The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-07 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

" CAEIR, JAN. 3, 9 O'CLOCK, P.ld:—A very daring
outrage took place here this day. Mr. Batley, pay-
master of the Bth Hussars, rents a house about two miles
from the barrack. At about two o'clock this afternoon an
armed party entered his house ; four went into the room
in which he was with his wife ; they presented two guns
at his head, and threatened to shoot him if he moved.
They remained about half an hour, holding him all the
time ; they would not take his watch, or any of the
plate in his, house, but took a double gun, pistols, and a
carbine, and all the money in the house, about IL 16s.
They had handkerchiefs tied on their faces. When it
was V reported here, the police, with Inspector Brew,
started, but have not yet returned. I don't think there
is any chance of finding them, as all the peasantry are
armed."

EMPLOYMENT ITNDE it THE BOARD OF WORKS
The subjoined return shows the daily average num
ber of persons employed on public works in Ireland for
the week ending the 26th of December, 1846 :

LEINSTER.

Carlow
Drogheda, Town of.
Dublin
Dublin, City of
Kildare
Kilkenny
Kilkenny, City of
King's County
Longford
Louth
Meath
Queen's County
Westmeath
Wexford
Wicklow .

2,077

1,961

3,859
9,324

576
3,999
8,506
3,693
9,023
4,268
6,541
13,375
2,383

MUNSTER.

Clare
Cork, East Riding
Cork, West Riding
Cork, City of
Kerry
Limerick
Limerick, City of
Tipperary, South Riding
Tipperary, North Riding
Waterford
Waterford, City of

40,778
20,059
11,788

437
19,478
31,206

690
15,239
14,748
8,535
255

CONNAUGHT.

Galway, East Riding
Galway, West Riding
Galway, Town of
Leitrim

18,364
21,040
2,844
11,460
22,208
30,548
13,482

Mayo

Roscommon ,.

Sligo

ULSTER.

Antrim
Belfast, Town of
Carrickfergus
Armagh
Cavan
Donegal

2,302
20,503
1,804

Down
Fermanagh
Londonderry
Monaghan
Tyrone

' 429
5,996
4,933
6,650
2,715

Total for the four provinces

69,585

163,213

119,846

45,487

398,231

AWFUL FIRES.
A little after two o'clock this morning the sentry on
guard at the gate of the Lower Castle-yard, perceiving
smoke issuing from the shop of Mr. Mears, the boot-
maker, in Dame-street, promptly gave the alarm; but,
before the family were well aroused to a sense of their
danger, the whole premises were enveloped in a sheet of
m
g-
f oa omeMr.
window, .M
and,ear throwing and hiswife
ernu sthheed
sash,
the s
ht dhrea wi
later
nt
sprang into the street, and was caught in the arms of
the soldier who discovered the fire; she fortunately
escaped without any injury. Mr. Mears was saved in
a similar manner, and also received no hurt. By the
exertions of the police some of the inmates
edren, were
and at
who slept in the top ofut
twothe hcobuisl
out through the roof; but
niece of Mr. Mears, who was on la visit, were unable
to extricate themselves, and perished in the flames.
A little after four o'clock the whole concern was,.
in spite of every exertion, completely gutted. About this
time an alarm was given that another fire had broken
out in the extensive premises of Mr. Clifford, the drug-
gist, in Castle-street, and quite adjacent to the scene of
the previous conflagration. The engines were imme-
diately set to work, but, from the combustible nature of
the stock, all efforts to check the furious element proved
unavailing, and, in a few hours, not a vestige of the
house was left standing except the front wall. Here
also there was a loss of life. At nine o'clock two men
were ascending a fire-ladder for the purpose of gaining
the roof of an adjoining house, and had reached to nearly
the top story, when the ladder snapped across, and pre-
cipitated the two men into the street below ; one saved
himself by clinging to a lamppost, but the other, falling
on the pavement underneath, was so severely mutilated
that he died shortly after the accident. At two o'clock
this afternoon the bodies of the two children of Mr.
Mears were discovered in the ruins ; both were literally
burnt to cinders. The third body has not been yet
found. At three o'clock P.M. the house adjoining Clif-
ford's took fire ; but by great exertions it was sup-
pressed,—not, however, before serious damage was in-
flicted on the owners, two elderly ladies, who carried on
the haberdashery business there. At post-hour the en-
gines were kept playing on the smoking ruins in Dame-
street and Castle-street.

