The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-05 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.

The keen frost continues in London, but no more
snow has fallen. The thermometer on Thursday
night sank to 5 deg. It stood at 6 deg. yesterday
morning at 8 o'clock, and at noon it bad only risen
in the heart of London to 5 degrees. For many
years no cold so intense has been experienced in
England. The streets remain encumbered with snow,
and the traffic is still much impeded. The London
Omnibus Company yesterday sent out only 50 con-
veyances, instead of the usual number, which is 620.
The consequence of the withdrawal of the omnibuses
has been to increase the number of passengers on the
metropolitan lines, on all of which additional car-
riages have been added to the trains. The pavement,
on which the snow has been trodden into slippery ice
is more dangerous than ever. A few efforts have
been made to remove the heaps of snow piled up in
the streets, more especially in the Strand and a few
other of the leading thoroughfares ; but much still
remains to be done. At Hyde Park-corner, in Ox-
ford-street, and in most of the suburban districts,
the steps taken to remove the drifts and heaps have
been ridiculously inadequate.

Yesterday a few sledges made their appearance in
the streets. One consisted of the body of a phaeton
placed on two upright boards a foot in height and
two inches broad. Another was a regular sledge
with bronze neck, and decorated with ribbons. The
ease with which they passed over the snow was in
painful contrast with the slow progress of the
wheeled carriages.

The ice on the waters in the Parks is not so strong
as might have been anticipated from the intensity of
the frost. Yesterday, on the exposed portions of
the Serpentine and the eastern and western ends of
the ornamental waters in St. James's-park, the ice
was weak and dangerous. At an early hour yester-
day morning large numbers of the lovers of skating
and sliding wended their way to the Parks, and for
some time the sport went on without accident. As
the day advanced, however, and the numbers of
people increased, the ice became generally unsafe,
and several immersions took place, though without
any fatal termination. In the Regent's-park there
were fully 3,000 persons on the ice at one time, and
the members of the Skating Club mustered in great
force. The ice, in many parts of the Round Pond
was very unsafe, and several of the boldest skaters
paid the penalty of immersion for their temerity.
The banks of the Serpentine, and the water
in Kensington-gardens were crowded, and on the
latter water there was a large number of skaters.
The skating Club had erected one of its spacious
tents in the gardens, and one of the tents of the
Royal Humane Society was placed on the bank with
all the necessary apparatus for preserving life and
rescuing those who might fall in. The ice on the
Serpentine was extremely dangerous, as it invariably
is for the first few days of a frost, and the police,
the Park keepers, and the Humane Society were
fully occupied in preventing numbers of foolhardy
young men and boys from gettingon to it. In many
cases where parties evaded the vigilance of the
keepers, they were rewarded with a good ducking.
There was a report that a loss of life had taken place
in the afternoon, but it was not confirmed on inquiry
at the receiving-house in Hyde-park. At this estab-
lishment every appliance was kept in readiness to
succour those suffering from immersion or to restore

those apparently drowned, and a staff of medical
men were in attendance during the day. The en-
closure in St. James's Park was thronged with
people during the day, and in the forenoon the ice
on the ornamental water was crowded by men and
boyu. As was to be expected the immersions were
numerous, upwards of 40 having fallen in, but,
owing to the shallowness of the water, not averag-
ing more than 3ft. in depth, and in no place more
than 4ft., they were got out without much difficulty.
It being known there was little, if any, danger to
those who fell in, as each one underwent his cold
bath, it afforded considerable amusement to the nu-
merous spectators.

Between 3 and 4 o'clock a thick and cold fog
spread itself over the parks, which had the effect of
clearing away not only the spectators, but all, even
the most ardent lovers of the sport on the ice.
The works on the Thames Embankment, the new
Blackfriars-bridge, and similar undertakings, are
almost suspended, while the masons and bricklayers
employed at the new Foreign-offices and other large
buildings in the metropolis, have been compelled to
give up work altogether. It is computed that the
weather has thrown out of employment at least
5,000 operatives in the building trades alone.
At Liverpool, since Monday night, there has been
a continuous frost, with occasional slight falls of
snow. Yesterday a dense fogpassed over the town,
and in the afternoon the cotton. brokers complained
of the difficulty in judging samples. The streets
are in a very dangerous state.