The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-31 00:00:00

THE LATE GALES IN IHE NORTIL

Since our last we have had a continued gale from
S. to E.S.E., and very cold. Tho sea has been very
high indeed. Once or twice it appeared as if it
would moderate or change some way to the better,
but the " gentle south" had lashed itself into such
a fury that it could not or would not cease ; and
what follows, as the results of the gale, will show
this. -The Pandora sailed from this for Leith on
Saturday, the 11th, and although all that a first-
class clipper smack with a good crew can do has
been done, she was only able to leave Deersound
on the 25th inst. The Queen steamer left this for
Granton on Wednesday, the 15th, but could not
get round Rattray Head, so had to bear up for
Banff Bay, where she landed her mails and some
passengers on Thursday, and after repeated trials
at last reached Granton on Tuesday, thus taking a
week for the passage. On Monday, the 20th, the
brig Sir Henry Parnell, of Dundee, from Frede- •
rickstadt for Arbroath, put into Deersound for
shelter, after receiving a severe hammering out-
, side and making a good deal of water. The
following morning, about two o'clock, the
schooner Poultoiis, Hunter, of and from Sun-
derland for Portnoy with coals, also put in
there, but from the darkness was unable to
get up to the proper anchorage. Next morning sho
commenced to drive, and at last struck on the rocks
on the point of Ness, Tankerness, where she soon
became a total wreck, her cargo strewing the beach
after she struck. The crew were taken off by a boat
from the shore just before she came on the breakers.
Mr. J. H. Baikie, Lloyd's agent, was soon on the
spot and took charge of the wreck, and the crew
were looked to by-the same gentlemen, as acting for
the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, of which they
are all members. With the North Isles communi-
cation has been wholly stopped, so that scarcely any
business has been transacted in Kirkwall for nearly
a fortnight. What with both our clippers lying
windbound at this side and the steamer losing a
trip altogether there will doubtless soon be a cry
for creature comforts, and happy will be the old
I wife who has secured her supply of tea and sugar.
I There has been a slight change for the better, and
1 a greater change will, we hope, take place with the
I now moon on the 30th ; but the greatest catastrophe
has yet to be recorded. On the morning of Thurs-
day last, the 23d inst., the trading vessel Columbus
of Leith, Capt. Davidson, 334 tons register, was
totally wrecked in the Pentland Firth„!when, me-
lancholy to relate, all on board perished except one
I man. From the survivor it, has been ascertained
that about half-past 5 in the morning, the weather
being very thick and the wind strong from S.E.,
the vessel drove on the Lother Rock, the south-
west point of South Ronaldshay, about a mile from
Burwick, and immediately parted in two. The
hinder part instantly sank, but the fore part re-
mained on the rock, and the one man clung to it
who was afterwards rescued. The vessel was loaded
with coals and a general cargo, and had a crew of
13 men with two passengers; but the survivor,
who was on his first voyage with the vessel, can-
not
isengtiivreelythleosnta. ravtreshoilfeatnhye omfatnhowseaslocsltin.
gTinhge ctoartghoe
rock a boat with 10 or 12 men, belonging to South
Ronaldshay, put off and rescued him at great risk
to their own lives. Great praise is due to the
men, and we should think their services deserve
some mark of recognition from the Board of Trade.
Mr. Loutit, agent for Lloyd's, was speedily on the
spot, as also Mr. Sutherland, receiver of wreck for
the island. The Lother Rock, on which the catas-
trophes-
trophe occurred, is described in the North Sea Pilot,
published by order of the Admiralty, as " the most
dangerous in the Pentland Firth. It is nearly all
covered at high water ; but the sea is seldom so
smooth as to prevent a break or tripple." In the
darkness of the night the breakers probably could
not be seen, and their noise might be drowned by
the fury of the storm. There is sufficient water
for any vessel between the rock and the shore,
though the water there is always rough and break-
ing. The same authority says, "A beacon on the
outer end of the Lother is urgently called for, as it
would mark the exact position of the danger, and
the seamen would then be better able to judge of
the exact drift of the vessel, and when the anchor
should be let go as a last resource." In this case
anything on the roik could not likely have
. butbeen
observed owing to the darkness of the night ,
when such danger is apprehended by the Admiralty
everything necessary to be done for The
Columbus
surely this warning will be the means orfevcaeunstlinong
of such sacrifice of lifeandproperdtys-
None of the
bodies have been recovered.—____..
was on her way to the East Indies. None
Herald.

