The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

Tn. E SUN, LOVDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 17, 1863,

THE EXCISE OFFICE.

The sale of this important property on Thursday at the
Auction Mart for 108,0001. has already been stated in
this journal ; but its history is worthy a passing notice,
not only as interesting in itself, but particularly as
affording a good specimen of the results of corporation
jobbing. The site of the Excise-office is well known to
have been once Gresham College, and in the particulars
of sale the title is deduced from that fact. Sir Thomas
Gresham built a splendid house on this spot, and at his
death, in 1579, left it (after the decease of his wife) for
the purposes of a college for the city of London. He
made the corporation of London and the corporation of
the Mercers Company joint trustees, and in order to
endow it he gave to the trust the Royal Exchange with
all its rents and profits. In 1596 the trustees took
possession, and, having consulted the authorities of
Oxford and Cambridge, appointed, at their recom-
mendation, some of the most eminent men of the
day as professors, who under the terms of the will
were to have residences on the premises. Courses of
lectures were regularly delivered, and in term time, the
same bell that was rung in the 'Change for the mer-
chants assembling announced the fact of a lecture
to be commenced in an hour at the almost adjoining
college in Broad-street. There was thus laid the
foundation of an establishment which might have
rivalled the best schools of science in Europe. Henry
Duke of Norfolk in the latter part of the 17th century
presented a library of 2,000 volumes ; a museum of great
value was formed, and all went well. About the year
1658 Sir Christopher :Wren was professor of mathe-
matics, and, after his lecture, it was the custom of
the philosophers who attended it, to assemble in his
chambers, and such meetings laid the foundation of
the Royal Society, established by charter in 1663.
The society continued to hold its meetings at
Gresham College until their removal to Arundel House
in 1710. The college was spared at the Great Fire,
and the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council,
with the Mercers Company, were conveniently accom-
modated in its spacious chambers, while inthe courtyard
the merchants assembled (as on a more recent occasion),
and the shopkeepers of the 'Change were established in
temporary stalls round the area. After this evil days
came on the college ; the corporations neglected dutie
as trustees, the buildings became dilapidated, and
Parliament was several times petitioned, but in vain,
to allow of the desecration of this time-honoured
and valuable establishment. At last, however, these
faithless stewards succeeded ; for, on the 17th of
March, 1767, it is recorded that "Mr. Dance, the
city architect, accompanied by all the city members,"
waited on the Lords of the Treasury and offered
that " antient and useless building, Gresham Col-
lege," to their lordships for an Excise-office. The
arrangement was confirmed at a Court of Common
Council on the 22d of May following, and in 1768
an act of Parliament (5 George 111., chap. 32)
was passed, vesting the property in the Crown, and
charging its revenues " with a perpetual rent of
500/. per annum for ever." The professors were
compensated for their loss of residence, and the lectures,
delivered in a dirty room in one of the corners of the old
Exchange, were soon forgotten. The Crown after this erect-
ed the heavy brick building in Broad-street, and removed
the Excise establishment from their first offices in the Old
Jewry—anciently the house of Sir John Frederick,
and now occupied as Frederick's-place. The two
corporations the City of London and the Mer-
cers Company— trustees of the will of Sir Thomas
Gresham, thus parted with their birthright for
a penalty of 5001. per annum, or, as it may be put,
sold for about 15,0001. in present money, that which on
Thursday, as mere land and materials, realised more than
eight times that sum. The auctioneer stated that the whole
area occupied by the premises is no less than an acre and a
quarter. We are informed it has been bought by Mr. Tite
and some gentlemen in the city who intend to pull it
down, and to erect on the site a new establishment for
Lloyds, who have outgrown all their present accommo-
dation in the Royal Exchange. The front towards
Broad-street will have an entire line of banking houses
and public companies, which, with the new Marine
Assurance-office now erecting between the City Club
and the Excise-office, will quite change the character of
this part of the city.

