The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-19 00:00:00

BT PANCRAS BATHS AND WASHNOUSRS.

The hng vexed question of whether the large
suit increasing pariah of St Pancras should have its own
public baths and washhous•-r has at length been finally
settled, and to day will witueis the opening of the build-
ing which has bean ere..:te I for their purposes iu King-
street, Canuleu•town. fu tiie external part of the build-
log there is no attempt ..t arcli.reetural effect, the great
and natural object bring t r seca-e in the interior all
pea•:tical utility at the merit economical outlay. On
the ground Mier two !sig.., vimining or plunging hsths
Lava liven COLLAluctril, ruoreng parallel with each other
devoted to brat , aiel the other to second
cloe' freTielit ...s. The d:iiimsiens of these baths
are tiliaitie il, tie length of each being till feet by 22 feet,
and the ilmta at the eutraace end being 4ft. Lin., while
that at the other end is riii. bin. This depth will give
ample tuiii:y to all who desire to display their ability
either iii div:ui or the art of swimming. There is accom-
enodaticie ill each of the-e I,rge baths for about thirty per-
mons, though the extra cumfoits which are to be given to
those who see the fir-t•e! las department seem scarcely
commensurate with the large additional per centoge which
is to he charged to them for its use The two baths are
divided from earl. other by a hw wall which runs down
the centre, an 1 on the riot t': ire is re liege dome which
aril; regulate, in the most effective manner, the ventilation
sif the whole. I psttirs tb, re are 101 private baths. 21 of
• are men's nrstclass, S women's first-class, and 10
woinetibi seeotriLchiss. Tim T.; are nieu's second-
...lass. The parlitiona, doors, :mil flouring of these baths
are cvniposed u! slate, and every attention appears to have
beim paid to the convenience of these who may use them.
These baths are of a aimilar character to those now in rise
in owed of the other amid... eat ealtshinents of the metro-
polio. Etch teeth is coated indite with a china surface,
and is perfectly non-absorbent. The design of a porcelain
bath is said to hive origin iced with the late Prince Con-
cert, and of its ecourriny and durability there can he no
two opinions. In the larindry department there are sixty.
three tubes, with all the necessary rooms appropriated to
washing, drying, ironing, •The construction of this
portion of the building serins to Live been the least suc-
cessful of the whole. In the first place, the room devoted
to ironing is dark and badly ventilated, and to be rendered
of tiny real use gas must be kept burning the greater por-
tion of the day. In the drying department special fur.
1111r,i, have had to be erect, d to aid the heat derived front
the engine home, and we cannot but think had
• little more consideration been devoted ti the
sivetigernent of th,.: building, this necessity would have been
isbviated, Kiel an increased outlay thereby rendered tin-
weceasary. The whole building is thoroughly tire proof,
the chief mato ials emplo)cil being iron and elate. Great
attteition has most properly been paid to the thoreugh
ventilation of every department of the establishment, and
to a eons'derable extent III1C,e•A has been achieved in this
regret. Th total cost of the nuilding will be some
V.000f., which is two or three thousand pounds in excess
el Ili; estimate which was orOnally formed, but it is con-
antlered that the alterations and improvements which have
been introduce-I since the acceptance of the original de-
sign will amply rompeuett, fur the additional outlay
which hash el t•• be itimirred. The contractors for the
building have been Messrs. Manley and lingers; the
architects, Messrs. Messenger and Ihndry ; the engineers,
the St. Pancras Iron Works Company ; and the supplier
of the baths, Mr. Finch. The charges for admission to
the facilities of the baths and washhouse are those set
down in the act of parliament, and when the whole esta-
blishment is iu full working order we doubt not the wis-
dom of the outlay which has been made by the parish,will
be fully appreMited by those for whose special benefit
the building has been erected.

