Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/180

 164 THE BUILDING NEWS. Fes. 23, 1872 LAND AND BUILDING SOCIETIES. London AND GENERAL PERMANENT BUILDING Socrety.—The sixth annual meeting of the London and General Permanent Building Society was held on Wednesday week. Mr. Thomas Hughes, M.P., presided, and after explaining the position of the society, which he said was most satisfactory, he said that the directors had set their faces against lending money to speculative builders. There had been no lack of application for advances on house property, but it was only in cases where members were purchasing for their own occupation or for invest- ment that the society’s money was lent. A dividend of 6 per cent. was declared. Prortr’s Co-OprraTivE BENEFIT BUILDING Socrery.—The annual meeting of the members of this Society was held at Deptford on Wednesday last. The twenty-fourth annual report shows a steady increase in all the business transactions of the Society. The capital of the Society was £46,392 at the end of 1870, and has increased during the year 1871 to nearly £52,000, The cash receipts are as follows :—£17,094 1s. 4d. have been collected from subscriptions, redemptions, and B shares; £4,042 16s. 3d. from bank deposits; £33 7s. 5d. from fines and fees; and interest from bankers, £4 0s. 6d. The loans from bankers have been repaid, and forfeited properties to the amount of £2,819 have been sold at the ledger balances. After providing for every liability there is a realised profit of £542 12s. 6d. A bonus of two per cent.is to be divided on all shares two years old and upwards, and a gratuity of £100 given to the directors. HinckiEy.—The sixth anniversary supper of the Hinckley Building and Freehold Land Society took place at the Union Inn, on Tuesday week. The report showed that 534 shares had been advanced on thoroughly good properties, mostly new; 169 shares had been taken during the year, making 827, exclu- sive of the withdrawals, and there were now 329 shareholders, being 37 more than last year. £9,511 had been advanced in the six years. The abstract of accounts showed a balance in the bank of £384 6s. 11d., after all payments had been made. The assets of the Society are £7,071 &s. 4d. It was agreed to declare a bonus of 1s. 6d. in the pound on the total amount of contributions standing to the credit of unadvanced shareholders. This would require £304 9s. 2d., leaving £30 13s. 5d. to the re- serve fund, which now amounts to £108 6s. ——— PARLIAMENTARY NOTES. Tue DrEsiGNs ror THE NatTuRAL History Museum At Soutu Kensincton.—In reply to Lord Elcho, Mr. Gladstone said, on Monday, that a vote of £30,000 having been taken at the close of last ses- sion for the erection of a natural history museum at Kensington, according to a design of Mr. Watez- house, it had become the duty of the First Commis- sioner of Works to proceed in due course to give effect to the intention of Parliament—namely, that the building should be erected. For that purpose specifications had been drawn, and contracts entered into. They had, therefore, got beyond the point when the designs of the late Captain Fowke, Pro- fessor Kerr, and Mr. 0. Broderick, might be exhibited alongside of Mr. Waterhouse’s before proceeding with the work. Smoke Nuisance Act.—Mr. Locke obtained leave on Friday to bring in a bill to amend the Smoke Nuisance Abatement (Metropolis) Amendment Act, 1853, so far as it related to bakehouses. Pustic HEALTH AND LocaL GoVERNMENT.—Sir C. Adderley obtained leave to bring in a bill for con- solidating and amending all the laws on Public Health and Local Goyernment for England and Wales, exclusive of the Metropolis. ee STATUES, MEMORIALS, &c. STIRLING.—At Stirling, it is proposed to erect a monument to Robert the Bruce, from a design by Mr. George Cruikshank. The total height of the monument will be 22ft., and it will consist of a statue of the monarch, to be cast in bronze, resting on a pedestal of gray granite. The cost of the monument is estimated at £2,000. STATUE oF THE QuEEN FoR S. THOMAS’s Hospirau.—Mr. Noble, the sculptor, is at present engaged upona statue of her Majesty the Queen, which is to be presented to 8. Thomas's Hospital by the President, Alderman Sir J. Musgrove. ‘lhe full size model is now completed, and stands in Mr Noble's studio. Her Majesty is represented seated as she last appeared in the House of Lords, with the robes of state partially thrown over her. The likeness is striking, and the attitude simple and dig- nified. ‘The head bears a widow’s cap, which is accompanied by an ample flowing veil. ‘The right hand holds the sceptre, and the left the orb. The statue will be executed in the finest white marble, and is intended to be commemorative of the laying of the foundation-stone and the opening of the hospital, both of which ceremonies were performed by her Majesty. Our Offtce Table. —>_ AwnnvaL InrerNATIONAL Exriprrrons.