The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-23 00:00:00

" The conduct of the firemen has been quite equal to
that shown by them in any former year, and I cannot

avoid
work

more

noticing the hearty goodwill with which all their
is clone, and which makes their exertions so much
valuable than mere eye service ; not a little of this

spirit is due to the example set by the officers whom the
committee have placed under me, especially the four

foremen.

"The steam floating-engine has done all that was ex-
pected from her during the past year, and contributed to
lessen the list of totally destroyed.' When near enough
to work both engines, the 'steam-float' is more useful
than twelve land engines. The Tower float is as for-
'merly ; the engines are in excellent order, but the hull
more decayed and more patched than it was a year ago.
"The number of fires from the Ist of January to the
31st of December, 1853, was as follows :
"Fires at which the premises were totally destroyed
and considerably damaged, 261 ; ditto, slightly, ditto,
639 ; making a total of 900.
" The foregoing statement does not include chimneys
on fire, known to be so, but only such as are known to
be fires."

The following is the list of fires, and the trades carried
on in the premises, during the year 1853 :
"Apothecaries and dealers in drugs, but no chemical
works carried on, 2 ; bagnios, 4 ; bakers, 18 ; ditto,

pie, 1 ; booksellers, binders, and stationers, 14 ; basket
makers, 3 ; barge and boat-builder, 1 ; bacon-dryer, 1
beershops, 9 ; brewer, 1 ; brokers and dealers in old
clothes, 9 ; builders, 8 ; butcher, 1 ; cabinetmakers, 19 ;
carpenters and workers in wood, not cabinetmakers,
43 ; chandlers, 4 ; coachmakers, 2 ; cooper, 1 ; church,
1 ; curriers and leather sellers, 2 ; corkcutters, 2 ; coffee-
roasters, 2 ; coffeeshops and chophouses, 7 ; coal mer-
chants, 3 ; charcoal and coke, dealer in, 1 ; cornchan-
dlers, 3 ; cornmill, 1 ; confectioners and pastrycooks, 5;
cheesemongers, 3 ; cement and plaster of Paris works,
1 ; colourmakers, 3 ; cocoanut fibre manufacturer, 1 ;
distillers (illicit), 2 ; distiller of turpentine, 1 ; drapers,
woollen, linen, and mercers, 23 ; drysalter, 1 ; dyer, 1 ;
eatinghouses, 5 ; engineers' mechanical, 7 ; firework-
makers, 4 ; French fancy warehouse, 1 ; fishcurers, 2 ;
farming stock, 18 ; founders, 2 ; feltmaker, 1 ; furrier
and skin dyer, 1; fellmongers, 2 ; grocers, 7 ; gasworks,
1 ; gutta percha works, 1 ; gluemaker, 1 ; granary-
keeper, 1 ; hatmakers, 7 ; hotels, including clubhouses,
5 ; horsehair merchant, 1 ; japanners, 2 ; inkmaker, 1 ;
lodgings, 81. (The causes of the fires in lodgings are
returned as follows :-26from curtains becoming ignited,
15 from candles, 4 from sparks of ditto, 6 from ditto
from fire, 3 by flues, 1 from ditto adjoining, 2 from foul
flues, 1 doubtful, 1 from a stove, 2 by children play-
ing with fire, 1 from gas in the street, 1 from fumi-
gating bugs, 2 from lucifer matches, 1 from hot cin-
ders, 1 from intoxication, 1 by smoking tobacco,
and the cause of the remaining 13 is unknown.) Laun-
dresses, 5 ; lucifer match makers, 4-1 caused by com-
position boiling over, another by a spark from the fire,
and the other two not known ; lampblack makers,
3-1 caused -by a stove, the other two not known ;
musical instrument-makers, 2—cause of both unknown ;
marine store-dealers, 7-2 caused by curtains, 3 by flues,
1 by carelessness, and 2 unknown ; mattress-maker, 1—
cause unknown ; Manchester warehousemen, 7 1
caused by light dropped down area, 1 by a flue, 2 from
gas, and 3 unknown ; milliners and dressmakers, 13-3
by gas, 2 from curtains, 2 by candles, 1 foul flue, 1 from
ironing stove, and 4 unknown ; market, I—cause,1—cause, gas ;