UNITED KINODOA ALLlsttca.—Last evening
this society held its annual gathlring at Exeter Hall,
under the chairmanship of Mr. W. Whitworth, /d.P.,
who in opening the promedings adverted to the approach-
ing general election, and expressed a hops that care
would be taken to return members who were sound upon
the great liquor question. Hd believed the new con-
Maim:nines would be found more favourable to it than
the present body of electors, for the working classes
were far more enlightened upon it than their wealthier
ietlow subjects. Indeed very few members of parlia-
ment knew what the Permissive Bill was, but
the next parliament would have the assistance
of Mr. Lawson and Mr. Pope, and • better
Mate of things might therefore be expected. Sir
Mobert Napier in the Abyssinian expedition forbad the use
of tobacco and intoxicating drinks some day. before the
attack on Msgdela, and to that circumstance might, in a
groat measure, be attributed the small sacrifice of life on
our aide. Mr. Coldwin Smith, be was convinced, would,
the end, become • convert to their principles, and on
the whole the cause was making great progress. Not that
drunkenness was on the decline in some upper circles. He
was ashamed of the scene thst occorred on • recent Thurs-
day in the House of Commons. It was said to have been
mused by " heated imagination ;" butt what produced the
boat ? (Hear.) If, however, he had the power he would
mot pass the Maine Law, because public feeling was at
present against it. Not so with regard to the Per-
iods/Ave Bill. Pass that, and one parish after
mother would adopt it, until it became universal. The
meatt'ng, which was well attended, was afterwards ad.
dreamed by Mr. W. Saunders, Professor Rolleston, Mr.
Jabez West, Mr. S. Pope, Dr. F. R. Lees, Rev. F. Kel-
lett, and the Rev. W. il'Cree, and three resolutions were
passed, the first rejoicing that the Reform Act has cleared
the way for the removal of legalised temptations to intem-
perance, and calling upon this working classes to return
representatives who will support the principle of the Per-
missive Bill; the second affirming that pauperism, igno-
ranee, and crime, are the results of intemperance, and
ealfing upon the government to introduce a bill dealing
with the whole of the licensin laws in the spirit of a per.
Admire measure; and the third pledging the meeting to
use all suitable means to advance the principles of the
Alliance in the metropolis.
llorrdmatis tea is sold Bd. per pound cheaper as
Ilse duty Is reduced This Int. resting fast will, when fully
!mown, even further Increase the demand for these cboloe ter
Mseisinisu's are not sold louse, but only In packets, signed " ft or-
am& Ilatan sad Co., Original Impor.ers of the Pure Tea"--fadvertise.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
_...___

In the Hertel of Loam yesterday, the Duke of
MARLBOROUGH announced that the government felt
themselves reluctantly compelled in the present
state of public business to abandon the Education
Bill for this session.

Earl GRANVILLE thought government had come
to a proper conclusion. He suggested that several
clauses with respect to evening schools and other
matters should be ingrafted in another bill now
before the house, and that the clauses framing re-
gulations, and which had been objected to, could
better be embodied in • minute to be laid
before parliament. He complained that the policy
of the government with respect to the conscience
clause was vague and indefinite, and urged that a
minute should also be drawn up on this point.
The principle had been so long adopted in practice
by the council, that it was impossible there should
be any difficulty in clearly stating the views of the
government, and what ought to be dune with re-
spect to it.
Lord REDEMDALE protested against the state-
ment that the principle of the conscience clause
had been generally adopted with respect to the
church of England schools.
The Duke of hlAXLnottorux said there would be
no departure from the practice of the council until
parliament had given its sanction to a different
course. _ _

The order on the bill was then discharged.
On the report of the Railways Regulation Bill,
Earl OBEY moved that the rates of fares and
charges be printed and kept for public view at
every station.
The Duke of Ri..limown opposed the motion, and
it was rejected by 53 to 29.
The Endowed Schools Bill Wtl.3 read a second
time.

The Customs Bill, the Income Tax Bill, and the
Exchequer Bonds Bill were read a second time.
The house adjourned at half-past 7 o'clock.

