for them, in the Second Report of the Me- So also as regards the supply of water. Even tropolitan Sanitary Commissioners, evidence more with the present supply of 56,000,000 of gallons fully developing the evils arising from stagnant annually derived from the Chelsea Waterworks waters in open spaces; and among the Reports of Company and the surrounding surface drainage, the Consolidated Sewers Commission itself they had the execution of the works proposed by Lord Llan- an elaborate exposition of the means of dealing over would produce a perfectly satisfactory result. with them with profit to the owners of lands, with The expediency of any addition to this supply profit , indeed , to t he owners of houses b y the say would be a question for subsequent determination. ing of dilapidations. In that Commission they had The present expenditure for water is, we believe, a very important petition from the Zoololgical about £6OO annually, and the quantity supplied Society, describing the evil results upon the health amounts to 153,000 gallons daily. Messrs. Easton, of their animals, as well as to the vegetation in Amos, and Sons engage to supply nearly seven times their ornamental garden, arising from the as much, viz., 1,000.000 gallons daily from the well want of proper drainage of the heavy clay in Duck Island at the annual coat of £7OO, or land of the Regent's-park. They had also in 2,000,000 during the summer months, if necessary, the office, prepared in 1848, a report on the drain for an additional sum of 40s. per day. It is true age of Kensington-gardens and Hyde-park, which that the water-bearing capabilities of the gravel involved the purification of the ornamental water. bed from which these gentlemen propose to obtain A commencement had been made for intercepting this supply are disputed by high engineering autho- the discharge of house sewage into natural water rities. The question is one which can only be de- courses as a general principle of works (vide p. 15 termined by experiment, and both parties to the of Minutes on Suburban Land Drainage published discussion are pledged to allow the decision to rest by the General Board of Health, 1852, for an example on this issue. of such interception), by the application of which principle the discharge of house drainage into the Westbourne and the chief natural feeder of the Ser pentine would have been intercepted. It may be here stated, by the way, that by the application of the same principle of interception which would have followed to all the natural watercourses, tributaries of the Thames, from the metropolitan area, which have been improperly used as sewers for the dis charge of house drainage, much of the business of interce ition now agitated might have been accom plished, and the main intercepting lines along the river completed of smaller size and at a reduced cost. They had left with them plans for the completion of the interception on nearly the same lines as those now adopted, but of a lower maximum size, and costing £1,000,000 instead of £3,000,000, which might with due diligence have been completed 7 or 8 years ago. It was anticipated that by the prose cution of the measures then in preparation for the needed permeable drainage of sites, and of the open spaces in the uplands as well as the adjacent park land, an abundant supply of comparatively fresh filtered and living water would be obtained, more than sufficient to supply the reduced capacities of both lakes, and probably to supply some fountains at the lower levels. But from the tenor of the declarations of Sir M. Peto and Mr. Stephenson it now appears that they ignore all the evidence of evil arising from stagnant waters and undrained open spaces near towns, and also the evidence in relation to the surcharged water bearing strata forming the sites of houses. Mr. Hawksley, whom they support, states that the quan tity of water proposed to be obtained by pumping from a well in Duck Island, " would be certain to produce evils of no small magnitude in and around St. James's-park." This is ,just the sort of stuff which is precious for a professional witness before committees of the House of Commons, consisting of awful dicta autho ritatively enunciated, which members new to the subject are incompetent to question, and, having no time to investigate, are scared against incurring the responsibility of rejecting. Sir Morton Pete supports it by stating more particularly that it "is quite impossible to obtain 2,500,000 gallons daily from a well sunk in St. James's-park withont ex hausting the basin itself, and the peat and mud beds on which many buildings depend for their support." Engineers who have devoted themselves specially to town drainage works, and who have better practical acquaintance with them than either of those gentlemen can have obtained, treat these prognostications with ridicule. Driving deep tun nel sewers through loose strata such as that of the Victoria-street sewer, which Sir Morton and Mr. Stephenson approved, which was estimated to cost under £15,000, but has now cost nearly £lOO,OOO, is indeed attended with disastrous consequences ; but if they were competently informed they would be aware that by proper drainage works, lowering the water bed evenly, no such injury is occasioned. ' The last time I head of the progress of sanitary works at Salisbury, it was stated that all the wells of the city had been considerably lowered by them, and yet the Minster still stands safe and sound. I can only hope, for the sake of the poor inhabitants of the low-lying damp houses, the fever nests of Westminster, that the proposed additional pumping in Duck Island will have the wide-spread effect apprehended from it of lowering the water-bed of the whole district. But it is important to protest against this noxious drainage fallacy, so cons mien t as the justification of ignorant and rapacious owners of poor tenements, implying that houses are to bo kept waterlogged at their foundations from a fan cied danger to the superstructures. I should be prepared to adduce from the evidence of Mr. Hawksley as well as the declarations of Mr. Stephenson on sanitary questions exeepti ns to the positions they assume as authorities on such subjects, and would challengo them to make ,good their claims by reference to sanitary works which they have devised—proved by reductions of death-rates, such as have