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

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1859. TILE 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 itself 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, and 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 Serpentine, which was fed from it, was contaminated to such an ex tent that in 1834 an act was passed (4 and 5 Will. IV., 96) empowering the 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 a direction 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 ever the water roseabove the level of the top of theweir (which 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 rand 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 subject appears again to have dropped until the appointment of ford Llanover to the office of First CommissioAer 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 required 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 Itanelagh 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 ratherto 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 pubic is toa 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—observiition for which no science is required —the foul smell of the lake has become so familiar to the frequenters of Kensington Gard2ns of all classes, that neither Mr. Hawksley nor all the scientific evideace 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 prtduce 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 as to communicate to it what the chemists call an alkaline reaction. This condition is a mere conse qnence aoZktshieeputrescence of the mud at the bottom. Mr• deposit at thit indeed, tells us—" That the vast not affect the enl black and deep as it is, does condition of the supernatant water." Common sense leads to a contrary conclusion ; and we shall endeavourus to show that this may be supported by the careful analysis of facts. It is characteristic of m u d which consists of or ganic debris that it gives off from propo surfacei r ts tionso f w g h a i s c e h s of several kinds, the relative this process differ according to the n ature of the organic matter and the stage of its decom p os ition. If goes on actively the mud itself becomes inflate d the interstitial developm ent of gas , exactly b in the same manner that doug h does in the process of fe r . mentation. It is thus re ndered buo y an t , and ri ses in fragments which float about on the surfa ce . Every one has heard of the floating island on Der 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 vegetab'e 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 com paratively inoffensive products (ammonia and car bonic acid), is protected and carried up to the sur face by the mechanism we have endeavoured to describe, and there becomes diffused in the at mosphere. If this be the real explanation of the matter— and that it is so we think will appear to every one ' who has watched the Serpentine for the last few Sears —of what possible use Can it be to filter the water, to improve the supply, or, in short, to do any thing whatever except the one thing required —to protect the water from the influence of the mud, either by removing the latter or by_ coating it with concrete, according to the practical proposal of Lord Llanover But there is another ground of complaint of still greater importance, and one which more urgently demands redress. To the masses , who inhabit the crowded streets of the metropolis the opportunity of bathing free of expense is of incalculable value. Not only is the practice in the highest degree conducive to physical health, but it tends to foster those moral qualities the growth and development of which in the lower classes are most apt to be checked by town life. The exercise of swimming, so invigorating to mind and, body, the previous effort which is required to obtain mastery over a new element, the emula tion which is i called into play—all these are invalu able agents n promoting among the poor that love of out-door exertion, of successful struggle with the powers of nature, which in this country so markedly distinguish the educated from the vulgar. During the summer months thousands of children assemble, for the purpose of bathing, on the banks of the Serpentine; and, in spite of the efforts of the Humane Society, many fall victims to the dange rous 'condition of its channel. If unable to swim, the bather, when wading into they water, suddenly slips into . a gravel-pit filled with semi-fluid slime, which half chokes half poisons him ; while the ex pert swimmer, as we are assured on the best autho rity, should he be so unlucky as to be seized with cramp, " becomes entangled in the slimy matter, which so completely fills the mouth, nose, and ears as to render in many instances resuscitation