The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-21 00:00:00

THE NEW FIRE BRIGADE.

A report was brought up from the Main Drainage
Committee recommending that Captain Shaw be
appointed, during the pleasure of the Board, as su-
perintendent of the Fire Brigade at a salary of £750
a year, with a residence as at present, and coal and
gas ; that the subject of the brigade be referred back
to the committee, with power to appoint a sub-com-
mittee, to procure information, confer with Captain
Shaw, and investigate details, and to report to the
Main Drainage Committee thereon. This recom-
mendation led to a short discussion, some of
the members remarking that they should like to
know something of the qualifications of Capt. Shaw
before he was appointed, but the motion was agreed to.

THE LATE ACCIDENT IN BLACKMAN-STREET,
SOUTHWARK.

In The Sun of Saturday last, in the report of the
proceedings of the Board, a report was given on the
result of Dr. Letheby's examination of the sewer in
which the flushing men nearly lost their lives. Yes-
terday the following document received by the soli-
citor on the part of the Aerated Bread Company
was presented :
" Aerated Bread Company (Limited), 2, White-
cross-street, E.C., Oct. 19.

"Gentlemen,—The directors have observed with regret
that Dr. Letheby has expressed an opinion that the chalk
refuse (similar to that of the soda water manufacturer) which
is discharged from this company's works at Blackman-street
has caused inconvenience in the sewers by evolving car-
bonic acid gas. The directors feel confident that the effect
in question cannot have been produced, or not in any sen-
sible degree, by the company's discharge once in eight or
nine days of liquid refuse containing 7cwt.or Bcwt. of chalk
without any free acid, among the volume of sewage and re-
fuse from numerous factories flowing down the main sewer.
Immediately, however, on the publication of Dr. Letheby's
report the directors placed themselves under the guidance
of Dr. Miller, of King's College, and Dr. Odling, of Bartho-
lomew's Hospital, who have inspected the works in Black-
man-street, and desire to have leave also to cause the neigh-
bouring sewers to be inspected. I am instructed, therefore,
to ask the permission of the Board for an inspection of the
sewer, under the superintendence of Dr. Miller and Dr.
Odling, and, if agreeable to the Board, under the superin-
tendence of Dr. Letheby also ; and the directors wish me
to assure the Board that they will not permit anything to
be done at any of their works which can be a source of
inconvenience. I may be permitted to mention, in conclu-
sion, that the use of chalk for obtaining carbonic acid gas
has been superseded in America by the use of grapes, and
that the company has made arrangements to work the
American process upon sugar.—l have the honour to be,
gentlemen, your obedient servant,
"GEO. DAUGLISH, Secretary.
" To the Metropolitan Board of Works."

It was agreed that the request should be granted,
and after some routine business had been disposed
of the Board adjourned.

The Treasury at New York.

(From Harper's Weekly.)