been accomplished by works on principles as, they have endeavoured to controvert. Looking at the vast amount of expenditure in the metropolis on sewers of deposit, at double and threefold the expense at which self-cleansing sewers might have been provided, and other works, of which the Victoria-street sewer is only an ex panded specimen, Lord Robert Grosvenor , Professor Owen, and my o ther colleagues of the Metropolitan TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIRES. Sir,—On the case of the Serpentine much allow ance may be claimed for Mr. Fitzroy, the new Com missioner of Works, for his unavoidably sudden determination, immediately on his accession to office, when he must have acted upon trust, upon advice, and upon what he might, from being unin formed on the specialities of the case, naturally deem competent authority. But, if you will per mit me, I would submit to him whether he may not be properly asked to reconsider the question on a point which appears to me to be of primary impor tance, and yet not duly considered—namely, whe ther the prevention of the continued danger to thousands and the annual sacrifice of many lives in the Serpentine shall not be made an indispensable condition, as well as the purification of its water, of any plan on -which the public money is expended for its improvement. Sir Morton Peto says : " I reside near the Serpentine, and have a business es tablishment near St. James's-park. I have cultivated a habit of observation, and am somewhat accustomed to the consideration of public schemes of a practical character. I therefore hold myself to be entitled to express my opinion on these and other schemes submitted to tho Government either in the House of Commons or elsewhere." I, too, hold myself entitled, on similar grounds, to express my opinions on such schemes, more especially on the one in question, from having had, as a Sani tary Commissioner, to take evidence bearing upon it. I, too, for years resided near the Serpentine, and for years had to repass it, morning and evening, in sum mer and winter. On those occasions I could not but be witness of the frequent action of the police of the Humane Society—in summer for the protection of bathers, in winter for the saving of skaters, and their dragging fcr the bodies of boys and men drowned, notwithstanding all the precautions, —at night seeing the watch kept upon solitary women or others wandering near the remoter spots, and by their motions apparently meditating suicide. Nor was it otherwise than painful to regard con stantly, as part of the ornamental water, the dead house, with its apparatus for the treatment of the subjects rescued from preventible dangers, and the reception of the dead got out of the deep pools. Though the Serpentine is to be considered as a promenade fot the higher classes during the middle of the day, I submit that, for the early morning and the evening in the summer time, it is to be re garded as a great and most important public swim ming bath, chiefly for boys, and in winter time as a great public skating place. In this point of view alone, as a matter of common humanity, 1 person ally urged, ten years ago, as a Metropolitan Sani tary Commissioner, that the pools of water in St. James's Park as well as in the Serpentine should ba filled up to a height that would prevent the continued sacrifice of life. I cannot but regard it as a discreditable state of mind which, in dealing with the question responsibly, disregards as of no serious account in the question the terrors of many thousands of mothers and heads of families at real dangers to their children, as shown by the frequent fatal accidents and by the need of the maintenance of a special police for protection against them. As far as I can remember, it then appeared that the mere money score for the lives lost, and the various expenses attendant on the existing defec tive conditions of the place, could not be less on the average than between £lOOO and £2OOO works per annum, which, capitalized at 5 per cent. would, on that score alone, justify an outlay of from 30,000 to £40,000 for works of permanent Prevention ; and it then appeared also that the required for the saving of life were the best for the purification of the water—inasmuch as every cubic yard of material thrown into those pools dimi n i s h ed the quantity of water constantly required tooa freshenteyinertehaesedlakthee, the limited supply of f res h wa t er As a v sanitary ri o iya t h b e l et• powerf lv o r or t d ho s e purpose. i. s it was not intended to raise towers or massive constructions on the bottom of the lake, no on e conceived it to be necessary there, to remove any er and I believe con siderable amount of the deposit that the contractors who tve offered to a ccom .- plish the obj ect of rais ing the bed may per form the contract within the estimates. The meas ure since successfully executed for r a i s i ng t h e bed of the St. James's Canal and p ur i fying it has been spoken of as one of my measures, but it is just to state that I believe it to have arisen on wholly independent considerations, and that the results Sanitary Commission could not but concur in the conclusion thus expresse3 in our first report on the use of the names of eminent engineers by whom those works had been approved :—" Tha more the investigation advances, the more is it apparent that the progressive improvement and proper execution of this class of public works, together with the ap pliances of hydraulic engineering, cannot reason ably be expected to be dealt with incidentally or collaterally, to ordinary occupations or even to con nected professional pursuits, but require a degree of special study which not only place them beyond the sphere of the discussions of popular administra tive bodies, but beyond that of ordinary profes sional engineering and architectural practice. In justification of this conclusion, and to show the evil of the pervertel application of high general pro fessional authority, we might adduce examples of the most defective works which have received their sanction." THE FORTIFICATIONS OP ANTWERP. On the occasion of the prosecution of the metro politan drainage works being confided to a second consolidated commission, of which Mr. Robert Stephenson was a leading member, Sir John Bur goyne, who was one of them, and usually acted as chairman, wrote to me to request