impos sible; and in those cases where animation is re stored, the constitution of the rescued person re ceives a shock from which it never recovers." The House of Commons the other night accepted almost without question, and sanctioned by a ma rity of 97 to 12, the scheme of a projector who hav ing two ills to cure avowedly leaves the worst un. touched—actually does nothing for the other ; and, as a placebo, proposes a remedy directed against a mere mock disease, an insignficant consequence of the real evil. No explanation of this result is to be found in the speeches delivered on the three oc casions on which the project was discussed, for the only arguments adduced in its favour involved the assumption that the condition of the Serpentine was not unwholesome. It is not, however, difficult to account for the vote. The scheme was wholly unprecedented; not only were members unacquainted with its details, but they were not provided with the usual means of obtaining the required informa tion ; they were consequently totally unable to judge for themselves of its real merits. On the other hand, it was recommended with great confi dence, and on the highest engineering authority. The session was drawing to a close, the necessity of doing something appeared urgent ; and there fore the plan was accepted in failure of a bet ter. Popular opinion has since been so plainly and so strongly expressed that Mr. Fitzroy need not consider himself pledged to a mea sure which, whatever else it may do, will not satisfy the public. We do not doubt that, as a method of filtration, Mr. Hawksley's is the very best that could be adopted, and that in an engineering point of view it deserves all the commendation given to it in the House of Commons by Sir R. Stephenson; but we maintain that no process of this nature can possibly answer the purpose, on the simple ground that it is not the turbidity of the water that is com plained of, but the offensive character of the mud. The two questions of water supply and of expen diture which have assumed so much prominence in the recent discussion, do not, after all, materially affect the main point at issue. In the estimate laid before the House of Commons in 1857, by Lord Llanover it was proposed to accomplish the cleansing of the Serpentine for £45,000. Messrs. Easton and Amos now guarantee that it shall be done for £50,000. If it were a question between two plans, one cheaper than the other but not so good, it would of course be necessary to balance the in feriority of result against the excess of expendi ture, and to decide accordingly ; but between a plan of tried efficiency and one not in any degree adapted to the objects in view no such comparison is pos sible. So also as regards the supply of water. Even with the present supply of 56,000,QQ0 of gallons annually derived from the Chelsea Waterworks Company and the surrounding surface drainage, the execution of the works proposed by Lord Llan over would produce a perfectly satisfactory result. The expediency of any addition to this supply would be a question for subsequent determination. The present expenditure for water is, we believe, about £6OO annually, and the quantity supplied amounts to 153,000 gallons daily. Messrs. Easton, Amos, and Sons engage to supply nearly seven times as much, viz., 1,000,000 gallons daily from the well in Duck Island at the annual cot of £7OO, or 2,000,000 during the summer months, if necessary, for an additional sum of 40s. per day. It is true that the water-bearing capabilities of the gravel bed from which these gentlemen propose to obtain this supply are disputed by high engineering autho rities.. The question is one which can only be de termined by experiment, and both parties to the discussion are pledged to allow the decision to rest on this issue. - TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—On. the case of the Serpentine much allow ance may be claimed for Mr. Fitzroy, the new Coth 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 char. icter. I therefore hold myself to be entitled to express ray opinion on these and other schemes submitted to the Government either in the House of Commons or elsewhere." I, ton, 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 &raj 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 thoin 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 for 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, I person ally urged, ten years ago, as a Metropolitan Said tary Commissioner, that the pools of water in St. James's Park as well as in the Serpentine should bo 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 per annum, - which, capitalized at 5 per cent. , would, on that s core a l one , justify an outlay of from £30,000 to £40,000 for works of permanent prevention ; and it then appeared also that the works required for the saving of life were the best for the purification of the water—inasmuch as every cubic yard of m a t er i a l th rown i n t o th ose pools diminished thetr lake, of water constantly required t o f res h en the or, sah i i t n a roy power t h ewords,r o proportionately increaese d. the limited As sp supply of fresh water available for the purpose. it was as not intended to rais e t owers or massive constructio ns on the bottom o ne conceived it to he necessary to r m of the lake,no con siderable amount of the deposit there, and anyde Ibelieve that the contractors who have offered to accom plish the object of raising the bed may per form the contract within the estimates. The measure since successfully executed for raising the bed of the St. James's Canal and purifyin— g it has one of my been spoken of as measures, but it is just to state that I believe it to have arisen on wholly independent considerations, and that the results have been obtained by meads which differ from those in preparation as parts of a general system of drainage when I acted as one of the Commissioners of the Consolidated Sewers Commission. I now ven ture to aver that if Sir. Morton Pete, Mr. Stephen son, and other Commissioners of the same class who succeeded on that commission had justified their pretensions to deal with questions of town drainage (and in respect to Mr. Stephenson I will add, if he had justified. my own expectations from the princi ples which he adopted as one of the paid Commis sioners on the Health of Towns Commission), neither the work in question, nor the work of the interception of sewage from the Thames, nor other large sanitary works, would for so many years have remained to be done. They had before them speci mens of drains constructed specially for the work of permeable land drainage, with reports settling the principles for the drainage of all open spaces, for the treatment of pools and of stagnant water, as well as the water-bearing strata forming the sites of habitations. But the course which they have taken on this as on other connected matters shows that there are fundamental principles belonging to town drainage which they have yet to learn. I beg to offer some justificatory explanations, as bearing on the question under consideration. I have, myself, in various reports, displayed the evi dence that in addition to the means for the removal of foul or soil water containing the excreta usually removed by drains from houses, complete town drainage works comprehend the means for the re moval of surplus and stagnant water from the strata forming the sites of houses and towns. It has been shown over and over again that, the general condi tion of urban populations being similar as to house drainage, the rate of mortality varies with the levels on which the houses stand, or, in other words, with the dampness of the subsoil as governed by those levels. Thus in respect to London, on dividing the two great districts, the highest and the lowest, in reference to the Trinity high-water mark, in 1838, the proportions of deaths from fever in the districts of an average level of 54 feet was one to every 425 of the population, while in the lower districts, at an average level of only 11 feet, the deaths were nearly double, or lin 255. Or, on the occasion of the last visitation of cholera, into three levels—the lowest, the intermediate, and the highest—in the lowest, averaging only four feet, the deaths were 1 in 93 of the population ; in the intermediate, aver aging 30 feet, the deaths were 1 in 256; in the highest, averaging 63 feet, the deaths were only 1 in 346. On a more close examination of the lower districts their condition as to the excess of damp was not as might be expected. In the Supplement to the Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Populatioa of 1843 I cited, as respects Westminster, the evidence -of Mr. Rose, the death registrar of the district of St. John the Evangelist, who, being asked to name the localities where fever cases were the most numerous and describe their conditions, names various districts and describes them particu larly as low in site—e.g. : " Holland-street, Medway-street, Marlborough-place, New Peter. street, with several other avenues surrounding an extensive waste (formerly the site of Marlborough square), oftentimes nearly covered with stagnant water. The houses are small, very dirty and dilapidated, low in situation, without any drainage, having stagnant water back and front." The Second Report of the Health of Towns Com mission, signed by Mr. Stephenson, in the following terms recognises similar conditions to be provided for by appropriate drainage work : " The evidence we have received, and the reports of the Commissioners who