The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-01 00:00:00

GENERAL BOARD OF HEALTH BILL.

The order of the day for the third reading of this Bill
having been read,
Visco ant EBRINGTON moved the omission from clause
1, line 7EI, of the following words :—" So far as the same
are aut horised by the Public Health Act." He objected
to thoso words, not only on principle, but also in conse-
quence af the evils which the adoption of the provision had
already produced in :the towns in which it had been carried
into eff set.

Mr. F =WEN seconded the motion ; but he doubted the
prudenc s of dividing the House upon the subject.
Mr. D fULLINGS said the object. of these words was to
make ti ie Bill consistent with the measure of last session.
Lord SEYMOUR said that those words had been intro-
duced ii tto the Bill of last year, in conformity with the best
legal ad vice, and he had thought it advisable to re-insert
them in the present measure.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL :said that without those
words tbie Act might be completely overturned.
The a trendment was then negatived without a division.
Mr. FULLER moved that Hastings be inserted in the
schedule..
Sir W. VERNER seconded the motion.

Lord SiYMOUR opposed the proposition. He was quite
ready to admit that Hastings was one of the dirtiest towns in
E nglanil--(Laughter) - but the point was, that St. Leo-
nard's, b eing a clean town, could not be justly laden with
the expe use of cleansing Hastings.
Mr. Hf )LLAND supported the motion.
Lord E;BRINGTON reminded the House that under the
Health of Towns Act there was ample power to rate parti-
cular dist riots according to their especial wants without bur-
dening ci >utiguous localities.
The House divided. The numbers were
For the motion ...
Against it

Majority ... —lB
The be of Hastings was accordingly inserted in the
schedule..

The Loan Societies Bill; the Highway Rates Bill; the
Merchant Seamen's Fund Bill ; and the Burgesses and
Freemen's Parliamentary Franchise Bill were read a seccnd
time. •

The Corinty Courts Further Extension (Compensations)
Bill, and. ate Advances for Public Works, &c., Bill went
trough Committee.
Mr. L A.BOUCHERE obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
amend Oe Mercantile Marine Act; and, the other business
upon the. paper having been disposed of, the Hour• adjourned
at a Quarter to One o'clock.

THE FIRE AT LONDON-BRIDGE.
OFFICIAL INQUIRY.

