The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-25 00:00:00

SALE AND PURCHASE OP BANKING SHARES.

The following is a copy of a bill brought into
the House of Commons by Mr. Leeman, Mr. Waldegrave-
Leslie, and Mr. Goldney to amend the law in respect of
the sale and purchase of shares in joint stock banking
companies :
" Whereto it is expedient to make provision for the
prevention of contracts for the sale and purchase of shares
and stock in joint stock banking companies of which the
sellers are not possessed or over which they have no owl-
trot. May it therefore please your Majesty that it may
be enacted ; and be it enacted by the Queen's most ex.
cellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of
the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this
present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the
same :

" I. That all contracts, agreements, and tokens of sale
and purchase which shall, from and after the day
of 1867, be made or entered into for the sale or
transfer, or purporting to be for the sale or transfer, of any
share or shares, or of any stock or other interest, in any
joint-stock banking company in England or Wales issuing
shares or stock transferable by any deed or written in-
strument, shall be null and void to all intents and pur-
poses whatsoever, unless such oontract, t, or
other token shall be in writing, and shall setforth and de-
signate such shares, stock, or interest by the respective
numbers by which thesame are distinguished at the making
of such contract, agreement, or token on the register or
books of such banking company as aforesaid, or where
there is no such register of shares or stock by distinguish-
ing numbers, then unless such contract, agreement, or
other token shall set forth the person or persons in whose
name or names such shares, stock, or interest shall at the
time of making such contract stand as the registered pro-
prietor thereof in the books of such banking company ; and
every person, whether principal, broker, or agent who
shall wilfully insert in any such contract, agreement, or
other token any false entry of such numbers, or any name or
names other than that of the person or persons in whom
name such shares, stock, or interest shall stand as afore-
said, or who shall, either by parol or in writing, sell or
undertake to deliver any shares, stock, or interest as afore-
said, without giving in writing to the purchaser at the
time of such sale or undertaking the designating number
of such shares on the register of the company, or in ease of
their being no designation by number, then without giving
in writing the name of the person or persons in whose
name or names such shares, stock, or interest shall 'tend
registered at the time of such sale or undertaking, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be punished accordingly."

ANOTHER STEAMSHIP COLLISION.

THE DESIGNS FOR THE NEW LAW COURTS.

