The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-01 00:00:00

AQUATICS.

CLASPER AND DREWITT.—The hope we entertained not
long since that these two celebrated men would each give
way a little, and at length come to terms, has at last been
realised, and we may now confidently expect a match to be
rowed over the waters of coaly Tyne on the Bth of May.
At the first blush, and when the relative ages of the com-
batants are considered—Clasper being double the ago of his
opponent—it may seem to the casual reader but a one-sided
affair, and Drewitt be set down as the winner, without a
thought being bestowed on the north-countryman ; but the
fame of Harry ( laspor is very great. lie has been con-
stantly winning for many years past, and although border-
ing upon fifty, is—to his own thinking as good as over—
still a very good man, who will never resign a contest till it
has become perfectly hopeless. On the other hand, Dre-
witt, of Chelsea, stands high in the world's opinion, and is
the champion landsman. Ho has beaten Tom Day, Stephen
Salter, Thomas Pocock, and others, and has the great ad-
vantage of youth on his side ; but his health can never be
relied upon from one week to another, and consequently,
looking at the matter in all points of view, there is every
probability that there will be a good race. The only diffi-
culty at present existing is, whether both parties will agree
to the match as settled upon by their friends, neither of the
combatants themselves being present, or having a voice in
the matter ; but no objection is expected, and at present the
match stands to como off on the Bth of May, from the High
Level to the Scotawood Suspension Bridge, for £lOO aside,
Drewitt to receive the usual expenses for going to the j
North

GAS SUPPLE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,-With reference to Mr. Buckstone's com-
plaint in The fun of yesterday as to the supply of
gas by the Equitable Gas Company on Saturday
evening, I trust you will allow me, as the secretary
of the company, to state through the same public
medium that the deficiency, which was entirely an
exceptional occurrence, and of very short duration,
was occasioned by a sadden and unexpected out-
break of insubordination on the part of some of the
company's workmen causing a temporary suspen-
sion of the manufacture.

Measures were immediately taken to prevent a
recurrence of the accident.

I am, sir, yours very obediently,
SAMUEL ANDREWS, Secretary.
Equitable Gas Light Company's-office, No. 21, John,
street, Adclphi, London, 1,V.C., Jan. 31.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,-With Mr. Buckstone's very just remarks
on the shameful neglect of the Equitable Gas Com-
pany I beg in every respect to concur. The reason
given for last Saturday night's darkness is the ill-
ness of one of the men at the works, but I suppose
a man does n of fall ill every night, though the gloom
. comes regularly enough ; fact, the pretty things
we try to astonish the good little boys and girls
with at this time of the year are sadly shorn of
their brightness now, and so they will be so
long as the monopoly lasts. The very defective
supply of gas is not the only fault ; its quality is
very bad. I believe the illuminating of three
burners now will scarcely give the light which one
of tolerably made gas ought to do. When the
companies were independent of each other attention
was paid to the complaints of the consumer ; now
they make it quite a favour to supply you at all.
A dingy theatre is a melancholy sight, and very
unprofitable to the manager, and one we have no
right to expect in this country of coal: Trusting
that other large consumers of gas will, through
your valuSble means, make the monopolists respect
the requirements of the public,
I remain, yours obediently,
B. BEVERLEY.
Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, Jan. 31.