The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-02-06 00:00:00

THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING.

An adjourned meeting of the members of this
Beard, was held in the Commissioners' Room in
the Corn Exchange, on Tuesday evening last.
Notwithstanding that the meeting had been ad-
journed for the purpose of having a stronger
Board present, only three members attended. It
is very unfortunate, to say the least, that now,
when the real work of the Board is commencing,
a majority of the members should find themselves
unable or unwilling to attend. We trust that this
will be remedied in future, and that the members
will prove themselves to be worthy of the confi-
dence reposed in them at.their election. Major
Walker (vice-chairman) presided; the requisite
quorum being completed by Messrs. Billingham
and Prescott.

The Clerk read the minutes of the last meeting,
which were confirmed, on the motion of Mr. Bil-
ingham, seconded by Mr. Prescott.
The first subject for consideration was the sup-
plementary specifications, &c., for the erection of
the schools. The supplementary tender sent in by
Mr. Chapman for this work, is as follows: Amount
as per schedule, submitted and accepted, £636 5s
6d ; amount as per ',further schedule, non-submit-
ted, £313 78; amount for works not included in
schedule, and as per prices non-submitted, £llB
is id; total, .21057 13s 7d; amount for fitting up
of furniture, as specified, .£193 78; total, .21261 Os
7d.

The Chairman said they would take these items
consecutively, and he therefore asked Mr. Smith
(the architect) who was present, what the £636
was for.

Mr. Smith said first for digging the foundations
an extra depth.
Mr. Prescott thought that was in the specifica-
tion for the school.
Mr. Smith said the digging for a foundation was
included in the specification, but this was for dig-
ging an extra depth, and for concrete, &c.
Mr. Prescott asked how it was that this "extra"
depth was not included in the original specifica-
tion, and Mr. Smith explained that he did not
know it would be required until after the test holes
were sunk.
The different items,were £6 18s, for digging an
extra depth of three feet for the foundations), £6
18s; digging for boundary walls, £7 3s; and for a
quantity of concrete, one foot thick under the
schools, £144. The boundary walls will be six
feet high, and nine inches thick, and he estimated
that the cost of that at schedule prices per foot,
would be .2338.

Mr. Prescott intimated that he considered these
items very high, and said he had been told that
Mr. Chapman would get his profit out of them.
He suggested that they could change the builder
even now.

Mr. Smith paid that would be hardly right.
The Chairman was of opinion that they would
not improve their position by changing builders.
When the revised tenders were sent in, he (Major
Walker) and Mr. Wall looked through the lists of
prices sent in by all of the builders for these
things, and Mr. Chapman was under all the others
in nearly every instance.
The next item was £BB 19s, for the extra depth
of brick work required in the foundations.
Mr. Prescott remarked that that made a differ-
ence in consequence of the schools being on that
site of £BB and £144.
Mr. Smith went on to say that in the tanks
there would be a little cemented brick work which
would cost £l9 is. Then there was Bath stone
£l2 Os 6d and £l4 4s. Those were the items that
he had drawn out in the schedule.
The next item was £313 7s, which was accounted
for in the following way. For filling in site, .2180.
Then the gravelling over the whole surface of the
yard would amount to £74 10. Draining pipes at
38 9d per yard, £23 16s

Mr.-Pre-scott thought those things should have
been included in the first estimate.
The next item was for certain cesspools and
grids in the yard, £7. Then there was grubbing
up the old fence, 19s 3d. Half-round coping on
the boundary wall—

_
Mr. Prescott : That's what I can't understand.
I thought we had been dealing with the wall.
The Chairman said he believed it was usual to
put them as separate items, because they could
not be averaged at the ordinary schedule prices.
The cementing of the tanks, ss; rough stones,
18s; cast-iron' railing, £3l; two doors in the wall,
£4 ; enclosing and fitcino• up closets, £25.
Under the head " furnrture " was included gal-
leries for infants, desks for the master and mis-
tress, cupboards, chairs and table for the board,
iron safe, fireirons, &c.
___ _

Mr. Prescott made a remark about the price of
the chairs (.£1 each) and pointing to the cane-
seated chairs which are used in the Corn Ex-
change, asked why some like those would not do.
They cost only 2s (id each.

Mi. Billing-ham : No; those won't do. I
think we ought to have stuffed chairs for the Board
room.

