The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-22 00:00:00

THE QUEBEC FIRE.

Yesterday a meeting of the coininittteo for the relief of
the sufferers by the late destructive fire in Quebec, by
which 25,000 persons were made homeless, was held at the
Mansion-house, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor
(Alderman Gabriel.) There wero present Mr. E. W.
Watkin, M.P., Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P., Mr. R. D. Hodg-
son, M.P., Mr. J. S. Morgan, Mr. Russell Sturgis, Mr. A.
W. Young, and Mr. J. M. Grant, the hon. secretary. The
committee was attended by the Hon. Mr. Langevin, the
Postmaster-GeneralofCanada, and the Hon. W. M'Dougal,
the Provincial Secretary of Canada.

Mr. E. W. WATKIN, M.P., the chairman of the com-
mittee, said the total amount of subscriptions received up
to the present time was £lB,BOO, and that X 16,000 had been
sent to the relief of the sufferers. Ho had the pleasure to
announce that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
had subscribed £lOO. His Royal Highness the Duke of
Edinburgh had sent £5O, the Lord Mayor £2l, and the
Archbishop of Canterbury £2O. It was pleasing to him to
state that several ministers of different churches had,
without the least solicitation, made collections among their
congregations, and the amounts he received had been for-
warded to him. Collections were proceeding in Manchester,
Birmingham, Liverpool, and Dublin. Blankets to the num-
ber in all of 8,000 had been sent out, and an order to the
Mayor of Quebec to draw for £2,000.
It was then agreed that the Mayor of Quebec should be
requested, by telegraph, to draw for £2,000.
The Hon. Mr. LANGEVIN said that, attending there as he
did as a French Canadian and as a member of the Canadian
Parliament, it became his duty to thank the British public
for the very handsome, liberal, and generous contributions
made for the relief of the Quebec sufferers. He knew there
had been many claims upon the purses of the public,
but those claims had been forgotten, and the English
people had only thought of the 20,000 poor people who in
the space of a few hours were left homeless, and had not
only lost their houses and their furniture, but the tools by
which they earned their bread. Though the people of Que-
bec had to make an appeal to the benevolence of this coun-
try 20 years ago, they felt that England had always been
so generous towards the suffering that they could appeal to
her once more, and he assured the committee that as soon
as the Mayor of Quebec had an opportunity of acknowledg-
ing the generous answer to the appeal that acknowledg-
ment would be made. Private information had been received
from Quebec of the distribution of some of the money sent
from this country, and he was happy to say that the bankers
of Quebec had readily paid the money upon the authority,
sent by telegram, of this committee. It only remained for
him to say that what was going to be done should be done
as promptly as possible. He need not remind them what the
climate of Quebec was, and it was necessary not only to
house, clothe, and feed the sufferers, but to find fuel for
them as well, and this would prove the necessity of all de-
lay being avoided. In looking over the subscription lists he
noticed a donation of is. from a labourer. It was very gra-
tifying to see such a subscription, and he who gave it
might be assured that that had relieved some distressed
fellow-labourer in Quebec.

Mr. WATKIN, M. 11., said there was a complete organisa-
tion in Quebec to assist the sufferers, and great self-sacri-
fice had been shown by all classes of the community. The
civil and military authorities had done everything that was
possible, and their efforts had boon seconded by the work-
ing classes, who had co-operated by working overtime
without pay to provide dwellings forthe houseless.
The LORD MAYOR said it ought to go forth to the public
that subscriptions wore still urgently needed at once, and
promptitude would doubly benefit the sufferers.
The Bon. Mr. WDOUGALL supplemented' the thanks of
his friend and colleague, Mr.Langovin, by saying that the
benevolence shown by the English to the people of Quebec
showed that this nation in its charities was bound by no
feelings of nationality, but that its benevolence flowed as
freely for the people of a different origin as for those of its
own blood and nation. He could assure the committee that
the Government of Canada had done all that was possible,