The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-25 00:00:00

E SUN, LO :ON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25,

FIRE IN FLEET-STREET.— (This Day.)

This morning, shortly after six o'clock, a confla-
gration was discovered to be raging in some exten-
sive business premises in Peterborough-court, Fleet-
street, adjoining the backs of both the Standard
and Daily Telegraph offices. The building
in question formed the extremity of the eel de sac
which Peterborough-court represents, and as old
tarred wood entered largely into the composition of
its walls, the danger from fire was obvious, not only
to the structure itself, but to the costly and exten-
sive warehouses, &c., immediately surrounding it.
The several floors and departments of this brick and
timber building were occupied by Messrs. Mottram &
Son, printers, Messrs. Walker & Moore, also printers,
and by Mr. Whitehead, book-edge gilder, &c. In a
few minutes after the first alarm of fire had been
raised the whole place was in a blaze, and while it
appeared pretty certain that nothing but complete
destruction awaited the edifice itself, there was the
greatest danger that th conflagration would extend
to the neighbouring buildings.

Fortunately the men employed in the Standard
office at once put into requisition the powerful fire-
extinguishing arrangements of that office, consist-
ing of Merryweather's apparatus ; and the regular
firemen, with numerous engines, arriving promptly
dragged their hoses up Peterborough-court, through
the Standard and other premises in Shoe-lane and
elsewhere, and from surrounding roofs and windows
kept up a play of water sufficient to give assurance
that the conflagration would be confined to
the building in which it originated. By eight
o'clock all danger was past and the fire was " well
under," that result, however, being only attained on
the almost total destruction of the premises in
question.

The Paris Universal Exhibition.

-- - -~--

(Continued.)
In the Fourth Group will be set out all articles
of clothing (including fabrics) and other objects
worn on the person. It also holds 13 classes. Cot-
ton dressed and spun ; pure cotton fabrics, plain or
figured ; mixed cotton fabrics ; cotton velvet ; cot-
ton ribands and tapes. Class 28.—Thread and
Fabrics of Flax, Hemp, &c. : Flax, hemp, and
other vegetable fibres spun ; linen and drills ; cambric
linen fabrics mixed with cotton or silk; fabrics made
from vegetable fibres as substitutes for flax and
hemp. Class 29.--Combed Wool and Worsted
Fabrics : Combed Wool ; Worsted Yarns ; Muslin
de laine. Scotch cashmere, merinos, serge, &c. ;
worsted ribands and laces, mixed with cotton or
thread, silk or floss-silk ; hair-tissues pure or mixed.
Class 30.—Carded Wool and Woollen Fabrics ;
Carded Wool: Woollen Yarn, Cloth and other
milled woollen fabrics ; blankets; felt of wool or hair
for carpets, hats, shoes; woollen fabrics unmilled or
slightly milled ; flannel, tartans, swansdown. Class
31.—Silk and Silk Manufactures : Raw and thrown
silk ; floss-silk, silk yarns ; silk fabrics, pure, plain,
figured, brocaded; silk fabrics mixed with gold,
silver, cotton, wool, thread ; manufactures of floss-
silk, pure or mixed ; velvet and plush ; silk ribands,
pure or mixed. Class 32.—Shawls : Woollen
shawls, pure or mixed ; Cashmere shawls ; silk
shawls, &c. Class 33.—Lace, Net, Embroidery, and
Small Ware Manufactures : Thread or cotton lace
made with the distaff, the needle, or the loom ; lace
made of silk, worsted, or mohair; gold and silver
lace ; silk or cotton net, plain or figured ; embroi-
dery, crotchet work, &c. ; gold, silver, and silk
embroidery ; tapestry work and other work done by
the hand ; lace work of silk, floss-silk, worsted,
mohair, horse hair, thread and cotton, laces, lace
work, real or imitation ; lace work for military
uniforms. Class 34.—Hosiery and Underclothing,
and articles appertaining thereto : Hosiery of cotton,
thread wool, Cashmere, silk or floss-silk, pure or
mixed; under-clothing for men, women, and chil-
dren ; baby-linen ; flannel and other woollen gar-
ments ; stays, scarves, gloves, gaiters, fans, screens,
umbrellas, parasols, walking-sticks, &c. Class3s.
Clothing for both Sexes : Men's clothes, women's
clothes, men's hats and caps, women's bonnets and
head-dresses, wigs and works in hair, boots and
shoes; children's clothes; clothing peculiar to
various professions and trades. Class 3G.—Jewel-
lery and Precious Stones : Jewellery in precious
metals (gold, platinum, silver, aluminium), chased,
filigreed, sec with precious stones, &c. ; plated
and imitation jewellery, ornaments in jet, amber,
coral, mother-of-pearl, steel, &c. ; diamonds,
precious stones, pearls, and imitation pearls.
Class 37.—Portable 'Weapons : Defensive ar-
mour ; shields, cuirasses, helmets, offensive
weapons, maces, life-preservers ; side arms,
foils, swords, sabres, bayonets, lances, axes ; hunt-
ing knives (couteaux de chasse); missile weapons,
bows, cross-bows, slings ; firearms : guns, rifles,
pistols, revolvers; accessory objects appertaining to
every kind of small arms, powder flasks, bullet-
moulds, round, oblong, hollow, and explosive pro-
jectiles, copper caps, priming cartridges. Class 38
—Travelling Apparatus and Camp Equipage :
Trunks, valises, saddle-bags, &c. ; dressing-cases
and fittings, travelling-bags, travelling rugs,
cushions, caps, travelling costumes, and boots ;
sticks shod with iron and with hooks, parasols, &c. ;
portable apparatus specially intended for scientific
voyages and expeditions ; photographic apparatus,
instruments for astronomical and meteorological
observations, equipment and implements for geo-
logists, mineralogists, naturalists, pioneer colonists,
&c. ; tents and camp equipage ; furniture of military
tents, beds, hammocks, folding, chairs, canteens,
hand-mills, military cooking stoves, &c. Class 39.
—Toys : Dolls and playthings; dolls and images
in wax, games for the amusement of children and
adults, instructive games. (Gallery IV. is allotted
to this group.)

