The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-23 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUM.

SIR,—A few facts regarding our magnm.ent
IlleY have cut off the head by sundry
dams and locks to 01.,r-la a supply or pure water
—of course lessening the contribution to the main
stream. They have cut off the tail by removing
the partial dam which formerly existed at old Lon-
don Bridge. A mere ditch is now left in the
middle, in the heart, of thometropolis, and every-
thing which is noxious, instead of flowing into a
silent and copious stream as formerly, which flowed
up to its highest banks, is now emptied into this
puddle without regard to the time of tide ; and, as
if to increase the devilment, steamers are employed
to rake it up at all hours of the day, that there
may be no mistake about the aroma. If lam not
mistaken, there was a plan submitted to the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers, by a Mr. Robinson, re
commending a series of locks at London Bridge,
so as to retain a vast body of water in the upper
part of the river as heretofore, which would to a
certainty very much relieve the nuisance by in-
creasing the body of wwera hundredfold ; and the
advantage to the navigation of steamers, and the
restoration of employment to a numerous body of
watermen would be incredible.

I sincerely hope-some attention will be given to
such a plan, and the surface of the river will then,
at all events, be an ornament to the greatest city
in the world.

I am, Sir, your humble servant,
A CONSTANT READER.
June 23d, 1858.

MANN. NG THE NAVY.

The following letter has been addressed to a contem-
porary :
Sir,—As a Commission is about to take into consi-
deration the best plan for manning the navy in case of
need, you will perhaps permit an old sailor's ideas on
this important subject to appear in your paper.
In consequence of the great use of steam there is not
at present anything like the necessary quantity of youths
brought up in the mercantile marine, or otherwise, at
all approaching the great number of seamen that would
be required for the navy alone in the event of a large
naval war.

I therefore submit for consideration that all merchant
ships be liable, in peace or war, to have ready when
called on, one, two, or more seamen, according to size
of vessel ; these men to be designated in the articles as
" Queen's service men ;" the same to be the case as
regards all fishing vessels and barges frequenting bar.
bours and rivers a here the tide bas power. The owners
of such vessels, &c., to be exempt from calls to serve in
the militia, and the crews of their vessels to be free
from impressment. All traders on the c .ast who get
their living by means of the sea service--such as ship-
builders, rope, sail, block, coast makers, and dealers in
marine stores—in lieu of being called on for militia, to
find a seaman for the navy. Such an arrangement, as
regards the trades alluded to, cannot, on calm reflection,
be considered_ unjust, for it must be borne in mind that
on the prosperity oftie navy depends -their own. Such
a plan, or something ou its principle, would cause all
parties liable to hold out to youths every inducement to
engage in a seafaring life, that they might have a supply
of substitutes at hand. This arrangement, added to the
number of youths brought c.instaroily up in the royal
navy, will, I think, materially assist in supplying sea-
men when wanted in larger numbers than usual for the
navy. I em, &c., A. D.
Twickenham, June 22.

ItAcHEL's SON.--- Gatignanis Messenger contained the
other day an interesting account of a visit paid by the
Emperor to the estato of Count Walowski near Paris,
in the course of which his Majesty, attracted by the in-
telligence of a son of his iVlinister of Foreign Affairs,
best,wed on Urn the title of Count d'Etoiics The
newly-created cunt is not the son of Countess Walew-
sk 1, but if Madame Rachel.L-Herald.
THE METROPOLITAN PARISH ROADS.—The parish of
St. Mary lebene has Lot the entire control of the roads,
and is assisted by tolls and bequests. The eaine is the
care in St. Psncraee In Lambeth 704 miles of roads and
streets are maintained oy kcal rates. Li St, George's,
Hanover-sq•Jare (W), the vestry have the ebtire control
of the roads and the streets. Toe parish of Islington has
53 miles of roads under its coetrul, and there are 61
miles of road under 015 juriseiction of the Commis-
sio:ers of Roade. Toe roads of St. Lienard'e, Shore-
ditch, are partly repaired by the Commiesioners of
Roads, and pirtly by the parish. The vestry of 8.111-
nal-green has iof the entire control o the road, while
that of St. James's, Wes minister, has. So has the
parish of St. George's, Southwark. In St. Martin's
"in the Fields," as the parish is still anomalously
called, the whole of the streets and road: are under the
control of the 7eiery. In the " Westminster district,"
properly so called (St. Margaret and St. ,John), the
parishes have not the entire control of the roads. In the
Hackney district the Board of Works has not,the entire
control of all tha roads ; hut in the St. Giles s district,
, the Southwark, and the Strand district they have.

The medical officer of the Dreadnought Hospital
ship appends the following note to his report :
" The water of the Thames stinks most abomin-
ably. I cannot but think that the foul air has a
deleterious effect on the health of the patients of
this hospital, and I know that it has had something
to do with the iuduction of fever in two instances
on the orlop deck, the ports of which are only a
few feet from the surface of the water. Several men
on board, myself among the number, have suffered
slightly from diarrhoea."
Some particulars relating to the very high tem-
perature of Wednesday, June 16, 1858, are com-
municated to the Regisfr.r_a,...l by the Aatro-
iwiner itay

" Early in the morning the temperature of the
air in the shade was 61.5 deg., this increased to
82.7 deg. by 9 b. a.m., to 87.5 deg. by 10 h. a.m.,
to 89 0 deg. by 11 h. a.m., to 90.0 by noon, to
91.6 deg. by 0 h. 45 m.p.m., and to 94.5 deg. by
lb. p.m. ; decreased to 93.3 deg. by lb. 20m. p.m.,
to 91.8 deg. by 2h. p.m, to 90.4 deg by 3h. p.m, to
72.2 deg. by 9h. p.m., and to 62.0 deg. during the
night.

The moan temperature of the day was 76.9 deg.
exceeding the average for the day by 17.6 deg.,
being a greater departure from the average than
Mr. Glaisher has ever experienced.
"In the year 1818 the mean temperature of
June 13 was 76.1, and there is no instance since of
so high a meau temperature in the month of June.
"In the year 1818, on July 21, the mean tem-
perature of the day was 79.2 deg.; in 1825, on July
15, 18, and 19, the mean temperatures were 79'1
deg., 78.2 deg., and 78.6 deg. respectively, and in
1830, on July 30, it was 76.3 deg., and this is the
most recent instance of a mean daily temperature
exceeding 76 deg. till that of last Wednesday,
June 16.

"In these several instances of high mean tempe-
rature the nights were very warm, having all been
of a temperature much higher than that of June
16, but it is believed that there is no instance of so
high a maximum as 94.5 deg. before last week. In
1846, on July 5, the temperature rose to 93 deg.,
and on June 28, 1857, it was as high as 921 deg.
"The reading of the thermometer, whose indica-
tions are usually referred to as the highest in the
sun, at 9 a.m. was 1068 deg., at noon was 115.5
deg., and at 1 p.m. was 117.7. The reading of a
blackened bulb thermometer, with its bulb in a
glass globe, placed beside the ordinary sun thermo-
meter, at 9 a.m. read 127.2 deg., at 10 a.m. 133.0
deg., at noon 135.7 deg., at 1 p.m. 136.0 deg., and
at 3 p.m. 133.0 deg.
"A similar thermometer to the last, and placed
on grass, read at 9 a.m, 134.7 deg., at 10 a.m. 144
deg., at 11 a.m. 144 deg., at noon 1446 deg., at
1 p.m., 145.0 deg., and at 3 p.m. 143 deg.
" The lowest reading on grass early in the morn-
ing was 47.8 deg. ; the highest temperature of the
air as recorded at Lewisham was 94 degrees."