TRIUMPH LOCK.-CHALLENGE TO ALL THE

WORLD.

The following appeared in the Miners Magazine of
Saturday last :
" Sir,—Now be it known to Hobs, Nobs, or Mobs,
that I have just patented a door-lock which I challenge
all creation to pick uninjured. As a simple mode of
testing my opinion, I will wager any person that they
do not succeed in opening these locks under the follow-
ing reasonable conditions, which, to prevent all quib-
bling as to terms size, time, &c., I will mention
beforehand :—That the lock I submit shall not exceed
six inches square by one inch in thickness ; it
shall not contain more than four distinct parts—viz.
the case, bolt, security, and key, consequently there are
no tumblers, screws, wards, or other confusicatory move-
, ments ; being comprised of such simple parts, I think
16 days sufficient for any attempt.-2. If any fail to
perform the first stipulation, I will give them another
chance of 12 days longer to perform the following ad-
vantages : Allow them the free use of the said
lock unattached, with all the tools the lock was made
with, to do what they like with, except unrivet the cap.
—3. If not yet successful, I have no objection to allow
the said cracksman to help to make the said lock in all its
formations ; also, when thus made, I will place the same
in his hands seriatim one item each day, for eight days
more, so that he may have every opportunity to make a
key to succeed in opening the same. 4. To satisfy the
most sceptical that I feel as secure as my locked bolts,
I will even double the bet that no person can pick one,
and I will go so far as to allow the operator to have the
original key in his possession to make as many
duplicates at he can in four days additional ; as
nothing can open these locks but the proper
key' doing its duty, without injury, any attempt to
make others must prove abortive under the above con-
ditions. Nevertheless, although I cannot pick my own
invention, I can cause to be made as many keys to each
lock as I think proper ; I also can'make one key to open
a dozen different locks without any alteration, yet not a
duplicate of any other key or lock in existence. If any
doubt my seriousness to abide by what I have asserted,
I shall be most happy to refer them to my agents ; or
if any are 'cute enough to fix me to my bargain, I here-
with give my address, where any further information
may be obtained from the inventor and patentee.—G.
F. GOBLE, C.E. : 7, Trinity-street, Borough, London,
May 12.

THE ,NEW INCOME TAX BlLL.—Yesterday the new
Income Tax Bill was printed. It contains as many as
46 clauses, and is the longest bill brought forward with
reference to the tax. The bulk of the document arises
from its application to Ireland. It is to commence from
the sth of April last to the 6th of April, 1860, " and on
longer," as it is expressed.

HOLIDAYS AT THE LAW AND CHANCERY OFFICES.—
Yesterday the several offices of the courts of law and
equity were closed. The law offices will open on Wed-
day, and the Chancery offices on Saturday.
DISCOVERY OF A DEAD CHlLD.—Yesterday afternoon,
Thomas Wakley, Esq., was forwarded information of
the discovery of the body of a fine male child, that was
thrown into the Garden of a gentleman, at Uxbridge
Gardens, Paddington. It appears the servant found a
parcel tied up, and, having undone the string, was horror
stricken at discovering the body of a fine male child.
He immediately informed a policeman, who conveyed
the body to a surgeon, who gave it as his opinion that
the child had come to its death by unfair means. A
professional gentleman has been instructed to make a
post mortela examination, and to attend at the inquest to
state the result of his investigation.
SAM SLICK'S "WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES."
2 vols.—Sam Slick has always been amusing—perhaps
the most amusing of modern humorists—but in his
"Wise Saws and Modern instances" his humour rises
to wit, and his shrewd common sense is elevated into
philosophy. No one can read the work without being
satisfied that, the author (Judge Haliburton) has taken
higher ground. He indulges in sentiment as well as fun,
his anecdotes are as full of wisdom as of pleasantry, and
his characters have something to recommend them be-
sides their tendency to raise a laugh. While there has
been published nothing of late years so droll as the ad-
ventures recorded in his narrative, there has been
nothing so instructive as the experience which has given
to the clockmaker's new publication its appropriate
title.

