The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-07 00:00:00

CAB FARES.

The little work on this subject published by Mr.
Charles Knight, by the authority of the Commissioners
of Police, does infinite credit to the compilers, whoever
they may be. It will form a most useful sompaniox to
all who are in the habit of using cabs, because the infor-
mation it conveys will at once obviate those annoying
disputes about fares which formerly arose between Jehn
and his customer in at least two out of every three in.
stances in which a vehicle was hired. By an ingenious
but vet simple and intelligible arrangement a person ean,
without scarcely a moment's delay, ascertain the distance
and faze from all the principal streets, squares, or other
places within a radius of four miles of Charing-cross, to
every important point or centre in the metropolis, such
as railway stations, churches, bridges, theatres, and
other public buildings, parks, exhibitions, and so forth.
Indeed, it will be singular if, with such a voluminous
list, any should not be able to discover the legal fare
from a few yards of their own dwelling to all those pro-
minent spots which we have indicated. There is attached
to the book a concise abstract of the Hackney Carriages
Act, ample enough, however, for all the purposes of
reference, whether in regard to disputes or other mat-
ters provided for in this important statute. We should
mention that all the distances given have been measured
by the direction of the commissioners, who guarantee
their accuracy.

TEE PRINTING AND STATIONERY DEPART
RENTS OF GOVERNMENT.

The attention of all financial reformers should be
irected to an enormous abuse in the printing and sta-
tionery departments of Government. We have received
two enormous bluebooks, purporting to be the report of
the commission which has investigated the alleged acts
of corruption at Hull. These two volumes constitute a
load which a man of average strength would hesitate to
carry from St. Paul's to Charing-cross. We find in
them no less than 82,800 cross-questions and crooked
answers with reference to the enormities of the Hullites.
Now, we should very much like to know the cost to the
nation of so bulky a report. Nobody will read it,
nobody has time to read it, nobody could read it, except
a Gorman professor who was afflicted with a monoma*ia
upon the local politics of Hull. It should be the first
duty of commissioners under such circumstances to pre-
sent the Houses with such an epitome of the results of
their labours as could be read by mortal men and paid
for at a reasonable cost. Let them by all means be re-
munerated for the labour of condensation—it would
probably bo the most tedious portion of their duty, but
a little money spent in this way would save the public
an enormous loss. It is high time that a stop should
be put to such a waste of the public money.—Times.

FOLICESTONS', Feb. 6.—Last night, about a quarter to
8 o'clock, during the prevalence of a heavy sea fog, the
Hannibal, a fins) ship of 600 tons, outward bound for
Sydney, came ashore on the Church Rocks, about half
a mile to the west ward of this harbour, and close to the
spot where the Santtipore was wrecked in October last.
The attention of our boatmen was immediately rested
ed
by the firing of signal guns, and severa yawls pu
to render assistance. Captain Hathorn, naval superin-
tendent of the South Eastern and Contid
nentalsteam to be
Steam-
packet Company's Fleet, at once ordere
got up in the vessels under his charge in harbour, and
the telegraph having been set to work, information of
the disaster reached Dover and Ramsgate within a very
short period of its occurrence. A t the former port
two steamttugs were lying off the harbour withd
team
m
up, and, a communication having been opene
the shore, they immediately proceeded discoveredroun p
oint
to Folkestone, where the Hannibal was d
set fast on the rocks, in a position of imminent danger.
Before midnight, a third tug had arrived from Ramsgate,
and, under the direction of Hobday, a Dover pilot, ar-
rangements were made for getting the ship off at flood
tide. A number of warps having been made fast, an-
chors were carried out by the Folkestone boatmen, and
at 2 o'clock a.m. an effort was made to tow her off. The
wind proving favourable, and the tide answering at half
past two o'clock she again floated in deep water. Within
an hour afterwards the wind veered, and a brisk gale
sprung up, which, but for the fortunate circumstance of
the ship having previously floated, must have inevitably
caused her destruction on the rocks. The utility of the
South Eastern Company's telegraph has never been
more satisfactorily shown than in the salvacie of this fine
T„sel, which, had it not been for the prompt and timely
aid of the steam-boats, must have been lost. As it has
happened the ship has merely lost her false keel, and she
is now being towed back to the river to be overhauled.
The Hannibal is the property of Messrs. Cook and Co.,
of Aberdeen, at which port she was built about two years
ago. She was commanded by Captain Walker, and had
aE os
SI
eoEtzt
ebrHo aorlydi
postedn p
ATon
several passengers and a valuable coayfr g
ILICFSET.R_IICT/IheONfololorwTinllgE
isE NaGcLlopSyll
the Manchester Exchange yesterday, addressed to
Messrs. Nash and Nash, of Liverpool, from the Foreign.
office :—"Gentlernen,—ln acknowledging the receipt
of your letter of the 9th inst., upon the subject of the
destruction of the English vessel Howard at Sinope, I
am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to acquaint you
that he has been in communication with the owners of
that vessel, but be is not yet in possession of all the
facts that must have occurred in the case. The atten-
tention of theßoard of Admiralty has been called to the
necessity of taking such measures as circumstances may
admit of for the protection of British vessels in the
Black Sea. I are, &c.,--11, 11. ADDINGTON."