burgh state state that the winte buyersre fair in that city has been
HAMBURGH HORSE FAlR.—Advioes from Ham.
unusually well attended by and sellers. Then m-
ber of animals brought forward amounted to nearly 3,000.
First rate carriage and riding horses sold at from 70 to 100
louis d'or each, and were principally purchased for Franco
eavalry horses, bougt
and Belgium; h mostly for Italy and
Fnissia, fetched from 35 to 90 louis.

COURT OP COMMON COUNCIL.

THE NEW BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE.

The City Parliament held a special meeting yes-
terday at 2 o'clock, for the purpose of taking into
consideration a report made at the former court by
the Bridge-house Estates Committee, having refe-
rence to Blackfriars-bridge, and recommending that
a new bridge of three arches be erected, after the
design sent in by Thomas Page, Esq., at the esti-
mated cost of £245,000.
The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor presided, and
as the question was one of considerable importance,
not only to the corporation, but also the general
public, there was a very full attendance of members
of the Court. The following members of the " Up-
per House" were also present :—Aldermen Hum-
phery, Salomons, Challis, Phillips, Gabriel, Mechi,
Rose, Sir F. G. Moon, Hale, Sir H. Muggeridge,
W. Lawrence, Dakin, Abbiss, J. C. Lawrence, and
Finnis. The Recorder was also present.
The proceedings of the last Court were agreed to,
as having been correctly printei, and the business
for which it was now specially assembled was then
proceeded with.
It may be necessary to explain that in consequence
of the alleged defective and insecure state of the pre-
sent bridge at Blackfriars, the subject was specially
referred to the Bridge House Estates Committee to
consider what steps should be taken, and, after a
very long inquiry, and consulting some of the most
eminent engineers, all of whom sent in plans and
estimates for the erection of a new bridge (which
was considered the best course to be taken), the
committee decided upon adopting the plan of erec-
tion proposed by Mr. Page, namely, an iron bridge
of three arches, and they made a report to that effect.
Mr. Kearns, a member of the committee, placed a
motion upon the paper that the matter should be
further considered before any decision should be
arrived at, and the whole matter now came on for
discussion.
Mr. H. W. VALLANCE, chairman of the Bridge
House Estates Committee, in moving that the report
should be agreed to and adopted, referred at some
length to the previous proceedings that had taken
place in reference to the question, and said thateven
those who had an interest in " nursing" the ques-
tion admitted that it was no longer advisable to
maintain the old structure. (Hear, hear.) The
matter was referred to the Bridge House Estates
Committee in March, 1861, and they considered the
matter very carefully, and consulted the most emi-
nent engineers this country could produce, who had
been selected by the City architect ; and after the
most careful consideration, they had almost unani-
mously agreed to the report that had been pre-
sented, and which he hoped would receive the
sanction of the Court. (Hear.) He said he be-
lieved that the real question which was to be
decided was, whether they were to have a bridge
of five arches, which would suit the convenience
of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway
Company, or whether• they were to have one of three
arches, that„ 'would afford much more waterway
and eqlltiaerably greater accommodation to the
tilt& of the river. (Hear.) Mr. Valiance then
proceeded, in a very able address, to call the atten-
tion of the Court to all the points connected with
the question at issue, and concluded a most eloquent
speech by stating that neither he nor the committee
had any other object in view than that a bridge
should be erected in the place of the present incon-
venient and dangerous structure that would be an
honour to the Corporation of London, and would
comply with the requirements of the age in which
they lived.
Deputy FRY said that, with the consent of Mr.
Kearns, who had notice of an amendment upon the
paper, he should propose that amendment to the
Court, and as a member of the committee, should,
at the same time, state the objections which he en-
tertained to the report that had been brought up to
the Court. (Hear.) He was not willing to dis-
close the secrets of a committee—(hear)—but he
must protest against the assumption being enter-
tained that the report was not objected to in
the committee. For his own part, he could
state positively.that he had no idea that at the last
meeting they held the question to be disposed of
was, whether this plan was to be agreed to. (Hear.)
He was prepared to contend that the committee
ought to have had a greater amount of professional
assistance, and that, in point of fact, the report now
before the Court was the result of the deliberations
of unpractical and unscientific men. (Hear, hear.)
He then proceeded to state that the original amount
of the estimate sent in by Mr. Page for the erection
of this bridge was £280,000; but after Mr. Cubitt
had proposed to erect the structure for £245,000,
Mr. Page found out that he had made some extra-
ordinary mistake in his calculations, and he under-
took to build the bridge for the exact sum that had
been mentioned by Mr. Cubitt. (Hear, and a laugh.)
The worthy deputy then referred to an article in
the Atheneum condemnatory of the proposed struc-
ture, and said that it was a startling fact that only
two out of the whole number of engineers, who had
been engaged in the matter, had committed them-
selves to a three-arch bridge, and even Mr. Page
himself had sent in plans and estimates having re-
ference to a five-arch bridge, as well as to one of
three arches. (Hear.) He then proceeded to con-
tend that, with regard to water-way, a much
larger amount of available water-way was afforded
by a five-arch bridge than by a three-arched one,
and said that some of the most eminent engineers
of the day had expressed a similar opinion. (Hear.)
The worthy deputy concluded by stating that Mr.
Page had himself admitted that he had made a
mistake of three feet six inches in his gradients,
and he believed that if the Surrey side were to be
raised to the level that would be required for his
three-arch bridge, it would be necessary to raise
the level on that side of the water five or six feet,
or as high as the first floor windows. (Laughter.)

