The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-04 00:00:00

CONTRACTS FOR VEGETABLES.
Contract Department, Admiralty, Somerset
House, 30th May, 1867.
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUIING
-I- the OFFICE of LORD lIIGII ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRE-
LAND do hereby Give Notice, that on Wednesday, the
12th June next, at 12 o'clock at noon, they will be ready
to treat with such persons as may be willing to CONTRACT
for supplying all such quantities of

VEGETABLES
as may be demanded for the use of her Majesty's ships and
vessels at the following places, from the Ist July, 1867, to
the 31st March, 1870, both days included, viz.:—
ENGLAND.
Newhaven
Penzance
IRELAND.
Kentuare

Ilfracombe
Lymington

Carrickfergus

Castletowisend Lough Swilly
Foynes
.. . Rathmullen

Scilly
Wivenhoo

Valontia

Separate Tender's must be made for leach Port, and at a
rate per 100 pounds, instead of at per cwt., and no atten-
tion will be paid to any offers not so made. Contractors
in claiming payment for Vegetables supplied are to make
out their invoices in pounds, at per 100 pounds.
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty reserve to
themselves an unlimited power of selection in accepting
the tenders._

Forms of Tender may be obtained, and particular atten-
tion is called to the conditions of the Contracts which may
be seen at the Lobby of the Department of the Controller
of Victualling, Admiralty, Somerset House; or by apply-
ing to the Collector of Customs at Penzance, Scilly, Lon-
donderry (for Lough Swilly), or to the Postmaster at each
of the other places.
No Tender will be received after Twelve o'clock at noon
on the day of treaty, nor any noticed unless made on the
printed form provided for the purpose; but it will not be
necessary that the party tendering, or an agent appointed
by him, should attend at this office, as the result of the
offer received from each person will be communicated to
him and his proposed sureties in writing.
Every Tender must be delivered at the Department of
the Controller of Victualling, Admiralty, Somerset House,
and signed by two responsible persons, engaging to be-
come bound with the person tendering in the sum of £lOO
for each of the Contracts.

The Contractors to pay half the amount of the stamps
on their Contracts and Bonds.

By order,
ANTONIO BRADY,
Registrar of Contracts and Public Securities.

The Holborn Valley improvement

The interesting ceremony of laying the chief stone
of the Holborn Valley Works took place yesterday
afternoon, under the direction, of the committee
appointed to carry out the. improvements now in
progress. The proceedings were conducted accord-
ing to a series of regulation's prepared for.the ocn-
sion, and a procession was formed at the Guill;iall,
where the chairmen of the several committees of the
corporation and-other gentlemen had been invited
tcy-m.!et the Improvement-Committee, at the head
of 'whom was Mr. Deputy Fry, the chairman. The
following were observed amongst the company who
afterwards assembled at the works--Mr. Alderman
Finnis, Alderman Sir R. Carden, Mr. Alderman
Carter, Mr. Alderman Stone, Mr. Sheriff Lycett,
Mr. Sheriff Waterlow, the town-clerk (Mr. Wood-
thorpe), the City chamberlain (Mr. Scott), the
comptroller (Mr. Brand), Mr. Haywood, the engi-
neer of the works ; Mr. Deputy Reed, the chairman
of the City of London Improvements Committee ;
Mr. Stapleton, the City solicitor ; Mr. Under-
Sheriff Crosley,

After certain minor forms had been gone through,
Mr. Rudkin approached the Chairman of the
Improvement Committee (Mr. Deputy Fry) with a
glass vase, bearing this inscription :--" Victoria
Regina. The Corporation of the City of London,
having obtained the Act of Parliament of the 27th
raised way across the Holborn-valley, and new
and 28th Victoria, cap. 61, to form a viaduct or
streets and other improvements connected there.
with, Thomas Henry Fry, Esq., deputy, the chair-
man of the committee appointed by the corporation
to carry the act into execution, laid the chief stone
of the works on Monday, the 3d day of June, in
the year of our Lord one thousand ;:ight hundred
and sixty-seven, and in the thirtieth year of her
Majesty's reign. The Right Hon. Thomas Gabriel,
Lord
the Ala Mayor
vase;s William
deposited
II a b
y w3o, ot dh ,e engineer."
ga
rnnelearn. '
a'
purse
In
containing the coins of her present Majesty's reign,
and there were also placed •in the same vessel a copy
of the Act of Parliament, and
other matters. The
vase, with its contents, was then sealed up by the
engineer, and the chairman
finally deposited it in
the well of the stone prepared for its reception.
The stone bore the following inscription :—" This
chief stone of the Holborn Valley Viaduct was laid
the 3d day of June, 1867, by Thomas Henry Fry,
Esq., deputy chairman of the Improvement Com-
mittee of the Corporation of the City of London.
The Right Hon. Thomas Gabriel, Lord Mayor ; W.
Haywood, engineer ; Messrs. Hill and Keddell,
contractors."
At this stage of the business the CHAIRMAN
addressed the company, and after passing iu review
the history of the agitation to abolish what bad long
been considered a metropolitan nuisance, said that
after having encountered ninny obstacles, and hav-
ing had many communications with her Majesty's
Government, they had got the Holborn Valley
Improvement Act, under which the works could be
carried out, aided in the expenditure by the rever-
sion of the 4d. coal duty. He congratulated them
on the progress which they had already made in this
and in other useful works. He held in his hand a
' statement of the improvements carried out by the
city of London since the erection of Blackfriars-
bridge about 1759, and he found the following re-
sults :—Erection and re-erection of Blackfriars-
bridge, rebuilding London-bridge, and purchase of
Southwark-bridge, £1,233,732 ; erection of Royal
Exchange, Coal Exchange, Metropolitan Cattle
Market, Islington, and Meat and Poultry Market,
Smithfield, and enlarging and improving their
respective sites, £1,819,821 ; Newgate Prison and
Sessions House, Debtors' Prison, Holloway Prison,
and Pauper Lunatic Asylum, £380,226 ; the City
of London School and theFreetnen'a Orphan School,
£39,000 ; street improvements, including the ap-
proaches to London-bridge, New Cannon-street,
Farringdon-street, Clerken well New-street, the
Ilolborne Valley Viaduct, &c., £3,210,074 ;—total
expended, £6,742,853. These figures afforded no
slight proof of the value of municipal institutions.
(Cheers.)
The formal process of fixing the stone according
to the approved method adopted on occasions of this
nature was then gone through ; and Mr. Hay wood,
the engineer, gave a general description of the Hol-
born Valley Improvement.
The Rector of St. Andrew's, Holborn, then offered
up a prayer appropriate to the occasion, and the
proceedings were brought to a close.
In the evening a banquet in honour of the event
was given at the Guildhall Hotel, King-street,
Cheapside—Mr. Deputy Fry presiding—the com-
pany who took part in theceremony of the afternoon
being again present, with the addition to their num-