The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-09-04 00:00:00

Notts anb tints.

The opening of the School of Art was en important
event quietly accomplished. It is generally the case
with the work of the Rev. J. Miller that it is quietly
.lone, but with a thoroughly good foundation. So
with the School of Art which has been opened at the
Auction Mart. By means of this excellent school the
liberal art of drawing and painting may be studied by
the upper classes with, most pleasant and convenient
surroundinp, and with the stimulus of emulation and
of recognition by standard authorities. The working
classes also may pursue their studies at 90 moderate a
coat, and yet with such advantages, as to make the
School of Art really a boon that they could not hope
to attain by any other means.

The town owes a deep debt of gratitude to Mr.
Pally Hooper, Mr. George, Dr. Simpson, Surgeon.
Major Scriven, and the rest of the committee, for the ,
persistence with which they continued the work neces-
sary to make the regatta a success. I had not for-
gotten you, cheery Captain Gould, for I remember
that you were at your post on board the Skylark in
the worst of the weather, ready to start the yachts
had there been any chance of good sport. And you,
too, Mr. It. Ayles, jun., who laid out the mark boats
in the face of wind and sea, rising early and getting
hard to work while the townspeople were yet asleep.
Nor must I fail to acknowledge the great and repeated
services rendered by the Weymouth and Portland
Steampacket Company. These good Weymouthiszts
lent their steamers, big and little, their barges, their
services, their everything; in fact, considering that
their own business ought to have been heavy enough
to recoup them for many months of long unprofitable
waiting, it was clear that they could- never have
afforded so to lay out their time, their property, and
themselves, had they not felt as did Mr. Pelly Hooper
and the other gentlemen--that the interest of the
town is their own.

The tried friend of Weymouth, Mr. Henry Edwards.
M.P.' may well look with pride and satisfaction upon
the gixxl result which has followed his spirited ex-
tendon of help to the Town Council. Though it
has been justly said that Mr. Edwards's advance of
money for extending the Outer Fier was not a gift, but
a loan, it must he always remembered that Mr.
Edwards was the only person who ventured so much
upon his faith in the town, as to azree to lend £lOOO,
and actually to prepare for lending twice that amount,
upon such security as the Harbour Fund could give.
And therefore Mr. Edwards must be the more gratified
that his money has been well applied. For, in spite
of the rough weather, the Extension has stood well
the weight of heavy seas driven by violent winds, and
that while it was quite new, and could hardly have
settled down so firmly as it may be expected to, before
the winter storms. The effect of the Extension upon
the Harbour has been excellent; during the rough
winds some dozen of yachts rode opposite the ballast
quay in almost perfect calm, whereas, had the Ex-
tension not buffeted back the waves, they would have
been, to use the words of a ma-captain who well
knows this port, " dancing about, and knocking against
each other till they almost knocked their masts out.'
And the Weymouth and Portland Steampacket Cons.
piny were able' on account of the protection afforded
by the concrete breakwater, to haul up one of their
crafts, which they would have been quite unable to do
had the Harbour been in its former state, and wind
and sea about the same. I have also been informed
by his Worship the Marc that Mr. Whately Eliot
has pronounced strongly in favour of the quality of
the concrete which the contractor has laid down, and
states that even more cement has been used than the
specifications required.

Probably we shall have no more fault found with
the contractor and the concrete. But we can easily
forgive the over-anxiety of a Weymouthian, lest the
effort, to which Mr. Edwards had devoted hi money,
and the Council their time and attention, should turn
out fruitle.s. Let us now try to heal up our differences,
and live in harmony and good-feeling as fellow-towns-
west ought, despising, or guarding against, the
sired' of strangers behind the scenes to set us at
name. The unknown come for • tine, strut their