The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-07 00:00:00

FIRE IN DEPTFORD.

Yesterday morning, at four o'clock, a fire broke out in
the premises belonging to Mr. Huggett, a licensed vic-
tualler, situate in Church-street, and known as the
King's Head Tavern. The flames were first perceived
by a policeman in the lower part of the building. Not
an instant was therefore lost in arousing the inmates,
who, by great exertion, were enabled to effect a safe re-
treat. By that period the greater portion of the pre-
mises was one blazing mass. Intelligence of the out-
break having been sent to her Majesty's dockyard, in a
very brief period the engines of that establishment, with
a strong muster of police, came down, and an abundant
supply of water having been obtained from the Kent
Company's mains, the engines were put into operation,
but the flames continued to extend, and at lengrh as-
sumed such a threatening aspect, that it was deemed
prudent to send an express to London for addi-
tional aid. Two engines of the London brigade, under
the direction of Mr. Henderson, the principal officer
of the D district, started for the scene of conflagration,
and were followed by Mr. Connorton, with the West of
Englend engine; but before they had time to reach the
spot, the destructive element had extended to two other
houses, one belonging to Mr. E. Huggett, another unoc-
cupied. Vast bodies of water were thrown upon the
I.mouldering ruins, and at last the fire was safely extin-
guished, but not until the whole of Mr. J. Huggett's
stock in trade, furniture, and wearing apparel were to-
tally destroyed, and the tavern burned down. The fol-
lowing is the official report of the damage done:—" Mr.
J. Huggett, licensed victualler and proprietor of the
King's Head Tavern, Church-street, Deptford: building
burned down, with the exception of the club-room behind.
Cause of fire unknown. The contents were insured in
the Globe Fire-office. An empty house in Church-
street, also burned down. Mr. E. Huggett, Church-
street: contents and building nearly destroyed; insurance
unknown. Mr. B. Paine, oil and colourman, in Church-
street: furniture damaged by hasty removal; insured in
the Royal Exchange office." The„ present is the second
fire that has occurred in Deptford during the week.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
(William Cubitt, Esq., President, in the Chair.)
In the renewed discussion (on Tuesday) upon Mr. Bruce's
paper descriptive of the Royal Border Bridge, at Berwick,
the question was raised, as to the propriety of using ashlar
and rubble, in combination, for works of this nature.
Sonic of the speakers considered, that it was preferable
to use either the one, or the other alone, to prevent un-
equal settlement, from the different character of the two
kinds of work; and instances were cited of the piers of
large viaducts havieg been entirely constructed of rubble,
with the most perfect success. On the other hand, it
was urged, that if in quarrying stone, those blocks only
were used which were suitable for ashlar work, much
waste would arise and great extra expense be incurred;
also that in the piers of the Royal Border Bridge, the
, back of the casing of ashlar was vertical, so that although
externally the piers had offsets, the internal face of the
ashlar did not follow that line, and therefore none of the
weight which the ashlar ought to bear was brought upon
the rubble. It was thought that gcod rubble, formed
of large flAt.hedded stones, well bonded, and set in good
mortar, was preferable for dock walls, or in other situa-
tions where a head of water had to be supported, or
lateral pressure sustained, but that ashlar was better
adapted for beating vertical pressure, or weight, as in
the piers of a viaduct. An important question was
raised, as to what weight various kinds of stone were
capable of sustaining without crushing, and also what
weight could be placed with safety on different kinds of
'artificial foundations; and the discussion was adjourned
for further information on these points.
The paper read was "A Description of a Turn-table,
42 feet in diameter, in use on the Bristol and Exeter
Railway," by Mr. L J. Macdonnell, M Inst. C. E.
It was stated that this table worked on a ball-pivot,
and consisted of two central cast-iron arms, or brackets,
which carried at their extremities hollow, wrought iron
transverse girders for suppui ting the longitudinal tim-
ber beams, forming a framing on which were placed the
rails—the outer ends being supported by other girders
attached to the traversing wheels, which were 3 feet in
diameter. It afforded a perfect and equal bearing
throughout its entire length, nut being depressed more
than half-an-inch when the leading wheels cf the engine
struck tho table, and an engine and tender, together
weighing 40 tons, were turned by the driv: r and stoker
in thieo minutes. Tables on this princiVe had been
erected both at Bristol and Exeter, and the cost, with
the foundation, di I not exceed 4001. each.
After the meeting Mr. Penrose exhibited the spiral
instruments recently invented and registered by him,
called Penrose's Screw " Elelicograph, or Logarithmic
Spiral Compass," and Penrose and Bennett's " Sliding
Ilelicog raph."
In the latter instrument, with which volutes, and
other firms of the logarithmic spiral were drawn, a
frame sliding upon a smooth bar, was supported by a
wheel, the axis of which being set at any given angle to
the bar, produced by its obliquity the converging mo-
tion in a spiral arc.
The "Screw Helicograph" used for drawing a more
limited series of these curves, i eceived its spiral action
from a nut fixed in the centre of a revolving disc, which
communicated motion to a screw; carbonic paper being
used for obtaining an impression of the path of the disc.
At the monthly ballot the following candidates were
balloted for, and duly elected, as Associates:—Messrs.
W. Bird, C. H. Corlett, L. E. Fletcher, J. E. Gill, W.
F. Hobbs, T. Howard, H. A. Hunt, R. W. Jackson, J.
P. Kennedy, J. Paxton, and Capt. H. M. Denham, R.N.
The following paper was announced to be read, at the
meeting of Tuesday;March llth :—" Description of the
Mode of working an Inclined Plane of 1 in 27f, on the
Oldham Branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail-
way," by Capt. Laws, R.N., Assoc. Inst. C. E.