that I would at tend and expound to them the conclusions derived from the inquiries to which I have referred. But I was then engaged some 14 hours a-day in the preparations against an impending epidemic visi tation, and found it impossible to do so. And, al though I was aware from evidence as to the rude empirical way in which the drainage works in con nexion with railways had been executed by a class of engineers who had probably never been called on to drain a house or a street, much less a town, yet, knowing that Mr. Robert Stephenson's attention had been called specially to the subject of the sani tary improvement of towns, I could not but pre sume that his action would be in conformity to the principles recognized by his hand and seal to their reports, and I deemed any such exposition as that sought from me wholly superfluous. I lament to acknowledge from the evidence afforded in the pre sent case, and on other matters, which those who are interested in the subject will find displayed at p. 48 to p. 52 of a communication from the General Board of Health to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, presented to Parliament in 1855, that I consider I was grievously mistaken. I beg further to put a few questions on official responsibility for the efficient expenditure of the public money on public works. I repeat the declarations of members of the House of Commons in stating that the temporary House ventilated by Dr. Reid was, after all said, the best ventilated public assembly-room known in Europe, and was a complete success. Yet, notwithstanding that eminent success, he and his plans were set aside in favour of eminent pretensions only. But now members are loudly complaining that the ventila tion of the new House is an entire failure. To say nothing of the mean injustice done to the successful promoter of a new science, I would ask where is the responsibility for the waste incurred by disre gard of the evidence of superior fitness derived from success, in favour of persons who had no such evi dence to adduce in respect to the new and very special work in hand? I have no acquaintance with the Messrs. Easton and Amos • and; for myself, from what I have seen of Sir Joseph Paxton's, works, I should deem him a superior authority on such a question as that of dealing with the purifi cation of ornamental waters and of park drainage ; but, taking the undisputed fact in respect to the works in St. James's-park, we have a case of success in the preservation of life, as well as in the very special work of the purification of an ornamental lake. If the plan chosen in preference and in dis regard of such evidence should fail, as fail it does, in my view, at the very outset in the essential part of preventing the loss of life—where will be the real responsibility for the pecuniary waste, not to speak of the lives hereafter sacrificed ? These points I submit for the consideration of amendments in the law, with the view to adminis trative reform, and the imposition of real and effec tive responsibility, which 1 have always felt my self prepared to sustain.—l am, sir, &c., EDWIN CHADWICK. Richmond, Surrey, Aug. 18. A letter from Brussels says : —As you have doubt less learned already by telegraphic despatch, the principle of the projet de loi for the construction of an enlarged circle of fortifications at Antwerp was, after a lngthened and rather stormy debate, car ried in the Chamber of Representatives on Satur day by a majority of 57 against 42—seven mem bers having declined to vote. I subjoin 'a summary of the discussion from where I left off in my last despatch. In the seance of Friday the adjourned debate was opened by M. Guillery, who resumed his speech, which was interrupted on the previous day by the rising of the Chamber. The hon. represen tative said his object was to demonstrate to the Chamber that Antwerp was not the natural posi tion for the national defences. Let them suppose an attack coming from the south, in which case the succours must evidently come from the east ; the Belgian army should consequently occupy such a position as would facilitate the arrival of such succours. If the army were concentrated in Ant werp, it would be obviously out of the way of be ing able to facilitate or accelerate the required assistance ; and by the time it should have arrived that position would be probably strongly occupied by the enemy, and not by their own forces. If, on the other hand, the attack came from the east, it was the valley of the Meuse and the Sambre—it was Namur, the very key of Belgium, which they ought to occupy. Ihe position of Namur for the protection of Belgium was exactly that of Alessan dria for Turin. General Gyulai did not dare to march upon Turin on account of the military posi tion of Alessandria. If, on the contrary, the Pied montese had had their basis of defence upon an ec centric point—upon Genoa for exampie (and Genoa was less eccentric than Antwerp)—in that case no thing could have hindered the march of the enemy upon that capital. Namur would protect Brussels in every circumstance, and the capital should be strongly fortified above all places. The speaker proceeded to quote extracts from the writings of General Jomini, Napoleon, General Rogniat, and from Thiers' history in support of his views. He then proceeded to say that Antwerp was the place which the plenipotentiaries in 1814 and 1815 most disputed about, and for which Napoleon had sacrificed so much. He was by no means disposed to place the national reliance upon this single place of war, for which the world appeared then to dispute, and for which Napoleon sacrificed everything ; believing that in spite of their forti fications it was likely, in the event of invasion, to be captured by the enemy, who would find himself vastly strengthened by the very fortresses BAgium had erected for her own defence. In 1851 their budget of war expenses amounted to 25,000,000 fr., and a hope was held out that it would be reduced in the foil )wing years. It had, however, gradually augmented every year since, and they had now a budget presented to them amolnting to about 42,000,000 fr. In conclusion, he said that their strength ought to be in their moderation, in their respect of treaties, in their honesty ; and upon that strength he was willing confidently to rely. A proposition for the adjournment of the dis cussion until the