The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-04 00:00:00

ment, and asked if any one could tell him what
colour the stone of those places was ; to which the
remark was vouchsafed, amid loud laughter, that
the river had not been pure, and it would be when
the embankment was made.
The motion was carried.

The engineer, Mr. BAZALGETTE, in making his
monthly report of the main drainage and Thames
Embankment, stated that the frost and unsettled
weather of the past month had retarded all building
operations, but that progress had been made with
the board's works. He stated that the sewage was
now let through the aqueduct over the Metropolitan

Railway, and thus the connexion had been formed
between the eastern and western portions of the
Middle Level Sewer, which was now available to
receive and carry off the whole of the drainage in-
tercepted in its route, conveying it from near the
Mensal-green cemetery to Barking-creek. The length
of the sewer was 12 miles, and its cost about £316,000.
On the western extension se yers work had been done
to the amount of £13,638, and only 300 ft. of sewer
remained to complete the work. On the Northern
Low Level Sewer £96,450 represented the work
done up to the present time. On the north side of
the river 81 miles of the Low Level Sewer had been
completed at a cost of about £204,000 ; work to the
value of £13,200 had been executed at the Green-
wich and Deptford sewers, and with respect to the
Crossness outfall works, these were rapidly approach-
ing completion, and their cost at the pr,esent time
was £288,500. On the first contract of the Thames
Embankment the single-piled dam hadbeen replaced
by a double cross dam, and excavations had been
made for the steamboat pier at Westminster, a work
which had been somewhat retarded by leakage and
other causes. Upwards of 400 piles had been driven
in the main line of dam, 950 ft. of caissons had been
sunk, and about 40ft. of the lower part of the wall
constructed, about 1,547 ft. of intercepting sewer
constructed, and 160,000 cubic yards of filling-in
material. supplied. The value of the work done was
£27,146 ; of materials, £21,966 ; and of plant,
£51,538 ; in all, £100,650. On the second contract,
that between Waterloo-bridge and the Temple, the
stone work had during the month been brought up
to an average level of 13ft. above low water for a
length of 226 ft. The brickwork of the Low Level
Sewer was also completed for the length, and the
subway above was in course of construction. The
dam on the river was progressing, and 190,000 cubic
yards of material had been filled in behind the line
of wall. The value of the work done was £59,615 ;
of materials, £9,338, and plant, £16,110 ; in all,
£85,063.
It was agreed that the Board should oppose any
application by the Messrs. Hall for a licence to store
gunpowder near the southern outfall works at Erith.

The Charge of Conspiracy to Defraud
Insurance Offices.

Yesterday Mr. John George Barry and Mr. Alfred Barry,
brothers, wharfingers;at Meriton's wharf, Bermondsey, who
with threo of their foremen and clerks, named Thorne,
Arnett, and Sedgwick, stand charged with conspiracy to-
gether to defraud the Royal exchange and other insurance-
offices, were brought before Mr. Alderman Stone at the
Justice-room of the Mansion-house, for further examina-
tion.

To render the proceedings of yesterday intelligible it is
necessary to be remembered that in June last, and again in
November, a fire took place at the wharf of Messrs. Barry,
destroying large quantities of valuable commodities, but
principally jute, seeds, and rice, the, fire of November
being of the two much the more disastrous. The defendants
are accused, in effect, of conspiring tegether to misrepresent
and exaggerate the quantities of merchandise burnt on those
occasions, and particularly in November, with the view to
defraud various insurance-offices in which it was insured.

Mr. Hardinge Giffard, Q.C., and Mr. Poland, instructed
by Mr. Humphreys, solicitor, of Newgate-street, again
conducted the prosecution ; Mr. Sergeant Ballantine, in-
structed by Messrs. Tilleard and Co., Old Jewry, defended
the Messrs. Barry ; and Mr. Lewis, jun., and Mr. Moss the
three other prisoners, Thorne, Arnett, and Sedgwick.
John Still, a clerk to Messrs. Barry, was called, and proved
that the signature " Barry Brothers" to a list of goods
destroyed by fire on the 7th of June at their wharf, was in
the handwriting of Mr. Alfred Barry, the list itself being
in that of a clerk named Duckett. The cargo ledger pro-
duced, so far as it related to the cargo of the Sebastian
Cabot, from Calcutta, showed, he said, under the date of the
Ist of August, 1863, that the entire importation of jute by
that vessel was 500 bales. There was afterwards written off
that number certain quantities which had been delivered
(110 bales in all) down to October, leaving 390 out of the
500 ; and the 390 were represented to have been destroyed
by fire on the 7th of June. The warehouse report-book of
Messrs. Barry, of the date of the 17th of August, 1864,
showed that 164 bales of jute, with distinctive marks, by the
Sebastian Cabot, had been removed from No. 1 warehouse
into the barge Susan ; 48 bales by the ship Raleigh, 74 by
the William Cole, and 10 by the Alameda. The entries, ho
said, were in Arnett's handwriting.
By Mr. Sergeant Ballantine—After the second fire there
was a great deal of confusion on the wharf. The books had
to be carried away in baskets and bags. He could only
speak of the entries as to jute, and not as to the disposal of
the jute.

