The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-21 00:00:00

actibtnts and (Ofhas.

A FRIGHTFUL CcraansiontE, resulting in the death
of two workmen, happened at the old Excise build-
ings, in Broad-street, on Monday. The edifice is in
irocess of demolition, and owing, it is believed, to a
11, any pile of bricks being allowed to accumulate
upon the floor of a large room on the fourth story,
tie crossbeams gave way, pulling after them a
lrrge pile of the masonry, when the whole mass
broke completely through the lower floors to the
bottom of the building, receiving of course a fresh
accession of pondrous debris as it descended. There
were 200 men employed about the edifice at the
tiM3, of whom six were at work in the apartment
where the accident commenced. These were preci-
pitated along with the wreck and buried by it, as
were two other workmen who happened to be under-
neath. Most of the men suffered severe injuries,
two being found dead when extricated from the
rubbish. An inquest was held upon the bodies on
Wednesday, resulting in a verdict of "Accidental
death."

ANOTHER SUFFERER from the collision on the
Eastern Counties Railway, reported last week, died
on Tuesday, making the sixth victim to that unfor-
tunate catastrophe.
THE BOILER OF A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE exploded on
Sunday morning at Keyworth, on the Midland Railway.
The engine at the time was waiting in readiness to
convey some goods waggons to Nottingham. Both
driver and stoker were terribly injured by the explo-
sion, and the former was removed in a hopeless
Atte to the Derbyshire Infirmary. The engine was
completely wrecked.
SEVERAL DESTMUCTIVE FLEES have occurred during
the last few days both in London and the provinces.
At Attencliff, near Honiton, on Monday, a conflagra-
ti in destroyed an extensive barn and some valuable
fain produce, under circumstances which led to
strong suspicions of incendiarism. Mr. Woodgate's
school at Honiton was burnt to the bare walls on
Sunday afternoon. Fortunately the pupils were
away for the holidays. Two large schools at Tot-
teaham were visited by fire on Wednesday morning.
ole was a Catholic establishment, and became a
to al wreck, the inmates and a few articles of furni-
ture being hastily removed to a place of safety. Ad-
joining this was a private school, to which the flames
extended and committed much injury, but were
stopped by strenuous exertions before the building
was totally destroyed. On the evening of the same
(lay a hatter's shop in New-street, Covent-garden,
was gutted, and the whole house much damaged by
fire. Nearly thirty persons were in the building at
the hour, ten p.m., when the flames were discovered,
/Hail of whom could not escape until they had en-
dured several minutes of agonising suspense.
THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FIRES IN LONDON
during 18b3 was made by Superintendent Braidwood
on Saturday last. The sloctunent, which is extremely
voluminous, states :—" The fires in 1853, as com-
pared with 1852, have decreased by 23, but on the
average of 20 preceding years the increase is 24.
The number of fires in the list of totally destroyed'
shows a decrease of 5 as compared with 1852, and
on the average of the 20 years a decrease of 5 7 ; but,
when the increased number of tires is taken into
acccunt, the decrease on the average of the 20 years
is 10. The number of fires from the Ist .ban. to
31st Dec., 1853, was as follows :—Fires at which the
premises were totally destroyed and considerably
damaged, 201 ; ditto slightly ditto, 639; making a
total of 900 fires. The chimney alarms have been
90, and false alarms, 72, making 162; the total
Calls, 1,062."
Serazous GOLD DUST is being offered in consider-
able quantities to money-changers in London. It
e9RBiB4l of small pieces of some hard kind of earth
electrotyped so as not to be discoverable by chemical
teBtA• Some parcels are so cleverly made as to be
completely undistinguishable from genuine gold
4114: except by friability and want of weight.

THE PRESS.

JUVENILE DEPRAVITY IN DUBLIN at the present
moment is stated to be appalling. Of committals
to the gaol in 1859, there were 1,036 children under
10 years of age ; 4,221 between 10 and 15 ; and 8,468
between 15 and 20. Numbers of other persons have
been in prison no less than 20 times in the one year;
and two women are mentioned who had been in gaol
no less than 112 and 113 times. Of 51 persons
transported in 1852, 8 were under 10 years of age ;
26 from 16 to 20; but only 3 from 30 to 40, and only
1 WAS over 40 years old. Of those 51 persons, it was
the first conviction upon only 31. The rest had been
repeatedly in gaol.

TUE 'form: Loss of the John o' Gaunt has been
reported at Liverpool. She was bound to that port
from China with a valuable cargo of silk, sailed from
Canton on the sth of last August, and, after having
almost completed her voyage, was wrecked upon the
rocks at Ithoyswlyn, near Holyhead. Her captain
had died during the passage. His widow and part
of the crew were saved, but several hands perished.
The John o' Gaunt belonged to Messrs. R. Glad-
stone of Liverpool, and was a favourite ship in the
China trade.