month of November, signed by three representatives, was formally placed before the President. General CHAZAL (Minister of War) opposed with much warmth the proposed adjournment of the question, which he said had been for the last ten years under consideration. Volumes, too, had been written upon it, and it had been fully discussed by the whole press of Europe. He, for one, thought it would be much better to give up the projet altogether than to submit to such an adjournment. The adjournment which was moved was an excuse for the rejection of the measure, which its opponents had neither the courage nor the frankness to pro pose. Those only who in the moment of danger would be found willing to bow their necks to the yoke of a foreigner could lend themselves to such a pusillanimous course. (Applause, mingled with some expressions of " Order.") M. GOBLET demanded to speak on a point of order. M. RODENBACII exclaimed that the Minister of War had insulted a portion of the Chamber. M. GUILLERY protested on the part of signa tarics to the amendment against the insinuations cast by the Minister against their courage and loyalty. General CIIAZAL-It seems to me that a man who defends such a question as that before us with his whole heart, as I defend it, may be readily forgiven for any warmth of expression into which he may be drawn. Have I had any intention of offending certain members of this Chamber ? No. What have I, then, done here ? lam here to fulfil the duty which I had solemnly promsed to dis charge when you granted me my naturalisation, and when I swore to act as a true Belgian, and to defend Belgium with all my strength, even in the last extremity. (Applause.) M. JAMAR pronounced against the adjournment. M. HvmAms supported the projet de loi, and, in the course of an able speech, alluded to England as the citadel of European freedom, without which the West would be the very humble slave of the theocracy. To abuse France, he said, might be awkward, impolitic, importune, and dangerous ; but for any Liberals to attack England would be a treason and an apostacy. It had been said that Catiline was at their gates. Catiline had nothing to say to their country. If he were permitted to take an example from Roman history he would tell them that, in calling for their votes in favour of this measure, they expected not the cry of the geese of a Capit )1. (Laughter.) But even geese, when they saved a country, were very respectable geese. (Renewed laughter.) They ought not to discourage their army, which was prepared to suffer everything in their march to victory ; but let legis• lators tremble for their country's liberty if they declare it beforehand a vanquished force. M. DEFRE declared that he for one shrunk from the responsibility of opposing a projet de loi which he believed to be necessary to the safety and independence of the country. Independently of the strategical questions involved, there was a political cause for placing the refuge of the army at Ant verp. It was not from England that Bel gium feared an attack, for all the sympathies of that great country was for free Governments. England had in effect made a propaganda in that sense in Holland, Switzerland, Sardinia, and other places. In placing then, the centre of their defences at Antwerp, Belgium would be approaching nearer to the character of a true ally of England. The project of the Government would serve as the basis of two glorious thinip— namely, their nationality and their constitution. He would say to the Right, " Vote for this project if you are the admirers of liberty, if you have not denied the gods of your youth. Vote for it ye who, in 1830, fought for the freedom of your coun try, and abjure not the distinguished title you then earned for yourselves, namely, that of true patriots." M. RoGIER (Minister of the Interior) contended that Antwerp had been predestined at all times to be the great defensive strength of the country. It was not therefore any novelty which the Govern ment proposed ; it was but a historical tradition which they maintained. In the sixteenth century it was the refuge of patriots against the Spaniards. and for three months it resisted all the attacks of Spain. On the Bth of August, 1585, after three months' resistance, Antwerp was forced to yield to the unprecedented efforts of the Spaniards ; but so long as Nlarnix de Sainte Aldegonde maintained there the patriotic flag the revolution of the six teenth century was unable to vanquish Belgium. In 1814 General Carnot, one of the first warriors of that epoch, had the defence of that place. Whilst the white flag floated then at the Tuileries, France had also at Antwerp her national flag. Before Carnet, after various negotiations, had consented to the surrender of the place, he replied to the Minister in the following terms :—" This place is so important by its object, its strength, its position, and its influence upon the whale of Belgium, that a fhlse step upon our part, we believe, would draw upon us the greatest ll misfortunes. It i s t o the E,- peror Napolon that we have taken the oath of fidelity ; we must keep this place until it is demon strated to us that his Government has ceased to be legitimate." In 1831 the Belgian revolution had triumphed almost everywhere. The garrisons of It olland were abandoned by their forces without scarcely a struggle. Her army withdrew to Ant werp, and whilst Holland maintained her flag on the citadel of that place, it could not be truly said that Belgium was completely liberated. She was at length enabled, by the assistance of France and England (to whom they should render homage), to dislodge the Government of King William, and to accomplish the com- ' plate independence of their beloved country, After such examples, they must acknowledge Ant werp to be their true centre of defence. From century to century its enciente had been suces sively enlarged. and it was a remarkable fact that in the sixteenth century a project similar to that 110‘v proposed was recommended. The Minister concluded by calling ' , upon the Chamber at once to reject the question of adjournment. After some further discussion, the propositi on for the adjournment of the question until Novem ber was negatived by a majority of 58 against 43. The debate upon the original question was then again adjourned until the following day. Yesterday the seance of the Chamber was