mat-maker, I—cause not known ; oil and colourmen
(not colour merchants), 20—the cause of 18 is unknown,
1 from spontaneous ignition, 1 ditto by oil and sawdust
overheating, 1 ditto oil and dung, 2 from gas, 1 boiling
tar, and 1 fire on hearth ; oilworks, I—cause not known ;
private houses, 246-66 from curtains, 36 from candles,
13 from flues, 8 from foul flues, 3 from ditto adjoining,
1 from defect in flue, 2 from blocked-up ditto, 5 from
heat of stove, 2 from adjoining stove, 2 children playing
with fire, 2 ditto playing with lucifers, 1 stove im-
properly fixed, 1 letting off fireworks, 5 smoking
tobacco, 1 from hearth laid on floor, 1 intoxication,
1 copper lighted when empty, 1 heating glue, 2 hot
cinders, 1 from bottle of electric fluid bursting, 1
from fire made on floor, 1 from solution boiling over,
1 from cleaning paint pots, and the other 87 are un-
known ; painters, 7-1 from spark of fire, the other 6 not
known ; paperstainers, 2-1 from a furnace, the other
unknown ; printer (copperplate), I—cause not known ;
painted baizemaker, I—from a stove; pasteboard-maker,
I—from overheat of a boiler ; public place (not theatre),
I—cause unknown; public building, I—cause hot ashes;
painters, glaziers, and plumbers, 3-1 from spontaneous
ignition of lampblack, 1 from carelessness, and 1 from
blocked-up flue ; paper-mills, I—caused by drying-stove ;
palace, I—caused by timber under hearth ; playing-
cardmaker, I—cause not known ; pottery, I—cause,1—cause, the
furnace ; ragmerchants, 4-1 caused by drying-stove, I
by friction, the other 2 not known ; ropemakers, 2 -1
by tarpot leaking, the other not known ; sale shops and
offices, 32--12 caused by gas, 3 by candles, 1 from in-
toxication, 1 by heat from stove, 1 by a flue, 2 ditto,
adjoining, 2 hot plate, 10 unknown ; sawmills, steam,
5-2 by steamboiler, 1 from furnace, 1 hot-air pipe, 1
not known ; ships, 4-1 from lime overheating, and 3
not known ; ships, steam-1 cause not known ; ship-
builders, 3-1 from heat of iron flue, 1 from furnace,
and 1 unknown ; stables, 22-4 by candles, 1 from fire on
hearth, 1 incendiarism, 1 from carelessness, 1 from flue,
and 14 unknown ; strawbonnet-makers, 5-2 from gas, 1
from hot-plate, and 2 not known ; sailmaker, I—cause,1—cause, a
candle; sugar refiners, 2-1 by heat from boiler, and 1 from
a candle ; scum boiler, I—cause,1—cause, tar boiling over ;
schools, 4-1 from gas, 1 by hot plate, and 2 not known ;
starchmaker, I—cause not known ; tinmen, braziers,
and smiths, 16-1 by overheat, 1 by friction, 2 from
forges, 1 a spark from flue, 1 by candle, 1 by flue smok-
ing, 1 heat from boiler, 1 from a wax taper, and 6 un-
known ; theatres, 2-1 by fireworks, and 1 not known ;
toy warehouses, 2-1 from gas, the other not known ;
tobacconists, 7-1 from carelessness, 1 from a flue, 1
from ditto adjoining, 1 from fusees, 2 from gas, the other
unknown ; tailors, 8-1 from boring a bole with a hot
poker, 1 from curtain, 1 from drying-stove, 1 from flue
adjoining, and 5 unknown ; tobacco manufacturer, 1—
caused by drying-stove ; tarpaulin maker, I—cause un-
known ; unoccupied buildings, 7-2 doubtful, 2 from
gas, and 3 unknown ; under repair and building 15, 1
from stove adjoining, 1 from a flue, 1 from slacked
lime, 2 by boiling pitch, 1 from spark of fire, 2 from
fire on hearth, the other 7 unknown ; upholsterers, 4-
2 sparks from fire and pipe-stove, the other two not
known ; victuallers, 41-5 from gas, 4 by curtains, 3
from candles, 5 from flues, 1 from ditto adjoining, 2 from
stoves, 1 ditto adjoining, 1 reading in bed, and 19 un-
known ; warehouses, 3-1 by explosion of gas, and 2
unknown ; wadding-makers, 2—caused by steam-boilers ;
wine and spirit merchants, 5-2 by candles, 2 by gas,
and 1 by hearth laid on timber ; waterproof canvas-