In a former notice of the eleven designs exhi.
bited we endeavoured to give only a general de-
scription of the kind of building proposed by each
of the competing architects ; a more deliberate
consideration of these complex desi,gns enables us
now to enter more completely into their respective
merits, and to balance these one against the other
in arriving at something like a definite apprecia-
tion of those which possess in the highest degree
the combination of the practical and useful with
the ornamental and appropriate. In doing this we
have to regret that some designs which impress us
with their high merit as architectural works are
unfortunately at the same time strikingly insp.
propriate. With this feeling we regard such works
as Mr. Burgas' grand feudal chateau of French
13th century work • Mr. Abraham's orieutal-
looking Gothic structure, with its excess of
domes and spires ; or Mr. Brandon's, in which the
towers and spires are in excess, and the principal
feature of the interior is so distinctly ecclesiastica.L
On the other hand, there are designs in which the
architect appears to have curbed his ambition
almost too much, and while giving us a building
with no salient feature, narrowly escapes general
tameness and even meanness in some parts. No
doubt a sober, well-regulated harmony is a fine
quality, and contributes much to the grandeur of a
building; but there is a great risk in the repetition
of precisely similar parts along a wide facade, as in
Mr. Garling's design, or in the number of gable
ends filling the Strand front of Mr. Seddon's
building, which in other respects is so much to be
admired. Mr. Gilbert Scotts design, in our opi.
none errs in not having any general relation of
its parts—that is to say, as regards the exterior,
which is cut up into three distinct masses, thus
missing altogether the effect of a grand facade in
the Strand, and in a site which is evidently destined
to be one of the meet magnificent in the vast metro-
polis of the future. And here it should be remens.
bered, in judging of the eligibility of these designswe
have to call up in imagination the part this ins.
mense pile will have to fill in the scene with the
church of St. Clement swept away, and old Temple.
bar faced about towards the wide streets leading to
the grand esplanade along the river. To put a
commonplace, eminently useful building here
would be ridiculously out of keeping with all that
is to surround it. There is no necessity for raising
those gigantic record towers, which, according to
some of the designs, are to serve the triple pur-
pose also of water-cisterns, chimneys, and venti-
lating shafts ; and that the domes, too, are another
architectural feature that could very well be dis-
pensed with is seen by the design proposed by so
complete a master as Mr. Gilbert Scott, which has
only one moderate sized centre dome, and record
towers no higher than the ordinary church
towers around. Mr. Garling also dispenses
with these lofty towers. At the same time
a building of such magnitude, and for an high a
purpose, must have some grand characteristic fea-
tures, although it by no means follows that these
are to be sought in the so far barbarous fashion of
the ancient Assyrians and the mediaeval nations,
in towers that reach the sky. A tower had its
direct purpose in old times as a look-out and
signal-place as well as a defence and refuge, but it
has no significance for a hall of justice; although it
is admissible enough within proper limits, it be-
comes absurd when extravagantly introduce&
Neither is it necessary that towers should be built
as the only or best means of preserving and keep-
ing precious documents, as equal, and perhaps
greater, safety could be obtained by several other
means, otherwise our British Museum and new
Record-office are worthless. That these towers are
very difficult features to deal with architecturally,
we see in several of the best designs where they
are decidedly not beautiful, and not conducive to
the excellence of the whole work. Thus, in Mr.
Waterhouse's design they are carried to great
excess, and the two principal towers, 350 feet
high, being truncated, are most unpleasantly sug-
gestive of very tall chimneys. The idea of using a fine
tower for the purpose of conveying away smoke and
the impurities of animal combustion, detracts much
from the purposes and intention of a tower proper.
Apart from those too lofty towers, the design of
Mr. Waterhouse presents an elevation towards the
Strand remarkable for good effect, imposing and
dignified, and perhaps the best considered in re-
ference to the future changes to be made in this
part of the metropolis. Mr. Seddon's building
suffers, like some others referred to. by the neces-
sity the architect has felt, in obedience to the official
instructions, of working a huge record tower
into his building. This he places at the centre of
the western end, and forms it in three great semi-
circular projecting lobes, as it were, continued to
the top. A tower at the opposite end is made
useful for extra water supply and for smoke and
ventilation, while other two towers are occupied
the one with the kitchen the other as a clock tower.
Of Mr. Seddon's fine central hall we shall
have to speak when referring to the inte-
riors of the different designs. The cat
of these towers Is a matter that may well
come in for the consideration of Mr. Bentinck.
Mr. Waterhouse puts the construction of his at
Is. 9d. per cubic foot, from 6d. to Is. being the
average of most public buildings ; and his estimate
for them alone is 149,8321. Mr. Seddon takes his
towers at 163,4021. Mr. Burge' mentions only the
additional cost of his main tower, from the roof to
the top, as 110,0001. ; while Mr. Lockwood, who
proposes four record towers, a chancellor's tower,
and an Albert tower, estimates the whole tower
structure at an average of Is. 7d. per cubic foot, and
a total of no less than 245,4071. Now if we compare
this large coat with the estimate for a building in
which the architect has been more modest in his
use of the tower, as in Mr. Garling's design, where
the cost of towers is only 75,1971., we shall see how
costly a feature in the exterior a lofty tower is.
While referring to the cost of these towers, it may
be as well to say that Mr. Gilbert Scott's estimate
for his building, is moderate compared with the
towering architects. He states the whole work to
be practicable at Is. per cubic foot, or 1,253,6261.
Mr. Garling's building would cost 990,061!., while
Mr. Seddon names 2,046,6441., and the other
architects sums varying from a million and a
quarter to one and a half.*
Referring to the estimates, it will be observed
that some of the most practical builders avoid
the very lofty towers. Mr. Barry provides for
the safe keeping of documents by a dome
and strong rooms below it ; Mr. Scott, Mr.
Abraham, and Mr. Garling employ towers of
very moderate height, au) low indeed compared
with the other designs as scarcely to be worth
mention in this comparison. It is evident that
towers, if advisable for water tanks, chimneys, ven-
tilation, and safes, need not be so extremely lofty,

for example, as in Mr. Waterhouse's design ; it is
also clear that the expedient is a costly one for
attaining certain desiderata, and the money would
be far better spent in adding the last touches of
art to a building substantially good and appro-
priate.