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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[No 



VEMBER, 



BRICK DUTIES. 



2nd and 3rd Victoria, Cap. XXIV. 



This Act repeals the dniies and drawiacks of e.rcixc on hrirks, and r/raji/s 

 oilier du/ies and drairiacH- in lien thenaf, and cnnsolidates and amends the 

 laws fur voUecting and pai/inq the said duties and drnirl/arks, aiui enacts that 

 in lieu of tlie saiil duties and drawliacks, there sliall be paid the duties and 

 drawl)acks following ; (fliat is to say.) 



For and upon every thousand hricks, of a size not exceeding 150 cubic 

 inches each lirick, which shall be made in Great Britain, or which shall be 

 brought from Ireland into Great Britain, a duty of 5s. Kid. 



For and upon every tliousand of bricks, exceeding the foregoing size, which 

 shall he made in (ireat Britain, or which shall he brougiit from Ireland into 

 Great Britain, a duty of 10s. 



For all bricks made in Great Britain on which the (hities iniposed in respect 

 thereof shall have been charged, and which shall be duly removed to Ireland 

 or exported to foreign parts as merchandize, a drawback of the duties paid. 



Section .i enacts, that the said duties atul drawbacks shall be under the 

 management of the commissioners of excise. 



Section 4 enacts, that brickniakers to make entry with the excise of their 

 brick tiehls, &c. 



Section 5 empowers oflieers of excise to enter brick fields and take an ac- 

 count of bricks. 



Section 6 enacts, all bricks shall be charged with duty whilst such In-icks 

 shall he in the operation of drjing or hardening in the field, &c. 



Section 7 in charging the duty on bricks ten per cent, to be allowed for 

 waste. 



Section 8 enacts, that bricks shall be placcil in such fonu that the officer 

 may readily and securely take an account of them ; and penalty for placing 

 them iiTegnlarly. 



Section 9, bricks may be made of such a shape that it may he difficult 

 to as -enain with accuracy the true cubical contents thereof, whereby doubts 

 or disputes may arise whether such hricks ai'e subject to the higher or to the 

 lower rate of rluty impose<l by this act; be it therefore enacted, that every 

 maker of bricks shall provide, to the satisfaction of the supervisor of excise, 

 a mould adapted and ju'opcr, and similar to the moidds in ordinary use by 

 such maker, for fomung and turning out a brick ten inches long, three inches 

 thick, and five inches wide ; which moidd, when ap|)rovcd of by the super- 

 visor of excise, shall be stamped or branded by him with the word "excise,'' 

 and shall be delivered into the custody of such maker, to be by him kept for 

 the use of the officer surveying such maker of bricks ; and if any thspute shall 

 arise as to whether any hricks, the cubical contents of which may be difficult 

 to ascertain, are of a greater size than 150 cul>ic inches, ami so subject to the 

 higher rate of duty, the officer of excise shall take iuditfereiitly from the 

 quantity of bricks the size whereof shall be disputed tliree Ijricks, and shall 

 press the clay composing each of such three bricks into the said mould ami 

 turn the same out as a brick ; and if upon such three trials any two of such 

 bricks, or the clay composing the same respectively, shall not be more than 

 sufficient to fill such moulil, and form a brick of the dimensions of ten inches 

 long, three Indies thick, and five inches wide, the whole of such bricks shall 

 be deemed and taken to he bricks not exceeding 1."jO cubic inches, and subject 

 to the lower rate of duty ; but if any two of such Inicks, or the clay compos- 

 ing the same respectively, shall be more than sufficient to fill such mould, so 

 that a larger brick than of the dimensions aforesaid would be ]iroduced if the 

 whole of such brick or the clay comjiosing the same were pressed into a 

 mould of sufficient capacity to receive the whole of such brick or clay, then 

 the whole quantity of the bricks in dispute shall be deemed and taken to be 

 bricks exceeding 150 cubic inches, and subject to the higher rate of duty, and 

 shall be charged with duty accordingly. 



Section 17, in order to prevent the duties hereby imposed from being 

 evaded by bricks being denominated tiles, be it enacted, that nothing shall be 

 deemed or taken to be a tUe which shall not, when turned out of the mould 

 (except tiles for covering houses or buildings or draining lands,) be a perfect 

 square, or which shall when so turned out be of greater thickness in any one 

 part than one inch and seven tenths of an inch if under eight inches square, 

 or of greater thickness in any one jKUt than two inches and a half if more 

 than eight indies square, or which shall have any incisions made tlierehi so 

 as to allow of being easily separated or divided after being Inu'ned : provided 

 always, that it shall he lawful for the commissioners of excise to determine 

 that tdes made otherwise than square shall not be considered as bricks 

 chargeable with duty, on being satisfied that the same are intended to be 

 used solely as tiles. 