TRAFFIC TO AND FROM METRO-
POLITAN RAILWAY TERMINL
The following are interesting and curious extracts
from the recently printed Minutes of Evidence taken
before the Metropolitan Railway Commissioners, and
issued by order of Parliament. Mr. B. W. Horne is the
witness examined.
It would be a fair conclusion that the more railway
termini are concentrated in the heart of the City, the
less the traffic in the immediate heart of the City will be
eased in its great arteries?—Just so.
The traffic will not go on?—I am quite satisfied that,
arrive
upon the evidence, you would, its_ youpr
the conclusion, that it is impossible for th
Teed, i
te
be e
term
t
in the City of London.
The traffic will come in conflict at particular times?—
and there is another thing—you will not require
Yomegni buses for it, which would take away ten people at
a time, but you must have cabs ; therefore, you will
have about eight vehicles to take eight people instead of
one, and you cannot help it.
So that these passengers distributed will occupy more
space ?—Yes. I will give an illustration of it. The
only railways which we carry but few passengers to and
from by omnibuses are the Brighton and the Dover.
Now, in 26 times a-day in and out of the Brighton and
Dover station conjointly, we do not average much more
than four passengers a trip for the 365 days, five is the
must; in fact, we cannot average fire. The omnibus which
starts from Oxford-street and Charing-cross and Fleet-
street will not produce five passengers in going to the
London-bridge station or from it.
To what do you attribute that?—The station being
there; it is so close to the City that a man takes a cab,
and the result is, that though he would pay me sixpence
to ride, he would rather pay a shilling, because he can
start five minutes later, and goes direct to the City.
Therefore, I would not be one to run an omnibus, on any
consideration, in and out of the London-bridge station,
except that I am bound to do so.
That does not apply to the Great Western?—With the
Great Western we make better trips ; we have nearly
three times the quantity of people to and from it.
Therefore, for the omnibus proprietor, the further off
the terminus is the better?—There is no question about
that. I only show that, as respects those who have to
be moved to and from the London-bridge station, that
you do not move them by omnibus, but by cabs.
Which is a more cumbersome way?—You want more
space, and it is dearer. The commissioners can have
from me any information which they wish. When they
have read my evidence through, anything that they think
it necessary they can have.
Will you let us have the details of what you have just
mentioned?—To and from the South-Western our traffic
is very great, and in the case of the London and Bir-
mingham it is only moderato, because the position of
that railway is such that people can convey themselves
for ls. 4d. from there at once anywhere to the door by
a cab.
And in your omnibus for sixpence?—We must take
the high streets. We do not go by our omnibuses all the
way. Persons going by our omnibuses ride to the main
street, and then walk to their destination, which is close
at hand. If you take our London and Birmingham om-
nibus from the station, we come into Piccadilly, Oxford-
street, and Charing-cross. We take the three leading
streets. If you take the City omnibuses, we take Hol-
born, Fleet-street, Cheapside, the Bank, and Grace-
church-street, and extend any of them to the Dover and
Brighton Railways when required. Last night I made
an estimate of the traffic of the London and Birming-
ham absolutely for a month, that you might have an
opportunity of working it out for a year. The seasons
of the year of course will increase and diminish the
passenger communication, but I have taken up to the
11th of April in this present year from the 1I th of
March, giving for the thirty-one days the absolute num-
ber of passengers moved by ourselves to and from the
station of the London and Birmingham, both City and
West.
By omnibus?—Yes.
From the Golden Cross only?—No, the whole of Lon-
don. You will fiad by our books that we moved to and
from the City by omnibuses 7,741 passengers; to and
from the West end, 3,386; that forms the total of omni-
bus passengers that we moved; but we had from the
station to the City 3,185 cabs, and we had to the West,
6,989 cabs. Taking the average of each cab at one pas-
senger and a half (for none go with less than one, and
many with three, and sometimes four‘„ that will make,
for the omnibus and cab traffic together 17,296 people
moved by us to and from the City, and 24,353 West.
We also moved 141 carriages.
Private carriages? —Private carriages; post carriages.
of which we had 11 carriages to the City, and 130 to
the 'West. Taking the average of the passengers using
those carriages at three (generally speaking it is two and
a servant, and in many cases it will be more, and occa-
eii ,nally only one), it will make it that the total estimate
is 17,329 City, and 24,743 West. In addition to the
above statement, we have to consider the cabs that drive
to the station more than from, which is to be accounted
for by the orneileises loading better from the station—
for they do load better from the station than to the sta-
tion—and that is easily accounted fur, because a man
in going to the station has to go to the omnibus; therefore
the calculations might be estimated as follows, which,
by bringing the aforesaid figures, makes it in favour of
the City, there being less from the City by omnibuses
and more by cabs than from the West-end, in proportion
to the reduction by the omnibuses. I have taken 1,563
extra to and from the City, and 1,013 West. Then you
have to add a double quantity of passengers by the car-
riages from the City and from the West-end in the pro-
portion which I give, which then brings the total for the
City 18,925, and for the West 26,176. Now you may
