The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-11 00:00:00

all other colleges; The Archbishop of Canterbury
and Lord Wensleydale have only to pronounce that
these words are not intended to secure the election
of the ablest candidate, and henceforth all that
encouragement to merit—all that independent
spirit which springs from victory gained in open
contest—must be regarded at Oxford at least as a
dream of the past,—Daily News.

ANNUAL RETURN OF FIRES IN LONDON, V.

Yesterday Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent of the
London Fire Brigade, made his annual return of the fires
during the year 1860, in what is termed the metropolitan
district, and we give an abstract of the report, which cannot
fail to be of great interest. Subjoined is also Mr. Sampson
Low's official report of the fires attended during the year
by the conductors of the Royal Society's fire-escapes, and
the number of lives saved.

Mr. Braidweod states to tho committee for managing the
London fire-engine establishment :—" 69, Watling-street,
January 9, 1861.—The fires in 1860, as compared with those
of 1859, have decreased by 33 ; on the average of the last 27
years the increase is 274. The number of fires in the list
of totally destroyed (27) is less by cue than last year, and
in the proportional average of the last 27 years the decrease
is 9.4. Of the totally destroyed 12 were from two to seven
miles distant from the nearest engine-station; 9 were the
workshops of carpenters and other dangerous trades ; and
the remainder were completely on fire before the arrival of
the firemen. Although the number of fires, and even that
of totally destroyed, is less than last year, several have oc-
curred of a very destructive character. I can only account
for this by the unusual prevalence of heavy gales of wind,
the constantly increasing use of gas (which dries up every-
thing
within its reach), and the manner in which buildings
are now constructed. The firemen still continue to display
to the full the energy, skill, and attention which I hove so
often remarked in former annual reports. The whole of the
land engines and apparatus are in good working order, and
the steam floats are now in excellent working order. The
land steam fire-engine has been tried for nine months, and
in large fires, beyond the reach of the steam floats, has been
of very great service. The land steam engine has given
great satisfaction.
" The number of fires from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1860, both
days included have been as under :—Fires at which the
premises were totally destroyed, 27 ; do. considerably da-
maged, 395 ; do. slightly damaged, 634 ; total fires, 1,056.
False alarms, 69; chimney do., 116. Total calls, 1,241.
The foregoing does not include chimneys on fire known to
be such, but only such as were said to be buildings on fire,
" Enclosed is a list of fires, arranged according to the
different trades, also a list of fires where the premises were
totally destroyed, with some remarks thereon :
"ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TRADES WHERE FIRES TOOK
PLACE IN LONDON IN THE YEAR 1860.—Apothecaries and
dealers in drugs, but no chemical works carried on, 5
bacon dryers, 2—bagnios, s—bakers, 18—ditto sea biscuit,
4—barge and boat builder, I—baths and public washhouses,
I—beershop keepers, 10—booksellers, binders, and sta-
tioners, 14—bottle merchant, I—brewers, 2—brokers and
dealers in old clothes, 18—builders, 10—butchers, 6—cabi-
net -makers, 22—caoutchoue manufacturer, I—carpenters
and workers in wood (not cabinet-makers), 48—chandlers,
21—charcoal and coke dealer, I—cheesemongers, 4—che-
mists, including all places in which are laboratoriesfor che-
mical purposes, s—china and glass, dealers in, s—churches,
4—cigar makers, 2—coachmakers, 4—coal merchants, 2
cocoanut-fibre manufacturers, 3—coffee-shop and chop-
'louses, 13—coffee roaster, I—celour makers, 3—confec-
tioners and pastrycooks, 14—coopers, 3—corkcutters, 3
ditto burners, 2—cornchandlers, 6—curriers and leather-
dressers, 3—distiller, I—ditto tar, 4—docks, 2—drapers,
woollen, linen, and mercers, 32—drysalter, I—dyer, I—eat-
inghouses, 3—engineer, mechanical, I—farming stock, 7
feather merchant and dresser, I—firework maker, I—firewood
(patent manufacturer), I—flour mills, 3—flowers (artificial
makers), s—founders, 4—French fancy merchants, 6
gaming- house, I—granary keeper, I—grocers, 19—gutta-
percha works, I—hatmakers, s—hempdressers, 3—hop
merchants, I—hotels, including club houses, 6—inkmaker,
I—ditto, printers', 3—japanners, 3—laundresses, 7—lodg-
ings, 98—lucifer match makers, 4—maltsters, 2—Manches-
ter warehousemen, 7—manure, dealer in, I—marine stores,
dealers in, 12—mast and bloskniaker, I—mattress maker, 1