AN ATTEMPT AT SELF'-STARVATION was discovered
at Luton, in Bedfordshire, last week. One Adams,
an eccentric character, who lived by hawking and
dealing in miscellaneous goods, had shut himself up
for several days, when a constable was applied to
who broke his door open, and found the old man in
the last stage of starvation. The windows were all
nailed down and the door fastened, and, but for the
constables interference, the unhappy man would
have died in a very few hours. Adams had earned
considerable notoriety as a street-preacher against
drunkenness.

Visallanta.

THE officer whom Prince klenechikoff sent from
Odessa to St. Petersburg with the despatches announcing
the victory at Sinope spared no exertion to accomplish his
journey with unusual speed, and on arriving at the capital
was, according to Russian custom, immediately ushered
into the patience of the Emperor, to whom he delivered
his despatches, saying," I bring Sour Majesty intelligence
of the successful issue of a considerable action." The
Emperor, much gratified, took him into his cabinet, and
seated himself to peruse their contents. When he had
finished he found that the officer, worn out with fatigue,
had fallen asleep, nor was he to be aroused by any ordi-
nary means. With quick appreciation of human nature
the Czar called out roughly, So and so ! your horses are
ready; " and the zealous courier at once started up to his
supposed duty. The Emperor then inquired of him what
rank he held? " Kapitan." " Well, then (to an adjutant
in attendance), tiling me a pair of epaulette ; I promote
you on the spot to be Podpolkowitick (lieutenant-colonel).
Embrace me ; " and, when the astonished officer had
availed himself of this rare distinction, the Czar kissed
him on his cheek. Since then no ruthless razor has been
allowed to profane the check hallowed by the Emperor's
lips.
A FARMER of Resquita, near Rodez, was in the habit of
cruelly ill-treating his horse. A few days ago the animal,
being left loose, rushed ou him, threw him down, trampled
on him, and bit him severely. He uttered loud cries, but
it was some time before they were heard, and when at
length some persons went to his assistance he sas quite
dead.

BY THE NEW TARTFF OF CUSTOMS DUTIES OF BUENOS
AYRES gold (coined or in bullion) is admitted duty free ;
wrought gold and silver at an ad valorem duty of five per
cont. ; wools and furs, ten per cent. ; raw and sewing silk,
twelve per cent. ; woollen, flax, cotton, hardware, and paper
manufactures, fifteen per cent ; clothes, boots and shoes,
saddlery, sugar, coffee, tobacco, tea, olive oil, and generally
all edibles, twenty per cent. ; spirituous liquors, twenty-
live per cent. ; wheat and Indian corn, small fixed duties.
Among articles of export, horse skins are charged with a
duty of one dollar each ; sheep skins,three dollars a dozen ;
other skins four per cent. on their marketable value; salt
tongues, four seals a dozen ; tallow, twelve seals an arroba ;
hair and wool, two dollars an arroba ; horns, four per cent.
on their value. All other products of the province, and in
general all the fruits and productions of the Argentine pro-
tinces, duty free. The introduction landwards of foreign
merchandise is prohibited. The tariff is subject to
annual revision.

AN UNDERTAKING called the " Paris Building Land
Company " has been formed, with a capital of 1('S,0001. in
51. shares, of which 62,1,000/. is to be subscribed in London.
The plan consists in the impro►ement of some neglected
freehold ground in the Quartier Rollin, by the construction
of three new thoroughfares, and ultimately of a leather-
market, supposing a concession be obtained for that purpose.
A dividend of five per cent., and the ultimate repayment of
the principal, with twenty-five per cent. bonus, is colla-
terally secured by additional mortgages on the part of the
vendor of the property.
A PaosEcurioN is about to be instituted against an agent
of the Anglo-Continental Telegraph Company, upon the
charge of altering a despatch front Marseilles, by substi-
tnting the words" St. Petersburg, Czar," for " Constanti-
nople, Sultan," and thereby falsely circulating the news
that the Emperor of Russia had accepted the propositions
of the Vienna conference. _ _

DIED, at Great Bentley, on the 10th instant, James Lon•
don, aged 100 years. The deceased, who completed his
100th year in August last. preserved to the dart a beautiful
head of hair of raven blackness.

59

THE Uu><s OF Fatima has granted to his Prime 111iniste
Baron Ward, the privilege of eon,,tructing a railway from
Piacenza to the mountain of Penult, partly fur locomotives
and partly lualiontea.

AL-VICES EltoM Sr. Erti:N:cr., the Co‘entry of France,
state that the prompt:lity at the ribandnumufaeturers
during the past year has been beyond all former precedent.
The quantity of silk "conditioned " was also greater than
in any former year.
THE ('OJIMERt lAL AGENTS OF THE PERUVIAN GOVERN.
MEhT have given notice that, in consequence of the supply
of guano not being equal to the demand, they are compelled
to refuse any fresh orders until further supplies shall
arrive from the Pacific.

