The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-14 00:00:00

Destructive Fire at Toronto.

On Sunday morning, August 28, there occurred at
Toronto one of the most destructive fires with which that
city has been visited for a length of time. The fire originated
at the Grand Trunk Wharf and Elevator, which were com-
pletely destroyed, with some 50,000 bushels of grain and
400 barrels of flour. The G/obo
says—"
The Grand Trunk
Wharf extended out from the Esplanade between Peter
and Brook streets. It was without exception the finest
and most substantial wharf in Toronto harbour, and was
erected two years ago at a cost of about 25,000 dols. The
capacious flour shed, capable of containing several thousand
barrels of flour, was put up only a few months ago at a exit
of between 5,000 and 6,000 dole. These losses, are, however,
but trifling, compared with that of the Elevator. This fine
building—one of the beet of the kind in the province—
was constructed at the same time as the wharf, the whole
having been built by Mr Sheddon, who subsequently dis-
posed of the wharf to the Grand Trunk Railway Company.
The Elevator, though known as the Grand Trunk Elevator,
was the property of Mr Sheddon. Its actual cost at the
time of its erection was 50,000 dole, but it has been recently
considerably altered and improved at an additional outlay
of several thousand dollars. Fortunately for. Mr Sheddon
the building will not be a total loss, as he had an insurance
of 35,000 dole on it in the following companies :-21,000 dole
in the Liverpool and London, 8,000 dole in the North
British, rand 16,000 dols is the Liverpool and Lancashire.
The loss sustained by the Grand Trunk Company in the
wharf will be covered by the insurance fund of the com-
pany. In the Elevator at the time of its destruction there
were about 45,000 or 50,000 bushels of grain, divided as
follows :—Oats about 35,000, corn about 15,000, wheat about
6,000. This, so far as we could learn, was owned by various
shipping firms in this city and elsewhere, and was partially
covered by insurance, though to what extent we are not
informed. The following are the names of the principal
sufferers :—Erwin and Sloan, and Cheney and Ames, Os-
wego ; and W. D. Matthews and S. A. Oliver, Toronto.
Mr Oliver lost about 5,800 bushels of oats, on which he had,
though at very much less
Eta can at present
we believe, an insurance of 1,208 dole. In the flour shed
there was fortunately a small quantity of flour, less than 400
barrels, whereas there are sometimes as many thousands.
Messrs Gooderham and Worsts lost 127 barrels, Mr W. p.
Howland 200, and Mr P, Payland 10. Most of the flour,
we were informed, was insured,
ebuofttah numbersef ey we7aowrio:o:ok
fsa
rs dole.igigo
than its value. The total loss, as nearly
baf
far
ro
dole,uascertained,
itth2c the wharf
odhdaborefl
andtolearnt, willf 1 t a
iob:edrlosoaeh9sse,4ndf :so
01
tl3odoewo,
:la
et: :e.0—The
dole,
The total
t inoce eot huaaldst
for the
dole, corn about 10,500 dole, wheat about 6,000 dole, flour
ewilblybe in
several,rou lldmd
t_i _
Fortunately this heavy loss does not come on one person
ho,oteao oatslo
calamityidn Elevator,
osulsr,
a about 5101 :
500
000
though Mr Sheddon
bears by far the greater portion of it.
a thelalone, but
actualbu t lossis in
nboarinl
reception and
commenced
hardly e
Sheddonn)acae vd e
mi s happenedakeionuge concerned.
e cit
Preparations
Hieworse
ht a
storage of this year's grain, so that by the loss of the Eleva-
tor he will lose the whole trade of the coming fall and
winter, it being hardly possible to erect a new Elevator
before next spring.

Ps) the principal of the
laboratory of the Inland Revenue Department, reports
that in the last financial year 26
samples of beer and of
maßterAiDalsßfoEuEnßcl."—Mr Phillips,
the possession of licensed brewers have
n addition, tobacco ; in two
present in large and dangerous
quantities; two samples containeds i
bean analysed, and of these 20 were found to be illicit ; the
prohibited ingredients, in 1
4 sampled, grains of paradise,
capsicum ; and the re-
maining two proto-sulphate of iron. Generally the pro-
o onet
other of
c uttohceosel samples
i s
hibited materials employed in the adulteration of beer are not
injurious to health, the object of the fraudu'ent brewers or
retailers of beer being more to increase the bulk of their
indicus containing,wasp
goods than to render the beer stupefying by the addition
of noxious materials. Still, he says, there can be little
doubt that the practice of adulterating beer with poisonous
matters, such as tobacco and cocculus indicus, is more
prevalent than might be inferred from the smaller number
of detections made, al the fraud is difficult to discover
unless the offender be caught in the act of committing
it. Considering, therefore, this circumstance, and the
abominable character of the offence, Mr Phillips is of
opinion that it would be only just to the community to
make public the names of those persons convicted of
adding cocoulous indicus or other deleterious substances
to beer brewed for sale; and he feels no hesitation in stat-
ing that the two instances of the use of the dangerous
drug in question occurred in the neighbourhood of
Wirksworth,. in Derbyshire, and that many of the detec-
tions of the use of grains of paradise were also made in
the same district. He states also that the experience of
many years has led him to the concluedon that the adul-
teration of beer with drugs, as distinguished from the mere
dilution or increasing of the bulk of the article, is more
prevalent in the Midland Counties and the West Riding of
Yorkshire than ill any other parts of the kingdom.