The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-23 00:00:00

The Weather and the Parks.

The thick fog which enveloped the metropolis and
its suburbs during the whole of Saturday—to the
great hindrance of business, and the inconvenience
of all those whose occupations 'called them out of
doors—towards the evening grew more intense, un-
til at 6 o'clock all carriage locomotion became, if not
impossible, extremely dangerous, and that of pedes-
trians extremely difficult. With very few excep-
tions, the omnibuses ceased running, and the cabs
were taken home by the drivers, and to the almost
entire cessation of carriage traffic may be attributed
the absence of any fatal accident ; for, although
several casualties occurred, none have been reported
of a serious description. Here and there a solitary
cab might be dimly seen crawling stealthily along,
the driver holding a lighted link in his hand. On
the closing of the theatres the scarcity of cab
accommodation caused a considerable amount of
inconvenience, and the very few in attendance
were at a high premium, the, drivers making
their own terms with those who were fortunate to
become hirers of the vehicles. In the poorer dis-
tricts of the metropolis, where the necessities of the
inhabitants compelled them to make their usual
Saturday marketings, several very ludicrous scenes
occurred ; awkward collisions took place, and a
large number of petty robberies were committed
both from the person and from the provision shops.
Soon after eleven o'clock the fog began gradually to
clear away, and the early morning set in with a hard
frost. The thermometer at Hyde-park Receiving-
house stood on Saturday morning at 25 deg., at
noon 30 deg., and at midnight 21 deg., or 9 deg.
below freezing-point. _ _

Yesterday morning set in clear and frosty, and
the weather during the day continued fine and con-
genial for the season. In the afternoon the various
parks were crowded with people evidently attracted
there by the impression that the waters would
be frozen sufficiently strong to allow of the usual
sports on the ice. This, however, was not the
case. On the ornamental water in the Regent's-
park the ice was about half an inch in thickness,
and a few persons ventured upon it for a short time;
but two or three immersions taking place, it soon
became cleared—this practical warning appearing to
be more efficacious than the printed notices posted
about, that " the ice was in a dangerous state," or
the advice of the icemen. In Kensington-gardens,
also, a few persons ventured upon the ice, but an
immersion or two soon drove them off. The Ser-
pentine was entirely frozen over, the ice being
about half an inch thick, but no one was seen
upon it during the day, the icemen, park-
keepers, and the police on duty strictly prevent-
ing any one who attempted to do so. The
water in the St. James's-park enclosure was also
entirely frozen over, but the icemen had taken the
precaution to break the ice along the edge of the
bank, thus preventing any access to it from the
shore. At the western end of the water, however,
opposite Buckingham Palace, about 50 lads and boys
managed to land themselves on the ice, being tempted
thereto by the people bowling oranges and half-
pence on it. In the scramble for these several im-
mersions took place, but, as the water at this part
is very shallow, nothing serious occurred beyond the
ducking. This and the floundering about in the
water, in the struggle to regain the shore,
appeared to afford infinite amusement to those
who had thoughtlessly tempted the youngsters
to place themselves in' so uncomfortable a
position. The ice on the water in the Vic-
toria-park was much stronger than on that in
the other parks, and a large number of persons were
there enabled to enjoy their favourite pastimes of
skating and sliding. This was also the case upon
the ponds scattered about in the suburbs of the me-
tropolis.

In anticipation of the fog of Saturday night con-
tinuing during yesterday, the managers of the river
steamboats had issued notices late in the evening
that the boats would not run on Sunday, and the
various crews had a holiday given to them. The
day turning out so different to what was expected,
great disappointment and inconvenience was ex-
perienced by that large portion of the public who
patronise the " silent highway."
The thermometer yesterday at the Receiving-
house in Hyde-park stood in the morning at 24, at
noon 30, and at six o'clock last evening at 27, with
indications of falling still lower.
This morning, although the ornamental water in
the public parks was not frozen an inch thick, a
great many boys, and not a few men, were fool-
hardy enough to venture on the ice for
the purpose of either skating or sliding. In
the Enclosure, St. James's-park, the attendance was,
perhaps, the largest, and, although the icemen of
the Royal Humane Society did their utmost to pre-
vent persons going on the ice, at about two o'clock
there could not have been less than 300 persons
thereon.

At one time in the afternoon every bed in the
tent erected by the Royal Humane Society was
occupied, and in some instances with rather serious
cases, arising from contusions and concussions re-
ceived in addition,to the dangers of immersion.
Owing to the exertions of the attendants no fatal
case occurred during the early part of the day,
although in one or two instances serious doubts were
at one time entertained.

The thermometer, at two p.m. this day, stood at
38 deg., being 6 above freezing point.

THE FOG.

The metropolis, the east end more especially, was
again this morning enveloped in a thick fog. About
two p.m. the appearance of the Strand was very
peculiar. Towards Temple-bar a dense black fog—_a
regular "London particular "—entirely obstructed
everything from view, whilst towards Charing-cross
the atmosphere was more than ordinarily clear, and
the sun shining most brilliantly.

The dense vapour could be clearly seen steadily
advancing westwards, and at about half-past two
the use of gas became general for business pur-
poses. Towards three o'clock the fog to some
extent cleared off, but at the time of going to press
the atmosphere was anything but clear.

Sir Arthur Buller addressed a meeting of his con-
stituents at bevonport, on Friday evening. The main
topic of discourse was the foreign policy of the Govern-
ment, which ho zealously defended. Ile regretted the mis-
management of the Church-rate question, but did not
despair of the ultimate triumph of the abolitionists. He ob-
jected to the proposal for constituting the bishops a final
court of ecclesiastical appeal; and concerning reform,
contended that it was the people and not the Liberal
party in Parliament by whom apathy had been shown.
Mr. Brassey, the forthcoming Liberal candidate, gave ex-
pression to his views on the leading domestic questions of
the day. Votes of confidence in both gentlemen were
passed.