The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-04 00:00:00

The Prefect of the Seine lately, at the opening of the
departmental commission, presented a report on the
affairs of the city of Paris, and of the department. It
is drawn ep in three divisions ; the first is declared to
relate to the manner in which the levying of the direct
taxes shall be divided between the city of Paris and the
arrondissements of St. Denis ; but in reality it treats
principally of the demolitions and building operations
which have lately taken place in Paris, the following
being an analysis of it :—The taxes on real and per-
sonal property, furniture, doors, and windows, which
last year were 16,671,5151,, have now by the increase
of new houses, deduction made of the revenue from
houses demolished, risen to 17,126,550 f., and next
year that sum will from the same cause be increased
to 17,465,4971. In 1355 the produce of these taxes was
only 16,592,4191., so that the increase in three years
has been 963,0781., and that increase shows not only
that the new buildings in Paris have compensated the
legs from demolitions of old ones, but have increased
theitxinranutetticr
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taouasifns
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oars
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hr
The augmentation will be even yet larger,
subjectedd
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n termina
rs ted.
will
at
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en ht
Moreover,ufle
nusBe
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el
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340,5741.ddee
ffohrufoor tit
tcnhseentsras
The report states that, in addition to the benefit de-
rived by the city, the development of building enter.
prise during the last five years has increased the Go-
vernment revenue by at least 2 000,0001. a %ear, The
report then gees on to say that the revenue from
licenses 10 trade, which in 1855 was 9 679,598 f., is
now 10,817,000., and that that increase is princi-
pally o eing to the is fluence which the impulse given to
building has had on alt branches of trade. This increase
in general business Las also, remarks the report, in-
creased the indirect taxes levied by thegovernmeut, and
the registration duties paid to government by the city
alone for sales of building ground amount to several
millions. After some remarks on the various advantages
produced by the improvements and embellishments
effected in P,.ris by order of the glvernment, and on the
spirit of enterprise in that way fostered, the report goes
on to give genie detals respecting the demolitiots and
new c-instructions iu Paris. It appears that from 1852
to 1856, 2,524 demolitions complete or partial were
effected (1,517 of thein by the municipality and 1,007 by
houseo veers themselves), and that 2,926 houses were
built and 2,272 enlarged or raised, giving a total of
5,198. In 1157 the number of demoliti, ne total or par-
tial has been 447 (251 by the municipality and 196 by
owners), and that the number o' houses built was 775--
of those enlarged 570 being a total of 1,345. In these
figures houses actually terminated and occupied are only
taken into account. In examining the new buildings by
,rrondieeement.=, it appears the in the poorer quarters
of the city a larg.o. Humber of house, have been built than
in the richer districts. Taus, in the Bth arrondiseetnent,
which compri es the Marais and the Faubourg Saint
Antoine, 226 houses were constructed or enlarged on an
average each year from 1852 to 1855, and in the present
year there have been 363, which are four-and-a-half
times as many a> in the 2.1 arrondissement, and almost
twice as many as the let, :hough the latter contains the
Champs Elysees and the extensive eites.adjaceut. The
number of houses built has, in the course of the present
year, exceeded that of those demolished in every arron-
dissement, except the 6th, in which the opening of the
Boulevard de Sebastopol has led to the demolition of
the blocks of houses between the Rue de Rambutean
and the Rue du Penceau. But even in that arrondisse-
ment, building has been carried on so actively that the
hou-.es in course of c instruction almost equal those
demolished. In the 11th arendiesement, more houses
have been built than demolished, notwithstanding the
works undertaken for improving the approaches to the
Mont St. Michel, for the prolongation of the Boulevard
de Sebastopol on the left bank of the river, for the for-
mation of the first section of the Boulevard St. Germain,
and for the enlargement of the Palais de Justice and of
the Prefecture of Police. The report then goes on to
state that in thesuburbs of Paris, that is in the arrondis-
sements of St. Denis and Sceaux, the demolitions from
1852 to 1856 were 2,143, and in 1857 325—total, 2,468 ;
and the new constructions 13,356, from 1852 to 1856,
and 4,035 in ISs7—total, 17,391. The extraordinary
number of new buildings in the suburbs beyond the
octroi wall, far exceeding that in Paris, is ascrited by
the report not so much to the desire of their occupants
to escape the payment of octroi duties as to the fact that
the means of communication with the centre of the town
are, from the existence of large roads, very easy; whereas
the unbuilt parts within the walls of Paris are in many
cases separated from the centre by quarters full of nar-
row streets, and are, therefore, difficult of access. The
advantage of escaping the octroi duty is represented by
the report to be in general much exaggerated, inasmuch
as the the local charges which people in the suburbs have to
pay, and from which the population of Paris is exempt, are
almost equal to the octroi dutis a paid by the latter. After
remarking that the laying out of wide streets through
the quarters alluded to will cause the parts in question
to be built on, and will thereby reduce house rents, the
report states that last year the total number of houses in
Paris was 432,639, and that 5,743 of them were unoc-
cupied ; and it remark. that this shows that the demand
for houses is not so great as it was, but that still the un-
occupied houses are not sufficiently numerous to pro-
duce an important diminution in rents. The document
goes on to say that the floating population of Paris
(foreigners and provincial-) which in 1852 was estima-
ted at 65,000 souls, is now calculated to be 150,000, and
that the consequence of this is that now not fewer than
8,460 persons keep lodging-houses, or let furnished apart-
ments, whereas in 1852 the number who did so was only
5 380. This vast reoating Topulation reside, is said
InTriuq---ry----------- rit,r014151.-7-3 ----,ra!bit--0--w -
demand they create for lodginge,-corapel fleas persons
who would reside there to go to an inferior quarter, the
inhabitants of the latter to one still hiwer, and so on,
until the population of the faubourge is affected. The
remedy for this, says the report, is the cutting of new
streets, so as to bring into use for building, sites now
unoccupied. The report then notices the advantages
which will be derived in the Bth arrondissement from
the formation of the Boulevard du Prince Eugene, which
is to run from the Chateau d'Eau to the Barriere du.
