The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-15 00:00:00

CITY COMMISSION OF SEWERS'.

Yesterday, at a Court of the Commissioners of
Sewers, held at Guildhall, Mr. Deputy Christie in
the chair, Dr. Letheby, the medical officerf reported
on the state of 203 houses that had been inspected
during the week, and he submitted a list of 59
places for sanitary improvement. He likewise re-
ported that the officers had seized 1,6741 b. of meat
as unfit for human food. Nearly the whole of thia
was seized in Newgate-market by Mr. Fisher and
Mr. Newman. 71510. of it were diseased, 3581 b.
putrid, and 6011 b. from animals that had died from
natural eauses. It consisted of 8 sheep, 1 calf, 1 pig,
16 quarters of beef, besides 17 pigeons, 5 widgeon,
and 1 fowl. The mortality returns are still above
the average for the season. Last week there were
54 deaths in the city, whereas the number for the
corresponding period of the last five years is but 49.
More than half of the deaths were among children
of less than five years of age, and only seven
were among old persons of 60 and upwards. The
chief causes of death were as follows :—Phthisis, 9 ;
pneumonia, 5 ; and bronchitis, 6. Among the zymo-
ftic class of diseases there were 13 deaths, viz,, 7
from
mm
swcahr°le7ifneg;ecr°,ug2hiro2mfrdonliphrhiletriirizeadnc;felvefrroml
diarrhoea, S. • •
Sixty-eight births were registered dur-
ing the week, of which number 35 were boys and
33 girls. Dr. Abraham moved that it be referred
to the city solicitor to prosecute the persons
con-
cerned in the sale of the diseased
and
putrid me..t
mentioned in the medical officer's report. Mr. Pear-
son, the city solicitor, submitted that
if some little
discretion were allowed him in this matter the com-
missioners would proceed gradually, as they were
now doing, to put a stop to this traffic, and that it
would increase the difficulties of conviction if they
were to appear too frequently before the criminal
tribunals. He believed that was also the opi-
nion of the judges before whom such cases had
been tried, who, nevertheless, had commended the
course which the commissioners had already adopted
in all such transactions. Thereupon the motion of
Dr. Abraham was agreed to in a modified form.
Deputy Lott asked Mr. Haywood, the engineer,
when the upper part of Cheapside would be open
for traffic. The greater portion had been quickly
and satisfactorily repaired, but the remainder had
been a week in hand, and omnibuses from the
northern enhurbe of London wore compelled to go
through the narrow streets on the North of Cheap-
side and the Bank, delayed and obstructed at every
turn by those gigantic nuisances, Chaplin's and
Pickford's vans. (A laugh.) The engineer stated
that the delay had been occasioned by the great
fall of rain on Saturday which had caused a sink-
ing of the work, but he hoped the whole of Cheap-
side would be open to-morrow (this day). The
Court, after the transaction of some routine busi-
ness, adjourned.

DBSTRUCTION OF GRIMBLII AND CO.'S
VINEGAR WORKS.

Between one and two o'clock yesterday morning
-a fire broke out at Messrs. Grimble's steam vinegar
works, in Cumberland-market, Regent's Park. The
plant occupied a large space of ground, and com-
prised warehouses, stores for grain, houses for vats,
a spacious brewery, and the machinery depots, the
whole running in one direction behind nine houses,
and only terminating at Augustus-street. A fire
raging so furiously amongst so many buildings, it
is hardly necessary to say, caused the utmost excite-
ment amongst the neighbours, and several painful
scenes were witnessed of perisons rushing wildly into
the street in their night clothes, bringing with
them their children,

A plentiful supply of water was procured, and
the hand engines were placed in the most command-
ing positions, and at once set into full operation.
The water, however, thrown upon the flames ap-
peared to make scarcely any impression, and the
spacious range of warehouses, the 17 vat-houses,
and the store-rooms, presented one broad sheet of
fire, which kept lapping over the backs of some
eight or nine other houses in the market, as well as
threatening several more in Augustus street.
The official report of Mr. Braidwood states
" That the warehouses of Messrs. Grimble and Go.,
in Cumberland-market, the store-rooms, and 17
vats, are nearly destroyed ; the offices, the brew-
houses, and machinery are seriously damaged by
fire, and the back of house scorched and glass
broken. The contents and buildings were insured
in the Sun Fire-office. The fire was extinguished
by firemen, with engines of the brigade."
Eight other houses were partially damaged.

The Earl and Countess of Harewood and family
come to town to-day from Hareword House, Yorkshire, for
the season.

Reports were in circulation yesterday in the City
of the probability of another Indian loan, but they are be-
lieved to be to a certain extent premature. It is thought
that, in consequence of the disturbance to the revenue from
the famine, the Government may require between this date
and the sth of April, 1862, about £4,000,000, and Sir
Charles Wood is therefore expected before the session closes
to take a vote authorising that amount. The negotiation of
the loan, supposing it to be needed, will most likely not
take place until toward the end of the present year. All
the other arrangements connected with Indian finance will,
of course, depend upon the success which the various rail-
ways may experience in supplying their respective wants.

