Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/368

 346 THE BUILDING NEWS. Aprin, 26, 1872. un n= ee eelllTl®Tl€lTlNwe==aa==S eeeeeeeEeEe—Ee—EeEeEeee=EeeE__ original lessee (his heirs, executors, or assigns) bound to pass it on, and retain his responsibility for allto the original lessor? 2. Suppose a party wall between two different leaseholds is seriously settled and cracked, and requires re-building to satisfy the covenant, how should such reinstatement be described in the specification attached to each notice? I shall be exceedingly obliged by a line or so in reply to these questions from that evident authority Mr. Banister Fletcher, to whom the thanks of the younger members of the profession, at least, are due for his concise opinions and just reasons why.—E. J. L. [2541.]—Ink.—Will any of your numerous readers beso kind as to give me the recipe for making brown ink used in perspective drawings ?—R. F. [2542.]—Chimney Moving in America. — Under the heading “ Chips” of your paper of the 19th inst. I see a report of the removal of a mill chimney at Brunswick, in Maine. Can you orany of your readers give me any further particulars on the subject ? —W. H.R. REPLIES. [2534.]—Value of Oak Architraves.—The yalue of oak architraves (according to sketch in last week's BurLprnGc News) is 1s. 94 per foot lineal (supposing the quantity to be from 50 to 100 feet), fixed, and pre- pared for polishing.—W. Fox. ens LEGAL INTELLIGENCE. ARTIST AND AGENT.—Messrs. Thomas Dunkley and H. Kenworthy, monumental sculptors, of 61, Fore-street. were summoned at Guildhall on Friday last before Sir. R. W. Carden for unlawfully detain- ing a statuette of Lord Palmerston. Mr. Sydney G. Camroux, a sculptor, carrying on business at 49, Basinghall-strect, said that he let the defendants have a statuette of Lord Palmerston on sale or re- turn. They had had it for several months, and not sold it, and when he asked for it back again, Mr. Kenworthy refused to let him have it. Mr. Ken- worthy said that the statuette was sold to them absolutely, on the agreement that it was not to be paid for until it was sold. Sir Robert W. Carden said that nobody could make such a stupid agree- ment as that, because the defendants had only to refuse to sell it, and it would become their property without their paying for it. There must be some limit to an agreement iike that. Mr. Kenworthy then said he had alien on it. He had had it in his shop window for twenty months, and he thought he was ontitled to at least 4s. for dusting and keeping it in order. Sir Robert W. Carden was sorry to hear that Lord Palmerston was at such a discount; but he thought that if the defendants had had the trouble of taking care of his lordship for so many months, they had had the benefit of his ornamenting their window during the period. He then made the order for the statuette to be returned to the owner, the defendants to pay the costs. TE PoLtuTIon oF STREAMS.—FEILDEN V. THE Loca Boarp oF HEALTH OF Over DARWEN.—T his important nuisance case came before the Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday week. It was an action by Sir William Feilden against the Local Board of Health of Over Darwen, near Blackburn, in Lan- cashire, for causing a nuisance to him in his resi- dence near those places by throwing sewage into a river which runs by his residence. At the trial, before Mr. Justice Lush, it appeared that at Over Darwen, about five miles above the plaintiff's house, the Board threw sewage into the river Darwen, which flows down past his house, and the case for the plaintiff was that the effect of the sewage was to cause foul and noisome smells, and thus to render his house uninhabitable, and also to poison and pollute the stream. The case tor the defence was that other parties caused the nuisance by doing the same thing, and that by reason of the distance in- tervening and the chemical action of the air and water, all noxious elements were neutralised before the stream reached the plaintiff's house. He had previously proceeded against the town of Blackburn for a similar nuisance, and obtained—on a reference to arbitration—a verdict for £1,200. action, however, there was evidence that, though Blackburn threw in the sewage matter solid and in amass, at Darwen it was first diluted and liquefied ; and that the distance was five miles from Over Darwen, whereas it was only four from Blackburn ; and that there were eight or ten paper mills on the stream. It appeared, moreover, that though there were many houses in the district, only 220 drained their sewage into theriver, though between 2,000 and 3,000 houses drained theirslopsand refuse waterintoit. Itappearedalso that there were above forty mills upon the stream, eight or ten of which were paper mills, the refuse water from which greatly polluted the stream. On the whole the jury found for the defen- dants. They did so on a direction of the learned Judge, Mr. Justice Lush, that as to the smells there must be something seriously and substantially in- terfering with the comfort of the inmates; and as to the pollution, they