The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-28 00:00:00

THE REPRESENTATION OF MA NCILESTa

A copy of the case which is appointed to bo heard in the
Ccurt of Common Pleas early next month in reference too
the petition against Mr. Birley has been published. Th.
petition is presented by Frederick Royse, bat manufacturer,
and Charles Wright, wine merchant. It alleges that
Mr. Birley was and is a member of the firm of Charles Vac'
intosh and Co of London and Manchester, and that the fill°
had entered into contracts with the India Office, which Were
being carried out at the time of the election, and iv ith the Bread
moor Asylum for criminal lunatics. The questions for thecen-
sideration of the court are—Whether the dealings and
transactions for goods, amounting in value to £305 is. 2d"
with the Secretary of State for India in Council, are COn"
tracts for or on account of the public service
the meaning of Act 22d George 111., cap 45? Whether
the contracts were subsisting contracts at the time ol
the election of Mr. Birley ? Whether the deviling with the
Broadmoor Asylum was a contract within the said Act, and
whether the election of Mr. Birley be vcid by reason of the
said contracts or any of them.

AN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER OFFICE'

The giant strides which have been made in newsraller,
management during the last few years are clearly illustrate'
by a work just published in Philadelphia, containing e
description of the rublic Ledger building in that city. lan
England the major portion of newspaper offices—en
especially those in London—are small and mean in alp'
pearance, the rooms as a rule are ill-ventilated, and the
question of the health of the employes is generally gi
•
This state of things is, we are happy to say, not so had 1/1
America, where noble buildings are springing up in lieu°i
the wretched hovels—by courtesy called offices—where
news of the four continents is compiled, put in type, el'
distributed daily to millions of our fellow-subjects. 5.11,8,
magnificent edifice which has recently been built
in Philadelphia deserves a word of commendation
for more than one reason. In the first Piece;
it is mainly due to the incessant exertion'
of Mr. G. W. Childs, a gentleman who has risen in life
by his own perseverance ; and, secondly, because it is the
;
commencement of a new era in newspaper management:
To commence with the publication office, some idea of tr
labour and skill required in the construction of
.this ue.
partment may be gathered when we state that there al
nearly four thousand pieces of wood of vari,us shapes ell,h
sizes in the wainscoting, all fitted and joired together wit
the nicety and exactness of the most 1 eautiful article of
cabinet ware. The press-room is without an equal in the
world. It is of an L shape, 46ft. Gin. wide, and runnin!
east and west 126 ft., while the short arm of the
89ft. by 42. Nine thousand one hundred and eighty'
three square feet of space are thus obtained in which t°
place the presses, folding machines, engines, boilers'
steam pumps, and all the appurtenances incident te,
the department. The composing-room is one 0(11
the best-appointed and most thoroughly-finishf
portions of the edifice, instead of a dingy apartment 0
forbidding aspect, located in the least desirable part of
the
building. There is a distance of 127 ft. for the compositors,
who are arranged in such a manner as not to be over;
crowded, as is usual in many establishments, to the great
inconvenience and annoyance of the men. The stereotype
foundry is an apartment 18ft. by 35ft., and in order to
provide against fire, the floor is composed of iron girders'
filled in with brick archer. The editorial rooms, four ill
number, constitute a suite of magnificently-frescr°
apartments, fitted up in a drawing-room style. The I°ll°
and ceiling are beautifully frescoed in panels, the Pr"•
vailing colour being a light green, with mouldings, cornices'
and centre-pieces of imitation walnut, with scroll-n'°l:
running through, picked in with red, and decorated Wit°
the tints necessary to mark the lines in the artist's design'
All the woodwork of the windows and doors is Ira;
nut, the chandeliers and gas fixtures being bronieu.
The furniture consists of neatly-framed photographs'
paintings, &c. ; also lounges, mirrors, carved secret'
tary, chairs, and octagon table, all of oiled welli
etl;,;
There are also the book-publication office, the stores, "
the general offices, all of which are fitted rip with g-
elegance and prettiness hitherto unknown to a newFVll).l
staff. Combining stability and graceful architecturs;
lines, the building, as a whole, may be aptly termed of
huge crystal palace, uniting with the solidity of a Pii,e,°6
brown stone all the light and delicate tracery of an edlr.,
of glass. It contains 64,812 square feet of space, an of
lighted by 354 windows, with a total of 2,824 Pane°
glass, independently, we are told, "of the sheet glasso
the first-story fronts on Sixth and Chestnut Street
About 500,0001 b. of iron, wrought and cast, were used id
the construction of the building ; and some 20,000 feet :t
fl
to
(exclusive of slating) were required to cover the 1;
portion of the roofs alone. In order to distribute gee t;
the various rooms in the erection, no less °a
6,500 ft. of pipes were brought into requisition ; aDs
15;339ft. of tube were used in th 3 heating-014s
and coils required to distribute warmth over such Cri;
amount of space. Some idea of the size of the struetn:
may be gathered when it is understood that to p'
amount
around the several apartments above the Pavel°
involves a journey of 1,798 yards, or a trifle over a
and that upwards of 40,000 days' work was performed °