—The Marquis of Ripon presided on Friday week over a meeting of the Royal Commissioners for the Exhi- bition of 1851. The following resolutions were passed with reference to the representations made by the deputation from the Metropolitan and Provincial Association for the Defence and Advancement of Trade Interests, who attended the last meeting of commissioners :—1. Her Majesty's Commissioners are desirous that persons engaged in the production of such articles as are comprised in the manufactur- ing division of each Exhibition should be associated with them in the selection of objects in that division. 2. Her Majesty’s Commissioners consider that the exclusion of works of fine art from the Exhibi- tion, by reason only that the material employed for them is not one of the classes for the year, is inad- missible. 38. Her Majesty’s Commissioners do not agree with the deputation that either the interests of art, or those of the public, would have been injured by the proposed sales of manufactured objects, not in the Exhibition itself, but in the annexes, in ac- cordance with conventions entered into with the French and Belgian Commissions. As, however, the French and Belgian Commissions have most liberally relinquished the rights accorded to them, her Ma- jesty’s Commissioners, with the view to reconcile conflicting interests as far as possible, will adopt the rules, as respects sales, laid down for the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. Royan ArcurrecruraL Museum.—On Thursday week a conference was held at the Architectural Museum, Tufton-street, Westminster, for the purpose of considering the best means of rendering the col- lections of works of art of greater advantage to workmen engaged in such trades as require a know- ledge of art. Mr. Beresford Hope, M.P., who occu- pied the chair, said that they were anxious to give good technical education to the students who atten- ded the Museum, but how far they could do that without having a regular paid body of teachers re- mained to be seen. Among the propositions which would be before them that day would be one to allow art workmen to enter the Museum free. They could only bring that desirable object to a point by having something like an assured income from the more opulent portions of society. There was an- other suggestion which he ventured to throw out, which was whether something like a social character could not be imparted to their meetings. A sug- gestion would come before them as to the establish- ment of a circulating library, and he thought if one were formed it should not confine itself exclusively to art. It had been suggested that they might have an exhibition, and if they had one he should like it to be a permanent one, He trusted they would not separate before these various points under discussion were settled. An animated discussion followed, in which the various defects of the working of the mu- seum In relation to students were pointed out. Mr. Clarke, Mr. Robins, Mr. Cox, Mr. Watson, Mr. Hall, Mr. Philip, and Mr. Child addressed the meet- ing. Society FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE Frye Arrs.—On Thursday week the second con- versazione of the session in connection with this society, which was founded upwards of thirteen years ago for the cultivation of the fine arts, took place at the New Flemish Gallery, S. James’s-street. It was numerously attended. Selections of vocal and instrumental music were given during the evening. Bisnor’s Cuarrs.—At Peterborough the bishop's chair or sedes, used by him in his pontificial acts, was of stone, but in its proper position on the north side of the altar. Except at Ely and Durham and Carlisle, where he occupies the abbot’s stall, the throne—that is, his cathedra of dignity, in his capacity as head of the Cathedral—is on the south side of the choir, between the stalls and the presby- tery. At S. David’s and WHereford there are collateral seats for his chaplains. The south side was chosen as the more honourable side, doubtless as being on the right of the altar in facing the east and occupied also by the celebrant, who, when he was removed from the east side of the altar, fol- lowed the course of the sun, as in processions. It is a noticeable fact that Exeter, Durham, and 8. David's, in the old cathedrals before the Reforma- tion, alone have structural seats in this position; therefore, the north side of the altar was given up to the bishop’s “ see,” where he had ample room for changing his habit and attendance by his ministers, and was on the south in Stigand’s epis- copate at Winchester. The throne of Exeter was taken down and concealed in the Great Rebel- lion, and after the restoration was replaced.