An inq :test was held at eleven o'clock yesterday, at the
London -lsridge Hotel, by Mr. Payne, the coroner fur the
city of London, to investigate the cause of the recent exten-
sive fire at Mr. Alderman Humphery's wharf.
The jury having been sworn,
Mr. PAYNE described to them the situation of the build-
ings, and pointed out on a rough plan the portions which had
been destroyed.
The Coroner and jury then proceeded to view the pre-
mises, and on their return,
Mr. William Snooks, Tooiey-street, surveyor, described
the premises which were burnt, as it has already appeared in
the papers.
James Dimsdale, Tooley-street, porter—Knew the pre-
mises and had been employed in them. When the fire broke
out he was in Montague-close, in front of the warehouses.
It was about a quarter to four o'clock. There was a jour-
neyman of the name of Eaton with him. Ho was coming
from the new building. He saw a gentleman standing at
the bottom of A warehouse. He did not know who he
was. The gentleman sung out " Fire " and " Po-
lice." Witness then went over to give the alarm.
He saw the fire on the first floor of warehouse A.
He went to Mr. Brown, of the Hibernia-wharf, and he sent
Eaton for the engine immediately. He then came back to
the fire, and rendered assistance as far as he could. He
was there the whole time to eight o'clock. He went into
letter C, or the third floor, but he could not tell what was
in the wares'iouse. He assisted in removing hops from letter
C warehouse. He saw the fire in letter D from the loophole
of letter C. He did not go on the roof at all, nor did he go
into the warehouse Dat all. Ile knew nothing of how the
fire commenced, and could give no opinion with respect to it.
When he saw the fire first it appeared to him to be on the
staircase. He saw it through the window. The door near
which the gentleman was standing was open. He didn't
know what became of the gentleman. The gentleman ap-
peared to be alarmed. He was standing still, and was calling
" Police—fire !" He worked in all the warehouses frequently,
ever since they were built. Did not know what was in
the warehouse A, but believed there were rags there—white
linen rags. Did not know what was burning when he
first saw the fire. At twelve o'clock that night he was in
Mr. Waterman's premises ; witness was then sober ; had not
been in A all day. lie (witness) pointed out the gentleman
whom he srsw at the door of letter A when the fire broke out.
Thomas _Harris Edge, 61, Walcot-place, Kennington-road,
clerk—Had been down in the Borough, and was passing
along the warehouses when a person passed him, running as
fast as he could towards Tooley-street. He was a labouring
man. He came from the direction of the warehouses. He
also saw another man in the direction of the church-yard.
Both had come from the same direction. There was no ap-
pearance of fire outside. That was about a quarter to four.
He saw several men looking through the first window of the
ground-floor of letter A. That was the staircase-window,
and on looking in he saw the fire. On seeing the fire he
thought the two men had gone for the engines. He called
out fire us loud as he could. He went into the warehouse
occupied in letter Aby Mr. Hewitt, cheese factor. As soon
as the fire reached the first-floor where there were rags, it
blazed out very violently. He had not the slightest know-
ledge of how the fire originated. When he first saw the fire
the rags were not burning.
William Eaton, a Bridge-street labourer, was in Mr.
Ilevritt's warehouse shortly before four, and heard a crack-
ling, and on looking into A warehouse he saw fire on the
staircase. There is a small room by the side of the stairs,
in which lumber is kept, and he was of opinion that the
fire originated there-
Richard Welsh, warehouseman to Mr. Humphery—Mr.
Hewitt occupied the ground floor of letter A, and Mr. Ho-
liugsworth, paper-maker, the second, third, and fourth floors.
The latter's warehouses were filled with calico and linen
rags. Mr. Wigan, hop-factor, occupied the fifth floor, and
Mr. Humphery the top one, which was empty. B was oc-
cupied by Messrs. Hitchen and Thornton, hop factors, on the
first and top floors. Mr. Wigan had floors 2,3, 4, and 5,
which contained hops. Letter D was occupied entirely by
Mr. Wigan with hops. He was not on the premises ale;
half-past seven in the morning. He opened the loos:Ven
and locked the doors before he left. Everything gee were
safe, He returned about half-past five, and the prey: re
then on fire. There is a small cupboard under th stairs
e
letter A, in which paint-pots and other lunlbaer
ofwere the fire,
broke
He could not form the least idea as to the origt
re
and heard no one threatening to set the piece r e. Was
on the spot when the fire broke out in letter r
, ;an was on
the roof of C about seven, and eays7lgm6 of fire. In
about half-an-hour afterwards the out in letter D.
He saw smoke coming out of the windows of the fifth and
at there could be
re inan B and the fire in D.
any connexion between fire in A and B and the fire in D.
Mr. Thomas StannOr said that
a cheesea factor, and that his attention
sixth floors. It did not appear. to
dth
was
Mr. Thomas Stannor said
a cupboard in the warehouse, but be
calledEd w a Edward
tHheewfiirtet:
and 87 the reflection of it in No. 2
wtashe fire commenced there, or it would
wthadrenhootubseel.ievTehtebrae,
5, it is open all day. He could form no notion as
first have destroyed the staircase. Any person could go into
had he ever heard threats of
ttohehpowlacteh,e
fire began,
nor
injurary. „
r. Charles Brown, foreman to Mr. Alderman Humphery,
said—When the fire was discovered he was in the counting-
house at Hibernia-wharf, and when told of it by Eaton, he
ran with the key to the warehouse No. 2 A, thinking he
should be able to quench the fire. He went up three or four
stairs, but was unable to proceed further in consequence of
the, immense heat. He saw the rails and the rags inside the
warehouse on fire. There was no appearance of the lire
coming from a cupboard, but he belied it came from a bale
of rags near to the door.