Au INHASITAXIC 0/ Ataxaur., named Marion, has been
condemned to line and costs for having given to his child
the name of Robespierre. The civil officer who registered
that appellation has also becu summoned and tu►ed.
THE diligence traversing between Alcoa and Alicante,
in Valentin, encountered a tempest which for several days
raged in the district and occasioned many disasteis. For
two days and part of a third the vehicle was stopped en
route, being able neither to proceed nor return ; and during
that whole time the sixteen passengers which it carried
remained without help or food, saving a few vial's fit
chocolate that one of thew happened fortunately to hurt)
with him.

UNDER THE RESTORATION it was calculated that the ex-
tent of laud covered with wood in Frame amounted to be-
tween 6,000,01 k) and 7,000,0000 f hectares (lb or 17 million
acres). Sum then the quantity him considerably
diminished, but its exact extent is not known. At present
means are being taken to obtain information on the sub-
ject, and for that purpose the provincial mayors have been
directed to stud in precise returns, not only mentioning
what portion of each connnww is planted, but specifying
the kind of trees in every part.
Me. a BECKETT has decided that the driver of a hackney-
carriage was not necessarily obliged to knock or ring at the
door of a house when directed to stop by the hirer.
ABBAS DACHA derives a handsome revenue how the
transit through Egypt. The amount paid to hint by the
Peninsular and Oriental Company alone for the transit of
goods and passengers iu 161)3 was 72,2131., that of the
previous year being 52,6751. This income is over and
above the product of the local traffic, the amount taken
last year in Alexandria alone on goods and passengers to
Cairo and Suez being 14,500/.
FROM 171)3 to the beginning of 1853 there were coined
in France gold to the amount of 1,020,00,839 f., and silver
to the amount of 4,512,494,206 f.

THE EMPEROR lAPOI.EON, some time back, gave dime-
tious to the Minister of War to prepare snort giving an
exact detail of the present situation of the b'reneli urinj,
accompanied with a statement of the number of men that
France could, if necessary, place without delay on a war
footing. This paper, it is sa►d, has been lately sent in, and
the number of men which could be employed as just stated
is set down in it at 1,260,000.
A FEMALE INMATE of the Hanturk Union Workhouse
lately gave birth to three male children. One of the
infants had a large tooth in the front of hiomonth..

A lIEMARNAULE INSTANCE ol• I.ONOEVITY IS recorded in
the .I.mrnal de Rt. Pelersbourg. M. Pierre Sosnovsky died
in November last, at Moscow, at the extraordinary age of
122 years one mouth and twenty-five days. He was born
under the reign of the Empress Anna loannovna, on 4th
August, 1731. At ten years of age he was placed in the►
School of Painting at St. Petersburg. lie remained there
until 1785, and was distinguished as one of the best pupils.
At the age of fitly-seven he entered the army as suteofileer,
took part in the second war with Turkey, and was present
at the taking of Otehakoff. He quitted the service on Ist
January, 17110, with the rank of captain. lu 1812 he
entered the militia of Moscow, and was present, when
eighty years of age. at the battle of Tionslitio.
WILD SPECULATION IN WIILAT AND FLOUR is said to
prevail in Liverpool. Even boys and penniless adventurers
of every description have managed, by degrees, to get large
quantities bought for them on a very Rawl/ deposit—which
becomes the nucleus of increased purchases—so that the
" operator," who at first had only 10/. to give the broker to
buy him 100 barrels of flour, by degrees finds; it increased
so much that he figures for thousands. A glimmering of
peace, or heavy receipts into the American ports, would act
like a bombshell among this little army of speculators who
now laugh at 1b47.
Die American Coarirr gives some examples of what it
terms the "curiosities of the Patent-office" which have
been lately registered in the United States. A harpoon is
described which makes the whale kill himself. The more
he pulls the line the deeper goes the harpoon. An ice-
making machine has been patented, which goes by a steank
engine. In an experimeetal trip it froze several bottles of
ice of the size of a cubic foot w hen the thernionieter was
standing at 80 deg. It is calculated that for every ton of
coal put into the furnace it will make a ton of ice. Seven
new machines that spin, twenty that weave, and seven that
sew, are also described. Among various new electrical in-
ventions is an electric whaling apparatus, by which the
whale is literally " shocked to death." Another is an
electro•ma:metic alarm, *Melt rings bells and dimplayi sig-
nals in caw of tires or burglars. Another is an electric-
clock, which wakes you up, tells you what time it is, and
lights a lamp for you at any hour you please. There is an
invention that picks up pine from a confused heap, turns
them all round, with their heads up, and sticks them
in paper in regular rows. Another goes through the
whole process of cigar-making, taking in tobacco leaves
and turning out the perfect article. One machine cuts
chrism ; another scours kuives and forks ; another
blacks boots ; another roeks the cradle ; and seven or eight
take in washing and ironing. There are a number of
guns patented that load themselves ; a fish-line that adjusts
its own bait; and a rat-trap that throws away the rat, aid
then baits and sets itself, and stands in the corner fur
another.

i

13