They then went on to the discussion of the sup-
plementary tenders.
The Chairman: First of all, Mr. Smith, we had
an estimate from Mr. Chapman for the room and
the schools. Did not that estimate include digging
foundations?

Mr. Smith: To the depth of three feet.
The Chairman: Then, as I understand, the LS
18s is for extra digging beyond what he stipulated
to do.

Mr. Swath: Yes.
Mr. Billingham said he should like to ask
whether upon that piece of land it was necessary
to go six feet deep.
Mr. Smith: You have to go four feet six.
Mr. Prescott: I shan't spend a shilling for fill-
ing up that ground.
Mr. Billingham : I have been looking at that
ground. It seems to me very firm. I don't see
why we should go down four feet six.
Mr. Prescott said Mr. Smith told them when he
was placing his plans before them, they should
have the schools at the rate of £lO per head. At
Kidderminster they had them under that.
Mr. Smith: You have them under my estimate.
I can't give you bricks and mortar.

Mr. P-resco-tt : That's not it. -Every step we go
only verifies the words of the Secretary of the
Education Department, that the plans were extra-
vagant in design.
Mr. Smith: Allow me to answer that. The
plans were sent out, and of course tenders were
received upon the plans approved by this Board.
And if you can't get a good site, you are bound to
pay more for walls, &c. You can't spread over
two acres of ground £4,000 for 400 children.
Mr. Prescott said Mr. Smith saw that piece of
and he approved of it. The average cost of
similar schools all over the country was between
seven and eight pounds per head. Mr. Smithnow
put it on the site. He represented to them that
the whole cost of those schools would not7exceed
that amount of money, and as a proof of that they
were now sending to the Education Department to
ask for £7OO more than they at first thought
would be necessary; and that was put down to
the unrnanageableness of the site. If they had
had a master and mistress's house, as was origin-
ally intended, instead of its being £4,000 it would
be £7,000 or £B,OOO. And now, abandoning all
that kind of work, they would get the schools at a
charge of something like 15 or 25 pounds a child.
The school was only for 200 (that was taking the
average attendance all over the country). He
only regretted that Mr. Smith's charges had been
sent in, and that another person had not been
called in to see into them. He would never sanc-
tion one of those charges. When the plan was put
before him he thought it included every other
charge except filling up the land and building the
wall. He thought they included every other
thing, and they would find it was so in the
minutes. There was charge made for filling up
the ground, when the stuff came out of the foun-
dations, and the men had nothing to do but spread
it over.

Mr. Smith said they had a certain number of
yards deducted for the soil that came out of the
foundations. The filling up was required for 3,000
square yards.
Mr. Billingham said it appeared clear to him
they would have to go on the ground with the
architect. He certainly could not understand
some of the items. He did not doubt the archi-
tect's word, but there were things about these
specifications that he could not understand. The
positions of the tanks he objected to.
Mr. Billingham eventually proposed that the
members of the Board assemble at the sites of the
schools at four o'clock on Tuesday, the 9th lust,
and that this meeting at its rising adjourn to
Wednesday evening the 10th inst, at o'clock.
It was also resolved that the business forming
Nos. 2,3, and 4, on the agenda be adjourned to
the next meeting of the Board.

CHIMNEY ON FIRE.—At the Public Office, yes-
terday, before Col. Fletcher, H. 0. Firmstone, and
J. B. Cochrane, Noah Brecknall, was charged with
allowing his chimney to be on fire, and ordered to
pay costs—John Morton was charged with a similar
offence, and ordered to pay Costs.
DRUNK AND INCAPABLE.—WiIIiaIIi Cook, labourer
was charged with being drunk and incapable at
Pedmore, on the night of the 31st ult. Police-
constable Webb proved the case. Pleaded guilty.
Fined is and costs.

A DRUNKEN WomAN.--Mary O'Donald was
charged with being drunk and disorderly in High
Street, on the 4th inst. Police-constable Philpot
proved the case. Several previous convictions
having been proved defendant was fine lOs ; in
default 14 days.
DRUNK AND DISORDERLY—Noah Hill was
charged with being drunk and disorderly. Police-
constable Firth proved the case, and defendant
was fined 2s 6d and costs.
CHRISTY MINSTRELS.—Matthews Brothers celebrated
company will hoaour Stourbridge with a visit, on ;Tues-
day evening next.