the building.
Having given a brief description of this (xtens!ciei
erection, it may be interesting to state a few faes svilite
es
regard to the life of Mr. Childs. He was born ill
city of Baltimore, about the year 1828: When 1-4 -pr
went to Philadelphia and commenced his working Ores.;
as a sbopboy in a bookstore. There he stayed four ea;-,i; Y
and soon after, whilst yet a boy, he b •gan business °l3
own account in a little nook of an office in one end °L, :b
7-:
pile of Ledger buildings, on the spot now occupied bY "--ro
desk of his cashier. This was in the year 1848, and firff
that time be continued to rise until 1864, when the "'''
dream of his boyhood—that he would one day bec°lll,,re
the proprietor of the Ledger became a rea"';
Mr. Childs drinks no strong liquors -not even tea °,O
coffee—and neither smokes nor chews tobacco. For tn7el:o
years of his life he travelled sixty miles a day to and fr°,.
business, and never lost a day on account of bad weatb%
rising in winter as well as summer before five o'clock
the morning. During all his life he has been accustelli:r
to devote not less than 10 per cent. of his income, hoves
large, to charitable objects. Such are a few incidents-0
the life of a man whose name will go down to posteritl
ty
a benefactor not only to his native city, but to his coup
and the whole world.

Ana
An inquiry into the state of the river Mersey fIA
its tributaries was opened in Manchester on Monday
Rivers Pollution Commissioners. 130
THE GREAT CENTRAL GAS COMPANY'-A tO
select committee of the House of Commons appointei
inquire into the various bills affecting the gas cone'.
of the metropolis, have further considered the G;ftei e
Central Gas Bill. They agreed that the preamble e`to
bill had not been proved, and to make a special report
the House.
{roo
MURDER BY A YOUNG LADY.—A telegra..-
Baltimore, dated the 12th instant, says : " On Slltil,ff',o
evening, at Jarretsville, Harford county, Maryland, L-10
t
Cairnes shot and killed Nicholas M'CoMall.
twenty persons were seated on the porch of the 111,;
evV
hotel, when Miss Cairnes suddenly appeared, aria e
a pistol, and fired three shots at M'Conlas•
riigg
alleged cause of the murder was seduction.
fi3ol
Cairnes had previously brought a suit against 1k:1'11°d-ere
for breach of promise of marriage. Both parties
highly respectable." of
THE SUN.—There are at present two duster" 0,
large spots passing towards the western limb of the si)iio
The largest consists of three spots. The diameter of keg
group, inclusive of the deep dark penumbra, which
the whole appear almost as if it were ore large 5p0t,,14-1.0
least three times the diameter of our globe. The two 0,
spots are jagged round the edges, and of no regillat the
The other group, about some 24,000 miles distant fr°,,,i; se
former, consists of four smaller well-defined spots. ;;e0•
two groups will in a few days become smaller ill v'Pr
ance as they pass off on the western side.
A STRANGE CASE OF SMASHING. The Tun tclgeg
magistrates have committed a man named Gordon, sta'f-ti•esl
himself to be a naval cook of Greenwich, to take his :01ii
at the sessions on two charges of passing counterfeit hie
%
to tradespeople of the town. The novel way hi sv„-ol'
he is alleged to have disposed of one halfcrown was
what remarkable. Superintendent Dance, of the Kent a 1
county constabulary, the dread of prizefighters nl3 ti
n 8
saw him go into a shop, and, susPerne-Allis
him, tried the halfcrown he had passed to the shollw,e:hflt:
and finding it to be a bad one detained bin).
Dance was searching him the shopwoman laid the
up,
crown on the counter, and the prisoner, snatchinge P
it
is said, instantly swallowed it. For a week he has 'ter
carefully and strictly watched, but be has not yet PAi.
with the coin.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH.--The period:c.ll retl-11;1
the Registrar-General is of a satisfactory character•
week the deaths in the fourteen principal towns of re.
United Kingdom spewed a decline of 44G upon the tr
vions seven days, and the annual rate of mortaliti LP
diag
24 per 1,000 persons living ; whereas in the five Pree:4AV
weeks it had ranged between 27 and 30. The aet--joll,P
in these towns was considerablylower than in anYrrws:s ,
week this year. The rate of mortality in London Is) iS
per 1,000 ; in Birmingham it was as low as 10, 9'1,111,4131
Glasgow as high as 37. In the metropolis 2,208
and 1,377 deaths were registered. The latter fell
a5OOl
of the estimated number by 113, and were less by 21-,
the deaths recorded in the previous week. 'rile 01
eel/
temperature was 50'3, or 31veto
above the average. 40,
the highest day and the lowest night temperatta"
-•
ng_ a range of 33•4•4egrees.