The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-11 00:00:00

THIS DAY.

One of the greatest snow storms that the metro-
polis has been visited with for the last 12 or 14
years occurred this morning. At about 20 minutes
past 4 o'clock this morning the snow first began to
fall, and very shortly after it descended with re-
markable thickness and rapidity, the flakes being
of an extraordinary size. The wind blew strongly
from N.E., and by 7 o'clock the snow covered the
ground to the depth of six inches, but in places
where the wind had carried it into wreaths it was
over a foot in depth.

The neighbourhood of Highgate and llampstead
was heavily visited, and for some time.it was doubt-
ful whether the ordinary traffic of the public vehicles
could be attempted. However, with the greatest
difficulty the omnibuses were enabled to arrive in
town, although the roads in many places were
nearly up to the axle-tree in snow. •At Finchley
the roads were quite impassable.
In the Camberwell-road, from a gauge taken,
the snow was seven inches deep ; at Dulwich, near
the Greyhound, it was feet deep, and near the
Forest-hill Station it was an inch deeper. Vehicles
coming from the direction of the Crystal Palace
were with difficulty enabled to descend the hills, but
those waiting to proceed upwards were completely
blocked up by the depth of snow on the ground,
andmany of the stately trees planted in the district
were so loaded with snow that ever and anon large
limbs were forced off the parent stem and fell into
the highway, to the danger of killing any one passing
by. In the neighbourhood of Hailesmere and Egham,
as well as Datchet, through which parts of the
country the South Western Railway traverses, the
storm was very severe. In some places the water
was up to the fire-boxes, and the rain that had
accumulated in such quantities actually forced its
way through the bottom of cabs and other vehicles.
The wind, setting dead from the east, told consi-
derably against the trains, not only on this line but
also upon nearly every other one running out of
London.

The different electric telegraph companies will be
great losers by the violence of the storm, as the
wires have in many places been torn, twisted,
and disengaged from their supports and rendered
utterly and entirely useless. In the New-
road, Southampton-row, Holborn, Drury-lane, and
Strand, the wires were hopelessly entangled, and
were to be seen hanging in the most grotesque shapes
and forms, more resembling gigantic specimens of
Pharoah's serpents than the straight metallic
lines through which, every minute of the day, flash
messages of life and death, fortune and ruin. In
Parliament-street the wires of some of the tele-
graphs had actually to be removed from the public
road before the thousands of cabs and omnibuses
to the different railway stations at Pimlico could
proceed on their journey. At the corner of
Bridge-street, 'Westminster, the scene presented by
the electric wires was extraordinary, as they hung
in such a variety of shapes that it would be as easy
to describe the indescribable varieties of the kalei-
doscope as to convey a correct idea of the scene pre-
sented high above the housetops in this great tho-
roughfare. The sight was peculiar, and such pro-
bably as will never he seen again.
Towards 12 o'clock a rapid thaw set in, and now
the roads, in place of being obstructed by the snow,
are converted almost into rivers. The public foot-
ways are in a deplorable condition, very little atten-
tion being paid to the clause in the new police act
for the cleansing of the pavement.