have visited the several towns, are uni form in their representation of the lamentable condition in which suburban districts, and sometimes even the more crowded parts of large towns, are• generally found from the presence of open ditches and stagnant water. Patches of land which the gradual encroachments of buildings have often rendered useless for the purpose of cultivation fre quently lie unoccupied and become receptacles for refuse of the most offensive description. If the soil be of a retentive nature, the evil is increased by the formation of stagnant pools which constantly load the air with an excess of mois ture rendered most noxious from the effluvia arising from the decbmposing animal and vegetable matter thrown into them. . . The replies to the questions on this subject are almost without exception of the same character. . . Sometimes the pools are described as merely stagnant water not receiving any drainage into them, but more frequently they assume the form of open ditches and receive the con • tents of the sewers and drains of the surrounding houses. Evils of this kind are as frequent in the vicinity of the me tropolis its in any other part of the country." As respects the metropolis, these gentlemen had prepared for them, in the Second Report of the Me tropolitan Sanitary Commissioners, evidence more fully developing the evils arising from stagnant waters in open spaces; and among the Reports of the Consolidated Sewers Commission itself they had adelaborate exposition of the means of dealing with them with profit to the owners of lands, with profit, indeed, to the owners of houses by the sav ing of dilapidations. In that Commission they had a very important petition from the Zoololgieal Society, describing the evil results upon the health of their animals, as well as to the vegetation in their ornamental garden, arising from the want of proper drainage of the heavy clay land of the Regent's-park. They had also in the office, prepared in 1848, a report on the drain age of Kensington-gardens and Hyde-park, which involved the purification of the ornamental water. A commencement had been made for intercepting the discharge of house sewage into natural water courses as a general principle of works (vide p. 15 of Minutes on Suburban Land Drainage published by the General Board of Health, 1852, for an example 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 sowers for the dis charge of house drainage, much of the business of interce . tion 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 Eltered and living water would be obtained, more than sufficient to supply the reduced capacities of both lakes, and probably to supply some fountains t 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 Peto 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 bet ter practical acquaintance with them than either of these gentlemen can have obtained, treat theie 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 convenient as the justification of ignorant and rapacious owners of poor tenements, implying that houses are to be 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 excepti.ns to the positions they assume as authorities on such subjects, and would challenge 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 which 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 other colleagues of the Metropolitan f• Sanitary Commission could not but concur in the • conclusion thus expressei in our first report on the use ol the names of- eminent engineers by whom those works had been approved :-- 6, Th 3 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 perverted application of high general pro fessional authority, we might adduce examples of the most defective works which have received their sanction." 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 hems a-day in the preparations against an impending epidemic visi tation, and found it impoisible 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 Geneitl 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. —I am, sir, &c., EDWIN CHADWICK. Richmond, Surrey, Aug. 18. TILE FORTIFICATIONS OF ANTWERP. 