He concluded by proposing the amendment that had

been pnt upon the paper by Mr. Kearns, that the
matter should be referred back to the committee for
further consideration.

Mr. KEARNS supported the amendment, and in
doing so he denied that the committee had had
sufficient opportunity of considering all the plans
that had been presented to them, and he said that
he was shocked to find that the committee had come
to the resolution to accept the plan that had been
sent in by Mr. Page, (Oh, oh.) So far from his
having consented to this proposition, be moved two
amendments to the motion and divided upon them,
and these protests were upon the records of the
committee. He then proceeded to complain of the
proceedings that had been adopted to obtain signa-
tures to petitions in favour of a threc.arch bridge,
and cited instances in which parties' names ap•
peered, who were unable to write, and in others the
persons signing did so under the impression that
they were petitioning for a five-arch and not a
three-arch bridge. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) The
hon. member referred to the question of the em-
bankment of the north and south sides of the
Thames, and said that it was extremely important
that no bridge should be erected that would not
coincide with the proposed embankment. He then
called the attention of the Court to a number of ac-
cidents that had taken place within his own obser-
vation, from his place of business beinr, on the river
side at Southwark-bridge, solely by reason' of that
edifice being constructed upon three arches, and he
argued that a bridge of five arches would give
much more waterway and afford much more accom-
modation to the traffic of the river than the bridge
that was now sought to be erected. He also took
exception to the use of cast iron in the erection of
such a building as a bridge, and avouchedtaheprlaotoef
fearful calamity at the Hartley colliery as
of the danger that was to be apprehended from the
use of such a material, The hon. member then went
into a variety of details in support of his argument,
and concluded by expressing a hope that the Court
would not sanetian the expenditure of a sum of
£300,000, which in all probability would be the ex-
pense of the proposed structure, without first being
well satisfied that when it was completed it would
answer the purpose for which it was erected.
(Hear, bear.)
Several hon. members then rose to address the
Court, but

The LORD MAYOR intefposed, and said that the
question before them was one of very considerable
importance,and as it was now half-past 4 o'clock it

was not likely that the matter could be brought to
a conclusion that day unless they sat to a late hour,
and he therefore suggested that the furth)r discus-
sion of the subject should be postponed.
The Court unanimously agreed to ti is sugges-
tion, and the debate was therefore adj A rned for a
fortnight.