An extraordinary case of conspiracy to defraud
by means of a suppositious death came before the magis-
trates at the Dublin police-office on Monday. A Mrs.
Maria Higgins was entitled to a life annuity, payable out
of the Court of Chancery, with power to dispose by will of
the fund in court. In 1858 the husband of this woman
produced a certificate of her death and of her burial in
Glasnevin Cemetery, and also a will, purporting to be made
by her, and in virtue of it a sum of £5OO was drawn out of
the court. Recently the fraud was discovered, and the
coffin, when examined, was found to contain only stones
and rags. A young man named Deiereux was implicated
in the fraud. The case was remanded till Friday.

SHOCKING CASE OF CHILD MURDER DISCOVERED
IN DEAN'S-YARD, WESTMINSTER.—OnMonday an inquest,
adjourned from Friday last, was resumed and concluded
before Mr. St. Clair Bedford and a respectable jury, at the
Westminster Hospital, on view of the_body of a newly-boi n
infant, a female, which was found near to Dean's-yard,
Westminster. It appeared from the evidence that on
Tuesday last, as a youth named Lead was passing a pas-
sage leading into College-street from Dean's-yard, he saw a
basket, and spoke to the porter about it. On its being
child.op ene d
hwas
bodyfound
was t
t o
removed contain theo
thedea d body of a female
Westminster
Hos-
pital, where, on its being seen by Mr. Charles Costello, he
found a piece of tape which had been used for a stay lace
tied tightly round its throat. It was then handed over to
Mr. W. B. Slater, the house surgeon, for a post-mortem
examination. Mr. Slater said that in his opinion the de-
ceased had been alive above 24 hours. He found great
congestion of the brain, and there were bruises on the face
and head. There was a deep indentation on the.: throat
caused by a ligature being tied tightly round it. The lungs
floated in water, and were fully inflated. lie attributed
death to the ligature. Police-constable Grant, 32 B, said
that he and Constable Powley, 228 B, had may every pos-
sible inquiry in order to discover who placed the body
where it was found, but without success. Verdict—Wil-
ful murder against some person or persons unknown.
THE ASHTON STRIKE.—The coal miners at the
extensive colliery at Limehurat, near Ashton-under-Lyne,
held a general meeting in the large room of the Welling-
tnn Inn, Oldham-road, on Monday, when the differences
existing between the masters and men were fully discussed.
With reference to the penny in the shilling reduction,
about which the men turned out last week,
,the employer:
have agreed not to enforce it, What the workmen met
about was principally in reference to the stoppage of six-
pence from some of the colliers employed in a different
mine to theirs. It was ultimatesnly:
and all seems now to be satisfactory.
_con
Wednesday
from this thisopseorotfwitha cargo
or agreedhship
Majesty,
a j resumees tJosephy. work,Fishie
AMERICAN SHIPS AT CARDIFY
last, Captain Rowl_andt,soailf
inthge
is apprehensive, as the ship is an
asking
applied at our police court for tb.l
per-
mission to take the oath of allegt
is but has been naturalised in
ordßritain,anc e
is a native of Barnstaple'
America. He is awn
be captured. As he felt desirous American, that . •
0. der British colours, he also wished
to transfer
Bailin° nu
to the Crown of Great
his allegianceinformed him that he must have •
cohfaretesadforasCaubia:mr.ibatuyisth one, in accordance with The
thme apro-
visions trates his ship duly
of the Merchant Shipping Act, if he wished tci secure
the protection of the British flag. The oaptain
thanked
e
the Magistrates, and left the court somewhat perplexed as
adopt to secure th
to the best course he could a
e speedy de-
parture of his ship. The A •
merman shipowners and masters
who are now in • this
port are placed in a similar painful
situation. Some of them are determined to hoist British
colours on their passage outwards, whilst others declare
they will lose every stick rather than lower the American
flag. We fear that this town and neighbourhood will for
some time to come be serious sufferers by the war that has
just broken out.—Star of Gwent.
A YOUTH ACCIDENTALLY SHOT.—On Saturday
evening, a melancholy fatality occurred to William Ryland,
15 years old, who lived with his widowed mother in York-
street, Cheetham. The deceased and Charles Wilcock,
who was about the same age, were firing with pistol and
ball at a target which they had formed against the wall in.
Mrs. Ryland's cellar. Whilst the deceased was passing
from the target to the place from which they had been
shooting, a distance of about six yards, Wileock, in prepar-
ing for the next shot, accidentally pulled the trigger of the
pistol, and the shot entered the left temple of deceased,
passing completely through his head, and causing imme-
diate death. An inquest was held, on Monday, before Mr.
lierford, the city coroner, when the jury returqed a Ter-
i diet of "Accidental death."