must be satisfied that the defendants materially contributed to it. The jury found that before the stream reached the plaintiff's house the noxious elements in the water were destroyed; that there was no serious smell, and no In the present » material aggravation of the pollution of the stream. The verdict was for the defendants. It was now moved to set aside the verdict on the ground of misdirection, insisting that it was a question of right to throw in the sewage. Mr. Justice Lush, however, declared that the case had been opened and conducted throughout as one of nuisance, and that the question was one of right was never sug- gested until the reply. After some discussion, it being strongly urged that there was an absolutely legal right to have the water pure, the learned Judge observed that he was not quite satisfied with the finding of the jury on the second point, as to the pollution, which went to the right, and that he should be better satisfied with a nominal verdict for the plaintit asserting the right, though he was of opinion that the jury were right in thinking that there was no substantial aggravation of the nui- sance by the defendants. On the whole, therefore, he thought there ought to be a verdict for the plaintiff for nominal damages in assertion of the right to have the stream unpolluted; and the Court being of that opinion there was a rule nisi to enter a verdict for the plaintiff to that effect. A Locat Boarn’s LIABMAITY TO REPATR A Roan. —Recently, at the Preston Quarter Sessions, the Local Board of Clayton-le-Moors, near Accrington, were indicted by one of the inhabitants for neglect- ing to repair Whinney Hill-road. This road was formerly the only highway between Blackburn and Burnley. It came, however, to be disused on the formation of the turnpike road, but acolliery having been established on one side of the road, which is in the township of Altham, the traffic on the road is now much greater than at any former period. When it came to be out of repair, the Local Board refused to mend it when requested to do so, alleging their nou-liability. As the colliery referred to is the only one in the township, the non-repair of the road in- volves an extra cost of 3d. per load of coal supplied to the inhabitants, the carters having to make along cireuit to reach and return from the pit. The prose- eutor called two old men, who spoke of the road having been repaired 70 years ago by the township authorities, and documentary evidence was put in from the old surveyors of highways showing that it had been repaired from 1822 to 1865 by those autho- rities. The defendants admitted that the Local Board, as the successors of the old township autho- rities, were liable to repair the road, but pleaded in defencea special Act of Parliament (an old Enclosure Act), passed in 1797, which set forth that the land- owners who were benefited by the Enclosure Act should form and repair the road in question, and that at the end of two years the surveyor was re- quired to get a certificate signed at the Court of Quarter Sessions that the road had been properly made, after which the cost of keeping it in repair would devolve upon the township. This certificate, however, could not be found; and it was argued that the acts of the surveyors would not make the town- ship liable or set aside the Act of Parliament.—The Chairman, in putting the case to the jury, said the evidence of the repair of the road for 43 years was overwhelming in fayour of the township's liability, and that all the necessary preliminaries had been gone through at the proper time, although the records could not be found. The verdict, therefore, was given against the Local Board, with costs. me WATER SUPPLY AND SANITARY MATTERS. DoncasTER.—The private Bill promoted by Mr. Robert Baxter, Mr. F. Fisher, and Mr. Bartholomew to supply the town of Doncaster with water, and which was opposed by the Doncaster Corporation, was on Thursday week thrown out by the Parlia- mentary Committee. Warrer Companies y. Loca Boarps. — The question of the charge for the water supplied for watering the roads has of late, according to the Metropolitan, considerably exercised the Local Boards of the north-east of London; and at the last meeting of the Hackney District Board of Works, the clerk said he had written to several parishes asking for information respecting the supply and cost of water supplied, with a view to combined action. The only answer which he had yet received was from the Islington Vestry, whose letter stated that they would gladly co-operate in a movement for reducing the charge for water, and added that they had hitherto been paying 1s. per 1,000 gallons. This charge they believed the company had power to exact. Mr. Beck differed from that view, and moved that the subject be referred to the considera- tion of the Parliamentary Committee, in order that inquiries might be made, and that counsel's opinion might be taken as to the rights of the water com- panies, with a view to obtain a proper settlement of the question at issne. ‘This proposition was adopted. Tue ABERDEEN SEWAGE IRRIGATION Farm.