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

the freezing point, but when -we find it standing at
twenty-seven degrees below freezing, or only five
degrees above zero, in Hyde Park itself, while from
the suburbs come intimations of a register of three
and four degrees below zero, we begin to ask whether
we are really in the temperate zone. It has been a
festival for the skaters, but for nobody else. Christ-
mas balls, parties, and children's feasts are not to be
dreamt of at'a time when the omnibuses for the
most part have left off running, and their place in
the familiar London streets is taken by sledges. As
for the condition of those same London streets, it is
providing a little wholesome excitement as a stimu-
lus to counteract the numbing influence of the cold.
There is no doubt whatever as to the great incon-
venience attaching to the accumulation of
snow in the highways and byeways, or as to
the alarming prospect before us when the post
is succeeded, as we hope it may be before very
long, by thaw. There is, however, very great doubt
and perplexity as to the best means of removing the
encumbrance, and this is the matter of dispute.
The public anathematise the vestries and other local
authorities ; the local authorities retort by asking
where the snow is to be put when moved, and who
is to pay for moving it. One of the district sur-
veyors estimates that on Wednesday morning there
were 3,000 loads of snow in Regent-street alone,
and asks the grumblers whether they as rate-
payers are prepared to contribute their share
towards defraying the expenses. The public
very reasonably complain that every householder
or tradesman is bound under penalty to clear the
footpath in front of his own dwelling, and they ask
why it is not incumbent on some one to perform
the same office for the roadways. One correspon-
dent of a contemporary suggests a very simple
and sensible solution of the problem, where to put
the snow. In Paris, he says, the snow is thrown
into the Seine, and he asks why cannot the people
of London do what the people of Paris do, and
why cannot the Thames bear what the Seine can
bear ? As one of the principal items of the expense
of clearing away the snow would be the distance
of removal, the surveyor to the vestry of St.
James's stated that he knows of no place within four
or five miles of Piccadilly where it could be deposited.
This plan, if successful, would greatly re-
duce the difficulty. The same surveyor, in de-
fending his vestry, says that no one can afford to
keep thousands of horses and hundreds of carts
doing nothing in anticipation of such an emergency,
yet it is undoubtedly a fact that there is just now no
lack of superfluous labour. One of the most start-
ling effects of the frost has been to throw thousands
out of employment. All the works on the Thames
Embankment, the New Blackfriars Bridge, are
nearly suspended, while at the Foreign Offices and
other large new buildings, work has been stopped
altogether. It is computed that the weather has
thrown out of employment at least 5,000 opera-
tives in the building trades alone. How many
workers in other trades, railway navvies, dock
labourers, bargemen, &c., are also in enforced idle-
ness, and how great must be the amount of suffer-
ing and distress among their wives and families at
such a season as this 1 It seems very strange that
our English wealth and energy cannot devise some
means of turning this material to account. A few
days' work would be the greatest possible boon to
these stout-hearted labourers. The demand is
urgent, the supply is ready, why then cannot they be
made to work together ? On the score of expense,
it must be remembered that very great damage
is being done to trade and business of all kinds by
ithe present state of things. Locomotion along the
roads is a matter of time and difficulty, if not of
actual impossibility, and the 50 omnibuses which
rau instead of the usual 620, the two-hcrsed cabs,
I and other contrivances, were not to be had for no-
thing. Meanwhile all benevolent and charitable
societies are pressing in their appeals for help, on the
score of the distress caused by want of employment.
As a further inducement to exertion we may cite
the danger of the pavements, caused by the tread-
ing of the snow into slippery ice, from which sun-
dry accidents of a more or less serious nature have
already resulted. Altogether London is in a most
uncomfortable condition, and the best thing that
we can do is set to work to devise a remedy which
shall cure two or three evils in one.