The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-01 00:00:00

THAMES.

A PRETENDED MIDSHIPMAN—EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES
—CAUTION TO BOARDING HOUSE KEEPER.— William
Macdonald, a young man, of rather genteel figure and
appearance, who had evidently been a mariner, and whose
face was sunburnt, was brought before Mr Paget, charged
with stealing a coat valued at £3, and 3s, the property and
monsys of Mr William Wittleton.

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The prosecutor said ho was a clerk, and living at No. 31,
Albert-square, Commercial-road. On the 10th of last
month the prisoner called at hie house and represented that
he was a midshipman, and had just come home in a merchant
ship. He also said he had been recommended to the house
for a lodging by the dockmaster of the London Dock, and
hired a bed-room. The prisoner made an arrangement with
a lady in the house to accompany him to the Bank of Eng-
land to draw aoo, invested there. On the following morn-
ing, the prisoner borrowed 3s. of the landlady to clear his
luggage, and left the house, saying he should return in a
few minutes. At two o'clock the same day, witness cams
home and missed his coat. It was hanging to a nail on his
bed-room door when he left home. He saw no more of the
prisoner until last night when he took him into custody.
Inspector Roberts of the R division asked for a remand.
There were 20 or 30 other similar charges against the
prisoner, who had been in the practice of representing him-
self as the nephew of the late Duncan Dunbar, the ship-
owner, and a midshipman. He took two valuable gold
rings off the prisoner's fingers which he believed *ere
stolen.

Mr Paget—Property has been missing where he has been
,odging ?

Inspector Roberts—Yes, sir. He took away anything
he could lay his hands on. In many places he borrowed
money.
Inspector Griffin, K division —I have sent off six police-
men to people to coma and identify him.
Mr Paget—l shall remand the prisoner until Saturday.

Improvements in Faris.

(From the Times' Paris Correspondent.)

No city in the world has undergone such transformations
as Paris for the last 10 or 12 years. Streets of portentous
length have been cut thrcugh masses of masonry, old or
new, as they happened to be in the way, laid bare recesses
the very existence of which had been almost unknown to
the ancients of the other quarters, and penetrated into
alleys and winding lanes, the abode of pestilence and
crime, and through which light and air had never filtered.
Fountains, gardens, and squares stand where only a few
years ago no human habitation was seen. This is not
enough. What has hitherto been done is but the solid
portion of the monument which !s meant to perpetuate
the memory of Napoleon I I I.—the mere masonry, the
grosser part of the design. Stately mansions have arisen,
as if by magic; there is a very wilderness of Boulevards;
sewers run in all directions underground ; squares are
planted with trees; and masons, blacksmith, carpenters,
&c., have done their best. The substantial and the useful
being now so much advanced the moment is come for the
ornamental, and when the mechanic must give way to the
artist. People talk of a double row of statues starting from
the Place du Trone, traversing the Boulevards and the
Champs Elysees, and terminating at the triumphal Arch
of the Place de l'Etoile; that is, from me extremity of Parie
to the other. Those statues, in marble or in bronze, are
to reyroduce all that was most celebrated in Monarchical
Republican and Imperial Francs, so that in this open air
museum the French may see at a glance all that their
country has produced of what was glorious in war, in
letters, and in the arts; and that the very omnibus drivers
and hackney coachmen may read as they run the lives of
these worthies. This is not all. Most people have read of
the architect Dinocrates proposing to convert Mount Athos
into a statue of Alexander the Great, with a city in one
hand containing 10,000, inhabitants, and in the other an
immense reservoir, from which a mighty river should
issue. The hill, or butte of Montmartre, is not so lofty as
Mount Athos, and its conversion into a likeness of the
Emperor, or of M. Hausman, would not perhaps be so
difficult, for the town is already there, and on the summit
is the reservoir supplied from the Seine by the steam engine
at St Ouen. Instead of the statue, which would be incon-
venient, it is said that on the hill, where in the time of the
Romans stood a temple of Mars—from which it has taken
its name of Montmartre—au Acropolis like that of Athens
will be erected when Paris is beautified enough to be more
worth looking than even now, with its Parthenon with light
marble columns in front, 17 on each side, and double porti-
coes--a perfect Greek temple rising to the clouds,

We have to announce the death of Colonel Des
Voeux, who expired suddenly yesterday morning at his
residence in Chester-square. The services of Dr Aldis
were sought, but the gallant colonel had expired.
Official documents show that the consumption of
sugar in 1863 in England and France was as follows:—
England, 480,005 tone; France, 260,000 tons. The average
consumption for the four years 1846 to 1850 was respectively
280,000 and 112,000 tone, and for the four years 1850 to
1854, 357,000 and 119,000. The consumption has conse-
quently doubled within 18 years —a fact of some importance,
the consumption of sugar being held a conclusive test of
material prosperity.

B Y ON A WRECK FOR SIXTEEN DAYS WITH-
OUT FOOD OR WATER—Loss OF A WHOLE SHIP'S
CREW.—Capt. Robinson, of the barque Luzon, of Sunder-
land (Messrs W. and J. Adamson, owners) arrived at Now
York from Shanghae, reports :—" October 21, lit. 29 7,
long. 56 51, 10 a.m., discovered something floating on our
port-bol; beta down upon it, and found it to be the hull of
a vessel, waterlogged, the sea msking a clean breach over it.
Sent a boat to the wreck, who returEed at 11 a.m., bringing
with them a boy in a very weak state, and not able to
speak. Proper restoratives were applied, and on the 22d
the boy began to show signs of recovery. A few ques-
tions being put to him in regard to the vessel, we learned
that she was the French ship Fleur de Bois, of Bordeaux.
It appears that the ill-fated vessel left Martinique Sept.
27, and on the sth of October, in a hurricane from W.S.W.
became waterlogged, and on the 6th the masts, fore and aft
houses, on which were the captain, boatswain, 27 passen-
gers, two seamen, and the mate, who was the owner of the
vessel, leaving another mate and boy, who remained by the
hull—went overboard. The mate died previous to the boy's
being picked up, having been on the wreck sixteen days
without food or water. The mate had his leg broken and
died for want Of IJod. The account given by the boy of their
sufferings is most melancholy."