The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-13 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, MONDAY -:EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1862.

been recorded on the books of the London Brigade in
reference to the actual calls made upon the brigade
for assistance, there are understood to be annually
now as many as four thousand fires causing trifling
damage to property—fires in regard to which the fire-
men are never called upon for their attendance. To say
nothing, moreover, about the ordinary calls for chim-
neys on fire—calls which, says the Superintendent's
report, "may be roughly estimated at three thou-
sand." So that actually in 1861, there were 3,000
chimneys on fire about which the brigade were
never troubled-4,000 fires, ditto, causing a trifling
amount of damage—and 1,409 "calls" upon the
brigade, as we have seen, a very few of them
false alarms, and a few more mere chimney alarms,
but the majority causing destruction more or less
serious, 53 total, 332 considerable, 798 slight. After
examining into which aggregate, we cannot wonder
very much when we learn that the fires of 1861
show an increase of 127 upon those of 1860—and
an increase of 391 (but nine short of 400) upon the
average of the last 28 years, the period during
which the London Fire Brigade, as at present orga-
nised, has been in existence and in active operation !
This increase of 127 in 1861, as compared with 1860,
and of 391 as compared with the average of the pre-
vious eight-and-twenty years, having reference, of
course, to the gross amount of fires within the year
calling for the actual assistance of the firemen.
Examining into the more terrible minor list of 53
totally destructive fires—that lamentable aggregate
in 1861 proves to have been 25 in excess of the num-
ber set down for 1860, and 13 in excess of the
average number during the 28 years of the Brigade's
experience ! The subjoined memorandum excerpted
from the Report of the Superintendent is especially
entitled to consideration. It is in every particular
worth looking at, and in some curiously suggestive :
" The totally destroyed list, 53, is 25 in excess of the
same list for 1860, and 13 in excess of the average propor-
tion for the 28 past years. Of the premises burned, 20
were from two to seven miles distant from the nearest sta-
tion'; 25 were used for the carrying on of hazardous trades,
such as cabinet-makers, carpenters, hay and straw sales-
men, steam saw-mills, &c. Three were completely on fire
before the arrival of the engines, and of the remaining
number some through imperfect construction, and one
from its great magnitude and inflammable cont3nts bailed
all the efforts of the firemen. In the last-mentioned case,
which occurred in Tooley-street, on the 22d of June last,
and resulted in the almost total destruction of 33 buildings.
there is every reason to believe that, but for a serious delay
and deficiency of water and some violent explosions which
took place at the commencement, the fire would have been
confined to the building in which it originated. In six of
the cases mentioned in the totally destroyed list, the supply
of water was either late or insufficient."
The superintendent's account of the progress made
in the new applications of science in aid of the
exertions of the firemen, will be found in the next
extract from the report now lying before us, re-
plete with encouragement. He observes :
" The land steam fire-engine continues to render valuable
service. In this engine a great difficulty has hitherto been
experienced in getting up steam in a sufficiently short space
of time ; this difficulty is now obviated by the introduction
inside the fire-box of a small jet of gas, which keeps the
water constantly boiling. By this simple and inexpensive
method two advantages are gained, one is that it entirely
does away with the great risk to the boiler and machinery
caused by the sudden expansion which takes place when
steam is raised in fifteen minutes from cold water, and
the other is that it insures the raising of suffi-
cient steam in less than five minutes, which is
all that is ever required for practical, purposes. The
three new land steam fire-engines recently ordered of
the same makers, Messrs. Shand and Mason, will be finished
in about six weeks from this date, and as they will always
be kept ready for immediate use by the expedient already
mentioned, I confidently anticipate that they will be
found more effective, and at the same time more economical
than those worked by manual power,"

In the tabulated lists that follow these, and other
introductory remarks signed by EYRE M. SHAW,
the Superintendent—lists making up the buik of
his report—in fact, we have the last painful illus-
tration of the truth of POPE'S sibillant but truth-
ful verse :

" What mighty contexts rise from trivial things."
Under the head " Causes," for example, do we not
find iterated and reiterated in the most astonishing
manner P Candle Spark from fire Smoking
tobacco Escape of gas Hot ashes Lucifer
matches—Curtains—Oil boiling over—Do. grease
—Heat from stove—Clothes-horse falling on fire—
Paraffin lamp upset Plumbers Copper flue
•
-Lighted paper, &c. The precautions taken against
fire in truth are literally but as nothing to the
wanton exposure of life and property to its peril,
clay after day, night after night, either through lack
of thought or the cruelest want of care.

An earnest letter from Mr. G. J. HOLYOAKE ap-
pears this morning in the columns of our contem-
porary the _Daily News, in reference to the Rev.
CHARLES KINGSLEY'S warning letter upon the late
Sheffield trade outrages—a letter addressed to the
ReV.:GRENVILLE J. CHESTER, but which has since
found its way into the Sheffield Independent. Al-
though the suggestions thrown out by Mr, HOLY-
OAKE, in his comments upon Professor KINGSLEY'S
epistle to his brother clergyman, partakes some-
what of the roundabout character of the
old woman's proceedings in reference to that ex-
tremely obstinate pig that would not get over the
stile, on the oldflady's journey home from market—
it is really and truly in itself, as it appears to ns, a
very excellent, because a very practical suggestion.
Mr. :HOLTOAKE finishes his remarks by saying
" Let Professor KINGSLEY ask Mr. HUGHES to ask
Mr. POTTER to ask Mr. HEAP to ask Mr. NEWTON
how long these outrages are to go on ; and there
will soon be an end of them." But another
part of Mr. HOLYOAKE'S letter to our morning con-
temporary explains his meaning in throwing out
this otherwise bewildering suggestion of a very
circuitous remonstrance. " There are," says the
writer,with a rather questionably indifference to the
proprieties of grammatical construction in his sen-
tences, " There are a certain 'set' (not to use that
term in a disrespectful sense) of gentlemen in Lon-
don who act with Professor KINGSLEY and the
Rev. Mr. MAURICE, who write generous letters in
the Spectator on behalf of workmen, who have in-
fluence 'with the leaders of the great trade societies
of London and the provinces—societies free from
the stain of violence. Let these leaders
be called upon by Mr. KINGSLEY and his
friends to send a powerful and resolute

_
deputation from the United and Amalgamated
Societies to Sheffield, to inquire into these
trade murders. They can get to the bottom of the
thing when Parliament, whom Mr. KINGSLEY
points to, cannot. 'They can put an end to it. Let
them give the Sheffield trades fair warning, that if
any further case is suffered to occur, the society
in which it occurs shall be held responsible; that
it shall be both renounced and denounced, and that
a reward shall be offered for the detection of the
1 miscreants, who deserve death for their crimes, and
infamy for the disgrace they bring upon their own
order." That, in effect, is the gist of Mr. HOLY-
OAKE'S proposition. And it certainly appears to us
worthy of being acted upon—if only upon the chance
of its possibly putting an end to these frightful
outrages.

THE COURT, —We believe that her Majesty will
return to "Windsor Castle in about ten days or a fortnight,
subject, however, to alteration fr.,m the arrival of Prince
Alfred, and the date fixed for the departure of the Prince of
Wales for the Holy Land, The Queen removes to Windsor,
in order to be nearer to the metropolis, and to enable the
Ministers to communicate mere rapidly with her.—Court
Journal.