— Walcott’s “ Traditions and Customs of Cathedrals.” Lonpoy Tramway Companies. — Financially there seems no doubt whatever of the success of tramways in London, judging from the reports of the two principal companies, The report of the North Metropolitan Tramways Company for the six months ending the 31st December last, has been is- sued. The accounts show an available balance of £9,980 17s 5d., and the directors recommend a di- vidend at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, free of income-tax. The first annual general meeting of the London Tramways Company was held (yester- day) Thursday week, at the Cannon-street Hotel, Mr. A. W. Young, M.P., in the chair. The report and balance-sheet for the year ending December Bist, stated that the total receipts were £47,428 12s. 6d., expenditure £35,638 2s. 10d., leaving a net profit of £11,790 9s. 8d., of which the interim dividend paid in August last absorbed £3,128 4s. 5d., so that there remained £8,608 5s. 3d. to be dealt with. Of this, £1,500 will be placed to a contingencies’ fund; £825 for depreciation of horses; and £350 to a suspense account; leaving £5,933 5s, 3d., out of which if was proposed to pay a dividend atthe rate of 6 per cent. per annum, amounting to £5,750, and carrying forward £183 5s. 3d. The report was adopted. This last company has now 14} miles of line open, and the number of passengers carried during the year was 4,883,683. Tur Proposan to Stor ur SuN-STREET, BisnorsGatE.—The Great Eastern Railway Com- pany are about to appeal against the decision given by Vice-Chancellor Bacon, restraining the company from permanently stopping up Sun-street, Bishops- gate, for the purposes of their City extension and terminus. The decision, it will be remembered, was given in the action taken by the Court of Sewers on behalf of the Corporation and the public. Such an important thoroughfare from east to west (forming, as it does, part of a direct line of thoroughfare be- tween Smithfield and Spitalfields markets) ought on no account to be done away with. Death or Mr. Jonn M‘Leop.—Mr. John M‘Leod, animal painter, died at Edinburgh on Satur- day. For many years Mr. M‘Leod has been well known, not only in Edinburgh, but throughout Scot- land, and he was much engaged at the country seats of noblemen and gentlemen painting the portraits of favourite horses, dogs, and other animals. He has long been a constant exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy. Tue Incorroratep Cuurcne Buripine Socrery. —tThe usual monthly meeting of the Incorporated Church Building Society was held on Monday last at the Society's house, 7, Whitehall. Grants of money were made in aid of the following objects, viz.:—Building a new church at Bow, S. Mark’s, Middlesex ; rebuilding the churches at Chapel-y- Coelbren, in the parish of Ystradgynlais, Brecon; Colchester, S. Mary-at-the-Walls: and High Toyn- ton, near Horncastle; enlarging or otherwise increas- ing the churches at Alkham, near Dover; Brick- knoller, near Taunton; Desborough, near Market Harborough; Downe, near Beckenham; Little Dun- mow, near Chelmsford; Folkestone Parish Church; West Hackney, 8. Mark, Middlesex; Sibdon, near Craven Arms, Hereford ; Sittingbourne, Holy Trinity, Kent; Tarrington, near Ledbury; Ulting, near Maldon; and Willesden, Middlesex. A grant was also made from the School Church and Mission House Fund towards building a School Church at Aberbeeg, in the parish of Llanhileth, Monmouth. Minpiesnoroven Scnoot Boarp Competition. —At their last meeting this board decided to build their first school from the designs of Mr. Blessley, architect, of Middlesborough, and their second from those of Messrs. Alexander & Henman, architects, of Stockton and Middlesborough. ——_———_———. MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. AY.— INSTITUTION OF SuRVEYORS.— Dis- cussion on Mr. Smith’s paper ‘On Land,” 8 p.m. Monp TUESDAY.—INSTITUTION OF CrvIL ENGINEERS.— “Thanksgiving Day.” No meeting. - FRIDAY.—ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION.— “ Meet- ing of Class of Construction and Practice; subject: ‘‘ Floorsand Roofs.” 6.30 p.m. Meeting of Class of Design; subject: “Pair of Semi-detached 12-roomed Villas (not necessarily symmetrical).” 8 p.m. Civit AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS’ Socrety.— On the City Branch of the North London Railway.” By Mr. W. Lawford, M.I.C.E, 7.30 p.m,