assume that each up-train has on an average three pri-
vate vehicles to meet it, either carriages or hired cabs
of their own, which we do not take cognisance of, or
hackney coaches, glass coaches, and so forth, and which
the public use by their own orders, and there being
twenty trains a day, an average of only three passen-
gers to each of those vehicles will give 180 persons,
that will make a total of 2,430 people to and from the
City, and will give you 7,290 people to and from the
West, because it is a known filer, that three carriages out
of four will go to the West. You must take into consi-
deration the omnibus, cab, and carriage traffic together,
and if you draw a comparison upon the whole figures,
you will find that it is not quite three to the West-end
agaEnat one to the City ; that brings you to a total
finally of 21,355 people to and from the City, and gives
kou 33,465 to and from the West-end. If you want to
now where the division takes place as regards this
comparison, it is thus—what I have given you as in-
tended for City people, is much in favour of the City.
We drive first to the George and Blue Boar, Holborn,
and those who get out there will naturally go West.
We pass down Holborn ; we then go down Fetter-lane
or Chancery-lane, and drop people who take the Temple,
and then into the City. In the estimate, I give you
every one of those as City persons. Now, the West-end
traffic does not go nearer Holborn than this, that it goes
to Griffin's Green Man, Oxford-street ; comes from
Griffin's Green Man down to Piccadilly, and from Pic-
cadilly to Charing-cross ; that is the way in which it
is estimated fbr the west-end, so that in truth the divi-
sion of traffic is more in favour of the City than it is of
the West.
Have you thought of the advantage of bringing the
terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway nearer
to the City than Eibtori-square ?—I have done so. As
regards benefit to the public, no doubt it would be a
benefit so far as the City is concerned, but it would
be a great disadvantage to the West-end, for this
reason—at the Euston station the fare by omnibuses
to Gracechurch-street, Fleet-street, the Bank, and
to Charing-cross, and all the other places, is only
six pence. Of course, in taking a cab, the fares
are restricted by our arrangements with the cab people,
so that they do not, as they usually do, charge more
than their fare. You may go to Holborn for Is. from
the station. You may go to the Bank, which perhaps
is the heaviest, for 2s. ; and so on. You may go to
Regent-circus for is., and to Charing-cross for Is. 4d.
Now, supposing you took people from Euston-square
and brought them to Farringdon-street, what would be
the consequence ? First of all they would have to pay
an additional toll for the Railway ; for that I should
make a calculation, looking at the expense, amount-
ing to 2d. per mile per passenger, taking the average of
the first and second clasfs; therefore, taking that as a
criterion, you must add to that the cab faro from that
station to the same points. If, therefore, a man wanted
to go to Holborn, he would have to pay 4d. extra to get
to Farringdon-street, and Bd. by cab, that makes Is.,
which is precisely the same as from Euston-square,
If a man went to Fleet-street, he would pay
nothing but the extra charge of 4d. by railway ;
that is in favour of Fleet-street. Then, on the
other hand, to the Bank, I admit it would be but
Is., say Bd. for the cab and 4d. for the railway,
instead of 2s. To Gracechurch-street it would be Is.
instead of 2s. To the West end of the town it would be
thus; that if you went to Regent Circus, Oxford-street,
you wculd pay Is. from Euston-square; if you went
from Farringdon-street it would cost you Is. Bd., Bd.
more, and so on in proportion; the West-end is
higher upon the cab-fares, as the City is reduced.
But taking the whole, and striking the average, you
will find that the bond fide cost to the public will be
considerably more than by the way they now go. Then
I would say, that every passenger using our omni-
buses, either City or West, would be subjected to a charge
of 6d., besides the extra presumed 4d. by the railway.
If, therefore, a man wanted to go to the Dover Railway
from the terminus, lie would pay lid. for an omni-
bus to take him there and 4d. for the railway,
that would be 101 ; therefore the absolute cost to
9Public at large would be greater on the whole.
in the next place, so far as the West traffic goes, time
will be lost upon the 33 000 passengers, as some time
must be consumed
at
the division of the train, if any, at Euston-square, or even if it goes direct to the City, be-
cause you have to supply the
ently uf the difficulty in Euston district, independ-
station. If you take a progress
cab from to
and from the City
Eusto
to Charing-cross in a quarter of an n-square they go
not get from Farringdon-street in hour,
but you will
certainty. the same time for
So that really it is a loss of time and a lose
as far as regards the west a?
Yes; out of,ff money.
carriages that we had to the City, there were eightth wh.l
went to the Eastern Counties Railway, and three
only
went to London-bridge for the Brighton and the Dover
railways. There were but three carriages during the
whole month that went on to the South-Eastern or Brigh-
ton Railway.
From the north ? —From the north. I will finish my
remarks by merely making this statement, that the
trade to the railway to and frun the Birmingham
Railway cannot be heavy ; that is, that persons do not
go direct ; and the fact of eleven carriages to the City
in the thirty-one days shows that even those went as
follows. Where do you think they went ?It happened
to bo the Newmarket races, and nine of those car-
riages were vans conveying the horses for the races; con-
sequently it is fair to asonne that only three carriages
went to the City, and 130 to the West-end. There is an-
other thing to he observed, which is, that the Dover Rail-