The Fifth Group has to contain Products (Raw
and Manufactured) of Mining Industry, Forestry,
&c., and numbers seven classes. Class 40.—Mining
and Metallurgy : Collections and specimens of rocks,
minerals, and ores ; ornamental stones ; marble,
serpentine, onyx; hard rocks ; refractory substances;
earths and clays; various minerals products; sulphur,
rock salt, salt from salt springs ; bitumen and
petroleum ; specimen of fuel in its natural state and
carbonised ; compressed coal ; metals in crude
state; pig-iron, iron, steel, cast steel, copper,
lead, silver, zinc, &c. ; alloys; products of washing
and refining precious metals, of gold-beating, &c. ;
electro-metallurgy ; objects gilt, silvered, or coated
with copper or steel by galvanic process ; products
of the working of metals ; rough castings, bells,
wrought iron, iron for special purposes, sheet iron
and tin plates, iron plates for casing ships and
constructions, copper, lead, and zinc sheets; manu-
factured metals; blacksmiths' work, wheels and tires,
unwelded pipes, chains, &c. ; wire-drawing; needles,
pins, wire work and wire gauze; perforated sheet
iron ; hardware, ironmongery edge- tools, copper
and tinware, &c. ; other metal manufactures.
Class 41.--Products of the Cultivation of Forests,
and of the Trades appertaining thereto : Specimens
of different kinds of tree:; ; wood for cabinet work,

for building purposes ; firewood ; timber for ship-
building, staves, cleft-timber shingles ; cork; bark
for textile purposes, tanning, colouring, odoriferous,
resinous substances ; products obtained from
forests; charcoal and dried wood, raw potash, tur-
nery, basket work, straw work, wooden shoes, &c.
Class42.—Products of Shooting, Fishing, and of the
gathering of Fruits obtained without cultivation.
Collections and drawings of terrestrial and amphi-
bious animals, of birds, eggs, fish, of cetacea, of
mollusca, and of crustacea. Products of shooting :
furs and skins, hair, bristles, feathers, down, horn,
teeth, ivory, bone, tortoise-shell, musk, castoreum,
and analogous products. Products of fishing : train
oil, spermaceti, &c. ; whalebone, ambergris, shells
of mollusca, pearls, mother-of-pearl, sepia, purple,
coral, sponge. Vegetable products of the earth ob-
tained without culture : mushrooms, truffles, wild
fruit, lichens used as dyes, food and fodder, fer-

mented sap ; Peruvian bark, useful barks, and fila-
ments; wax, resinous gums; india-rubber, gutta-

percha, &c. Class 43.—Agricultural Products (not
used as food) easily preserved : Textile materials ;

raw cotton, flax, and hemp, scutched and unseutched,
textile vegetable fibres of all kinds ; wool in its