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 lengthened 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. The 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 B::lgium had erected for her own defence. In 1851 theit budget of war expenses amounted to 25,000,000 fr., and a hope was held out that it would bp reduced in the foil ,wing years. It had, however, gradually augmented every year since, and they had now a budget presented to them amo-inting 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 CILVAL (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. RODENBACH exclaimed that the Minister of War had insulted a portion of the Chamber. M. GUILLERY protested on the part of signa taries to the amendment against the insinuations cast by the Minister against their courage and loyalty. General CHAZAL—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 ? I am 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. HYMANS 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 apostaey. It had been said that Catiline was at their gates. Catiline had nothing to say to their country. If ho 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 ;1E37 . of England. The proj.iet of the GJvernment would serve as the basis of two glorious things— 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, 158:5, after three months' resistance, Antwerp was forced to yield to the unprecedented efforts of the Spaniards ; but so long as Marnix 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 whole of Belgium, that a false step upon our pa rt, we believe, would draw upon us the greatest misfortunes. It is to the Em peror Napoleon that we have taken the oath of fidelity ; we must keep thisplace 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 Holland 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 an d England (to whom they should render homage), to dislodge the Government of King William, and to accomplish the com plete 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 now proposed was recommended. The Minister concluded by calling upon the Chamber at once to reject the question adjournment. After some further discussion, the proposition 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 th e Ch am b er 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. DUMORTIEB, after referring to the report, took the opportunity of explaining some matters which related to himself personally. M. ItOGIER (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 ordiaary speeches of M. Dumortier. The reputation of the hon. member was completely established upon that point. M. DumoßTlEß—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. 111. ROGIER—No person can accuse us of that. But I call upon the Chamber to remember the speech of M. 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 vote. 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 have 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 liave looked a little further, but the great majority would undoultsdly have been contented with the ceremony of a fresh option and I the gratification of a second bounty. The occa sion was precisely one to test the good sense and 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 t heir views to considerations like these. A thing maybe lawful without being expedient, and this &scrum . 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 was 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 have occurred 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 nolick 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 teen so arduous and so successful that the donative anticipated might easily have taken an unobjectionable shape. All this, however, was overlooked, eru the authorities at Calcutta, shaping their policy by the mere 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 bead 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 Eat, 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, an d 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 relations 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 in 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 !ependency with altered views, and to dis cern in the most brilliant jewel of the British crown an unmanageable incubus on the British Empi re . We believe these apprehensions to be really ground less. We believe that India needs nothing b e y on d good administration to make its possession t ru ly valuable, but this condition must be satisfied at oitee. Wu must have its administrators c h osen f or their intellect and their merits, not for their inte rest and their rank. The old East Indi a C ompany , 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 ir ,vern India, but if we make this great affair one of - .unscrupulous patronage in stead of anxious discri m ination, we may some day find ourselves overwhe In ied iu a ruin more tremcno dous than we can yet (to; lceive. BRITISH RIGATITS IN BRITISH _HONI)URAS. An incident has just occurred which tends to strengthen public confidt,ence in the present conduct of the Foreign-office wiith 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. Tel7q-itory never occupied, never belonged to Spain. Ti; e present republics of Cen tral America cannot p)ssess any better rights than the parent country, un/bess they can show that they have acquired them in ,some way recognised by the law of nations. Thix ty years ago Ruatan and Bonaca were uninhabited islands. They h a ve 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 pax It of her Majesty's dominions. by as good a title as Vancouver's Island. About h.