The leading financial institution in the United
States is the Treasury at New York. Though it
is only an assistant Treasury, and the Treasury
proper is at Washington, yet the transactions of
the former are so vastly greater in volume than
those of the latter that the chief work of the Wash-
ington-office is keeping record of the business done
by its New York branch. Nineteen-twentieths of
its public creditors are paid here ; nearly all the
public loans are disposed of here ; by far the greater
part of the revenue from customs and taxes is re-
ceived here ; and here is paid on the days fixed by
law the interest on $2,000,000,000 of United States
securities. A business of from $3,000,000 to
$10,000,000 daily is done here—done quickly,
quietly, and without errors or disputes. No insti-
tution is better worth inspecting than the Sub-
Treasury; and be it said, in simple justice, no man
is more willing to have it inspected than Mr. Van
Dyck, the sub-treasurer. The vaults are a sight
which cannot be witnessed elsewhere in this country.
There are two of them ; but one is comparatively
empty, as it only holds some $10,000,000. The
other contains. over $60,000,000 dollars, one hall
in coin, the other half in paper. How many readers
have ever seen $1,000,000 in paper or in gold? We
remember one of the oldest of our judges, a man of
large experience and profound wisdom, interrupting
a party of talkers who were chattering about mil-
lions of gold, with the naïve question, " How big is
a million of gold ? Would it rest on this table ?
Would it go under this chair ? How many men
would it take to carry it? What does it look
like ?" His Honour might have gratified his cu-
riosity by a visit to the Sub-Treasury. There
$30,000,000 of gold lie dormant, awaiting the re-
surrection of specie payments. They are put up in
bags containing $5,000 each, and weighing, say,
451 b. These bags were piled one upon another in
closets, which line the inner wall of the vaults ;
100 bags filled a closet. When filled, the door is
closed, locked, and sealed with the cashier's seal;
a ticket attached specifies that in that dark and
narrow hole $500,000 in gold lie hidden. Fifty
or more of such closets may be seen, duly closed,
locked and sealed. But in that vault, whose wealth
far .outshines the wildest fables of Oriental story,
bags of gold lie around in every corner. You kick
one as you enter. Others rest on the trucks waiting
sepulture in the closets. They are so plentiful and so
seemingly despised by the officials who handle them
that insensibly the spectator loses his respect for
them, and forgets that the possession of a few such
bags would realise his life-long dream of material
prosperity.
These bags are the product of Customs' duties.
Every day between 3 and 4 o'clock a little hand cart,
ark shaped, painted red, covered over, and locked,
may be seen travelling up Wall-street, propelled by
two stout men, and wending its way from the Cus-
tom-house to the Sub-Treasury. There are but two
men ostensibly engaged in pushing the little red
cart, but a careful observer may discover two other
men, likewise stout and very watchful, who lounge
up the side walk on a parallel line. They look as if
they carried revolvers. In these days, when the
Customs' duties are heavy, the little red ark some-
times contains $750,000—a prize worth the atten-
tion of robbers. But it is never attacked. When it
reaches the Sub-Treasury it is unlocked, and the
bags handed in. Each bag is then counted by the
Sub-Treasurer's clerks. They are counted with both
hands, and with a rapidity and accuracy truly won-
derful. They seem to possess a sort of instinct—the
produce of long experience, which enables them to
discover a false coin at a glance. Pieces which have
been split open, the inside filed out, the cavity filled
with iridium, the two halves soldered together, and
remilled on the edges, are so like genuine coins that
the best judges are often deceived by them. Thei
weigh precisely the same as genuine coins. They
are precisely the right size. They have the ring of
pure gold. Their external surface throughout is gold.
Yet these counterfeits are detected at a glance by
the experienced clerks of the Treasury. It used to
be said of Mr. Birdsyle, the present cashier, that
when he was a clerk he could in empting a
$5,000 bag, at the first dip of his hand into the glit-
tering mass, pick out all the spurious coins. There
is a quantity of silver in the Sub-Treasury, in bags
and kegs, but after one had been handling millions
of gold, it seemed a poor sort of metal. A silver
closet holds $40,000 ; there are a few dozen of them
full to repletion. Within a short time consi-
derable amounts of silver have arrived here from
New Orleans—the product of duties or of the Con-
fiscation Act. Many of the coins are rusted and
dingy, and it is shrewdly suspected that, during the
dark days of rebel supremacy, those pieces slept the
sleep of the just in damp underground holes. One
of the New Orleans banks is known to have buried
its coin when Confederate shinplasters; made their
appearance, and the plan was doubtless adopted by
many private individuals. Of paper money the Sub-
Treasury in New York holds some 40 millions. Of
this over 18 millions are in fives, tens, and twenties,
and are piled on a shelf in the vault. As nearly as
we could calculate by the eye there is about a cord
and a half of this money. It might fill a two-horse
hay cart. When a paymaster calls with a draught,
the clerks give him a trunkfull or a bushel basket.
The notes are legal tenders and national banknotes
mixed indiscriminately some old and worn,
showing evidence of long service, others new and
crisp. The large notes $lOO, $5OO, and $l,OOO,
have the honour of closet room. There is a closet