The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

Yesterday, in Mr. Frere's Court, held in Com-
mittee-room No. 16, the further consideration of
the Limerick and North Kerry Junction Railway
was adjourned until the 24th inst. There was no
appearance in the-case of the Liverpool and Birken-
head (Ferry Junction), nor of the Ross and Mon-
mouth and Forest of Dean Railway Bills.
In Mr. Palgrave's Court, in Committee-room. No.
17, the standing orders were decl tred to have been
complied with in the cases of the Ardmore Har-
bour, the Mersey Railway, and the Newport and
Usk Railway Bills. The Vale of Crickhowell
Railway Bill was postponed until the 27th last.
The consideration of the Metropolitan Street Tram-
ways Bill was further adjourned until Friday next.
The Afon Valley Railway Bill was postponed until
the 27th inst.

FIVE HUNDRED TONS OF COAL ON FIRE.

During Wednesday night and Thursday morning
several fires took place in various parts of the me-
tropolitan district, but the following was the most
serious of the whole :—Late at night smoke was seen
issuing from the extensive coal wharf of Messrs.
Naylor, situate at the water side, two doors
from the India Arms Tavern, Rotherhithe. It being
apparent that a fire had broken out in some part
of the steam lift, an alarm was promptly given,
and the powerful steam-float, moored near the walls
of the bank, was immediately taken still nearer, and
the steam being " well up" the hose was stretched
out so that the powerful machine could be set
to work in a minute should its services be
required. The firemen, however, upon entering
the place, found that the flames were raging
amongst 500 tons of coals, and that the engine-
house and machinery were placed in great jeopardy.
Telegraph messages were therefore despatched to the
different stations of the Metropolitan Brigade, and
in a space of time almost incredibly brief there were
nearly a dozen land steamers by Shand and Mason,
as well as several manual-power ones on the spot,
and the London Salvage Corps under the command
of Mr. Swanton, the superintendent of that body.
The large float and several land steamers were at
once set to work, and some hundred tons weight of
water were scattered over the fire, but for some
considerable time the only good that could
be accomplished was the preventing of the
fire extending to the adjoining wharves. After
some hours hard working, however, the
brigade succeeded in allaying all fears of any fur-
ther extension of mischief, but the fire could not be
entirely extinguished until an advanced hour in the
morning, and not before a serious amount of pro-
perty had been seriously burned. 0 wing to the
extent of premises the business will not be retarded
by the disaster. The origin of the fire is at present
enveloped in obscurity.

PRODUCTIVENESS OF SALMON.-FINN MACOOL
AND THE KING OF FISH.—Sir George Simpson relates, in
his "Journey Round the World," that in the Columbian
River he found salmon so plentiful that as molly as a
thousand had been caught in a day in a single basket,
rch-
e t'Asme
weighing upwards of 401bs. In a stream in s
Arch-
angel, salmon were so abundant that it was found difficult
'
to row the canoe through them.
In "La Perouse s Voy-
ages," "Erman's Travels in Sibeliu other works, accounts
Siberia," Lewis and Clark's
"Travels up the Missouri,"
are found of the prodigious uaanqdmnay
tities of salmon in ecun-
tries not more favourably circumstanced for the propaga-
tion than Ireland. When it is considered what has been
elsewhere accomplished by artificial culture and preserva-
' Hon, it will hardly be thought too much to assume that, if
in addition to what recent legislation has done for the in-
land fisheries of Ireland other means were adopted for the
better enabling the salmon to reach spawning grounds and
insure its protection at the proper season, fully four times
the present capture would be the result, and with it a pro-
portionate increase of employment. The amount of salmon
in the Irish rivers in ancient times, according to authentic
accounts, could not have been short of what it is predicted
they might again be made to produce. " St. Patrick found
the pagan Irish fishing in every part of the island. The
famous warrior, Finn MaCool, met his death by the blow
of a gaff frcin a fisherman of the Boyne. The Brehou laws
relating to Mur Bhreatha,' or sea decisions, show the care
taken by the Irish lawgivers for the pres,Tvation of the
rights of each clan to fish in their own rivers. The
Spaniards gave O'Donnell, chief of Tyrconnell, the sobri-
quet of 'King of Fish,' from the enormous quantity he sent
to Spain in exchange for wino. So largely did Shorris sack
continue to be imported into Ireland in return for fish,
that an act was passed in the time of Hen .y VIII. for the
punishment of boatmen tapping casks of wine when con-
voying them up the rivers."—" The Sea Fisheries of Ii e-
land," by J. A. Blake, ALP. (1868.)