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

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS,

This board held their usual weekly meeting yesterday, at
their offices in Spring-gardens ; Mr. J. Thwaites in tho

chair.

The cash statement showed the balance in the hands of
the treasurer to be £202,552 4s lid, Government securitio4
£87,500 9s. id, and total of cheques ordered but not pre-
sented, £28,653 16s 7d.

REPORT FROM STREETS COMMITTEE.

This report, recommending that the sum of £5OO by way
of loan from the general current account of the board to
the Finsbury-park current account, the Finsbury-park ac-
count being charged with the deposit Atte of interest until
the amount sha
ll
hbaer
grepaid ;
ino
uanntdi
nt hg atto a cheque
x 221 be drawn
13a
2 d,
,rn zufor
the arbitrators're
WMENT WORKS.
i Tg (Eslci)nEsitbsuFr3o- -Rp asrok
1),"
tTIINa
EvitsNreEc3elinvAteNd.
K
The whole board committee for the above works broug)it
spring-gardens, Oct. 16, 1863,
" Your o
have: to to report that, in obedience to
upthfollo
committeew ingrepor
ht
the resolutitoh neoqf
utehsetinhnonn.f b3olar. r ditoifditehye,n2tden inst., in
t.tr thheye haN'considered
con-
struction of the
aTtehrainmne.suriemdgbet
amnden
t havewo inrkssbtiettnwteed fuenWllest-
minster and w
in-
quiries on the subject, and having carefully considered the
same, have arrived at the following resolution :—"rhat, in
the opinion of this committee, the result of their inquiries
respecting Mr. Ridley's competency to carry out the por-
tion of the Thames embankment for which he 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-
week had tendered for the work at an increased sum 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 Ntr-
Ridley would deposit £20,000 as a substantial guarantee for
the completion of his contract; and with respect to the
charge of incapacity, the many certificates which he Pre"
duced showing his competence to undertake works of g:r7,,
magnitude fully entitled him to retain the contract which
had been granted him.
On a division the amendment was negatived by 4 :II"
23. The original motion was then put and carrietp
After some discussion as to the course to
1)9 $ tolcinifiotr"
the construction of the work the board went illto
uneed
tee; and, on its re-assembling, the Chairrueri atino
on
that the committee recommended that th torac
, h
x;2O
be given to Mr. Furness, on his tender for
danthe board, after
t wshoiuchld,
being put as a motion, was carried:
otozed.
transacting some routine business, d

ALLEGORICAL MEANING CF g STORY OF JACIC
ms,„ it not be a political
AND THE BEAN-STALK. 70i a poor lone widow ; his
allegory ? Jack is the only tr°d murdered by a cruel giant,
father was betrayed, NWa ', in a Glace, an splendid , keeps
who eats human flesh' owns a hon that lays golden eggs,
two large monerbt!'th a golden harp. Jack's poor mother
and diverts Weal tyrant to tell the young man how his
is forbidden by Witted. Nevertheless, when the miraculous
father was ill-trew, up in her garden, and the boy is prompted,
bean-stalk glioeti
hit and love of adventure, to climb to its tops
by his 'um; the upper region in which the giant's castle is
he diseave— d then, by the exercise of his cunning and
situated, an
valour, he recovers one by ono, those articles which had
men his father's property ; after which the giant is de-
orroyed. Now, supposing that we could trace the origin of
this story to some country, where the primitive inhabitants.
an oppressed and impoverished race, bud 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 1 heir fathers. The personification of their native country
as Jack's reqtber would be natural enough. The varie-
gated Jack purchased and sowed in his garden,
1•o grow up into the convenient bean-stalk, might remind us
°I an incident which has been more than once repeated in
real history, where peculiar coloured beans have been
distribut ed, as tokens of recognition among the partisans
Of a political conspiracy, just as the chupatties or
e sepoyl: small
cakes were passed from hand to hand among
th
The hen
throughout India before the revolt in 1857.
which laid the golden eggs might signify the prerogative
therere clans e
gative of
of
taxation ; and the golden harp might stand fe
minstrels or troubadours attending upon a . court. Thera
which
are several other well-known tales in this ._
might, by the sagacity of some erudite be con-
strued into allegories of great, social, re '
or political
events.—London knew.