Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/146

134 here in 1733, even before an Act was obtained to enforce payment of a rate therefor. Deritend and Bordesley obtained light by the Act passed in 1791. The Street Commissioners. Nov. 8, 1816, advertised for tenders for lighting the streets with gas, but it was nearly ten years (April 29, 1826) before the lamps were thus supplied. The Lighting Act was adopted at Saltley April 1, 1875. Lighting the streets by electricity may come some day, though, as the Gas Works belong to the town, it will, doubtless, be in the days of our grandchildren.

Lighting by Electricity.—After the very successful application of the electric light in the Town Hall on the occasion of the Festival in 1882, it is not surprising that an attempt should be made to give it a more extended trial. A scheme has been drawn out by the Crompton- Winfield Company for this purpose, and it has received the sanction of the Town Council, and been confirmed by the Board of Trad', shopkeepers in the centre of the town may soon have a choice of lights for the display of their wares. The area fixed by the scheme is described by the following boundaries:—Great Charles Street to Congreve Street; Congreve Street to Edmund Street; Edmund Street to Newhall Street; Newhall Street to Colmore Row; Colmore Row to Bull Street; Bull Street. High Street. New Street. Stephenson Place. Paradise Street, and Easy Row. The streets to be supplied with electric mains within two years are as follows:—Great Charles Street (to Congreve Street). Congreve Street. New Street. Stephenson Place. Easy Row, and Paradise Street. The Corporation are to have powers of purchasing the undertaking at the end of sixteen years—that is, fourteen years after the expiration of the two years' term allowed for the experimental lighting of the limited area. The order, while fully protecting the rights of the public and of the Corporation, justly recognises the experimental character of the project of electric-lighting from a common centre, and is much more favourable, in many ways, to the promoters than the legislation under which gas undertakings are conducted. Whether this will tend towards reducing the price of gas remains to be seen.

Lightning Conductors were introduced here in 1765.

Lindon.—The Minerva, in Peck Lane, was, circa 1835, kept by "Joe Lindon," a host as popular then as our modern "Joe Hillman," up at "The Stores," in Paradise Street.

Literary Associations.—The Central Literary Association first met Nov. 28, 1856. The Moseley and Balsall Heath, Oct. 11, 1877.

Livery Street—So called from the Livery stables once there, opposite Brittle street, which is now covered by the Great Western Railway Station.

Livingstone.—Dr. Livingstone, the African traveller, delivered an address in the Town Hall, October 23, 1857.

Loans.—According to the Registrar-General's late report, there were 380 loan societies in the kingdom, who had among them a capital of £122,160, the members of the said societies numbering 33,520, giving an average lending capital of £3 12s. 10½d. each. That is certainly not a very large sum to invest in the money market, and it is to be hoped that the score or two of local societies can show better funds. What the profits of this business are frequently appear in the reports taken at Police Courts and County Courts, where Mr. Cent.-per-Cent, now and then bashfully acknowledges that he is sometimes satisfied with a profit of 200 per cent. There arc respectable offices in Birmingham where loans can be obtained at a fair and reasonable rate, but Punch's advice to those about to marry may well be given in the generality of cases, to anyone thinking of visiting a loan office. Young men starting in business may, under certain conditions,