opened by the presentation, on the part of M. Frere, the Minister of Finance, of the report of the commission appointed by the Government to in quire into the question relative to the coinage. M. DUMORTIERi after referrince 9 report, to the _ - took the opportunity of explaining some matters which related to himself personally. M. ROGIER (Minister of the Interior) said that they would have much business to employ them if they were to occupy themselves with all the inac curacies contained in the ordinary speeches of M. Dumortier. The reputation of the hon. member was completely established upon that point. M. DUMORTIER—This language is intolerable. M. ROGIER—I am prepared to maintain what I have said. I have blushed at some of the observa tions made by M. Dumortier on Thursday. That hon. gentleman is not afraid to threaten the coun try with a foreign occupation. Mark his theme. He says our project is hostile to France and com manded. by England. I invoke the testimony of my hon. predecessors, of M. Dedecker and his col leagues, in reply to so grave a charge. When the late Government proposed their projet de loi upon this subject, I ask whether they had yielded to the suggestions of England or the menaces of any foreign Government whatsoever. M. DEDECKER—No person can accuse you of that. M. ROGIER—No person can accuse us of that. But I call upon the Chamber to remember the speech of AI. Dumortier. M. DUMoRTIER—If I were to employ your lan guage under such circumstances, I should say that your statement is false. (Cries of " Order, order.") M. ROGIER—Mark, gentlemen, the position in which we stand. When such a projet de loi is pre sented by a Catholic Ministry it is considered na tional ; but when it is presented by a Liberal Mi nistry it is detestable and anti-national. After some further passages of arms between some of the members of the opposing parties, the discussion was closed by a division, when Article I of the projet de loi was adopted by 57 votes against 42 ; seven declining to vete. THE LATE COMPANY'S TROOPS IN INDIA. (From the Times.) Our correspondence from India has now revealed the full dimensions of that discreditable embarrass ment which a single mistake on the part of the Government of Calcutta was sufficient to create. It is no trifle in the present state of Indian finance that the blunder should have cost us, as it certainly will, a million of money. But money is the least important consideration in an affair so critical. But for the accidental presence of an extraordinary European force, India would have lost at a blow one-third of its garrisons, while the whole Empire would have witnessed the spectacle of a powerful Government surrendering, without either grace or thanks, to the all but mutinous demands of its soldiery. The concern naturally caused by such an event becomes doubled by the reflection that it might have been prevented with the greatest ease. A trifling donative and a few words of compliment, neither costly nor undeserved, would Imre saved all this embroilment and loss, nor could it have required any extraordinary wisdom to discern the dictates of the occasion. The impression prevailing among the European troops of the Company respecting the claims on the transfer of India to the Crown was matter of such notoriety at an early period of the late disturb ances that our Special Correspondent made it a pro minent subject of communication in repeated letters to this journal. Everybody in India knew that the men looked upon their engagements as terminable with the existence of that Company which they had contracted to serve. It was also understood that their views, at that moment, did certainly not pro ceed beyond the expectation of a moderate gratuity. Some, perhaps, might have looked a little further, but the great majority would undouLliedly have been contented with the ceremony of a fresh option and the gratification of a second bounty. The occa sion was precisely one to test the good sense wad judgment of the Indian Administration. The affair, as it stood, appeared trivial enough, but to the eyes of a true statesman it would have ap peared full of import. From a purely legal point of view, the claims of the men might probably have been declared inadmissible, nor did there seem even an equitable right to compensation where there had certainly been no prejudice or damage. But the rulers of a great empire should not confine their views to considerations like these. A thing may be lawful without being expedient, and this discrimi nation, though peculiarly suggested by the case be fore them, was exactly what the Government of India failed to observe. We may remark, as illus trative of certain points recently discussed, that no such error wan committed by independent observers in this country. Notwithstanding the speciality of intelligenceclaimed for Indian statesmen they were left far behind in this matter by Englishmen at home. Our readers will remember the opinions we expressed before the transaction had assumed its serious aspect, and these opinions were followed by the almost unanimous assent of others. The Indian Government, however, had persisted from the first in limiting the question to the legal rights of the men. Lord Canning and his Council forgot, even with the din of the last tempest still ringing in their ears, that military discontent, however ground less, was a thing to be handled with judgment. In the estimate and calculation of results they failed altogether. It never seems to haveoccurred to them that the men, though mistaken, might be obstinate, and that their obstinacy might be carried to lengths which would involve a formidable dilemma. Above all, they never balanced one policy against the other, or discerned that concession would cost little and might yield much, while refusal might put everything in jeopardy and cost a great deal more after all. As it happened, too, there was no lick of justification for the more liberal course. Though the claims of the men might not be legally sustain able, they did really admit of argument, perhaps even of doubt, and the services of the army had re cently been so arduous and so successful•that the donative anticipated might easily have taken an unobjectionable shape. All this, however, was overlooked, and the authorities at Calcutta, shaping their policy by . the mero letter of the law, an nounced to their expectant