IN the Hot sr; of COMMONS, the order of the day
for going into committee on the Boundary Bill
having been postponed,
Mr. G. HARDY moved that a select committee be
appointed to consider the boundaries of the follow-
ing boroughs :—Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bolton-
le-Moors, Bristol, Cheltenham, Chester, Derby,
Gateshead, Gloucester, Greenwich, Hastings, Lam-
beth, Liverpool, Manchester, Marylebone, New-
port (Isle of Wight), Newport (Monmouthshire),
Northampton, Nottingham, Oldham, Portsmouth,
Preston, Reading, Salisbury, South Shields, Tyne-
mouth, Warwick, Wigan, Windsor, Chelsea and
Kensington, Darlington, Middlesborough, and
Stalybndge.
After a short discussion, in the course of which
Mr. HAanv said it was not to be understood that
the house would have no power after the commit-
tee had reported, the motion was agreed to, Derby
being omitted and Wilton being added.
On the question of the composition of the
committee, Mr. Nrwbricare moved to add two
county members, and a division wan called but not
pressed, and ultimately the committee was ap-
pointed, to consist of Mr. Walpole, Sir W. Stirling
Maxwell, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Austin Bruce, and
Mr. Kirkman Hodgson.
On the order of the day for going into committee
on the Representation of the People (Scotland)
Bill,
Mr. BAXTER moved, "That it be an instruction
to the committee that, instead of adding to the
numbers of the house, they have power to disfran-
chise boroughs in England having by the census
returns of 1861 leas thin 5,000 inhabitants." He
said he was not actuated by any party motive in
bringing forward this motion. If they were to
base the representation on population and the
amount of revenue paid, Scotland would
be entitled to twenty-five more members than
it at present had ; but he was willing to accede to
the proposition of the government, that ten more
members should be allocated to that country. But
he could not assent to the other proposition of the
government, that the number of members of the
house should be increased. So far from that, he
thought they ought to be diminished. The house
was already too numerous for a deliberative assem-
bly. and was more numerous than any other delibe-
rative assembly in the world ; and, moreover, if
they added to the number of members in order to
give a greater representation to Scotland they
might have to do the same thing in order to give a
greater representation to South Lancashire or York-
shire. His proposition was not a new one. In 1832
parliament subtracted eight seats from England
and gave them to Scotland. There happened to be
ten places which could scarcely be dignified by the
name of boroughs, they being merely small decay-
ing villages, but each of which returned one mem-
ber to parliament. They contained an aggregate
population of only 39,704, and the number of
electors was 2,874, and eight out of the ten places
had greatly decreased in numbers in the last five
years. He proposed to disfranchise them, and in
that manner to obtain the seats required.

Mr. WUITBRICAD seconded the motion. He did
not believe that if they disfranchised these ten
small boroughs they would settle the question of
redistribution, but if they did disfranchise them par-
liament would not be in a great hurry to take up
the question again.

Su R. KNIGHTLEY moved as an amendment that
instead of disfranchising boroughs the committee
have instructions to take one seat from boroughs
in England having by the census returns of 1861
less than 12,1.00 inhabitants. He entirely disap-
proved of the proposal to add to the number of
members of the house. There were practically
two alternatives before them, and the question
was whether they were to take one member from a
few little nasty places like Barnstaple and Bridge-
water, which now returned two members each, or
to disfranchise certain boroughs altogether.
Sir W. S. MAXWELL seconded the amendment.
He thought there was great force in the argument
against totally disfranchising any borough.
Mr. CHILDERS supported the motion, and
pointed out that all the small boroughs proposed
to be disfranchised were situate incounties already
over represented, whereas most of the towns that
would be affected by the amendment were situate
in counties that were under represented.
Mr. B. COOIIIANE thought the amendment the
more reasonable propsition of the two.
Lord E. lloa Aso protested against the disfran-
chisement of Arundel, which he said had returned
members for AOO years. If they were to disfran-
chise thous small boroughs, they would go a lung
way towards establishing electoral districts.
Mr. DISRAELI admitted that Scotland was enti-
tled to additional representation, but he retained
his opinion that the best way of giving it was by
increasing the number of members of the house.
'He had never heard any argument against it. It
was said that the numbers were already too great
for a deliberative assembly, but what did they
mean by a deliberative assembly 1 It was essen-
tially a representative assembly, and if it were a
representative assembly, it must be a popular
assembly, and it could not be a popular assembly
if it was to be restricted in its numbers. He
regretted that the house was not disposed to in-
crease its numbers, but as that was so what they
had to do was to bring the question to a conclusion,
and to consider what was the best course, and of
the two propositions he thought the better one was
that of Sir &inlaid Knightly.
Mr. GLADSTONE remarked that Lord Edward
Howard's argument would have had more weight if
he had had a constituency. It was desirable that
members should have real constituencies. He sup-
ported the motion.

On a diviaion the motion waa carried by 217 to
196.

Mr. M•LAREN then moved a resolution affirming
that to place Scotland on an equality in representa-
tion with England and Ireland at least fifteen addi-
tional members should now be provided for Scot-
land.

The motion was seconded by Mr. FORDYCE, but
after some discussion, in the course of which Mr.
Moxrasi►r drew a declaration from the Speaker
that if the motion were carried it would not be
possible to go into committee on the bill to-night,
it was withdrawn.
Mr. &CARDEN was then about to bring forward