The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-05 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

(THIS DAY.)

The usual weekly meeting of the members of
this board took place this morning at their offices in
Spring-gardens, Sir JOAN THWAITEB in the chair.
FINANCY.
The cash statement showed a each balance of 385,163/.
10,1. Cheques not presented, 87,8871. 19s. 9d.

THABESI EMBANKMENT NEW CONTRACT, NO. 3 (FROM

TEMPLR-GARDENS TO BLACKFILIARS-BRIDGZ).
The CHAIRMAN proceeded to open the tenders for the
works of the Thames embankment contract (No. 3) from
Temple-pier to Blackfriars-bridge. The following were
the several amounts of the tenders :—Messrs. Hill and
%Witte, 502,000/. ; Thomas Pearson, 265,000/. • Hiscock
and Williams, 3t4,700/. ; Brassey and Co., 30.5,0001. ;A. W.
Ritson, 219,0001. • Joseph Thackeray, 320,000/. ; and Wm.
Webster, 268,0001.
Upon the motion of Mr. Legg, the board resolved itself
into a committee (from which the public were excluded),
to consider which of the tenders should be accepted.

Barley fetched 535. a quarter in last Salisbury
market. The pale ale brewers are about to advance their
pices 6s. per barrel, chiefly in consequence of the high
price of barley. From the seine cause, also, pig meat will
be scarce and dear, notwithstanding that the acorn crop
is a good one. In the south-west of England beans are
growing out, and mutton, it is expectcd,will be before long
per lb.

SERIOUS FIRES IN LONDON.—(THIS DAY.)—Be-
tween 2 and 3 o'clock this morning a fire, attended with a
pad loss of property, occurred in the private mansion of
Mr. Franklin, No. 13, Albion-road, Holloway-road. The
premises contained nearly a dozen rooms, expensively
krnished. Conductor Ward being told by mistake that
some of the residents were still in the house, he entered
one of the upper rooms, but was immediately prostrated,
sad laid eo until conductor Garner came up and
brought him down. The premises, with the costly
contents were destroyed, and the roof of No. 14,
belonging to Mr. Russell, much burnt. Another serious
fire took place shortly before midnight in the
premises belonging to Mr. Thurgur, hoot and shoe
manufacturer, No. 123, East-street, Walwortb. The
whole of the premises were destroyed, end Nos. 123 ()m-
-iming to Mr. W. Renick), 121 (H. Holland), 127 (C.
navies, a grocer), were also damaged. The principal losses
sill fall upon the Norwich Union, Commercial Union,
and Phenix Fire-offices.

. _
THE CROPS IN IRELAND.—The fine weather of
the past few days has inspired a more cheerful spirit in
the reports of our correspondents this week. Generally,
they agree in stating that the grain has not, to a
great extent, suffered irreparable mischief from the
continuous rain. That portion of the crop which
remained uncut has fared best, and the com-
plaints of " sprouting " among the stooks, we are glad
to see, are not numerous. By this time, almost all
the grain is down, and by the close of the present week
there will be but a small portion remaining in the fields.
With a continuance of fair weather and a dry atmosphere,
the prospects of the farmer will not be so gloomy as was
apprehended a short time since. The extent of the dis-
tille in the potatoes is not yet known, as a grester
quantity than usual at this month is still in the ground,
sad the raising of the crop will be delayed for some
time yet by the lateness of the rest of the harvest. It
is to be observed, however, that the price is still keeping
up, from which we may infer that the farmers themselves
are not much alarmed on the subject ; otherwise they
would rush them in such quantities on the market as to
have caused a fall ere this. It is stated in some instances
that the flag is turning out satisfactorily in the mills, but
the reports are too scanty to found a conclusion as to the
general character of the yield. The root crops of all kinds
are most luxuriant.—Northern IVhig.
ROME AND SCHOOL EDUCATION. —The Rev. Dr.
W. E. Jeff thus writes in the new number of the Contrm-
perery Reritic of home and school education :--" The case,
then, between home and school education, as far as we
have considered it, stands thus. At school he is early in-
troduced to the realities and trials of life ; ho is brought
into contact with others of the same age and position as
himself, but bound to him by no particular ties ; he learns
that he has to fight his own wry in his miniature world,
and learns how to do it ; he learns his strength and his
weaknesses ; he is taught to form his own plans and order
his own actions ; he is taught self-confidence and self-
dependence ; be leans to discern character, and adapt him-
self to others ; he is brought into competition, and thus
has a stimulus which a boy at home has not ; he is thrown
into sundry temptations ; if he triumphs over them he
comes out of them with increased strength for the battle
Of life ; but it is a perilous trial ; it is like throwing a boy
into deep water to teach him to swim ! If a boy is kept at
home, he is not necessarily exposed to these temptations at
as age when the force of ridicule and the influence of
example are strongest ; be is not removed from the in-
fluences of home feelings and affections in his every-day
14, which, generally speaking, are motives and guides to
teed ; he is far less in danger of falling from good habits
earl falling into bad ones ; he may be trained andencouraged
is habits of devotion ; his sense of honour is less likely
to be broken down ; his training, both moral and intellec-
-149, may be made more personal and individual, the weak
plats more carefully strengthened, the holes more care-
e stopped, the strong points more brought out ; his
"elk may undoubtedly be made more interesting to him—
" least, there is a possibility of its becoming so ; his mind
"4 be led to general literature and stored with general
,_kloiledge, of which ninety-nine schoolboys out of a"
edred are utterly ignorant ; he may be introduced to
tallith poetry arid history ; he may be taught modern
, either by a residence abroad or tuition at borne;
lafes,the intervals of his home work—that is, in what would
school vacations—the facilities of travelling, at home or
may introduce him to scenes and places and per-
!ea which will suggest new ideas and develop dormant
nets within him ; if school vacations were thus ems
'"76,11 the schoolboy would know nothing of his home."