Section 18, whereas it is expedient to cxcmjit from the duties by this act 

 imposed bricks made for the sole purpose of draining w et ami marshy laml ; be 

 it therefore enacted, that it shall he lavvfid.for any jicrson to make bricks for 

 tlie sole purpose of draining wet and marshy lamls without being charged or 

 chargeable with any duty for or in resjicct of such bricks, all such bricks 

 being in the making thereof stamped or moulded with the word " drain" in 

 or near the centre of the surface of such bricks, in so plain and distinct a 

 manner that the same may be easily and clearly legible to any officer of ex- 

 cise or other person ex.imining the same both before and after such hricks 

 shall have gone through tlie ])rocess of burning and become fit for use: pro- 

 vided always, that it shall not be lawful for any person to employ or make 

 use of any such bricks for any other purjiose than in draining wet and marshy 

 anils, and in constructing the necessary drains, gouts, cvdverts, arches, and 



walls of the brickwork proper and necessaiily required for effecting and main- 

 taining the drainage of such lands ; and every maker of such bricks or other 

 jierson who shall sell or deliver or use or employ any brick with the word 

 " drain " so stamped or moulded thereon for any other [lurpose than as aforesaid 

 shall forfeit fifty pounds. 



Section 25, this act shall commence on the 22d day of .Vugust, 18.39. 



THE XEW HOUSES OF PARLI.VMENT. 



On Friday, 27th September, pursuant to notice, the tender for the tliird 

 contract for the new Houses of Parliament, comprising the carcase of the 

 principal building occup\ing the river front, and returns or w ings projecting 

 forward at each end to the river wall — were opened before the Commis- 

 sioners of Her Majesty's Board of Works, when after a spirited competition 

 as will be seen from the subjoined list of tenders put in by some of the prin- 

 cipal builders in the metropoUs. The contract was decided in favor of 

 Messrs. Grissel and Peto, the well-known builders of the York Road, Lam- 

 beth. 



Messrs. Grissel and Peto . . . .£159,718 



Mr. Baker ..... 167,746 



Mr. Cubitt ..... 174,452 



Mr. Winsland .... 177,489 



.Messrs. Lee .... 1 79,-363 



Mr. Grimsdell .... 181.588 



Mr. Piper ..... 183,106 



Mr. Hicks ..... 183,899 



Mr. Bennett .... 184,639 



It is expected that three years will expire before the above contract will 



lie finished, and that it wiU be ten years ere the structure will be entirely 



completed. 



IXSTITUTE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF IRELAND. 



.\. special meeting of the members of the Institute was held in Dublin ou 

 the 8th ult. to install the Viscount Fitzgerald and Vesey into office as Presi- 

 dent. Addresses were made both by his Lordship and Mr. Morrison, the 

 Vice-President, which in a tone of eloquence called on the members to per- 

 severe in the useful course which they had undertaken. It gives us much 

 pleasure to see the interest taken in such an important institution. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 



THE ARCHIMEDES STEAM VESSEL. 

 Our readers will probably recollect that the Archimedes, a remarkably 

 fine-formed vessel, of 230 (?) tons buideii, fitted with a pair of engines, 

 of 45-liorse power each, niaiiufactiired by Alessrs, Renoie, and the 

 screw puipeiler, as applied by Jlr. Smiili, was liist tiled early last 

 summer, and that the experiments were suspeniled, in consequence of 

 the unfortunate bursting of one of tlic^ boilers. At that time llie screw 

 consisted of one whole turn of a single thread, 7 feet in diamefer, and 

 S feet pitch. The boilers have, now been repUiced by two new ones, 

 niaiinfartured by Jlcssrs. IMiller and Kavenliill; and at the same time 

 a modification has been introduced in the torni of the propeller. It 

 consists now of two half-turns of a thread, .5 feet 9 inches in diameter, 

 and 10 feet pitch, placed diametiically opposite to each other on the 

 propeller shaft, so as to occupy a space of only 5 feet in the length of 

 the vessel. 



These alterations being completed, an experimental trip was made 

 down Iho river to Gravesend, on Monday, tlie •ilh ult, and the result 

 was considered highly satisfactory. We regret that we were unable to 

 be present, as we can, therefore, only speak from information we have 

 collected since. 



Vvc understand that she run from Gravesend to London Hridge, 

 a distance of 28 to 30 miles, \\hich was acromplished in two hours, both 

 wiiul and tide being favourable. Xo conclusion can, however, be drawn 

 from this result, respecting the comparative pertorniauce, on account of 

 the co-operation of the wind and tide ; but the mean speed of the vessel 

 through the water was ascertained during the trip, by noting the time 

 in \%liicli she ran a mile, lirst with, and afterwards against the tide. 

 The results of the experiment were the following: — 



Time ot'running the mile with the tide ^ 32 



Number of revolutions of the engine shaft per min. 22 



The speed over the ground was, therefore, ^er hour, 13.2 miles. 



Time of running the mile against the tide !>'o' 



Number of revolutions of the engine shaft 23 



Speed over the ground CO miles. 



Tlie mean speed through the water was thus 9.9 „ 



'Ihe mean number of revolutions of the engine shaft was 22| per 

 minute, which, niiiltiplied by a^ (which Mr. Smith Informs us is the 

 multiplying power of the wheel-work, which communicates the motion 

 from tlie engine shaft to the propeller), gives 120 for the number of 

 revolutions ot the screw per minute. If the screw were moving through 