grease; cocoons of the silk worm; various agricultural

products used in manufactures, in pharmacy, and
for household purposes ; oleaginous plants, oils,
wax, resin ; tobacco, German tinder; tanning ;

substances ; dyeing substances ; preserved fodder.
Class 44.—Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products :
Acids, alkalies, salts of all kinds, sea salts, and
products extracted from mother water. Various
products of Chemistry : Wax, and fatty substance.;
soaps and candles ; raw materials used in per-
fumery ; resins, tar, and the products derived there-
from ; essences and varnishes, various coating sub-
stances, blacking, India-rubber and gutty percha,
and their products ; dyes and colours, mineral and
sparkling waters, natural or artificial ; raw mate-
rials used in pharmacy ; simple and compound
drugs. Class 45.--Specimens of the Chemical
Processes for Bleaching, Dyeing, Printing, and
Dressing; Specimens of dyed thread and fabrics ;
specimens of fabrics prepared for dyeing; printed
or dyed linen ; printed cotton fabrics, pure or
mixed ; printed woollen and worsted fabrics, pure or
mixed ; printed silk fabrics, pure or mixed ; printed
felt or cloth carpets, oil cloth. N.B.—ln this class
will be exhibited only such specimens as are essential
for the proper appreciation of the value of the pro-
cesses. Chess 46.--Leather and Skins : Raw mate-
rials used in the dressing of skins and leather ; raw
hides ; salted hides ; leather, tanned, curried,
dressed, or dyed ; varnished leather, morocco, and
sheepskin; skins grained, shamoyed, tawed, dressed,
or dyed; prepared skins for glove making; skins
and furs dressed and dyed ; parchment. Gutwork :
strings for musical instruments, gold beaters' skins,
sinews, &c. Gallery V. belongs to this group.

180.

years, with one exception, where the term is 50years.
The aggregate rental received for these plots is
£2,484 per annum. The board would have proceeded
I to sell these ground rents, but they deemed it
inexpedient, owing to the state of the money market,
to do so as yet. The cost of the properties required
for the formation of this street was £102,881 Os. Bd.,
which, with other expenses, including professional
and law charges, gave a total of £1.21,353 13s. 11d.
In Southwark-street, which has been open for nearly
three years, out of 206 plots, into which the surplus
land in the line of the street had been divided, 177
have been let on lease, and the income derived from
the ground rents, including the rent of some ware-
houses purchased by the board, but not pulled down,
is £6,904 per annum. The cost of the properties and
interests purchased by the board was £476,222 lls.
2d., and the professional and other charges swelled
the total to £582,630 lls. 4d. The cost of the re-
moval of Middle-row, Holborn, is estimated at
£61,152. The compensation claims for freeholds
and leaseholds amount to £17,566 10s., and the set-
tlements thereof to £15,950. The net cost of the
\\rhitechapel improvement is estimated at £115,364,
and the board have been engaged in purchasing the
properties required up to March 31. The board
agreed to settle claims for three freeholds and four
copyholds, &c. The sum claimed was £47,708 ; set-
tled for, £42,818. The quantity of land purchased
for Finsbury-park was 120 acres, which cost £56,650,
or about £472 per acre. Memorials from St. Luke's,
Islington, and Finsbury deprecated the use of any
portion of that area for building purposes, .but the
board felt that the interests of other portions of the
metropolis should not be lost sight of, and they have
approved of a plan for letting a portion of the pro-
perty for building purposes, and to apply the funds
to recouping the board to some extent for their out-
lay, and afterwards to other important improve-
ments. Southwark-park will embrace an area of 60
acres, and the architect has been instructed to pre-
pare plans for laying out the grounds. The report
also details the proceedings taken last session for the
introduction of bills by the board, and for watching
bills introduced by railways or other companies, the
provisions of which might affect the interests of the
metropolitan districts. Since this board has under-
taken the duties formerly performed by the fire
brigade the number of engines has been nearly
doubled and the land force and steam-engines has
been materially increased. In the employment of
firemen preference is given to young and active
sailors, as being a class of persons well suited to the
requirements of the service. Complaint is made of
the Petroleum Act as being so defective in its pro-
visions as to have become a dead letter ; as is like-
wise the case with the legal provisions for prevent-
ng the carrying on of dangerous businesses in
certain localities. On the subject of the Metropoli-
tan Gas Acts the report expresses the belief of the
board that the said acts " have been evaded by
meter makers, gas companies, and others, who were
in the habit of sending meters manufactured within
the metropolitan area to be tested at testing houses
beyond the jurisdiction of the board." One person
was summoned before a magistrate for such an
offence, and fined £5 ; and the person for whom the
meter had been so tested was also summoned, but
the magistrate dismissed the summons, considering
such case not to come within the statute. The
matter now remains to be referred to t superior
court. Reference is then made to various other
matters subjected to their jurisdiction under divers
recent Acts of :Parliament, and to the industry dis-
played by the members of the board in the perform-
ance of their duties, they having held 47 meetings
during the year, at which an average of 33 mem-
bers attended. The board consists of 46 members,
and in addition to the ordinary meetings there have
been 189 of their committees on drainage, embank-
ment., &c. The report concludes by referring to the
increased duties imposed upon them by acts of Par-
liament passed since the board was first constituted,
including the extensive improvements by forming
public thoroughfares, embankments, new parks, the
preservation of commons, the licensing of stores for
dangerous goods, the raising of funds to shelter the
houseless poor, the prevention of the spread of fires,
and other matters which occupy the almost daily
sittings of their committees. Looking at the highly
important and varied work recorded in the volume
under notice, all tending to the improvement of our
vast metropolis, there is every reason to feel the
greatest satisfaction with the members of the
Metropolitan Board of Works and their officials for
the efficient manner in which they have performed
their duties.—Observer.

