The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-08-31 00:00:00

S HA
(The quotations give the actui
premium or

Candonga, 71
Great Western, 711 701
London & i3righton, 71
London & Birmingham,
Birmingham I Shares, 27%
London and Blackwall, 51
London and Greenwich, 161
London & Southampton, 45
London and Croydon Trunk,
151

THE LATE DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT HEMEL

HEMPSTEAD.

(From Me Standard of Wednesday.)

In the Standard of yesterday was inserted an account of a
most destructive fire which occurred on the morning of Sun-
day last in the town of Hemel-Hempstead, Hertfordshire,
in which it was asserted that property to, the amount of up-
wards of £20,000 had been destroyed, none of which was in-
sured, and that three lives had been lost—viz., Thomas Jack-
son, whose remains had been dug out of the ruins, and Mary
Sharp, the servant girl, and the son of Dr. Hallett, about
six years of age, both of whom were still missing.
The above statement was incorrect in most of the particu-
lars, the facts being as follow :—The fire was first discovered
at about half-past one o'clock in the morning, at which time
the flames were bursting through the windows of the first
floor of the extensive premises of Dr. Hallett, a-physician of
considerable practice, situated at the further extremity of the
town, on-the right band side, a short distance below the Sun
Inn. The alarm was immediately given throughout the
neighbourhood in the customary manner—viz., by the ringing
of a haod-bell, and in a short tune hundreds of persons flocked
towards the spot from all directions. These first in attend-
ance dieected their exertions to the awakening of the inmates,
( who, it appears, consisted of Dr. Hallet, a woman servant,
and a footboy, Mrs. Hallet, there being no children, having
a few days previously gone on a visit to her relations in Nor-
folk,) in which they had great difficulity, Dr. Hallet having
been dragged from the flames from an upper window, while
endeavouring to save property of value. The first engine
which reached the fire was that under the care of Mr. Cran-
stone,. the agent of the Phoenix-office, which was soon fol-
lowed by the town engine, and that belonging to the Sun
Fire-office, while mounted expresses were sent off to St.
Albans and Watford, for the engines of those places. For
full half an hour after the discovery of the Sre there was a
scarcity of water, and the flames having extended themselves
to the premises f Mr. Pedley, a gentleman residing on the
upper side, and to those of Mr. Rolph, an extensive linen-
draper and mercer, on the lower side, that portion of the
town was in a state of the greatest consternation, it being
feared the whole of the surrounding buildings would fall a
prey to the flames. Water was, however, at that juncture
fortunately soon procured, and the engines got into opera-
tion, upwards of forty persons with pails and buckets being
placed in various directions leading to the engines, which
kept pouring a coutinued stream upon the devouring element.
Shortly before three o'clock the St. Alban's engine reached
the spot with four post horses, and soon commenced playing,
when by the united exertions of the above engines, and that
from Watford, which subsequently arrived, the flames were
confined to the premises of Dr. Wallet, and Messrs. Pedley,
Rolph, and Smith. Those of Dr. Hallet and Mr. Pedley
are entirely, destroyed, while_ those of Messrs. Rolph and
Smith are much damaged, and great loss sustained by the
hasty removal of the stuck and furniture. Dr. Hallet had,
within the last six weeks, insured his furniture, plate, &c.,
inthe Sun ?ire-office for £lOOO, £3OO of which was for the
ptate alone, while among the ruins there have been found
only two tea and two saltspoons. The premises, which, as
• well as those of Messrs. Pedley and Smith, are the property
of Mr. (Joplin, of that town, are insured in the Phcenix Fire-
. office. Mr. Rolph is insured for £l4OO in the Sun Fire-office.
There is no truth in the report that three lives were lost,
Dr. Hallet having no servants of the names mentioned, nor
any son or family whatever.
. Various rumours are afloat as to the origin of the fire,
which at present we abstain from mentioning, from their
contradictory nature.

THE PORT OF LONDON
COMPARED WITH THOSE OF LIVERPOOL GLASGOW, AND
BRISTOL, AND WITH THE WHOLE COMMERCIAL NAVY
OF FRANCE.

(From Elmes's Survey qf the Port and Harbour of London.)
To show the amazing commercial trade of the port of
London, and its pre-eminence over its great rivals Liverpool,
Glasgow, and Bristol, the following returns from the Cus•
turns, published in "M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce,"
is cited as incontrovertible evidence :

" The returns are for one year,emiing December 31,1835,
and the four larger ports only are selected. Ships belonging
to the following ports, namely— _
__

Ships. Tons. Men.
London 2,828 566,152 32,392
Liverpool. 996 207,838 11,511
Glasgow
Bristol
" So that the port of London has nearly three times more
vessels belonging to her than Liverpool, nine times more than
Glasgow, upwards of ten times more than Bristol, and pos-
sessing nearly one-fifth of the whole shipping belonging to
all the ports of England and Wales together, which amounts
to 14,823 ships.
" Again, in forming an estimate of the value of the com-
mercial property which floats on the waters of the port of
London in the course of one year, let us ref.or to the Parlia-
mentary papers published by the Board of Trade for the year
ending December 31, 1835, when we shall find that the
amount of British ships that entered the port of London in
that year was 3,780 740,263 tons.
Foreign ditto

Forming a grand total of .... 4,837 929,158
which, valued at only £2SU per ton for ship and cargo,
amounts to the enormous sum of £232,289,500.
Well may Mr. M'Culloch exclaim, after reviewing his
valuable tables and calculations, and this extraordinary
amount of commerce of the port of London, so vast an
amount of shipping and commerce was never previously
concentrated in any single port. London may truly be said
to be, universi orbis terrarum emporium—may her prosperity
be as lasting as it is great !
Another comparison between the navy of France and
England, particularly in reference to the port of London,
may be appropriately introduced in this place.
The entire commercial navy of France in the year ending
December 31, 1836, as published by the government of that
country, is as follows : _

Tons.
800 and upwards.
700 co 800
600-700
500 —600..

Vessels,
1
2
2
12

Tops.
1,0(X)
1,442
1.247
6,308

400-500 6B 28,902
'3oo 400 213 73,401
200-300 575 • • 141,166
100 —2OO 1,251 - 181,395
60-100 1,447 - - 116,68.3
30 -- 60 1,014 • 45,603
30 and downwards

15,249 865,011
Whereas the number of ships and tonnage belonging to the
British empire in the year ending the 31st of December,
1835, was, for England alone, 14,893 vessels, 1,853,112 tons,
exceeding the whole French empire by 1,168,1(X) tons of ship-
ping, and the port of London is only 118,859 tons short of
all France Vessels. Tons.
Add for Scotland
Ireland

The British Islands of Jersey
Guernsey, and Man S 536
Total of the United Kingdom 20
.(
,300
2,360,500
and British Islands
Add for theß ritish Plantations 5,211

25,511
Since the preceding parts of this work went to press, the
following important communication, relative to the still in-
creasing commerce of the port of London over the gratifying
statement in pages 32 and 31, was laid before the St Katha-
rine Dock Company, by their Chairman, Mr. Thomas Tooke,
at the annual meeting of proprietors ou Wednesday, the 16th
of January, 1838 :
SHIPS WITH CARGOES THAT ENTERED THE PORT OF LONDON
FROM FOREIGN PORTS DURING THE YEARS 1836 AND 1837.

BRITISH.
Vesssls. 'fons.
1836
1837

Increase

FOREIGN.

Vessels.

Tons.

1836
1837.

12,412 less.