The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE.

7'woday, ;armory B.
BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.—CHARLES PARKER and En-
WIN PARKER, Northampton, boot manufacturers.
BANKRUPTS. —JAMES riEwELL, Brackley, Northampton-
shire, and Twyford-street, Caledonian-road, timber merchant
HENRY SIMONS, Woolwich, linendraper— METER JACOBS,
Steward-street, Spitalfields, warehouseman—JuAN OLlvica, Da-
ventry, Northamptonshire, ironmonger—WILLIAM HALL, Ford-
ingbridge, Hampshire, butcher—JAmßs WRITING FISHER and
JAMES BASEY, Norwich, cabinet-makers—WILLIAM BURRIDOE,
Staimeby-road, Limehouse, builder— JESSE !SHAW. Lon nn,
Staffordshire, stationer— EDWARD GOLDSMITH, Nottingham,
hatter JOSEPH HARRIMAN, Loughborough, Leicestershire,
hosier—WILLIAM DAvEy, Wellington, Someimetshire, baker—
JOHN Lomax, Liverpool, cooper—JAMES AITKEN, Liverpool,
draper JAMES HALL, Manchester, commission-agent—CHARLES
Dizow, Gateshead, Durham, draper.

Friday, January 12.
BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.— Gaottor. Sticcox YATES
BRICNELL, Cheltenham, coach proprietor and accountant.
BANKRUPTS.—Icuito UNWIN, Poland-street, Oxford-street,
builder—JOHN CASEY, B/MekbIITTI, builder—JOSlAß TILLETT,
Colchester, plumber—lLENNY QUARTERMAN, Oxford, carpenter
and builder—Jona BLACKNESS, Stratford, Essex, baker—
JEREMIAH Cox, Saint George's-square, Pimlico. builder—WlL-
LlAM BOND, Drury-lane, licensed victualler—HENßY ELOAR,
Ashford, grocer—Jolt N MARNE, Duke-street, Manchester-
square. butcher and hors* dealer—JAMES TILLING, Edgware•
road, Middlesex, farmer and dairyman—FREDERICK Noel's,
Southampton, baker—JAMES WRITING FISHER and JAMES
BASET, Norwich, cabinet maker* and upholsterers.
SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—ALEXANDER WARE MON-
DRY, Glasgow, lithographer—Joni ANDERSON, Edinburgh,
grocer.

Commander Lloyd, promoted from the command of the
Triton for his share in the affair with the batteries of Se-
bastopol, where be was seriously wounded, and Surgeons
Evan Baillie and Gooch have arrived at Malta, from the
Crimea, in the transport Taktverab for England.

SATITRIUY,

FIRES IN THE METROPOLIS.

THE annual returns of fires in Loudon, and of
the attendance on such catastrophes of ihe corps
engaged by the Society for the Protection of Lire
from Fire during the course of the year 1854, have
been presented by Mr. Braidwood and Mr. Sampson
Low, the representatives of their respective establish.
ments. The following are the chief results comprised
in these returns. Mr. Braidwood reports
The fires in 1854, as compared with those which took
place in 1853 have increased by 53, and are more in num.
her by 25 than in any former year. On the average of the
last twenty-one years the increase is 242'4.
The number of fires in the list of " Totally Destroyed "
shows an increase of 12 as compared with 1868; and on the
average of the twenty-one years an increase of 67. Of
these, 12 were from two to twelve miles distant from the
nearest station. Of the remainder, lb were small timber
or brick and timber buildings, principally occupied by
carpenters and other dangerous trades. Notwithstanding
the severe duty they have had, in consequence of the great
number of working fires during the past year, the firemen
have conducted themselves with the usual zeal and alacrity
in the discharge of their duty.
The whole of the land engines are in excellent order,
they having just undergone the triennial repair and paint-
ing. The steamfloat still proves a most valuable acquisi-
tion, and it has been severely tried. On one occasion the
steam pressure on engines and hose was 107 i lb. on the
square inch, and both stood the test well. I believe the
old wooden float will remain serviceable until the new
steamfloat is finished. _ _ _

The number of fires from the Ist of January to the 31st
of December, 1854, is as follows :
Fires at which the premises were totally destroyed and
considerably damaged, 339 ; fires at which the premises
were slightly damaged, 614 • total fires, 953. Chimney
alarms, 91 ; false alarms, 792-making a total of the two of
170. Showing the total calls to have been 1,123.
Mr. Low, in making his report to the committee
of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from
Fire, states
The foregoing statement does not include chimney alarms
known to be so, but only such as were said to be fires.
that 351 fires had been attended by the conductors with
their respective escapes during the year, exclusive of false
alarms and chimneys on fire. These all occurred during
the night or within the hours of duty, viz., from 9 p.m, to
6 a.m. in the summer, and from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. in the
winter. The lives of not fewer than thirty-eight persons
were rescued by the escapes at those fires, including only
those who were exposed to imminent danger and must have
perished had it not been for the services of the conductors.
Two or three of these cases present details of intense in-
terest, developing persevering courage and real heroismon
the part of the escapement. Among the most remaikable
of these in the year is the behaviour of conductor Samuel
Wood, at a fire in Colchesterstreet, Whitechapel, where
at the risk of his own life he rescued five persons.
In his last descent down the ladder he bore one person
on his back, and held a child in his mouth by its
clothing, just as the flooring fell in. Another honourable
mention is that of conductor Chapman, who at a fire
in Drury-lane on the 17th of December rushed through the
flames, and brought three persons down his escape, saving.
himself only by sliding down the guide ropes of the escapt •
During the last ten years the society has gradually extended
its number of fire escape stations front six to forty-two
—the number at present maintained—at distances from
each other of half a mile; and the committee are con-
fident that no system could be better adapted for the re-
quirements of a large city, where only ten more escapes
are requisite to complete the provisions for the whole o
the metropolis ; and the committee are assured that such a
fact need only be made known to secure the requisite
increase of public support. One fire i)ecurred dining the
year of a most disastrous nature—viz., on the night of
February 7, in Soho, where nine human beings were lost
from the non-attendance of the Golden•square escape and
the parish engine having been prohibited front encoding
fires. The escape belonged to the, locality, and, unfortu-
nately, was not under the society's management. Lord
Palmerston took up the matter respecting the parish engine,
which was ordered to attend fires in the neighbourhood, and
the committee ere making arrangements to establish a new
escape in Coventry-street, at the corner of Leicester-square,
so that there seems every probability that the neighbour-
hood will soon be amply provided for against a similar dis-
tressing catastrophe.

An amusing circumstance connected with Lord
Elgin's visit to New York, en route, has transpired.
His lordship was in want of funds to settle his hotel
bills and so forth, and presented at the Bank of
Commerce a draft from the Bank of Montreal,
ordering the first named institution to pay to the
order of the Right Hon. the Earl of Elgin and Kin-
cardine the sum of 2501., Sc. The teller of the
Bank of Commerce demurred to paying the draft on
the plea that he could not say whether ho was the
person named in itor not The earl replied, " Why I am
the person—l will endorse it," and forthwith wrote
" Elgin and Kincardine" on the back of the document.
The teller was still incredulous. That sort of thing
had been done by several confidence•men before, and
the Bank of Commerce could not pay this money until
the claimant of it had proved his identity by some
persons known to the bank officers. Here was a fir.
Lord Elgin looked about in vain for some person
who could testify that he was really himself. He
was finally obliged to depart without the money,
there not being sufficient time previous to the sailing
of the steamer to allow him to send for a person to
identify him.