The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-19 00:00:00

THE GREAT OCEAN SURVEY.

(From the Athena3unt.)

The following letter from Sir Leopold M'Clinteck
to Capt. Collinson has been courteously placed in our
hands for publication :
" Bulldog, near Rockall, Nov. 6.
" Closed at Killy begs, Nov. 11,
" My dear Collinson,—We have nearly brought
to a close about as tough a job as usually falls
to the lot of the most hardworking—even of
surveying ships. I have been up (in the ship) to
the head of Hamilton Inlet, but South Greenland
we found enveloped in an unusual amount of pack,
so much so that I had to go up to Godthaab (64
deg. North) before I could get into any harbour.
On the 29th September I succeeded in getting into
Julianshaab, where I expected to find the Fox, but
could obtain no intelligence whatever respecting
her. Our vessel was the earliest to arrive there
this season ; the ice having been impene-
trable. The Fox ( with Capt. Allan Young, Col.
Shafner, and Dr. Rae on board) had not arrived
at Hamilton Inlet on the 17th September, and I
fear she has been detained by ice on the east coast
of Greenland, although in a letter Young left for
me at Reikiavik he says he, intended going first
to Julianshaab, to obtain an interpreter for the
east coast. We have had desperate weather since
the beginning of October. A gale on' the Bth of
October almost crippled us ; we lost two boats,
had our bowsprit snapped off by a sea, but as
the gammoning held it fast he has since been i
righted,' and at least looks shipshape. The
iron tiller was also broken, and a vast deal of
damage done to the sponsons, paddle-wheels,
bulwarks, &c., lying-to under bare pole for thirty
hours, sleet aloft, and seas coming over us
below, unable to cook, &c., disagreeable enough
even for a ' Polar.' To accomplish a line of sound-
ings from Cape Farewell to Rockall, has proved
rather beyond our powers at this late season, and
with such continued severe weather ; yet we have
sounded at intervals the whole way, and I think
sufficiently for ordinary purposes. South-west of
Iceland, where we expected 2,000 fathoms, we only

found 748 fathoms, and in 1,260 fathoms we
brought up a living m ar-fish ! I tried in July,
August, September, and October, yet could not
approach Cape Farewell from the south-west,
within forty-five miles, the intermediate space
being close pack; but at the same time the
present is such a bad year that the Danes
in Greenland say they have not had one like it for
nearly 30 years. It has been very favourable in La-
brador, and very little ice seen there. In Iceland also
the summer has been very fine. We have had much
more ice work than I expected, and the ship has suf-
fered accordingly; paddle-arms bent, cutwater
chafed away, and copper bolts standing out; the ship
rolls very heavily, and is now quite eager for a good
caulking. I think we have done our work well, at
least we have done all we can. Instead of a deep chan-
nel leading into Hamilton Inlet, I doubt if forty-five
fathoms can be carried inside the outer islands,
and would reduce the width of the main channel
to about five miles, and there is an exterior bank
along that part of the coast, having between 100 and
200 fathoms water on it. . I have completed the
soundings across to Rockall, but they are at long
intervals, and not as straight in line as they would
have been under more favourable circumstances of
weather. I obtained deep water again inside of the
Rockall Bank, 1,310 fathoms about midway. .
The same south-east wind is still blowing which
has scarcely ceased since the 18th of October.
" Most sincerely yours,
" F. L. M'CLINTOCK, R.N."

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE

CITY.

