The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-03 00:00:00

circulation which it stimulates, are productive of
health and pleasurable sensations rather than their
opposites. But with the poor, who cannot afford
more fuel—who cannot, perhaps, afford any at all—
and who have no extra clothing to put on, and who
are not fortified by a generous diet, the case is far •
otherwise. It is for the rich not to forget their less
fortunate fellow-subjects these bitter nights. But
there is an evil to which poor and rich alike are ex-
posed; not a natural and inevitable evil, inseparable
from the weather, but an artificial one, which is the
result of culpable neglect on the part of those whose
duty it is to obviate and provide against it. We
shall offer a few remarks on both of these subjects.
While it continues to freeze hard the portion of the
snow that is beaten smooth becomes formed into a
sort of natural slide, which is very unsafe to walk
upon. But, not content with this, the street boys
take care to convert it into real slides by the artid-
cial processes to which they are so much addicted.
This is a nuisance which the police ought to prevent
and put down. As to that portion of the snow which
remains loose, it is used by a large class of practical
jokers of all ages, not merely for the purpose of
snow-balling oneanother, but for pelting the passen-
gers. The snow only fell on Tuesday night and
early yesterday morning, andyet the mischief-makers
were so soon at their sport that there were charges
arising out of this dangerous nuisance actually
brought before the police courts yesterday. It is
yet not too late in the week for the magistrates to
make a severe example or two of these mischief-
makers, so that the congregations going home from
church next Sunday may not be pelted, as they
generally are, with loaded snowballs ; that is snow
balls with stones inside to give them weight and
momentum to make them fly far and hit h•trd. In
former snowy winters this has been a favourite
Sunday pastime with a certain section of the popula-
tion. There would be no difficulty in suppressing
this nuisance if the police did their duty efficiently,
and if the magistrates would also do theirs. Another
evil that must be considered equally artificial is that
the snow is suffered to collect in such masses. Even
where the inhabitants sweep it away in front of their
houses the foot-pavement is only cleared at the ex-
pense of the carriage-road, where it is heaped up in
banks and mounds, and continues accumulating with
every additional fall. The necessary consequence
is that when a thaw comes the road is literally a
river of mud which sometimes even rises above its
banks, its kerbs, and floods the footway. The
scavengers will not do their work because this semi-
fluid now consists almost entirely of water in a more
or less frozen state, and therefore there is little or
no earthly or valuable matter in it. The more the
thaw progresses the more the snow melts, and the
worse becomes the state of the streets. But the soil

is not removed ; it is suffered to disperse of itself by
being dried up gradually by the wind, by running
down the gratings of the sewers, or even rising in
unwholesome vapour and exhalations into the at-
mosphere. The effect of the atmosphere covering so
large an area as London, resting upon a surface of
melted and fluid snow mixed with the refuse of the
streets which was accumulated during the frost, while
they have remained uncleansed and unswept, is ob-
viously highly injurious. The air that we breathe and
that fills our houses gets thoroughly saturated and
impregnated with pernicious vapour, with impure
water in a volatilised form. This is a condition of
things that ought not to be tolerated in a capital
like London. The streets, both footway and
carriage-way, ought to be cleared and cleansed of
these accumulations of snow and refuse, which
ought not to be permitted to form ; they ought to
be got rid of in the first instance, and not suffered
to await a thaw, and then to dispose of themselves
as best they may by volatilisation or finding their
way into the sewers. Them are evils which concern
a

classes of society, and from which none are
exempt, although the poor—who are least fortified
by artificial means against them—may suffer, rela-
tively, the most. But there are consequences of the
severe weather which are confined to the poor alone,
and these may to a great extent be relieved by the
sympathy and consideration of the rich. A great
deal may be done by the judicious application and
distribution of various articles of household use which
have been done with. All kinds of woollen and cot-
ton fabrics or rugs and carpets may be turned to
account in this way. There is a large portion of the
industrious and honest poor so very poor indeed as
to be unable to procure out of their earnings any-
thing beyond the most scanty pittance of the barest
necessaries. Even firing is almost a luxury with
them except for cooking, when, indeed, their hard
fare is of a nature that requires cooking. There are
numbers of unskilled labourers whose work is not
constant, and whose earnings are so small as hardly
to keep soul and body together. There are numbers
of others who earn tolerable wages, but who have
been disabled .by illness or accident, and are helpless
and destitute. In such cases the timely and judi-
cious aid of the rich may not merely relieve much
present misery, but may save a family from losing
their main support and being tt.rown, a widow and
orphans, on the poor rate. The mode of disposition
and distribution of the bounty of those who can
afford to spare it must be left to themselves. Many
have the opportunity of knowing cases worthy of
relief, and may act personally with the best effect;
others may prefer the medium of the numerous
refuges and charitable organisations. But, whatever
mode be adopted, the temperature we feel and the
snow we see warns us that among our less fortunate
fellow-subjects there is a pressing need just now for
such bounty as we can spare.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

GAINSBOROUGH-TUESDAY,

At our market to-day there was a fair show of English
wheat, which met a free sale, at fully late rates. Holders
of both English and foreign generally asked more money,
and is some cases a slight advance was established.