% weeks ago some CariAes 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 an the crew of the Industry, and carried the schooner into Truxillo, where the Commandant proaeeded to try the captain for interfering with the fishermen. The captain de - murred to the jurisdiction, abandoned the vessel, an d reported the matter to the superintendent at Belize. The superintendent sent to the Governor of Jae mike, who at once ordered a ship of war to Trux 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.' -Liverpool Albion. TO THE 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 3 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 (L 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 day for the Serpentine, in addition to the quantity already pumped, and, therefore, already obtained, for the sum stated—£ll,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- Icy in the deductions to be made from the above statements, but, although tempted to reply, we cannot forget the Komise 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, i.i the midst of his numerous duties and the short tune 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. h. THE LUBB.ER'S HOLE IN d THUNDER STORAL 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 board 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 them exhibited any fear or anything approaching bravado, There was no talking aloft, but after we returned to the deck I took an opportunity of asking a man who was a great favourite of mine, what he felt on the occasion? " Well, sir," he replied, i 0 to tell you the truth, I should not liked to have been op there all alone, but where there's so many on a yard it makes all the difference ; the;chances are, if the yard is struck, 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 ATILTTARY MOUSTACHE.—An order has been roade at Parkhurst Barracks, Isle of Wight, to the effc):t that Private John Selzman, having shaved his upper lip, contrary to orders, shall be confined to barracks until' his moustache grows again.—Hampshire dfclvirtiser. COUNTRY MA.REB2 3. COLCHESTER=AuG 20. A small attendance to-day at the corn-exchange, and very limited business transacted. The few sales passing were at about late rates. Some inquiry for malting barlel on speculation, the bulk of this commodity being sprouted and unfit for malting. Beans and peas fully as dear. Wheat, white 44s to 52s Beans, Mazagan..36s to 406 red 40s to 46s I Middle & small 40s to 44; Barley 36s to 44s White peas 4os to 446 I Oats 2ls to 30s Grey.. 38s to 400 NEWCASTLE—Auo. 20. The market was moderatßly attended this morning : B (411 English and foreign wheat in slow request, at the prices of this day se'nnight. The supply was small. Flour met ! firm sale, at late rates. Oats and other articles at til" prices of last week. CHELMSFORD—AuG. 19. There was a good show of wheat to-day, principally of the new growth; early in the day some samples of old realised a shade more money, but trade was inactive, prices closing at about late rates. Spring corn as before. Wheat, white 44s to 54s Peas, Partridge ..43s to 455 red 41s to 49s I White 42s to 445 Barley 32s to 40s Boiling 435 to 45 5 Chevalier ....34s to 41s Dun 40s to 425 Grinding Malt 6 2 0 6 s s t t o o 6 3 6 4 ss Be H am a. 9 l;o T w ic i k ,ic . k . s .. 4 4o ls s to to /5 4 24 : Chevalier 63s to 69s Mazagan 408 to 44e Oats 25s to 34s KIRKALDY—ANG. 20. We had small supplies to-day of wheat and oats, a nd only one parcel of barley. Sales ready, and prices rather against buyers. No new grain at market. Wheat (N). Barley (N). First—. 40s Od 32s 6d Second.. 43s Od —s 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 27s Od Oats (0). —8 Od —s Od —s dO COAL MARE (Prices of Coal per Ton at .ET—Aua. 22. the close of the market.) s. d. Bates' West Hartley.. 14 0 Byass's Bebside West Hartley .. 14 6 Lambert's West Hart ley 14 6 Davison's West Hart- Walls End. 1 Whitworth 14 0 Acorn Close 15 6 Eden 15 6 Braddyll's Hetton l6 0 „, South Hetton 17 „ s " Kelloe l6 0 i South Ke lloe l6 0 Framwellgata 15 0 South Hartlepool. l5 Cassop ~.....16 0 Thornley 14 6 Caradoc 16 0 1 Hartlepool..... l6 6 Riddell 15 3 , Hetton Lyons Main 15 3 Keiper Grange..„ 16 0 1 Gosforth 16 0. Haswell .. . l7 6 0 ; Nixon's Dlifryn . . 2l 1 Powell' s Duffryn Steam 21 o.—a wawa. 4, 107—Sold, 55. ley l5 0 Eden Main 15 3 Tanfield Moor 12 9 Tanfield Moor Butes —l2 - 9 Clark's West Hartley l4 6 Wylam l6 6 Earsden Hartley 14 0 Walls End. s. d. Hunwick l4 0 Hetton.... Heugh Hall 15 6 Benson.... l4 9 Trimdon Hartlepool l6 3 Ships at markel LOCAL SHARE MARKETS. LIVERPOOL—A UG. 22. There was a very quiet business doing in this market to-day, and at the close stock was more freely offered.. — North British, 59i 60 1 4 —Great Western of Canada, 151--- Sheffields 36 t—Caledonians, 84 I—Lancashire and York shire, 96/ —London and North-Westerns, 931 I—Dutch Rhenish, 51 f dis.