troops that their hopes were extinguished and their claims denied. The result of this shortsighted rigour we now witness. The deportment of the men under the dis appointment became such that the decision of Go vernment had to be reconsidered, and after one re ference had followed another it was finally an nounced that the soldiers who believed their engagements to have terminated might claim their discharge. Of this option such advantage has been taken that according to the estimates current in Bombay some 10,000 disbanded troops will leave India for England, and thus entail upon us the ex pense and trouble of supplying their places with as many fresh recruits. A few rupees per head judi ciously distributed at an early stage of the contro versy would have saved us all this cost and embar rassment, for at that time nothing but the chance of a new bounty had seized the minds of the men. The course of recent events has tended naturally to transform their ideas. They now find their position in India unpleasant, and they hope to better it at home. They know that they have given offence, and doubt whether the offence will be forgotten. An additional year of service in the East, unaccom panied by the excitement of a campaign, has quick ened their desire of revisiting their native shores, and the end is, that men who wished at first only for a bounty on remaining where they were have now claimed their dismissal by thousands. Happily the fortuitous accumulation of Royal troops in India has relieved India from the dangers which this abrupt reduction of military force might otherwise have occasioned, and in this respect the damage will be limited to the inconvenience suffered by regiments irregularly detained, and the disap pointment experienced by those who were expect ing them at home. The whole story, however, is really too serious to be overlooked. It yields us a warning which we cannot afford to neglect, and that is, that we should put our Indian affairs in better order without delay. Of Lord Canning we need only say that he has done enough in weathering the storm of the Mutinies without needlessly ex posing his political reputation to further trials. It is no imputation on his abilities to say that they are not calculated for the administration of India at a period of convulsion. Two things are clear— first, that we now want in India a man who can deal promptly with emergencies ; and, next, that no such a man is at present in authority at Cal cutta. The two Mutinies are over—one at a cost of millions of money and thousands of lives ; the other with a lighter penalty, but with an unplea sant amount of discredit. Who can tell how soon a third emergency may succeed ? All things Indian are in a state of transition. The scale and compo sition of the military establishments, the rerations of the British Government with the Native States, the policy to be pursued towards the Hindoo popu lation —all these important subjects are pressing urgently for attention. India .is in debt and i n difficulty. It does not pay its own way in taxes, and it returns us just now even less tribute in the shape of credit or power. Our keenest statesmen are beginning to regard this magnificent and much envied iependency with altered views, and to dis cern in the most brilliant jewel of the British crown an unmanageable incubus on the British Empire. We believe those apprehensions to be really ground less. We believe that India needs nothing beyond good administration to make its possession truly valuable, but this condition must be satisfied at once, We must have its adminiarators chosen for their intellect and their merits, not for their inte rest and their rank. The old East India Company, which in this respect did so often well, had no better field to choose from than we possess now. There are now, as there were then, men in England who are competent to govern India, but if we make this great affair one of unscrupulous patronage in stead of anxious discrimination, we may some day find ourselves overwhelmed iu a ruin more tremor dous than we can yet conceive. TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—With reference to Mr. Hawksley's letter in your impression of this day, in which he deduces five material points from our report to the Chief Commissioner of Works, &c., of the 10th inst., there is (if we except the important omission in No. 3 of the additional saving of the amount now paid to th- Chelsea Water Company) but one point which calls for any remark from us. Of the point we allude to, No. 4, the first portion, " that the annuli cost (£700) is the total cost for supplying the whole of the lakes," is quite incorrect, and it is a pity that Mr. Hawksley should have spoilt all by adding the next few words, " with this distinctly stated quantity of water (857,143 gallons per day)." In our report in question it will be observed that we state that 1,000,000 gallons of fresh water per day will be a sufficient supply for the Serpentine, and add that we are willing to undertake to obtain this quantity for a given sum. Now, as the neces sary supply for St. James's-park is already ob tained, and the works paid for, we cannot be sup posed to intend to ask the Government to pay twice for the same works. We mean exactly what we say, viz., that we are willing to undertake to obtain 1,000,000 gallons of water per clay for the Serpentine, in addition to the quantity already pumped, and, therefore. already obtained, for the sum stated—Xll,soo--which sum includes the necessary apparatus for giving this supply to the Serpentine simultaneously with con tinuing the present supply to the lakes in Bucking ham Palace Gardens and St. James's Park. As to the reduction of our proposed supply of 1,000,000 gallons per day, for six days per week, to 857,143 gallons by dividing the quantity over seven days, we need hardly say that our engine is as easily worked on Sundays, if deemed necessary, as Mr. Hawksley's would be. We may and do differ greatly from Mr. Hawks ley in the deductions to be made from the above statements, but, although tempted to reply, we cannot forget the promise we made in our last let ter, that, so long as he confined himself to truth in his premises, we would not interfere with his opinions. One word more. If this discussion should hap pen to have attracted the notice of the Chief Com missioner we cannot but think it must have been the means of affording him much information on this subject, which, is the midst of his numerous duties and the short time he has been in office, it would be almost impossible he could have acquired in any other way.