The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-17 00:00:00

SOCIETY 0? ARTS.

On Wednesday night at the weekly meeting of
the Society of Arts, ,E. Chadwick, Esq., in the
chair, a paper was read by Mr. J. W. Papworth,
on " Houses as they are and ought to be."
Mr. PAPWORTH said it was much to be regretted
that those who invest money in building are gene-
rally lamentably ignorant of the subject, and the
result is in many cases a serious misapplication of
capital. Indeed, the building owner and the
builder, without the intervention of an architect,
meet on very unfair terms. This is the more iw-
p ,rtant, since the present system of excessive com-
petition his gradually reduced the stability of build-
ings to an alarming extent. It is remarkable that
twiny of the brick buildings erected in the early part
of the 16th century still remain and command a
fancy price, and in many parts of London those
built in the seventeenth century still remain in
good condition. Towards the latter part of the
eighteenth and beginning of the present century,
the solidity of the buildings seems to have declined
till it arrived at the present flimsy style. Many ob-
jections may be made against the present almost
universally adopted plan for London houses. The
placing the kitchen on the basement is an evil that
might often be avoided, and a different arrangement
of staircase would sometimes be an advantage. Per-
haps one of the greatest improvements in London
houses of all sizes would be to have the drains laid so
near the surface, and so covered by boards, that
they could be examined or cleaned without trouble.
Many a drain has been allowed to leak its contents
away into the kitchen floor and the foundations,
from which cause alone there ars many damp walls
in London. Mr. Papworth then dwelt at some
length upon the present competitive system. When
tenders are sent in, a most embarrassing discre-
pancy exists in the amounts named, and generally,
if the lowest tender is accepted, it is found to be
in the end false economy, and more money is spent
eventually than was originally contemplated. The
subject of house building, as at present carried on
by speculative builders, was then discussed, the
badness of the bricks employed, .the careless prepa-
ration of the mortar, the mixing of old brickwork
with now, the bad method of laying foundations
these and numerous other evils were pointed out.
The rapidity with which the work is carried on
naturally produces serious imperfections, among
which smoky chimneys are not the least. If the
public will avail itself of unlimited competition,
and will not pay the builder a fair price for his
work, the cl iss of honest builders will die out, and
in all our houses we shall see one or more faults
Eke those described. With reference to the bad
policy of such a system, every year of a badly built
house may be said to cost at least one-third of the
rent in repairs ; if they are not done, the hoist,
goes to ruin at once. Indeed, our modern houses
are so b idly hudt that even speculative builders
now find it difficult to sell a lease. Mr. Papworth
concluded by expressing a hope that if the system
he had condemned were continued the bl,tme would
not be unfairly laid upon the profession to which
he considered it an honour to belong.
A discussion ensued, in wbicb Dr. Waller Lewis, Dr.
Arnott, Dr. Milroy, Mesprs. Robert Rawlit:Hon, Elliott,
Wink wortb, Pearsall, and others took part.

LANDLORDISM TN ANTRIM.

(Front the Belfast Northern. Whig )

We got one good thing out of the surprise which
we inflicted, last Thursday morning, on our Tory
friends. In the sudden effort they were compelled
to make to keep their ground, they were forced to
fling aside all the finesse of their organisation, and
to reveal recklessly, in all its coarseness and villany,
the whole machinery of intimidation and corrup-
tion. Such scenes as were yesterday witnessed in
the different polling places of the county of Antrim
are, if nut unprecedented, at least unparalleled in
our time. Men were "driven," called over, formed,
marched, all but whipped, to the poll. This was
not done in quiet spots, in inn parlours, on gentle-
men's lawns. There was no disguise—no effort at
disguise. On railway platforms the bawl of the
agent, the stringing of the galley-slaves—one could
almost fancy t e smack of the thong—were bestowed
pro bono public°. There was as little shame as
dealers feel in a South American slave auction, or,
if there was any shame, it was on the side of the
cringing creatures who, wanting the capacity to act
together, shrunk individually from any act of hos-
tility to the landlord to whom they owed arrears,
or from whom they had got no lease. All this was
new; for, usually, they at least enjoy the hypo-
crisy which is the homage Tories pay to Liberalism
—a little reserve—gloves to hide the unc'ean hands.
Our own impression is, that the game was
overplayed in this way. The rustic oligarchs
seemed to know very little of tree new election law,
and cases of "treating" came within our own ob-
servation which would certainly illegalise the whole
election, in case Mr. O'Hara. fail. Matt-r 3 were
greatly overstrained. Is it not strange that the Mar•
quis of Hertford should first give strict injunctions
to his master's tenants how to vote, and then tele-
graph to his employer, in Paris, to ask leave to dic-
tate ? and yet it is whispered that somewhat like
this was the disorder of things ; and we leave it to
the Marquis of Hertford, who owes a little to the
Whigs, and who " declares" for Lord Palmerston
in Parisian society, to account to his counexions—
not to mention his conscience—for the fact that his
name is being made use of to obtain a vote for Lord
Derby. Other agents have blundered as widely,
and, perhaps, we shall hear a good deal more of
their insolent assumption of extravagant authority.
In the blind obedience of the southern Irishman
to his priestly director there is something sublime ;
there is at least faith and enthusiasm in it. He is
too much led, but at least he votes for what he be-
lieves in. In the abject submission of, the Presby-
terian farmers of Ulster, not to the great names
and. traditional influence of their head landlords,
peers or otherwise, but to the second-hand tyrauuy
of brutal bailiffs, there are none but the elements
of the wretched and the contemptible. But it is
impossible to conceive that such a sate of things
can endure. The landlords of Auttim did their
best and their worst yesterday, and we much mis-
take the signs of the times if. the men they would
make their tools and their victims do not tuna upon
them. There must b 3 an end put to this hideous
system of mean oppression. •

SHOCKING ACCIDENT IN A MANCHESTER WAGE'
HOUSE.—On Monday evening a shocking and fatal acci-
dent occurred in the warehouse of Messrs. John Ponder
and Co., Manchester. A hoist used for the purpose of
lifting goods from one floor to another bad been fitted
with Mr. Hugh Baines's patent self-acting safety appa-
ratus, a contrivance fur preventing accident in case of
any of the ropes failing in the ascent of goods or ser-
vants from one storey to the other ; and on Tuesday
evening a trial was being made of it with six per-
sons in the cage. On the cage arriving at the upper
storey the rope was disconnected (which would
be the same as if it was broken), and the patent appara-
tus for checking the descent of the hoist should have
come into play. The apparatus, however, did not act,
and the consequence was that the cage descended with
frightful velocity to the basement flour, a depth of 50
feet. Two of the gentlemen in the cage, Mr. Peacock,
head warehouseman, and his brother, had stepped out
up,n the upper floor juet as the rope was disconnected,
and were saved from injury, but the other four sustained
serious injuries, and were carried to the infirmary, where
one of them, named Shaw,
died the same night. Mr.
Baines is one of the euffererA, sustaining a severe ineera.
ilea of one foot.