fiteiropolis.
The Nelson Pillar Committee held a meeting on Saturday, to consider a communication received from the Government, in answer to a request from the Committee that Government would either supply them with the means of completing the pillar, or take it wholly into their own hands. The Government proposed, that whatever money was in the possession of the Treasurer to the Pillar-fund should be placed in the hands of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, who would then undertake to complete the monument. The Committee unanimously agreed to this proposal. The expense of completing the pillar will amount to 10,0001. or 12,0001.
Saith the Globe—" A deputation from the Society for the Employ- ment of the Distressed Needlewomen in London, consisting of Lord Ashley, M.P., Mr. Alderman Farebrother, and other gentlemen, at- tended by Mr. Roper the Honorary Secretary, had an interview with Sir James Graham, at the Home Office, on Saturday last, upon the subject of the low prices at which work is taken in at the various prisons and other establishments, to the great detriment of the industrious poor ; when the right honourable gentleman was pleased to express his anxious desire to afford all possible attention and assistance to remedy the evil complained of." [Everybody will be impatient tollearn Sir James's measures, and his range of the " possible."] A Police-constable of the F division has been fined three pounds, at Bow Street Police-office, for taking into custody a lady who pointed out to him a child which had been deserted in the streets. The lady declined accompanying the Policeman to the station with the child ; and he took her into custody, apparently assuming that she was its mother playing a trick to desert it.
The woman who was charged with having stolen part of a silver table from Windsor Castle, at the end of last week, has been tried before the Recorder of Windsor, and acquitted.
Daring, the afternoon and evening of Saturday, three bullets were fired into the shop of Mr. Rewe, in Skinner Street, Snowhill ; fortu- nately without injuring any person. They are supposed to have been fired from an air-gun.
It is said that Sir James Graham has sent a Police-officer to France to claim Richard Dadd, the madman who murdered his father. His im- prisonment in France, for an assault, has just expired.
Mr. Richard Pegler, second cashier at Coutts and Company's, drowned himself in the Thames last week. A Coroner's inquest de- cided that he did so in a state of insanity. Mr. Pegler lost his wife three years ago: and he had not only been in a desponding state since, but had taken to drinking spirits.
Several fatal accidents occurred on the Thames on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday evening, a cutter ran foul of a barge moored near Lambeth Church ; and three men perished out of five who were in the boat. A man in a skiff, while pushing off from a barge at Mill- bank, fell into the water, and was drowned. A third accident happened on board the Nymph, Woolwich steamer : a little girl, eight years of age, fell overboard, and was lost. On the same evening, two sailors were drowned at Rotherhitbe; making a total of seven persons who perished from drowning on Sunday.
A calamitous accident happened on Monday evening, at the Water- men's floating-pier at the City side of Blackfriars Bridge. A multitude of spectators had been attracted by a rowing-match on the river ; and the " dumb-barge " forming the pier, with a wooden bridge leading to it from the stone steps of Blackfriars Bridge, were crowded with people, principally females: a little before eight, the wooden-bridge gave way, and a great many of the persons who were on it were thrown into the river ; the water being deep, as it was nearly full tide. A scene of frightful confusion ensued. By the exertions of persons who had been. following the race in boats, of watermen, police, and those on shore near the spot, the greater number of the persons who had fallen I- lo the water were rescued : but several perished. Four bodies were found during the night, and one next morning. Three were the children of Mr. and Mrs. Breadcutt, of Newgate Market ; who were themselves im- mersed in the water, but were saved—two daughters, Mary Anne, aged eighteen, Rhoda, aged fourteen, and a little boy, aged four. Another was Maria Pulleston, the daughter of Edward Thomas Pulleston, a cur- I' rier, twenty-two years of age ; and the fifth was Aurelia Mundy, the daughter of Mr. Mundy, a public-house-keeper in Printing-house Lank. The inquest began on Tuesday evening, on the body of `Aurelia Mundy. The evidence showed that the accident was causal by the number of persons who crowded upon the wooden-bridge, thus put to a, use for which it was never intended. They were all leaning on one side, against the rail, which a carpenter stated was a great support to the bridge ; and he conjectured that the rail first gave way, and then the planking of the bridge snapped. The people on the bridge were intru- ders, having paid nothing for standing there ; and they had been warned off. The numbers on the bridge at the time of the accident were variously estimated at from fifty to eighty ; those immersed, from twenty to forty. The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of " Accidental Death." The inquest on the bodies of Mr. Breadcutt's children, and of Maria Pulleston, took place on Wednesday ; when a similar verdict was given; the proprietors of the floating-pier being declared to be blameless. No more bodies have been found.
At a Special Court of Common Council, on Wednesday, in reference to this accident, some discussion took place on the Lord Mayor's power to control Thames steamers and piers. The Lord Mayor said, that at the next meeting of the Navigation Committee, a set of laws would be laid before them, both with regard to prices and the number of pas- sengers carried by steam-boats. The Conservancy of the City of Lon- don possessed the power to enforce certain regulations ; and he could assure the Court they would be strictly carried out, and that immediately.
On Thursday, the Lord Mayor, the Chairman of the Navigation Com- mittee, and other City officers, examined the Blackfriars floating pier. The Lord Mayor was satisfied that the wooden bridge which broke down on Monday was not built with sufficient strength for its purpose. His Lordship then attended a Committee at Guildhall ; and orders were issued to the Water-Bailiff and Clerk of the Works to inspect the float- ing piers on the river, that they may be made safe wherever they are not so.
The Court of Aldermen met on Tuesday, and transacted some business of minor interest. Among the rest, the Lord Mayor drew attention to the claims of John and Daniel Forrester, the Police-officers, to some remuneration for their extraordinary activity, zeal, integrity, and talent, especially in the detection of the late will-forgeries ; and the subject was referred to a Committee.
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