[invEitTismlENT.]—Holloway's Pills.7-The wonder-
ful regenerating effects produced by these invaluable
pills are truly astonishing. They act in so pecu-
liar a manner on the system that by following the
directions affixed to each box as to the mode of using
them, nervous irritability is allayed, the tone of the
stomach strengthened, the digestion improved, freedom
of circulation given to the blood, and a robust state of
health attained. Persons of studious and • sedentary
habits, being more especially liable to the class of dis-
orders here alluded to, should take Holloway's pills to
insure a good state of health: Sold by all druggists,
and at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand,
London. _ . _

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—EPSOM AND ASCOT RACES.-
9, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly observe, opposite the
York Hotel. The Royal Exhibition. A valu-
able, newly-invented, very small powerful waistcoat
pocket glass, the size of a walnut, by which a person
can be seen and known one mile and a half distant;
they answer every purpose on the racecourse, at the
opera-houses, country scenery, and ships are clearly seen
at 12 to 14 miles. They are invaluable for shooting, deer-
stalking, yachting, to sportsmen, gentlemen, gamekeepers,
and tourists. Telescopes—A new and most important
invention in telescopes, possessing such extraordinary
powers that some, 3i inches, with an extra eye-piece, will
show distinctly Jupiter's moons, Saturn's ring, and the
double stars ; with the same telescope, weighing only 3
ounces, can be seen a person's countenance three miles
and a half distant, and an object from 'l6 to 20 miles.
Iney supersede every other kind for the waistcoat pocket,
and are of larger and all sizes, with increasing powers
accordingly. Opera and race-course glasses with wonderful
power; an object can be clearly seen, from 14 to 16 miles
distant. Messrs. S. and 'B. Solomons, opticians, have in-
vented invaluable preserving spectacle lenses, immediately
they are placed before imperfect vision, every object
appears clear and distinct, the most aged defective sight
becomes bright and brilliant, is brought to its youthful,
natural, and original state. Deafness—Now Discovery—
The Organic Vibrator, an extraordinary, powerful, small,
newly-invented instrument, for deafness, entirely different
from all others, to surpass anything of the kind that has
been, or probably ever can be produced. Being of the
same colour as the skin, is not perceptible ; it enables
deaf persons to hear distinctly at church and at public as-
semblies ; the unpleasant sensation of singing noises in
the ears are entirely removed ; and it affords all the assist-
ance that possibly could be desired.—S. and B. Solomons,
Aurists and Opticians, 39, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly.—
Observe, opposite the York Hotel.

FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION.

