A destructive Fire broke out on Sunday morning, the
5th inst., about eleven o'clock, on the premises of the
Gutta Percha Company, in the Wharf-road, City-road.
The premises were completely secure on Saturday night,
and on Sunday morning, at ten o'clock, Arthur Greville,
a servant of the company, who lives in an adjoining
cottage, observed smoke issuing from the basement
story, and gave the alarm. The engines speedily arrived,
but before a supply of water could be obtained, the
adjoining premises of Mr. Gorton, a patent fire-wood
maker, were in danger of destruction. Two barges
moored alongside the premises took fire, and were burnt
to the water's edge. Though the Regent's Canal is at
this point 120 feet wide, the zinc-mills and a Staffordshire
warehouse on the opposite side caught fire, and
were for a while in imminent danger. The engines
continued playing all night, and the fire was not
completely subdued until Monday morning. The total loss
is estimated at £100,000.

The "John Melhuish," emigrant-ship, from London
to Sydney, carrying 240 souls, Narrowly Escaped
Destruction by Fire on her voyage. The mate went
into the hold with a light, and presently rushed out
with his clothes burning, exclaiming that the ship was
on fire. Mr. Hayward, a passenger, heroically entered
the hold, where brandy which was escaping from a cask
was blazing; and while he attempted to overpower the
flames with water, he held his thumb to a hole  in the
cask from whence the brandy was flowing. His hair,
shirt, and clothes, were set on fire. Mr Jenkins, the
master, went to his assistance, and eventually the fire
was subdued. The mate was then taken into custody
for feloniously tapping the brandy-cask. The male
passengers presented Mr. Hayward with a gold watch
and chain, and the ladies gave a gold watch to the
master, for their admirable conduct.

A frightful Accident has occurred on board her
Majesty's ship London, Captain Hutton, during her
passage from Lisbon, the ship at the time being in tow
of the Impérieuse screw frigate. The tow-rope from the
Impérieuse was joined to the London's chain messenger
on the lower deck, the latter being made fast to a ringbolt.
The messenger does not seem to have been
properly secured to the bits, and, a sudden strain taking
place, the ringbolt was carried away, and the cable flew
round with tremendous velocity and force, killing six
men, who were sitting down to their dinner at the time,
and Lieutenant Chapman, and wounding nine others.
The force with which the chain-cable flew round may
be judged from the fact that, striking against a thick
stanchion, it broke it in half. This appalling accident
seems to have arisen from want of due preparation in
securing the chain messenger.

          SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
                            PROGRESS.

Mr. Combe and Mr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, and
Mr. Bastard, of Charlton in Dorsetshire, had an
interview on the 6th inst. with Lord Granville, the
President of the Committee of the Privy Council on
Education, on the subject of Extending Government
Aid to Schools Instituted for Secular Instruction to the
Children of the Working Classes, as well as to schools
in which this instruction is combined with sectarian
religious teaching. They stated that they were not
opposed to religious instruction, but only desired that it
should be given by the clergy, or by persons appointed
by them, at separate hours, and that the common
schoolmaster should teach secular knowledge, and its
applications, and also the general principles of morals,
in which all sects are agreed. They supported their
views by an appeal to the practice and successful
experience of New England, of the Irish Government
schools and colleges, of the Birkbeck schools in London,
and of the secular schools in Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Leith, and Manchester, in all of which places the
working-classes had shown that they appreciated the
secular element of education highly, although separated
from sectarian religion. They urged also the injustice
of applying the public money, contributed by the friends
of secular instruction, in however small a fraction, to
the support of sectarian schools, while all participation
in it was denied to schools which they conscientiously
preferred. Lord Granville promised that their case
should receive every consideration.

The Duke of Northumberland has given the sum of
£2000 towards building a New Church in the Populous
Parish of Isleworth. He has also offered a site in a
most eligible situation. The endowment will be provided
out of the vicarial rent-charge of the living; the present
incumbent, the Reverend Henry Glossop, having
liberally volunteered to give £150 a year during his
incumbency, and the Dean and Canons of Windsor, as
patrons, having agreed to set apart £100 a year for the
purpose, on and after the next presentation.

A New Church is to be Erected near Portman Square.
Lord Portman has granted a site in Calmell Buildings
for £4000—less than half the estimated value of the
ground. At a preliminary meeting of residents, between
£1000 and £2000 was subscribed.

The Lord Mayor of London is active in his efforts to
Further Art-education in the Municipalities of the
United Kingdom. On the 7th inst. eighty Mayors and
Provosts dined at the Mansion-house; the Duke of
Argyll and Earl Granville being also present. This
was followed by a conference next morning; when Mr.
Henry Cole and Dr. Lyon Playfair explained the views
of the Government, and the assistance which the Board
of Trade is prepared to give,—maintaining at the same
time that art-education should be carried out entirely
upon the self-supporting principle. This opinion was
responded to with striking unanimity by the Mayors of
Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, Norwich, Chester, Leicester,
Dublin, and by the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and
Glasgow. The opinion of the conference was in favour
of the proposal, now before the country, for engrafting
upon the present system of primary education, tuition
in the elementary principles of art and science. In the
evening there was a grand conversazione at the Mansion-
house, attended by upwards of a thousand persons,
including many ladies. A splendid array of educational
apparatus, sent in by the great education societies, by
the Master-General of the Ordnance, by the publishers,
and by the Department of Practical Science and Art,
was exhibited.

A meeting for the Relief of Fugitive Slaves in
Canada was held on the 7th inst., at Radley's Hotel,
Bridge-street, Blackfriars. The Earl of Shaftesbury
presided. There were present Messrs. Robert Forster,
Spicer, Hornan Fisher, Wm. Tyler, L. A. Chamerovzow,
Rev. J. James, J. C. Galloway, and Rev. James
Sherman. The Rev. S. R. Ward, delegate from the
Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, made a very interesting
statement of the condition of the fugitive slaves who
have escaped to Canada. The number escaping every
year was not less than 3000, and is constantly increasing.
The majority arrive at various points on a frontier of
700 miles almost destitute of clothing and of the
necessaries of life. The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada
affords them temporary relief, until they procure work,
which they usually do within a week, there being no
case on record in which, except in the case of sickness,
relief had to be extended beyond a period of six days
after their arrival. In consequence, however, of the
heavy claims of this nature upon the limited means of
the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, the committee had
delegated Mr. Ward to come to England to raise a fund,
the interest of which might be devoted to this special
purpose. The Earl of Shaftesbury expressed his
sympathy with the object of Mr. Ward's mission, and a
committee was appointed under his lordship to promote
it. It was determined to hold a public meeting at the
Freemason's Tavern at an early day, to afford Mr.
Ward an opportunity of making a public statement as
to the condition of the fugitive slave in Canada. The
Earl of Shaftesbury having consented to preside on that
occasion, a sub-committee was appointed to make the
necessary arrangements.

The one hundred and third anniversary festival of
the St. Marylebone Female Charity School was
celebrated on the 8th at the Freemason's Tavern. R. E.
Broughton, Esq., the magistrate, presided, and was