Extraordinary and Distressing Suicide of a

Girl.

Yesterday Dr. Lankester held an inquest at the
Elephant and Castle, Camden-town, on the body of
11ary Ann Frier, who committed suicide under very
distressing circumstances.
Charles Frier, father of the deceased, living at 2,
William-street, Regent's-park, said—The deceased

was my daughter. She was 19 years of age. I
saw her last on the 29th September. She had been
induced to leave her situation on the Monday pre-
vious. She said she went to live with the'sister of

a man named Saunders. She said Saunders kept
her out till it was too late to go home, and then he
took her home with him. My wife went to inquire
about it the next day, and my daughter, finding we
were determined to inquire into it, ran away and
drowned herself. The next morning we found this
note in her workbox :

"My dear mother,—As you are determined that
me and Harry shall not come together, I will give
him up, but it will be with my life. I cannot live,
mother, without him. I have written to say good-
bye to him, and now I will say the same to you.—
Your daughter."

I and my wife wished to break off the engagemen
after we knew that he took her from her situation.

Sarah Frier, the mother of deceased, said—l saw
my daughter after she left her situation talking to
Saunders. She said she slept with his sister, but I

found out afterwards from the sister that this was
untrue. •

Henry George Saunders, of 19, Castle-street
East—l was acquainted with deceased. I had
promised to marry her, and would have done so.
I saw her last alive on the 27th November. I had
seen her on the previous Monday. I left her between
ten and eleven in the evening. She said she would
go to my sister's, but she did not. I work at
Harrison and Son's, Sackville-street. I saw her
on Tuesday, and I advised her to go with her
mother, and she did. When I went home to dinner
she was in my room. She said her father and
mother had ordered her to give me up, and
she could not do it. I persuaded her to
go home. I did not see her again, but I received
these letters from her, which will show you whose
fault this is. (The following letter was read:—" My
darling Harry,—By the time you have received this
I shall be no more. I need not tell you whose fault
it is. They will not let me see you any more—so
good bye.") We loved each other, and wanted to
marry, but her parents wanted somebody better off
than me.

John Lay, turncock to the West Middlesex
Waterworks Company—I found this body about 30
yards from the bridge near St. Mark's church, Prim-
rose-hill. I handed it over to the police. I should
just like to say, sir, that there are no drags by this
bridge, so that it would be impossible to save any-
body who might fall in.
The lowness of the parapet on the bridge was com-
mented upon by the coroner. The vestry of St.
Marylebone had raised the parapets of their bridges,
and since then he had not had a single case of acci-
dent or suicide in connection with them.

The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst of
unsound mind.

The witness Saunders asked for the protection of
the Court, as he said the father of deceased had al-
ready bitten him so severely in the head and on the
arm and hand that he was obliged to wear bandages.
He feared further violence as he left the court.

The police-constable present undertook to protect
witness.

TILE BELGIAN PUBLIC WORKS COMPANY.—We
are requested to contradict the statement that Lord Bury
has joined the Board of Directors of this company as an-
nounced in their atlyertiornentu.