--We are, Sir, your obedient ser vants, EASTON, Amos, AND SONS. Grove, Southwark, Aug. 22. THE LUBBER'S HOLE IN A THUNDER STORM. The boy who accompanied me (he is an admiral now, and one of the most distinguished officers in the royal navy) was, thank Heaven, as much terrified as myself. I say " thank Heaven," for it was the witnessing of his fear that inspired me to take the courage which I knew he would emulate. " Come along !" I said to him, " come along !" He responded and we literally raced for the lubber's hole, through which we crept, and then stood in the top to survey the scene. And such a scene! There were no flashes of lightning and no peals of thunder. There was one continuous blaze of lurid glare, and there was roar, and roar, and roar, without any intermis sion. It was all lightning, lightning, lightning, thunder, thunder, thunder, " nothing but thunder" and lightning. If every piece of ordnance that man ever invented and brought into the field of battle had been simultaneously discharged that night, the combined sound would have been as a whisper compared to the roar of heaven's artillery that thun dered in the skies. We once in a harbour fired a starboard broadside, to burst the gall and bring up to the surface of the water the dead body of an officer who was unhappily drowned in coming off to the ship. It shook to their very foundation the walls of a fortress, and broke the windows of every house within a quarter of a mile from us, not ex cepting those of the Government House; but I am quite sure that if every cannon on board had been fired that night, we in the top would have been ignorant thereof, except from the shaking of the vessel, so awfully loud was the thunder. We had lightning-conductors of course, and on the decks were various metallic substances which attract, or are supposed to attract, lightning; but neither the ship, nor any one on hoard of her, was injured, albeit we frequently saw the forked fluid descend into the waves at no great distance from us. I could not help looking at the faces of the men, as they lay along- the yard, tying the reef knots. Not one of theta exhibited any fear or anything approaching bravado, There was no talking aloft, but after we returned to the deck 1 took an opportunity of asking a man who was a great favourite of mine, what he felt on the occasion ? " Well, sir," he replied, "to tell you the truth, I should not have liked to have been tip there all alone, but, where there's so many on a yard it makes all the difference ; the . chances are, if the yard is sti uck, you may not be the man who is killed." And this appeared to be the general feeling of the men. In proportion to the number of sharers in the danger individual fears diminish.— Dickens's " All the Year Round." THE MILITARY MOUSTACHE.—An order has been made at Parkhurst Barracks, Isle of Wight, to the effe2t that Private John Selman, having shaved his upper lip, contrary to orders, shall be confined to Barracks untill his moustache grows again.—Hampshire Advertiser, BRITISH RIGHTS IN BRITISH BOND LIRAS. An incident has just occurred which tends to strengthen public confidence in the present conduct of the Foreign-office with respect to the preserva tion of British interests in Central America. The rights of Spain in the continent of America were those of conquest. The true test of conquest is per manent occupancy. Territory never occupied, never belonged to Spain. The present republics of Cen tral America cannot possess any better rights than the parent country, unless they can show that they have acquired them in some way recognised by the law of nations. Thirty years ago Ruatan and Bonaca were uninhabited islands. They have since that period become occupied by British subjects, and by British subjects only, taken possession of, like any other uninhabited island, on behalf of the Queen, and form a part of her Majesty's dominions by as good a title as Vancouver's Island. About six weeks ago some Carites of the Republic of Hon duras went over to the island of Bonaca to fish. The magistrate on the island put them on board a British schooner, the Industry, and sent them as prisoners to Ruatan. On their passage to Ruatan these fishermen rose on the crew of the Industry, and carried the schooner into Truxillo, where the Commandant proceeded to try the captain for interfering with the fishermen. The captain de: murred to the jurisdiction, abandoned the vessel, and reported the matter to the superintendent at Belize. The superintendent sent to the Governor of Ja m Lica, who at once ordered a ship of war to Truv; illo to demand satisfaction. This little event Will probably have the effect of bringing to a point the rights of her Majesty to those important islands , and of defining the policy her Majesty's Govern ment intend to pursue with respect to this long vexed question. Mr. Wyke, the new plenipoten tiary, is, no doubt, duly instructed how to act Liver Albion. COUNTRY MARKET S. COLCHE STER—AuG 20. A small attendance to-day at the corn-exchange, and : very limited business transacted. The few sales pwl' were at about late rates. Some inquiry for malting barleY; on speculation, the bulk of this commodity being sproutea and unfit for malting. Beans and peas fully as dear. Wheat, white , „.44s to 62s Beans, Mazagan..36s to 401 I red 40s to 46s Middle & small 40s to 44 4 Barley 36s to 44s White peas 4os to 4 41 Oats 248 to 30s Grey.. 3BO t• 404 I NEWCASTLE—Ara. 20. The market was moderately attended this morning : lctoth „f English and foreign w h ea t i n s l ow reques t, a t the pricel4; this day se'nnight. The supply was sm a ll. Flour 121 °' - firm sale, at late rates. Oats and other articles at the prices of last week. CHELMSFORD—AuG. 19. There was a good show of wheat to-day, principallY °f t e ll : new 0-rowth; early in the day some samples of old rola! a shade more money, but trade was inactive, prices 6 30114 at about late rates. Spring corn as before. 45 0 Wheat, white 44s to 54s P eas Partridge ..433 to red 41s to 49s Whit e 42s to 4' l . Barley 32s to 40s Boiling 43s to 40 Chevalier ....34s to 41s Dun 40s to as Grinding Malt 6 2 0 6 5 s t o o 6 34 65 s Be H an a s n , o T w ic T k ic . k . s .. 