— The success of the Aberdeen Sewage Irrigation Farm, according to the Scotsman, promises well for the season now begun. ‘The laying out of the whole farm for irrigation purposes was completed nearly a year ago, and somewhat over 44 acres were run with sewage last summer. Ten acres were under potatoes, and the rest about equally allotted to the produce of turnips and grass. The potatoes grew well last year, but, when they were dug, a large pro- portion of the tubers were rotten, so this year pota- toes are not to be planted. The 17 or 18 acres which raised grass in 1871 have already got two courses of the sewerage, and the grass is wellup. Experience has proved that sewage irrigation cannot be suc- cessfully applied to soil in the least degree inclined to dampness. Abouteight acresare to be sown with turnips. The preparation of the land for the different kinds of seed deposited in 1871 was effected entirely by manual labour—spade and graip culture. AppLeby.—Dr. Corfield, medical inspector for the Local Government Board, haying visited Appleby last autumn and reported to the Board, that body were of opinion that the vestry or sewer authority of Appleby should take measures—firstly, for proyid- ing an ample supply of pure water; secondly, for causing proper privies and ashpits to be provided for every house; thirdly, for establishing a proper system of scavenging or excrement removal, and fourthly, for sewering the town in a proper manner. A meeting of the inhabitants was accordingly held last Friday, when Mr. Whitehead said he fully en- dorsed the recommendations of Dr. Corfield, but as the Public Health Bill now before Parliament would in all probability become law, the best course would be to postpone further proceedings until that Bill had either been passed or rejected. It was resolved that inasmuch as jit was desirable that the adjoining- parish of Bongate should be associated with the sewerage district formed for the parish of S. Lawrence for the purposes of sewerage and water supply the consideration of the question should be postponed. Our Office Table, —_——__ Workrne-ciass Dweitines.—A meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works was held on Friday last, at which a report was read from the Parlia- meutary Committee recommending that power be taken for providing house accommodation for the working classes who will be disposessed of their hold- ings by the proposed improvements of the Board. Three sites had been set aside for this purpose. The report, after some discussion, was adopted. TransaTLantic Municipan GOVeERNMENT.— Those used to the modest, if not always satisfactory, reports of our own Civic Improvement Commis- missions and Boards of Works could but read with some surprise the “ First Annual Report of the New York Board of Commissioners of the Department of Public Parks.” It occupies nearly 430 pages of toned paper, and includes a large number of very bad photographs, lithographs, and coloured draw- ings, and has evidently been ‘ got up regardless of cost.” A note appended to the title-page rather amuses us. The report, which bristles with many uncomplimentary allusions to a municipal organisa- tion which controlled matters previous to its dis- placement by the Board of Commissioners, though due in May, 1871, does not appear to have been issued till December last, by which time the original authorities appear to have returned to power. So, at least, we gather from a Mr. A. H. Green’s re- marks, who deems it ‘due to the public,” &e., &e., &e., to submit a brief disavowal of the “ costly report” and everything in it. We especially re- commend this method of abusing one’s enemies to the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Court of Common Council. Deata or Proressorn WesrMacott, R.A, F.R.S., &c.—Mr. Richard Westmacott, the Royal Academician, who died a few days since at his resi- dence at Kensington, in the 74th year of his age, in- herited his artistic taste and powers from his father, the celebrated sculptor, the late Sir Richard West- macott. Born in London in the year 1799, he was brought up under his father’s eye, and in 1820 he went to Italy, where he spent some five or six years in studying the galleries of ancient art. Soon after his return to England, in 1827, he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. In 1858 he was chosen an Associate of that body, to the full honours of which he was admitted in 1849, and ten years later he was appointed Professor of Sculpture. He had retired some years from the active work of his profession, but was well known both as a lecturer and a writer on artistic subjects, upon which he contributed largely to our cyclopmdias and other serial publica- tions. He was also well known as the author of an essay “On the Colouring of Statues,” and of a ‘“ Hand-book of the Schools of Sculpture.” Among his more purely ideal works are—‘‘ Venus and. Ascanius,” ‘The Cymbal Player ” (in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire), ‘‘ The Girl and Fawn,” “Venus teaching Cupid,” ‘‘ Paolo and Francesea,”