fitQuakers,sll"etdoohuapo residentme
A CLEVER QUAKER.-TWO
receives lah lee tdtoer? inform-
ing
.Philadelphia, applied to their society, as they do not go to
law, to decide in the following difficulty :—A is uneasy
about a ship that ought to have arrived; meets B, an insurer,
and states his wish to have the vessel insured; the matter is
policy ..—
‘.4
him of the I . .
agreed upon.
afraid that the policy is not filled. up , an d t- h ootutled,
,B policy hearth
thee
Aosree returns
sh
so
hmi
pe,. a n
vird
h at s
Friend
the matter soon it is all over with him, he therefore writes t
outhtinofksoße
tBo thhimuss:::,,,Friend i
"cunning fellow,
fiefl l tohwe,e
hhea 5
wants
'at
needsn't, for rye heard of the ship."
premium." So he writes thus to A -
his bands with delight—yet B refuse is filled." A rubs
is the decision? The loss is divided
be'est too late by half an hour, theA, thee
to pay. Well, what
between them. Per
haps this is even-handed justice, though unquestionably an
odd decision.

Most men work for the present, a few for the
future ; the wise work for both, for the future in the present,
and for the present in the future.—Eliza Cook's Journal.
Mr. Miller, a retired London merchant, has just
founded four scholarships of 401. annual value each, tenable
for four years, to the New College of the Free Church.
The Rev. Thomas Sier, Queen's College,
Oxford, has been presented to the living of Ravesden, in the
county of Bedford. Patron his Grace the Duke of Bedford.
ENORMOUS PIECES OF COAL.—A large block of
al. intended to be shown at t':e Exh,bi ion, , las raisedenhad
at the B•ymba Works on Sa:airday !at. The v
men
gfth,lbutot thes;
length,tacklee
obtained sufficient
they had
trying to
,ttio
weak. for
tThey,he ahsotwfseotvaroteerfi:
Saturday evening. Th
coal to t: e bank at six o'clock., ne
ta-kle irum their neighbours, and succeeded bringing the
puted we ;ht is from tyre,
the ham depth.
On block of coal *
arrived in
On the previous Tuesday V g
et
eneloniteriesat C
4:.';Este", from ,Mr, Oakley s
way to the Crystal alace. Iz• was bound
twelve feet; b eadth, five feet, and about •
Leeswcod, on its
round
with ir,,n hoop the form of a column, nine feet
nine inches hig wi-h a circumference of twenty-two and a
half feet Its weight is ttirteeen tons Cuitten ewe
Chester Courant.
An association has been formed in Manchester for
improving the condition of milliners and dressmakers. Two
main objects are—to innit the hours of labour, and to pro-
mote a half-holiday on Saturdays.
A PULPIT STOLEN.—In addition to a very miscel-
laneous list of articles found by the police in the possession
of a suspected party, who is supposed to have stolen them
or obtained them by false pretences, are four casks of tallow
and a pulpit. The pulpit is aWO 0301 or carved osk!m•
ilanchater &ambler.