4401 gs to 4 o 46s Chevalier 63s to 69s Mazagan 408 to 445 Oats 25s to 34s KIRKALDY—Atio. 20. w , ' We had small supplies to-day of w h ea t and oats, i. 1 41 only one parcel of b ar l e y. S a l es rea d y , an d prices ra against buyers. No new grain at market. Wheat (N). Barley (N). First.... 40s Od 32s 6d Second .. 43s Od —3 Od Third .. 48s Od —s Od Wheat (0). Barley (0). First.... —s Od —s Od Second.. —s Od —s Od Third —s Od —s Od Oats (N)• 22s Od 24s Od 278 Od Oats (0)• — S 04: - —is Od _ fi do COAL MARE (Prices of Coal per Ton at :ET—Aua. 22. the close of the market.) s. d. Bates' West Hartley..l4 0 Byass's Bebside West Walls End. I Whitworth l4 0 , Acorn Close ; l5 0 Eden 15 O n Braddyll's Hetton .A South Hetton l7 n ° Keno@ l6 s 'n South Kelloe l6 - A ; Framwellgate ... . l5 ,‘;', South Hartlepool. l5 ° Cassop .. • ... 16 0 Thornley ............ 14 ° 0 ; Caradoe .... 16 I Hartlepool.... .... 16 6 Riddell .... "• 15 3 Hetton Lyons A1ain...15 3 Keiper Grange..••• • • • 16 0 1 5 0 I Gosforth ............. 0 Haswell ..............11 ; Nixon's Duyn . . .... 2 6 Pieew sDuffryn Steam 21 0 107—Sold, 65. Hartley .14 6 Lambert's West Hart- _ _ ley 14 6 Davison's West Hart- „ ley _ _ 15 0 Eden Main l5 3 Tanfield Moor 12 9 Tanfield Moor Butes l2 9 Clark's West Hartley l4 6 Wylam l6 6 Earsden Hartley 14 0 Walla End. s. d. Hunwick l4 0 Hetton.... Hough Hall 15 6 Benson.... l4 9 Trimdon Hartlepool 16 3 Ships at markel LOCAL SHARE MARKETS. L IVERP 0 0 L-AU G. 22. There was a very quiet business doing in this marke t to. day, and at the close stock was more freely offered. -- North British, 59i 60F—Great Western of Canada, 15e . Sheffields, 36 t—Caledonians, 84 —Lancashire and York' shire, 94—London and North-Westerns, 93i ithenish, 51 dis.—East Lancashire, 942 95--Bervrieks , 00—Midlands, 105! 106—Chester and Holyheads, 49 5 0-- Birkenheads ' 751 6l—Leeds Northern ' 43 31—Easte rn Counties, 11 111 112—Grand Trunk of Canada, 8i 8 A Great Western, 60 2 z d —Dopers, 22 t . 13-16—Blackbur vi t 11; A. MANCHESTER—AUG. 22. The prices were steady this morning, and continued/ 14 ;e day, with a large business. Leeds, 96—Sheffields, 6 1 Q :1 Birkenhead stock, 78 I—Dovers, 22 5-16—Trunkst Ditto, div. deb., 10 s —L on d on and South Westerns, Midland stock, 106—North British, 59t—Londons, 951 Great Western, 60k—London Eighths, 1k dis. BIILMINOHAM—AUG. 22. There was a dull business doing, and prices close d 14i Saturday's rates. S ou th St a ffordshire inquired for at Wr, Great Western Birmingham Guaranteed stock, 721 OR ,, min ;ham Canals, 92—Birmingham BankingCompani , —Birmingham Waggon Co. 2} I. Loss OF A CRINOLINE. —M uc h amusement vra. occasioned on the Quay at Greenock on Wednesda to Y , consequence of a lady bei ng un f ortunate enough 110 her crinoline. A nu m b er o f b oys enjoyed the accident their heart's content, by hooking the hoops on a ste el°. boat. [ADVERTISEMENT.)—A few more of the Extrao?dinar/ Cures without Medicine of indigestion (dyspepsia)9 to, lency, constipation, nervous, bilious, and liver coraplain.,u cough, asthma, consumption, and debility effected by 1 . / A Barry's delicious health-restoring Revalenta Arabica F. 5 are here given :—Cure 52,422.—Bridgehouse, Frinil°n o d, April, 1854-33 years' diseased lungs, spitting aerie bi? liver derangement, deafness, singin g i n the ears, tire: tion, debility, shortness of breath and cough, have be ee ve r t moved by your Revalenta Arabica. My lungs' c t, stomach, head, and ears are all right, my hearing pe r o. and my recovery is a marvel to all my acquain a r able James Roberts, timber merchant. From the I r ece Archdeacon of Ross.—No. 32,836—Three years' ex ce— a nd nervousness, with pains in my neck and left arm, . general debility, which rendered ray life very been radically removed by Du Barry's health-res Wri T. food.—Alex. Stuart, Archdeacon of Ross, Skibbe,S e b, In tins, at Is. 6d. ; 11b., 3s. ; 21b., ss. 9d. ; 61b., 125.; . 265. The 101 b. and 121 b. tins carriage free, on receipt of Pf„,• office order. Du Barry and Co., 77, Regent-street, Lontw„. Fortnum, Mason, and Co., 182, Piceadillar; Abbis, r d- Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 63, an 1 50 1 Cisl o . s ° to• street ; 330 and 451, Strand • 49 and 60, BisnT u rbliii, street ; 85, Tottenham - court-road . Also atCo. Bewley and Draper ;at Edinburgh, Raimes d ;id at Liverpool, Nixon and Thew ; at Manchester, Shagabe Scott ; at York, Raimes, Blanchard, and Co. ; at. "- ampton, Randall and Son. miserable, BIRTHS. ,Al3O 01 HLNNAY.—On the 20th inst., at 67, Queen's - gt Hyde-park, the wife of J. L. Hannay, Esq., of a " 3 ter. PRICE.—On the 19th inst., at Weston-super-Mare, the W i f f : of Lieut.-Colonel Price, H.lll.'s Bombay Army' ° daughter. 13SY°' ROUND.—On the 20th inst., in Ri c h mon d - t err aoo,.-- ( water, the wife of A. S. Round, E sq., Li nco ln's -Inn' - a son. Youlsra.—On the 19th inst., at Springvale, Isle a l ' l u the Lady Alicia Young, of a son. MARRIAGES. ke to CRASKE—PRICE.—On the 19th i nst., John CrilBrloor Susannah Emily, only c hild o f M r. Ben j am i n P. • 2, Duke-street, Manchester-square. at Sst' GREENAWAT—ALLENDER.—On the 20th ins.., 9 _l ph* Poter's, Notting-hill, F ranc i s Edward, secon d s on n,„ O , Greenaway, Esq., of Camberwell-grove, t o Eliza fi . g 7, 3 0 eldest daughter o f G eorge Allender, Esq., of Ken 6in park-gardens. DEATHS. ATwoop.—On the 20th inst. at Ashelworth, G loucesi c , shire, E m il y Grace, only daughter of the Rev. 1 1 . Atwood, aged 25. edic• R BANES. —On th e 19th i ns t., at Oxford, the Rev' r Barnes, D.D., canon of Christchurch, aged 89. BATESON.—On the 20th inst , at Leamino•ten, M i9B Bateson, eldest sister of * Sir Robert Bateson, Ba rt "' ° Castruse, aged 70. BENNETT.—On the 22d inst., at 1, Upper Sussel - Pc S, Old Kent-road, Fredk. Debell Bennett, Esq., &c., aged 51. A uial CLELAND.—On the 18th inst., at Limehouse, g r • - Cleland, aged 35. COZENS. —On the 20th inst. , atWoodham Mortim er Lodge' Essex, J. B. Cozens, Esq., aged 65. ST EL On the 13th inst., at Brighton, Brigadier Pullet' Steel, C. 8., H.E.1.C.5.. aged 68. LoN DoN : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUllug' of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Stoi Office, N O ' 11 ,1 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the count,' hi uldlose; Tuesday, August 23, 1869.