The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-23 00:00:00

BANK OF ENGLAND.

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
cap. 32, for the week ending on 'Wednesday, the 20th das
of Feb., 1861:

ISSUE DEPARTMENT.
Notes Issued £25,563,725. Government Debt £11,015,100
1 Other Securities .. 3,459,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 10,240,363
Silver Bullion .... 848,362

£25,563,7251

£25,563,725

BANKING D

Proprietors' Capi-
tal £14,553,000
Rest
Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
Banks, Commis-
missioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-
__ _

Government Seen-

ritles (including
Dead Weight A-
nnuity)
Other Securities
Notes
Gold and Silver
Coin 804,531

counts) 5,654,507
Other Deposits 11453,2;9
Seven Day and
other Bills

590,407

435,753,229

Z 35,753,229
RSHALL, Chief Cashier.

Dated Feb. 21, 1861.

AVERAGE PRICE OF SUGAR.

The Average Price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, com-
puted from Returns made in the weekending the 19th day
of Feb., 1861, exclusive of the duties of Customs paid or
payable thereon on the importation thereof into Great
Britain :
Muscovado, the produce of the British pos- PER CWT.
sessions in America

Muscovado, tho produce of the Mauritius .. 29s
Muscovado, the produce of the East Indies.. —s —d
Average price of the foregoing .. 26s Hid

TILE GALE.

THE METROPOLIS AND SUBURBS.

At the church of St. Mary, Lambeth, which ad-
joins the Archbishop's Palace, the damage has been
most extensive. About 7 o'clock in the evening of
Thursday it was found that the wind had stripped
off about 30 feet of the massive leaden covering over
the nave, dragging with it a portion of the roof.
The lead of the south aisle was :also torn ff for
about 15 feet, as well as injuring the roof. Shortly
after this a lofty stone chimney was dashed from
the roof of the vestry, and hurled with ♦iolence into
the graveyard, where portions of the stone of very,
heavy weight were found buried in the earth seve-
ral inches below the surface. In Fore-street and
Vauxhall-street the roadway was strewn with tiles,
bricks, &c., blown from the roofs of the houses.
A very large portion of the picture of Venice at
the Royal Surrey Gardens, extending to nearly the
centre towards the west end, was caught by the
hurricane and hurled to the ground, including the
massive scaffolding. The mass fell towards the
lake, and was torn and damaged to a serious ex-
tent. _ _ _

About 7 o'clock in the evening a terrific crash
alarmed the inhabitants of Mill-street, Lambeth-
walk, when it was ascertained that a great portion
of the roof of a house in that thoroughfare, belong-
ing to and adjoining the factory of Mr. H. Baker,
coachbuilder, had been blown in. Two children
were in one room, and a man and his wife and one
child in another room on the same floor, when the
gale forced down the stack of chimneys, which fell
on to the roof, crushing it in. The whole of the
fragments fell into the room where these persons
were, all of whom narrowly escaped, but the furni-
ture was extensively damaged.
At the establishment of Messrs. Moses and Son,
Aldgate, the wind forced out the massive sheet of
plate glass in the show-room, the shattered frag-
ments being carried into the street with terrible
force.

During the height of the gale a stack of chimneys
on the house, No. 4, Brighton-place, Brixton road,
was forced down, and fell into the window of the
adjoining house, destroying a great quantity of fur-
niture, and doing considerable damage.
In the Lower Hope two collier vessels were blown
on shore, and below Woolwich Reach a heavily-
laden hoy was sunk, but fortunately no lives were
lost. Two barges, heavily laden, were sunk oppo-
site the Brunswick-pier, Blackwall, and a whole
fleet of barges and lighters might have shared the
same fate but for the prompt measures taken by the
authorities at the East India Docks, who ordered
the main gates to be opened and all craft in danger
were admitted into dock. At Woolwich Dockyard
a considerable portion of the roof of the newly
erected church was blown off, and also the corru-
gated zinc roof of the mast-house, next the river.
An explosion took place on Thursday night at the
gunpowder mills of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, near
Hounslow. Messrs. Curtis and Harvey's manufac-
tory, or, more correctly speaking, series of factories,
occupy some miles of ground. The spot on which
the present disaster happened was at Hatton, nearly
two miles distant, the property of the Duke of
Northumberland—Hatton-lane, nearly facing Judge
Pollock's mansion, only separating one description
of work from the other, two pieces of machinery
being driven by the same mill head, the lower flow
supplying two houses. At the works at Hounslow
immense streams of water run between the different
mills and corning houses, and, as was the case at
Hatton, tall trees were so planted that, in the event
of an explosion occurring, they would to some ex-
tent break its force. At the time the hurricane or
gale commenced on Thursday night, the men who
were engaged in five of the mills were ordered to
leave the premises and take shelter for a time in
the watchhouse. This they did, and most fortu-
nately they did so, for at 20 minutes after eight
o'clock, while the work-people were in the watch-
house awaiting the subsiding of the storm, an
explosion, and one of no small magnitude, hap-
pened. The explosion which took place shook
the houses at Teddington and Twicken-
ham to their very foundations •, the inmates
had no sooner got into the streets than another and
still more violent explosion followed, which again
shook the neighbourhood, and portions of trees
were cast across the mill streams in sundry direc-
tions; another, and one still more serious, super-
vened which blew to atoms another corning-house
and two other similar buildings. The machines
weighed on the average about three tons each, and,
owing to their great weight, the working gear was
only partially destroyed. The men were ordered,
after the storm had somewhat subsided, to resume
their employment in 20 minutes time, but, owing
to the buildings being 20 feet long and 25 feet wide,
the workmen were unable to reach their several
compartments, and thereby their lives were saved.
The engines belonging to the firm, as well as others
of the neighbourhood, were quickly in attendance,
and to pa achincs were set to work from the water
in thirtaill streams ; the flames were eventually
extinguished, but not until five of the mills were
levelled with the ground and the stock therein con-
sumed, The machinery is also, although not en-
tirely destroyed, extensively damaged by the force
of the explosion. It is hardly necessary to state
that the mills destroyed were uninsured. Taking
the line of the South Western Railway from Wa-
terloo-road to the above spot, something like an
approximate idea of the force of the gale may be
formed—trees, fencings, summer-houses in gentle-
men's gardens, and quickset hedges, have been rent
asunder, and the roofs of various buildings have
been uplifted by the force of the hurricane.

READING, FEB. 22.

The wind blew a fearful hurricane here yester-
day, and extensive mischief has been done. It
was about one o'clock in the morning when people
generally were awoke from their sleep:by sudden
and heavy gusts of wind from the southwest, and
the inmates of old houses were not a little
alarmed at the unpleasant oscillation which
they experienced. At about two o'clock a tre-
mendous crash was heard in the neighbourhood
of Kattsgrove-lane, and it was soon afterwards
ascertained that it was caused by the falling of
from thirty to forty feet of the high chimney
at the extensive ironworks of Messrs. Barrett,
Exall, and Andrewes. It was fortunate that the
accident occurred at a time when the men were not
at work, or the consequences must have been
serious, if not fatal, In the fall the brickwork did
not do so much damage as might have been
imagined from the many tons weight of brick and
iron which formed the fragments. Some portion
of the remaining chimney has been so loosened by
the hurricane that it will Lave to be removed before
any new work can be added. About the same time
the wind forced down a considerable length of
woodwork in the Forbary, forming the grounds in
the occupation of Messrs. Sutton and Sons, seed-
`growers, and damage was done to some of the
adjacent property, but not to any great extent.