—East Lancashire, 941 95—Berwicks, 90—Midlands, 1051 106—Chester and Holyheads, 49 60—' Northern, Bi r k en heads, 751 s a —Leeds 43 3—Eastern Counties, 11 111 112—Grand Trunk of Canada, 82 Great Western, 60f x d —Dovers, 221 13-16—Blackburn , 111 MANCHESTER—AUG. 22. The prices were steady this morning, and continued so al day, with a largo business. Leeds, 96—Sheffields, 351 — • Birkenhead stock, 78 I—Dovers, 22 5-I6—Trunks, 87 -- Ditto, div. deb., 10s—London and South Westerns, 92 Midland stock, 103—North British, 591—Londons, 95 Great Western, 60k—London Eighths, 1 dis. BIRMINGHAM—AUG. 22. There was a dull business doing, and prices closed at Saturday's rates. South Staffordshire inquired for at 10a- - Great Western Birmingham Guaranteed stock, 72$ —Bir mingham Canals, 92—Birmingham BankingCompanh 24 —Birmingham Waggon Co. 2i I. Loss OF A CRINOLINE.—Much amusement Va l occasioned on the Quay at Greenock on WednesdaY, ' ll consequence of a lady being unfortunate enough to lose her crinoline. A number of boys enjoyed the accident re their heart's content, by hooking the hoops-en a steam " boat. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—A few more of the Extraordina r y Cures without Medicine of indigestion (dyspepsia), flatu lency, constipation, nervous, bilious, and liver complaints, cough, asthma, consumption, and debility effected by D ll Barry's delicious health-restoring Revalenta Arabica Fo are here given :—Cure 52,422.—Bridgehouse, FrimleY, _ April, 1854-33 years' diseased lungs, spitting of bleu u9 liver derangement, deafness, singing in the ears, consriPe" tion, debility, shortness of breath and cough, have been re moved by your Revalenta Arabica. My lungs, live r ; stomach, head, and ears are all right, my hearing perfe e ' and my recovery is a marvel to Sll m acqu.aintaneq• James Roberts, timber merchant. From the Venerable Archdeacon of Ross.—No. 32,836--Three years' excessl nervousness, with pains in my neck and left arm, 1111 general debility, which rendered my life very miserable, /Al been radically removed by Du Barry's health-restori n g'. food.—Alex. Stuart, Archdeacon of Ross, Skibbereell• In tins, at Is. 6d. ; 11b., 3s. ; 21b., ss. 9d. ; 51b., 125.; 1211 N, 265. The 101 b. and 121 b. tins carriage free, on receipt of pee' office order. Du Barry and Co., 77, Regent-street, Louder!' Fortnum, Mason, and Co., 182, Piccadilly ; Abbis, 6 1 1 : Gracechurch-street ;. 4, Cheapside ; 63, and 150, Orrforu te street ; 330 and 451, Strand ; 49 and 60, Bishops` street ; 85, Tottenham-court-road. Also at lio, Bewley and Draper ; at Edinburgh, Raimes and CO at Liverpool, Nixon and Thew; at Manchester, Sharp 0 - 11 . Scott; at York, Raimes, Blanchard, and Co. ; at Sout h ampton, Randall and Son. BIRTHS. HANNAY.—On the 20th inst., at 67, Queen's-garde:is, Hyde-park, the wife of J. L. Hannay, Esq., of a d an g ly' ter. PRICE.—On the 19th inst., at Weston-super-Mare, the wi fe of Lieut.-Colonel Price, H.M.'s Bombay Army, of 13 daughter. ROUND.—On the 20th inst., in Richmond-terrace,. l3o l Bays water, the wife of A. S. Round, Esq., Lincoln's-Ir4 ° a son. YOUNG.—On the 19th inst., at Springvale, Isle of Wigh t ' the Lady Alicia Young, of a son. MARRIAGES. CnISKE—PRICE. — On the 19th inst., John Croke,. ° Susannah Emily, only child of Mr. Benjamin P. Pri ce ' 2, Duke-street, Manchester-square. GREENAWAY—ALLENDER.—On the 20th inst., at S.,t• Peter's, Notting-hill, Francis Edward, second son of P-• Greenaway, Esq., of Camberwell-grove, to Eliza 2a eldest daughter of George All en d er , Esq., of liensingw park-gardens. DEATHS. ATWOOD.—On the 20th inst., at Ashelworth, Gloucester' shire, Emily Grace, o nly d au ghter of the Rev. IL A- S. Atwood, aged 25. BARNES.—On the 19th inst., at Oxford, the Rev. Fre e Barnes, D.D., canon of Christchurch, aged 89. BATESON.—On the 20th inst., at Leamington, Miss An of Bateson, eldest sister of Sir Robert Bateson, Bart., ° Castruse, aged 70. BENNETT.—On the 22d inst., at 1, Upper Sussex-Plase' Old Kent-road, Fredk. Debell Bennett, Esq., ALB- C. &c., aged 51. CLELAND.—On the 18th inst , at Limehouse, Mr. All ° Cleland, aged 35. COZENS.—On the 20th inst., atWoodham Mertimer Lodge' Essex, J. B. Cozens, Esq., aged 65. STEEL.— On the 18th inst., at Brighton, Brigadier Sam ° Steel, C. 8., H E.T.C.S.. aged 69. LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YOV-- of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sul Office, No. 1 / 1 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the countY ° Middlesex, Tuesday, August 23, on.