The question of establishing a free public library
and reading roomis being mooted in the city in a
manner to command public attention. It has been
taken up in some of the city parishes, especially in
that of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, by Mr. Besley,
common councilman for the ward, and on Friday
last the subject was canvassed in the Court of
Common Council, on a motion propounded by Mr.
Hartridge, affirming the necessity for a free library
for the whole city, and suggesting a preliminary
inquiry by a committee. That motion was nega-
tived on a division by two, and an amendment was
carried at the instance of Mr Besley, to the effect
that the Lord Mayor be requested to convene a
public meeting of the persons assEssed to the con-
solidated rate to consider and determine whether
the Free Libraries Act shall be adopted in the city
of London. In St. Botolph the original idea was
to establish a free library for that particular
parish only, but the result of a reference to Mr.
Tidd Pratt, who drew the Public Libraries Act,
carried in the House of Commons by Mr. Ewart,
is rather calculated to discourage the parochial
movement, inasmuch as he states that if a parish
in the city of London were to adopt the Act,
and the city in the aggregate were to do the same,
the effect would be that the parishioners would be-
side their own rate for that particular purpose, have
to pay an increased consolidated rate. The question
then, in that view of it, is rather more for the rate-
payers of the whole city to determine than for those
of any individual parish. Mr. Alderman Sidney,
M.P., took a conspicuous part in the Common
Council in opposing the establishment of a free
library. He reminded the Court that six years ago
the subject was elaborately discussed in a public
meeting of ratepayers at the Mansion-house, and
that a resolution was passed by a large majority
that no such institution was wanted in the city.
He still contended that there was no need for one,
and that the mechanics' institutes and similar insti-
tutions in the metropolis had dwindled down to
mere lounging places for novel readers. He sub-
mitted the corporation had something better to do
than to provide light literature for the rising
generation. Of late the tendency of street archi-
tecture, he said, had been to disperse the poorest
part of the population, and princely buildings had
been erected by merchants in most of which a
library for the use of the persons in their service
was an usual adjunct of the establishment. He
thought the age was too much given to do every-
thing for everybody. For his part, as an employer,
he would leave young men alone, and teach them
the value of self-dependence. He added that he
knew a ward school so little appreciated that
children not resident in the ward were invited to
attend it. Mr. Lowman Taylor deprecated any
unnecessary interference in this matter by the
council, and substituted that it was one for the
ratepayers to decide. Dr. Abraham complained
that Mr. Ewart was not heard with common re-
spect when he attended the Mansion-house meet-
ing six years ago to advocate the establishment
of a free library. He (Dr. Abraham) argued, as
against Alderman Sidney, that it was not the work-
ing classes who were being dispersed from the city;
that, on the contrary, a third of the civic popula-
tion belonged to that class, and that it would be a
disgrace to the corporation if it did not take the
initiative in this matter. Mr. Alderman Rose sup-
ported the motion for inquiry, contending that it
would be a reproach to the corporation of London
if they did not establish an institution such as had
already been founded in several of our provincial
cities and towns, and that not so much for the use of
people who could afford to buy books, as for the
accommodation of the working classes. Mr. Hart-
ridge's motion was also supported by Mr. R. N. H.
Phillipps, Mr. Pedler, Mr. Sheriff Lusk, and Mr.
Anderton, and opposed by Mr. Charles Young and
Mr. Cox, In support of his proposition Mr. Hart-
ridge stated incidentally, that the experiment com-
menced by the Common Council four years ago of
lending a portion of the corporation library to its
members had proved eminently successful ; the last
monthly return showing the number of volumes
lent to the members to be in the ratio of 3,000 per
annum, and that upwards of 10,000 volumes had
been consulted by visitors to the library,i introduced
chiefly by members of the Court of Common Coun-
cil. He added, that before that experiment was
tried, the number of visitors to the library was only
about 700, while the return for last month showed
that they were now in the proportion of nearly
12,000 a year. The amendment of Mr. Besley, as
stated, was affirmed on a division, and it remains
to be seen whether any public action will result
from that expression of opinion by the representa-
tive body of the citizens.

PLYmouTNov. 18.—The ship Northfleet, Com-
mander B. Freeman, belonging to Messrs. Dunbar and Son,
of London, has arrived in the Channel, with 1,050,0001 b. of
tea, valued at £lOO,OOO, from Canton River, July 30. She
rounded the Cape of Good Hope Sept. 26, touched at St.
Helena Oct. 8, and crossed the Line Oct. 18. Spoke, Sept.
4th, in lat. 22 30 S., long. 59 E., the Southern Cross, from
wriampoa for London, 64 days fiom Macao; the 9th, in
lat. 28 10 S., long. 43 30 E., the barque Chance, 37 days
from Kurrachee, with seeds, for Marseilles ; the 22d, in
lat. 35 S., long. 21 E., the ship Gloriana, and the French
barque Bin-Ilan, .both homeward bound ; Oct. Bth, off
Helena, the Robin Hood, from Foochow-foo ; 19th, lat.
1 30 N., long. 24 W., the Alice Walton, from Liverpool
for Melbourne •, wind, south-east ; 21st, lat. 5 N., long.
2.5 30 W., the barque Chili 70 days from Valparaiso for
Liverpool; 29th, lat. 23 1‘1"., long. 34 W., the American
brigantine Palmas, 31 days from Baltimore, for Monrovia;
Nov. 6th, lat. 39 20 N., long. 20 40 \V., the ship Epami-
nondas, of Belfast, bound for the southward ; Bth, lat.
43 20 N., long. 15 30 W., the brig Trifolium, standing
south-west; 11th, lat. 48 N., long. 15 W., the Dutch ship
Scheonverbond, 117 days from Batavia for Amsterdam.
The Northfleet experienced a cyclone two days after leaving
China, strong westerly winds the Cape, easterly gales out-
side the edge of soundings. On Friday afternoon she
was off Dover, in charge of a pilot steering for the
Thames.

A snow storm took place at Birmingham on
Saturday. It commenced early in the morning, and con-
tinued during the greater part of the day. The cold was so
great that in exposed place* ale snow lay for a long time
filer it 411.