DUDLEY, SIINDAY.-At two o'clock yesterday after-
noon the inhabitants were thrown into a state of great
alarm and consternation by a tremendoirs.explosion, caused
by the bursting of one of the boilers of the engine used at
the Fire Iron and Glass Cutting Factory, in the Minories,
of Messrs. David and Simeon Davis. Most fortunately it
occurred just before the workpeople got into the shops, or
the loss of life must have been greatly increased. As it
was, four were killed yesterday, and of the life of an-
other of the sufferers slight hopes are entertained. The
effects of the explosion on the factory are quite ruinous,
the building being wholly destroyed, together with all the
machinery, which was blown into the air, and scattered
over the houses adjoining, in many cases, the large
masses of iron, weighing 5 cwt., 6 cwt., and even 7 cwt.,
falling on the roofs of the houses and breaking through
them. The engineer, named Joseph Millward, was
blown to a great height in the air—perhaps near a hun-
dred feet—and fell on the root of a house about eighty feet
from the factory wall, through the slating of which and the
ceiling of the room under, his weight carried him to the
floor. The unfortunate man was not dead when lie was
found in the room nearly half an hour after the explo-
sion, but he did not survive more than an hour.
besides the engineer there were killed, Elias Sheldon,
about 20 years of age ; Peter Ellis, who has left a widow
and five children ; and George Stokes, who was a mar-
ried man, but had no child. The remains of these poor
fellows were shockingly mangled, the hand and arm of
one of them severed from his body has not yet been
found. James Taff, a lad in the employ of Messrs. Davis,
is so dreadfully injured that little hopes are entertained
of his recovery. Thomas Cifthes and his wife were found
buried, under the ruins ; but, extraordinary to relate,
they were comparatively little hurt. James Evans was
very greatly injured, but it is hoped not fatally. The
sufferers were most promptly attended by Messrs.
Fisher, Johnson, and Houghton, surgeons, in Dudley.
The engineer (Millward) had only yesterday commenced
working the engine, not having been before in the em-
ploy of Messrs. Davis, Of course the cause of the ac-
cident cannot at present be satisfactorily explained, and
perhaps never will be.
We have heard that the engine had been in use 26 or
27 years, and was of 20 or 25 horse power. It worked
the whole of the machinery in the factory for driving the
grinding millstones and polishing machinery for the fire
irons and also the glass-cutting apparatus. The dilapi-
dation to the houses surrounding the factory is very
considerable ; portions of the bricks, of the joists of tim-
ber, and of the iron boiler and machinery being scattered
about in all directions. The force of the explosion dis-
lodged the other boiler of the engine from its bed. It
has been a very sad calamity for Messrs. Davis, as they
have only been proprietors of the factory about three
years, and have expended something like 4001. in repairs
and alterations. Much sympathy is felt for them here.
Great numbers of people have been yesterday and to-day
to visit the scene of the accident, and a box has been
opened at the entrance to the ruins of the factory to
receive contributions for the benefit of the widows, &c.,
of the deceased. The loss of life has not been so great,
but the extent of damage to property is probably more
than resulted from a similar occurrence at Hart's Hill,
about two or three years ago, since which nothing has
happened in Dudley of so disastrous a character till the
present sad affair.

GOLD STATISTICS.

(From, the Times.)

On the 21st of May last year a letter was inserted
from Mr. William Birkmyre, containing some elaborate
statistical tables of the annual produce of gold and silver
throughout the world, accompanied by remarks in har-
mony with the doctrine that extensive changes will be
Produced in the relations of property by the increased
supplies from California and Australia. It appears that
since that time Mr. Birkmyre has proceeded to Australia,
where, with the advantage of being able personally to
judge of the prospeets of the mines, he has still pursued
his abstract inquiries. The results will be found in the
following letter, written at Melbourne, and recently
received from him. Its length is justified by the perma-
nently useful character of the new tables it contains, and
it will be seen that, upon reviewing the course of affairs
in Australia up to the end of December, Mr. Birkmyre
not only feels strengthened in the soundness of the con-
clusions which have been formed respecting the influences
that will ultimately be exerted on prices, but is also dis-
posed to believe that the annual production of gold in
the colonies will greatly increase, especially when ordi-
nary skill and industry shall be applied to the extraction
of the metal from the various quartz veins already
discovered :