Trone ; in the 12th arrondissement, from the formation
of the Boulevard Saint Marcel, which is to go from the
Boulevard Montparnasse to the Boulevard de l'Hopital,
also from the prolongation of the Boulevard de Sebas-
topol ; and in the lot, 2d, and 10th arrondisse-
ments, from the formation of the Boulevards Males.
heroes an I du Nord, and from large cuttings in the
vicinity of the Pont de l'Alma, and in the vicinity of the
Place de l'Etoile on both sides of the Champs Elysees.
The next report, in order to show the extraordinary acti-
vity in the building trade, gives a return of the octroi
duties paid on building materials introduced into Paris
since 1851. In that year the amount was 2,372,1901. ; in
1852, 3,332,5231. ; 1853, 4,683,6861. ; 1854, 5,120,158 f.; .
1855, 5,374,171 f. ; 1856, 6,092,9841. ; and in 1557 it
will be 6,476,632 f. The report observes that as owners
of land and builders have generally but limited resources,
it is desirable that the Cr6iit Poncier, which has begun
to lend on mortgage in Paris, should extend its opera-
tions. The first part of the report concludes by recom-
mendations respecting the levying of the taxes, and what
are called " the additional centimes." These matters are
of no general interest. The second part of the report has
cot been published, but is promised on an early day.

NEW POST-OFFICE AT EDINDURGH.—Notioes have
been published to the effect that the Board of Works
intend to appiy to Parliament for power to purchase the
Theatre royal, Edinburgh, and other buildings situate
in Shakepeare-square, for the erection of a new post-
office. The present post-office, though not much above
30 years old, has of late years been found much too
small for the great increase of business. It is built on a
corner of the Calton rock, and extensions of the building
have been carried to its verge, but it is still found to give
inadequate accommodation. Tne theatre to be removed
is one of the oldest buildings in the new town of Edin-
, burgh. The new post-office will stand vis-a-vis with the
General Register House, and will be in the very centre
of business in I he city.
DESTRUCTION OF AN EXTENSIVE WORSTED MILL.—
A. large factory, the property of Messrs. W. and H.
Foster, worsted spinners and stuff manufacturers, at the
moorland village of Denholooe, between Bradford and
Halifax, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was destroyed
by fire on Saturday last. The building, which was situ-
ated at the base of a bill close to the high read,
between Halifax and Keighley, was 150 feet long, 42
feet broad, and four st cried high, exclusive of the
attic. The fire broke out a few minutes before six
o'clock on Saturday morning, just as the workpeople,
nearly 900 in number, were about to commence work.
The mill was lighted throughout with gas, and the
firs was first discovered in the attic. Some of the work-
men on proceeding to that room found one of the
twisting-frames in a blaze, and one of them ran for &
bucket of water to put out the fire, but the flames quickly
extended from .frame to frame, until the whole were
one mass of fire. Great efforts were made by the work-
men—for there was plenty of water in the reservoirs
on the premises—to check the progress of the con-
flagration,• and steam valves, which were supplied to
every room for the purpose of extinguishing fire, wore
opened ; but all was in vain. The fire was communi-
cated from room to room, and by half-past seven—long
before which the roof had fallen in—the whole building
was enveloped in one huge sheet of fire, which lighted up
pustilia)aeestleistftlaa:cx:leobauunnotddf i surrounding
they
yei
terriblelnlis
were
eforag d r
aomrnf
reached
ane
cuy hrmiles,erci
comparatively
tFh av nes dp o tpresented
spectacle of terrible grandeur. Five engines from
Halifax and Queenshead reached the spot about halfengines
about
Tne fire went on in uncontrollable fury, and by 9 o'clock
the building was reduced to a mere shell, with stores,
machinery, charred woodwork, and other contents of the
factory lyir gin a smouldering heap at the bottom. The
engine-house connected with the mill was saved, as were
also a large building, nearly adjoining the one destroyed,
called " the new mill," and some warehouses well stocked
with wool, tops, pieces, &c. The origin of the fire has
not been ascertained, but it is supposed to have been in
some way connected with the gas with which the mill
pwa,
rstiloignhotfed.
which,Th however,
eivsere,sitsimcaotveedroel2
bOrt, 00i On Oas Iz.
r,
scloeasor_ge
namely, in the Scottish "Union, 59
d, 2,0001.;_y Leeds and
The mill, contrary
s Etlr7ineg7t 1,5850:21 'a
s working full time,
toU nYorkshire,tintayn,y3,
i7n 51110 e.
0;
worsted
7.; Nestt o
total,
aodlfi
hands Other ha ve
3()or
chiefly
ef
fieymwploooyl..
andnien
tat
by
yeastt conflagration.oOh6e
embers, will probably get work through Messrs. Foster
above,commis will probably be ready
commission.
"The new mill,"
giving
in about six weeks, and then the whole or nearly the
whole of the hands now out of employ will again be set
which their
allusion work
i s out
made
o n
to work. Mes re. Foster make large quantities of
" lastings," a kind of goods the manufacture of which
is usually busiest is the months of November, Decem-
ber, and January. Hence the reason why the mill was
working full time.