--milliners and dressmakers, 10—musical instrumeat
makers, 6—nuts and oranges, dealerdin, I—oil and colour-
men, not solourmakers, 14—oil works, 2—painters, glaziers,
and plumbers, 3—paperstainer, I—pasteboard maker, 1—
pawnbroker, I—photographers, 2—pottery, I—printers, 11
—ditto, lithographic, I—prison. I—private, 196—provision
merchants, 2—railways, s—rag merchants, t 7—rope-
makers, 3—sackntakers, 2—sailmakers, 2—sale shops
and offices, 56—saltpetre refiner, I—saw mills (steam), 2
scaleboard cutters, 3—schools, 4—ships, 3—ditto, steam, 2
—ditto, builders, 6—ditto, chandlers, 3—soot merchants, 2
—stables, 17—straw bonnet makers, 3—sugar refiners, 3
tailors, 14—tallow melters, tallow and wax chandlers, and
soap boilers, 2—tanners, 2—tinmen, braziers, and smiths,
17—tobacconists, 12—tobacco manufacturer, I—toy ware-
houses, 3—under repair and building, 12—unoccupied, 4
upholsterers, 4—victuallers, 53—wadding makers, 2
warehouses, 2—waterproof canvas makers, 3—weaver, silk,
I—ditto,lmats, I—ditto, trimming, 6—wharfingers,ls —wine
and spirit merchants, 6 —woolstaplers, 2—wood merchant,
I—workshops, no hazardous goods or process, 2. Total,
1,056—chimney alarms, 116—false alarms, 69. —and total
calls, 1,241.
"The following is a list of fires where the premises were
totally destroyed :-1860: January 26, Greenwood-road,
an unfinished house of six rooms. Jan. 31, East End,
Finchley, victualler's, a house of 13 rooms, over 7 miles.
Feb. 15, Friars Mount, house on fire before the arrival of
the engines. Feb. 20, Northumberland-park, Tottenham
—Wood street, Cheapsido, a Manchester warehouse, com-
pletely on fire before the arrival of the engines. March 2,
Tottenham, a building of 2 storeys, over 7 miles from the
nearest engine of the brigades—Wilmot-road, DSlston,
saw-mill with workshops, over 2 miles. April 1, Percival-
place, Lower Tottenham, over G miles—Charlotte-place,
Bagnigge Wells-road—Heath-place, Cambridge-heath, a
beer-shop, over 2 miles—Wood-wharf, Greenwich, princi-
pally timber sheds, and some small houses, over 5 miles
Red Cross-street, Cripplegate, very old buildings, com-
pletely on fire before the arrival of the engines—Hornsey-
road, unfurnished house of six rooms, used as a workshop
for other houses building, over 2 miles—Cow Cross-street,
builders' workshops, water 20 minutes late—Bridge-road,
Victoria-park, Portsdown-road, Maida-hill, an unfinished
house of seventeen rooms—Roadside, Mile-end, a baker's
house of eight rooms, completely on fire before the arrival
of the engines Long-acre, a coach builder's Sun-
tavern-fields, Shadwell, a ropemakers's—Horseferry-road,
Limehouse, a sugar refinery, the new and double houses,
seven storeys high—Queen-street, Ratcliff, a timber
merchant and lathrender's—Cornwall-road, Westbourne-
road, unfinished house of ten rooms, over 2 miles—Sugar-
loaf-court, Lead enhall-street, a bookbinder's—Carlton-road,
Maida-hill, a temporary church, timber built, with iron
roof—Upper Seymour-street, Euston-square, a grocer's—
Back Church-lane, a cabinetmaker's—Half-Moon-crescent,
Barnsbury-road, a lasershop keeper's : total, 39,"
The following is an abstract of the report of Mr. Samp-
son Low, the secretary of the Royal Society for the Protec-
tion of Life from Fire, which was laid before the committee
yesterday :—During the quarter ending March, 1860, 134
fires were attended, and 20 lives saved by the escapemen,
viz., in High-street, Shoreditch, Houndsditch, Blackman-
street, Leman-street, Great Winchester-street, Kingsland-
road, and Drury-lane. For the quarter ending June 30,
128 fires wore attended, and 21 lives saved, viz., in Spec-
tacle-alley, Whitechapel—Upper Wellington-street, Coach
and Horses, Aldersgate-street—Tooley-street, and Road-
side, Mile-end. During the quarter ending Sept. 30, 143
fires were attended, and 10 lives saved, viz., in the White-
chapel-road, Tooley-street, Upper Chapman-street, and
Crown-street, Finsbury. During the last quarter of the
year ending Dec. 31, 141 fires were attended by the con-
ductors, and 18 lives saved, viz., in Queen's Head-row,
Newington—lnn's-yard, Bow—Long-acre, Blackfriars-
road, and Barbican—making the total number of fires
attended by the society's men 616, and the lives saved
69. The report stated that the foregoing statement
could not but afford gratification to the friends and sub-
scribers of the society, which during the year just closed
had been instrumental in rescuing no less than 69 lives from
death either by fire or from suffocation, and that such facts
must be interesting to all, as no one could regard himself
entirely exempt from the danger attending a night fire, The
details of many of the cases referred to reflect great credit
on the zeal and intrepidity with which the fire-escape men
discharge their duty, called upon, as they often are, to risk
their own lives in rescuing those of their fellow-creatures.
The society's usefulness has also been often developed dur-
ing the year by the aid rendered by the fife-escapes and
conductors to the brigade in assisting to extinguish fires
after their own duties are over. Several improvements have
lately been added to the fire-escape machinery, and escapes
have been supplied at King's-cross, Tottenham-court-road,
Finsbury-circus, King-street, Baker-street, the Broad
Sanctuary, Westminster, and Brompton, and an additionall
station added at St. Mary-le-Bow, Stratford. The total
number of stations now maintained by the society is 73,
attended at all hours of the night by well-trained conduc
• I tors, who are visited whilst on duty the district inspectors,
t