" Sir,—At the close of the year 1852 some brief remarks,
and one or two statistical tables regarding the general pro-
duction and consumption of gold and silver, may not be
without interest ; for, whatever some persons in London
and Paris may say of the present abundance of gold as not
likely to have much effect upon the general commerce of
the world, there is not one resident in Melbourne but will
admit the extraordinary effects of gold upon the province
of Victoria. Within a year of its discovery in that colony
not only has the harbour been crowded with some of the
finest ships in the world, but house property, wages,
and provisions have enormously increased in value.
" Next, perhaps, to the astonishing discoveries of the
precious metal is the incredulity of some persons respecting
the probable effects of the present great abundance of gold,
and that despite the well known fact of the rise in prices
in the 16th century in consequence of the discovery of the
rich mines of America. A quarter of wheat, for instance,
about 150 years before the discovery of America, could be
purchased for 65., while the same•quality of wheat in 150
years after that event could not be bcught for less than six
times the money. But it is more than probable that those
who in the united kingdom continue blindly to resist the
evidence of their own senses, and who were the last per-
sons to engage in any speculation, however useful, during
the collapse of the railway mania, are now the very indi-
viduals whom Britain will have to thank in setae degree
for their obstinacy. For, at the same time that Australia
is reaping a golden harvest, it is no less likely that the
above class of individuals, distrustful of all enterprise, and
the effects of the present abundance of gold, will enable
the old country, with its war-contracted debt, to pay off a
large part of her national incumbranco, and thereby benefit
millions of her population. And it is to be expected, too,
that another class of individuals, full of hope and enter-
prise, will obtain for the United Kingdom•, from the new
order of things, the same benefits that California has con-
ferred upon the United
.States of America; for, notwith-
standing the inclination of man, in his own time, to raise
into undue importance the value of some discoveries, still
the great results that have already flowed from the gold
fields of California and Australia indicate to both Britain
and America that there never was, in the history of na-
tions a period like the present, take it all in all, so con-
ducive to the spread of peaceful enterprise and the blessings
of civilisation tc every distant land.
" In order, however, to give a clearer view to those at a
distance of the present prices in Melbourne, the subjoined
is a short comparative table (No. 1) of the average prices in
Melbourne towards the latter end of December of the years
1850, 1851, and 1852.
" And, with the view of being some criterion for the
future in regard to prices, there follow tables of the annual
produce of gold and silver; of the coinage of both metals
in the United Kingdom, United States, and France in the
50 years ending 1850 ; and also of the coinage of the same
metals in the United Kingdom from the accession of James
1., in 1603, till December, 1850 :
TABLE I.

1850. 1851. 1852.
LABOUR. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.
Labourers, per week Oll 0 017 6 214 6
Shepherds,withrations,peran 23 0 0 29 0 038 0 0
Blacksmiths, ditto
General useful servants, ditto 28 0 0 38 0 057 10 0
Carpenters, per day
FEMALE SERVANTS.
Thorough servants,per annum 15 0 0 17 0 027 10 0
Cooks ditto 18 0 020 0 042 10 0
Nursemaids ditto 9 0 0 17 0 023 0 0
PROVISIONS.
Beer, ale, per hogshead" . '..
Tea, hyson skin, per chest
Coffee, Java, per lb.
Sugar, refined, per lb 0 0 43 0 0 7 0 0 9
Flour,* fine, per ton 17 10 0 25 4 0
Bread, per 4 lb. loaf
Rice, Java, per ton
Cabbages, per dozen
Gooseberries, per quart
Cherries, per lb.
Fowls, per pair
Ducks, ditto
Geese and turkeys, each
Sheep, wethers, each
Cows, each
Horses, hacks

* Flour is usually sold iu Melbourne by the ton of 2,000
lb., instead of 2,240 lb., as in the United Kingdom. If
reckoned by the ton of 2,000 lb., the price is respectively
161. and 221. 10s.