makers, 7-1 by spirit boiling over, 2 boiling solution,
1 from spark from fire, 1 from lighted paper, 1 gas, and
1 unknown ; wharfinger, I—cause not known ;—mak-
ing the total number of fires 900 ; chimney alarms, 90 ;
false ditto, 72 ; making a grand total of calls, 1,062."
Among the most destructive fires during the year were
the following :
" A house of 10 rooms in Howard-terrace, Walworth-
I road, which was destroyed from want of water ; two
houses in New Church-road, St. Pancras, completely on
fire before the arrival of the engines ; a large timber
wheelwright's workshop, in Emmanuel-court, Red Cross-
street, Borough ; a japanner's workshop and drying
'stoves, at Kneith-terrace, Mile-end, totally destroyed—
two miles from the nearest engine-station of Brigade.
The next completely destroyed was an unfinished house
at Forest-hill, six miles from the nearest station. An
unfinished house of eight rooms, at Bromley, was the
next wholly destroyed—four miles from the nearest sta-
tion. Two unfinished houses, in the Harrow-road, two
miles from the nearest station, were the next that were
destroyed. The Circus, in Islington-fields, is described
as being the next large fire, which was two miles from
the nearest station. On September 9 the great fire oc-
curred at Scott Russell and Co.'s, at Millwall, which
was three miles from the nearest station. The
next great fire was in the Finchley-road, three miles
from the nearest station, where an unfinished house
was destroyed. It is a singular fact that the next fire
where the property was wholly destroyed was in the
East India-road, Poplar, two miles from the nearest
station, where three timber cottages were burnt and
pulled down. On Christmas-day a licensed victualler's
house, in the Whitechapel-road, after being partly burnt,
fell down and nearly buried the firemen. On the 26th
of December a very large fire took place in Upper
Thames-street. The building was an old sugar-house,
used as a rag and paper-warehouse, which was com-
pletely on fire before the arrival of the engines. The
next extensive fire happened the following morning in
Hill street, Finsbury, which was likewise completely on
fire before the arrival of the engines, and when they got
to the scene the water was very scanty. The next large
fire was at a timber building in Great Win Chester-street,
London-wall, used as an upholsterer's workshop, which
were burnt down on the 29th of December. Two days
afterwards a fire destroyed a building 50 by 30, at
Plough-bridge, Rotherhithe, used as a turpentine dis-
tillery ; and the same night followed the largest fire of
any during the year--viz., that in Bread street, Cheap-
side, where many thousand pounds' worth of property
was destroyed, the buildings burnt out, and several
others damaged."

SINGULAR SUICIDE.—A. stranger arrived at Potsdam a
few days dago, and, going to the Frederick Church,
asked the beadle to be allowed to visit it, as it is one of
great beauty, and contains many works of art. The
beadle opened the doors, but no sooner had they entered
than they heard slight meanings. They hastened to the
spot, and found a young man hanging by the neck to a
large marble figure of Jesus Christ on the Cross. They
immediately cut him down, and conveyed him to the
hospital. Having partially recovered, he stated that he
belonged to the sect of Old Lutherans, or Pietists ; and
that, being anxious to secure his salvation in the world
to come, he had long determined to die as Christ died ;
that he had frequently attempted to crucify himself, but
had not courage to execute the design ; and that at last,
after a violent struggle with his bad passions, he had
hanged himself to the cross. About a quarter of an
hour after making this statement he died.