Josiah Fage, who had been in the service of Messrs.
Barry, and who gave the information to the insurance offices
which led to their arrest, and that of their servants, was
recalled by Mr. Giffard. .He said he was engaged in break-
ing down certain bales of jute by the Sebastian Cabot, and
assisted in putting them into a barge called the Cat. That
was about six or seven weeks after the fire. The barge
was brought under the door of the warehouse No. 1 for the
purpose, and he tallied the bales with chalk on the back of
the door. He had since pointed out the door on which he
chalked the tallies to Haydon, a detective officer, the tallies
being still visible.
By Mr. Sergeant Ballantine—He had been in the offices of
Msssrs. Barry since they were in custody. He could not
say ho was there alone. He went there to see the police-
officers. They had sent for him, and after remaining for
some minutes he was told he was not wanted.
• Detective Sergeant Haydon proved that since the last
examination he went to warehouse No. 1 with the witness
Fage, who pointed out to him a chalk tally on the door.
It was written with abbreviations as regarded the names
of the vessels by which the jute alleged to have been put
into the barge Susan had arrived, but these explained it
appeared that of the jute so disposed of 164 bales had come
by the Sebastian Cabot, 48 by the Raleigh, 74 by the Wil-
liam Cole, and 10 by the Alameda.

Mr. Charles Crowther, examined by Mr. Giffard—l am
a merchant at 50, Lime-street, and was formerly in the ser-
vice of Messrs. Barry, as managing clerk. I kept the cargo
ledger, invoice books, and others. I left them 10 years ago,
and have for the last six years been in the habit of buying
various commodities of- them. During 1864 I bought
several things of them. I have my cash-book and check-
book here. I produce two checks of my own, one dated
the 22d of August last for £2OO, and another on the
27th of September for £249 16s. 11d. They were paid by
me to Messrs. Barry, and afterwards returned to me as paid
through my bankers. There are also one for £77 4s. 4d.
dated the 27th of October, 1864, and another for £2OO dated
the sth of December. Those also were sent by mo to Messrs.
Barry, and afterwards returned to me through my bankers
as paid. They refer to sweepings bought by me of them,
of which I produce certain memoranda. They were made
at the time of the various purchases. " Linseed, clean
samples," mentioned in one of them, are not sweepings.
The entries are as I bought the goods. I cannot tell whether
they were all sweepings. One item refers to commodities
that were thrown on their hands, and were not sweepings.
Duplicates of the memoranda were sent by me to Messrs.
Barry at the times to which they refer. One contained
an entry as to 174 cwt. of loose jute purchased in Sep-
tember last by me. I arrived at the quantities by the
delivery-notes brought by the carmen of Messrs. Barry.
I did not keep the delivery orders. The course of busi-
ness would be this. Mr. Alfred Barry would see me on the
corn market and show me samples, and I would after-
wards arrange the price with him. lie would then give
me a memorandum, for which I should have to get a
pass-note, and upon presenting the pass-note the goods
would be delivered. There were no invoices. The doing
business by me in that way without invoices is only with
Messrs. Barry. From others I have invoices sometimes. I
refer to the counterfoils of the checks I have mentioned.

The checks for £2OO and for £249 odd refer to the goods
mentioned in the first 11 memoranda. The two other checks
for £2OO and £77 4s. 4d. relate to the goods in the remaining
documents. That left a balance due to Messrs. Barry by me
of £45 odd. I have not paid them that, because I have an
account against them for about £3O. I see an entry in the
cashbook of Messrs. Barry of the 27th of August last, " Sal-
vage and contingencies, C. Crowther, £lOO. Wages account
not passed through bankers, £100." I cannot say what that re-
fers to; I have not the least idea. I did not pay them £lOO on
the 27th August, nor did they pay me any money on that day.
I don't know anything of a sum of "£l3 ss. Bd., per C.
Crowther, for salvage and contingencies, October 31 ;" nor
of "Wages account, per C. Crowther, £166 11s. 3d." The
check for £249 16s. 11d. refers to several transactions men-
tioned in 11 of the documents I have produced. I do not
know of any sum passing between me and Messrs. Barry for
" salvage and contingencies, per C. Crowther, £66 10s.,
Dec. 7, 1864 ;" nor for "£133 10s. wages account." I know
of no such transactions. On October 31, I did not receive a
check from Messrs. Barry for £249 16s. 11d., nor any check
about that time ; nor on Jan. 30 last a check for £2OO. I
never received any check for a salvage and contingency
account.

By Mr. Sergeant Ballantine—There was a considerable
amount of refuse at Messrs. 13arry's wharf always from