"An acre of land in the neighbourhood of the towns of
Geelong and Melbourne, which was not worth more than
251. in 1850, is now worth at least 1,0001. Houses, or
rather cottages of four rooms, rented at 241. in 1850, are
now lot at 2001. per annum.
The rich gold washings in Brazil, as well as the earlier
mines of other territories in the New World, had an im-
portant effect upon the commerce of the globe, although
during the first 57 years of the Brazilian gold washings,
the greatest annual produce never exceeded 1,088,9251.
(namely, in the year ending the Ist of August, 1754), and
which does not amount to one-tenth of the gold obtained
in Australia in the second year of its discovery. It is true
that a produce of 12,000,0001. sterling in the present day
will not have the same effect upon the currency as the
same quantity would have in 1754, in consequence of the
vastly greater quantity of coined money now circulating.
But if it were true, as it is stated in soma estimates, that
there is only 150,000,0001., of gold coin in existence, a
yearly produce of 12,000,0001. from one country would
have an immediate and great effect upon commerce. There
can, however, be little doubt that the above estimated
quantity of 150,000,0001. is far within the reality. It will
be seen by one of the following tables (No. III.) that the
amount of gold coined in three countries, and in 50 years
merely, was 176,596,0861.; and is exclusive of the coinage
of many other countries, such as Russia, Spain and its
colonies, where the amount of gold coined is well known
to have been very great. If, then, we estimate (after
deducting the wear and tear, and making allowance for
the fusion of coin of one State in order to its being re-
coined in another) the present quantity of gold coin in
circulation at 400,000,0001. sterling, and silver at
600,000,0001., instead of 400,000,0001. for both metals, and
conclude that the same proportion of gold to silver existed
in 1754, but that the total amount in those days could
not possibly exceed 300,000,0001. • now, 1,088,9251. of
Brazilian gold would represent an action upon 112,000,0001.
of coined gold, while at the present day it is 12,400,0001.
Australian upon 400,000,0001. coined gold. The result of
the latter, instead of being 11 times as great as the former,
ought only to be 3.6 times as great as the effect of the
Brazilian gold, supposing there was now no greater dis-
placement of coin in commercial transactions than existed
about 100 years ago. If we add the Fwobahle yield of
California for this year—naruely, 21,041,6661., under the
same conditions the effect must be 6.3 times as great as
that felt during the last century.
" The produce of the goldfields of Australia for the year
ending December 20th, 1801, appears to have boon 284,000

oz., which, at the Mint price of 31. 17s. 10d., is equal to I
1,102,8251.; and the produce for this year, ending 20th of
December, 3,194,135 oz., equal to 12,440,1991. These'
figures have been deduced from the shipments of specie at
Sydney, Melbourne, and Geelong, after making allowance
for trans-shipments, and adding thereto 167,792 oz. which
have been taken overland to Adelaide. Although 31. 17s.
10Ad. per oz., is much above the price in Sydney and Mel-
bourne, yet the quality of the Victoria gold is consider-
ably better than standard--in fact a good deal of it aver-
ages as high as 4.4 per cent., or 31 carat grains, better than
standard, and worth 4/. ls. 3id. per ounce in London. The
whole has on that account been valued at the mint price.
"The great question follows—Will the goldfields of
Australia produce as much gold in the next 12 months as
they have done during the last 12 months ? Now, after
much inquiry among the golddiggers and consideration of
the subject, the conclusion is inevitable that, although there
may not be such instances of individual success as have been
observed this year, yet the aggregate produce of 1853 is
likely to be much more than that of 1852. It is evident how-
ever, that Forest Creek and Bendigo will require for the fu-
ture more skill to be applied to the extraction of the gold to
make them yield the large quantities of 1852. On the
other hand, at new diggings elsewhere, such as the Ovens,
oven the same skill only as has been exercised at Mount
Alexander will very soon show a larger produce of gold
than that obtained in the corresponding months of this
year, 1852. And when it is remembered that a gold com-
pany in England working a Brazilian mine cleared last year
upwards of 40,0001., although their gold-stone did not yield
them quite half an ounce of gold per ton of rock, we may
conclude that, if the same amount of skill and capital were
applied to the very rich gold rocks of this country, there is
but little probability of the great produce of Australia in
1852 falling of for some years to come. In support of the
above general statement relative to the increase of gold in
1853, it may be mentioned here that the escort from the
diggings in the week ending Saturday, December 28, 1851,
only brought to Geelong and Melbourne. 10,851 oz., while
the escorts from the same diggings brought to Geelong and
Melbourne in the week ending Friday, December 31, 1852,
30,995 oz., and the escort from the new diggings at the
Ovens was on the way to Melbourne with 13,400 oz., and
there was as much more ready to be taken by another
escort to Sydney.