The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-04 00:00:00

THE WEATHER AND THE PARKS.

PARTIAL STOPPAGE OF THE RIVER TRAFFIC.
The coldest night experienced in this country for many
years was on Monday, when the thermometer fell to 15,
being one-and-a-half degree lower than it was last Thurs.
lay night, when the mercury indicated 16 Fahrenheit.
At half-past eight yesterday morning, the glass was quite
as low as on the preceding night, but during the middle
of the day the quicksilver rose as high as 30, and in the
evening at five o'clock it stood at 31, but shortly after
that hour the mercury again fell to 20. The barometer
at the same time stood at 29.19. The wind blew tre-
mendously stiff in the early par& of the day from east to
north-east, but between seven and eight in the evening it
veered towards the south-west, an indication of a change
soon taking place in the weather. The different parks
were visited during the day by several thousands of
sliders and skaters. The Serpentine in Hyde Park had
the appearance of a fair, or the celebration of some
public festival, for the footpaths were crowded, and a
countless number of carriages, filled with members of
the aristocracy, lined the roads where a view could be
obtained of the evolutions of the skaters. A great dif-
ference took place yesterday in the Serpentine, to what
has previously been performed on that river since it
has been frozen over, for instead of gentlemen skating
over the ice with lightning-speed, and tripping others
up, and severely injuring th,em, the skaters have par-
celled out the frozen surface, and parties of from 12 to
20 keep certain portions for their own amusement. A.
number of men with brooms and shovels were employed
in scraping and sweeping the ice, so as to allow the
sliders and skaters to pursue their exhiliarating exercises
on the ice. The consequence was, that the greatest or-
der prevailed during the day, and no accident of any par-
ticular account occurred, although the number of sliders
and skaters is reported to Mr. Charlier, as being 12,000.
The members of the Skating Club mustered strongly,
and amongst those present were the Reverends Messrs.
Antrobus and Crake, and a large number of noblemen,
and Capt. Peale, the inventor of the ocean floats for
saving life from shipwreck. Mr. Superintendent Wil-
liams, on finding that the ice in the other parks was
likely to blow up fro-a the accumulation of foul air
under the surface, had the same thing done as he did i n
the Serpentine on Sunday, viz., having holes cut
through the ice at the distance of 200 or 300 feet apart,
so as to allow the air to escape. In former years the
ice exploded on account of the foul air, and made a noise
like the discharge of a park of artillery.
The Round Pond had 3,000 skaters and sliders on the
ice, including several members of the Skating Club, but
no accidents occurred during the day. The Long Water
in Kensington Gardens was frozen over to the depth of
71 inches, and 5,000 gentlemen and a number of ladies
amused themselves by skating on this part of the park ;
but fortunately the only accidents that occurred were
from persons falling upon the ice and severely cutting
their heads.
St. James's and also the .Regent's Park were patron.
ised by about 14,000 persons, who took up their positions
on the ice. The foot promenades were likewise crowded
by spectators, but, with the exception of a number of
persons falling receiving severe head cuts, no accidents
took place.
The River Thames yesterday was so crowded with
what is termed "drifting ice," that all the steam-boats
were obliged to cease running. The coal-barges, in
order to paSs through the Pool to get into the Thames,
were obliged to have two or three additional hands to
navigate the craft, and also to keep fires constantly
burning on board to prevent the hawsers from freezing.
The Lambeth Water Company had nearly every street
furnished with stand-cocks, so as to afford the inhabi-
tants of the district supplied by this company with plenty
of water, as scarcely any householder has been able, on
account of the pipes being frozen, to get a supply for
several days.
A very singular accident took place during the day in
the Waterloo-road. One of Messrs. Meux's four-wheel
waggons was proceeding along, and owing to the slip-
pery state of the road the waggon ran against one of
the lamps opposite St. John's Church, knocked it down,
and hurled a man who was passing at the time on his
back. He was picked up by Mr. Adamson, the coro-
ner's off►cer, but was so injured as to be obliged to be
removed to his house. The waggon was stopped as
soon as possible, but was forced to be left opposite the
West of England engine-house.

THE PRESTON STRIKE. PRESTON, TUESDAY.
Messrs. Birley, Brothers (an extentive firm in connexion
with the Masters' Association) have published a placard,
giving some particulars with regard to the origin of the
strike in refutation of the address to the British pub-
lic by the "Preston Lock-outs." The firm speak only
of facts of their own experience, and thus conclude :
—" The operatives have by their extensive combina•
tions made it not a local, but a national question,
and the masters, with the full determination not to
be beaten, have followed their steps, without however
degrading themselves by having recourse to a simi-
lar system of coercion and intimidation, which is
daily practised towards, the operatives of other
towns, in procuring funds to sustain and prolong
the present strike. In conclusion we can only state for
ourselves, that deeply as we regret the present dispute
with our operatives, we will never submit to be dictated
to by a set of men' totally unconnected with us, what
wages we are to pay, nor allow them to interfere in the
slightest degree with the management of our mills. The
wages paid, and the general treatment of our operatives,
have, until the present dispute, invariably provided us
with a sufficient supply of good hands, and in the face
of this, the fact of our mill having been one of the first
to be attacked by a strike, sufficiently proves to us that
the movement was not one for wages only, but involved
a much deeper-laid scheme, and the real question now
at issue is, Who is to be master ?' "
WHY MASONS SHOULD WEAR THE MOUSTACHE.—In
the Anatomical Museum of the Edinburgh College are
the lungs of a mason who died at the age of 45, of phthisis.
The air passages, as shown by the dissection, were lite-
rally blocked up with fine particles of dust—the accumu
lation of many years. We were glad to see on our visit
to two or three different builders, that the London ma-
sons are now growing their be,trds pretty generally, that
the fashion is gaining ground, and will soon, in all pro-
bability, become universal. The simple action of the
moustache in such cases is that of a respirator, or, more
correctly speaking, a species of sieve, for intercepting
the passage of the dust! Besides the respirator having
the effect of keeping the lungs clear of foreign particles,
it has also the great advantage of preserving a steady
and equable warmth around the orifice of the air pas-
sages. But we have lately dwelt so much on this natural
sanitary agent, that any further enlargement would seem
out of place.--The Builder.