The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-17 00:00:00

TENDERS FOR NORTHERN EMBANKMENT WORKS.

The whole board committee for the above works brought
up the
Spring-gardens, Oct. 16, 1863,
Youre following o
committeewg
have‘ to reporto that,.s in obediencei to
i n report
the resolution of the hon. boardhe 2d n
's tenidert7 tori etfyle have
considered
av
on
considered the question of Mr. .
Ridley's
the 2d mat., they have
considered the question of Mr. Ridle
struction of the Thames embankment works between West-
minster andli,'satbeiereloto-abhriddgheas;inangdeahraevfaelilny consider
e 3
thein-
quiries
same, on the u
have arrived at' the following resolution :--‘ That, in
the ()inion of this committee, the result of their inquiries
respecting Mr. Ridley's competency to carry out the por-
lion of the Thames embankment for which ho had tendered
is not sufficiently satisfactory to warrant this committee in.
recommending the board to accept his contract.' "
Mr. Newton moved that the report be adopted.
An amendment was then moved by Mr. Legg that the
tender of Mr. Ridley be accepted.
A long and animated discussion then ensued, in which
Messrs. Freeman, Robinson, Lowman Taylor, and others
took part. It was contended on the one hand that Mr,
Ridley, in addition to his securities being unsatisfactory,
was incompetent to undertake such an undertaking ; and
that, having tendered to complete the work for £495,000, he
had met the objection by stating that arrangements had been
entered into with Mr. M'Cormack to carry out the under-
taking, the great objection to this being that Mr. M'Cor-
mack had tendered for the work at an increased sure of
£137,000 on Mr. Ridley's tender, and that if such a coali-
tion were allowed it would give rise to jobbery in all the
board's undertakings. On the other side it was contended
that although Mr. Ridley's securities were deemed unsatis-
factory an offer had been made which ought to be consi-
sidered a fair and just offer to meet that objection, that Mr.
Ridley would deposit £20,000 as a substantial guarantee for
the completion of his contract; and with respect to thu
charge of incapacity, the many certificates which he pro-
duced showing his competence to undertake works of great
magnitude fully entitled him to retain the contract which
had been granted him.
On a division the amendment was negatived by 4 Against
23. The original motion was then put and carried.
ted for
After some discussion as to the curse to ha adooP
the construction of the work the board went into
nouneed
commit-
tee; and, on its re-assembling, the Chairman ,pounced
should
that the committee recommended that thex
be given to Mr. Furness, on his tender ford contract
afictehr,
being put as a motion, was carried;
allured.
transacting some routine business, adjourned.

ALLEGORICAL MEANING O'
OF To STORY OP SAM{
,I ~ it not be a political
AND THE BEAN-STALE.'—'I ;la poor lone widow ; his
son d murdered by a cruel giant,
allegory? Jack is the only
father was betrayed, robbeetstwia a splendid palace, keeps
dowwfla a hen that lays golden eggs,
who eats human flesh,
two largemmoney-bas,gs, golden harp. Jack's poor mother
and diverts himself witht
rant to tell the young man how his
is forbidden by thtisod.
Nevertheless, when the miraculous
father was ill-treated.
in her garden, and the boy is prompted,
bean-stalk prows up
love of adventure, to climb to its top,
be
his ambition
~, upper region in which the giant's castle is
he discovers
then by the exercise of his cunning and
situated,
tad and '
valour, be recovers ono by one, those articles which had
been --
hig father's property , after Which the giant is de-
stroYed• Now, supposing that we could trace the origin of
this story to some country, where the primitive inhabitants.
; oppressed and impoverished race, had long nourished
feelings of hatred towards the conquerors, and envied their
luxury and wealth, we might thus get a plausible interpre-
tation of the tale. Jack would be the leader of a conspiracy
or an insurrection by which the subject race, in one gene-
ration, obtained redress and vengeance for the injury done
to their fathers. The personification of their native country
as Jack's mother would be natural enough. The varie-
gated beans, which Jack purchased and sowed in his garden,.
to grow up into the convenient bean-stalk, might remind us
of an incident which has been more than once repeated in
real history, where peculiar coloured beaus havo been
distributed, as tokens of recognition among the partisans
of a political conspiracy, just as the chupatties or
small
cakes were passed from hand to hand among the
T sepoys
hehen
throughout India before the revolt in 1857.
of
which laid the golden eggs might signify the prerogative
taxation ; and the golden harp might stand for the
eclia,ohsereof
minstrels or troubadours attending upon a
are several other well-known tales in this c ction
might, by the sagacity of some erudite German,o be con-
strued into allegories of great, social, religious, or political
events,—Len (ton Bellew.