1849.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



253 



the Tubular Bridges. But enough is before us to warrant us in 

 affirming that Mr. Fairbairn deals unfairly both with his own fame 

 and with that of his colleagues, in assuming a controversial tone — 

 unfairly towards them, by endeavouring to depreciate their merits, 

 — unfairly towards himself, because the attempt will re-act against 

 himself, in the minds of those who will estimate his labours by 

 personal, and not by purely scientific considerations. 



BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 



Sir — I have read in the June number of your excellent Journal, Sir John 

 Rennie's letter of the 17th May. As it contains nothing new, I would sim- 

 ply, in addition to the facts contained in my former letters, refer to the 

 Minutes of the Lighthouse Board of 6th June 1827, wherein there is a 

 Report of a Committee appointed to examine accounts connected with the 

 publication of Mr. Stevenson's work on the Bell Rock Lighthouse. That 

 Committee recommended the Board to express to Mr. Stevenson "their 

 sense of his merits as the engineer of the Cell Rock Lighthouse, and the 

 author of the history of its erection ;" and accordingly, Mr. Duff, in name 

 of the Commissioners, begged to return him "their thanks for the ability, 

 assiduity, and enterprise displayed by him in the completion of that great 

 useful public work, and of the clear and instructive narrative which he has 

 given of its erection in this publication." 



I also embrace this opportunity of laying before your readers the accom- 

 panying letter which I have lately received from Mr. Cuningham, the re- 

 tired Secretary of the Northern Lights Board, — the gentleman whose name 

 Sir John Rennie has mentioned with deserved hut (in the eyes of all who 

 know him) supererogatory commendation, and who drew the very Minute on 

 which Sir John has attempted to raise his claim. — Again, with thanks, 



I remain, &e., 



Edinburgh, Sth July, \Si9. • Alan Stevenson. 



Co/>y of Letter J^rom Charles Cuvinnhnm, Esq., to Mr. Alan Stctejzson, 

 above referred to. 



" My Dear Sir — I have your note of the 26th, and I presume that I am 

 indebted to you for a private copy from the Civil Engineer and Architect's 

 Journal of this month, of the correspondence between Sir John Rennie and 

 you relative to the Bell Rock Lighthouse, which I have perused with much 

 interest. A copy of your letter of the 26th December last to Sir John, 

 whicli was sent to me by my son, was the first intimation I ever ha'l, and I 

 received it not without surprise at Sir John Itennie having claimed for his 

 father the merit of having designed and built this Lighthouse. 



"It so hajipened that among the first professional duties with which I was 

 intrusted was to act as clerk to the joint committees of Edinburgh and 

 Leith, who had the charge of the construction of the Leith Wet Docks. 

 This must have been in 1799 or 1800; and very shortly afterwards I was 

 conjoined with the late Mr. Gray, as Secretary to the Commissioners of 

 Northern Lighthouses ; and in both ca]iacities I had frequent opportunities 

 of being with Mr. Rennie during his periodical visits to Scotland. The Wet 

 Docks he planned and executed under the superintendence of a resident 

 engineer appointed by himself. The Bell Rock was planned by your father, 

 and after having been sanctioned hy Mr. Rennie, was executed entirely under 

 your father's personal superintendence ; and in all my communications with 

 Mr. Rennie, which were not unfrequent, I never heard him lay claim to tliis 

 work, nor am I aware of his having had anything to do with the execution 

 of it — unless, perhaps, your father may have seen fit to consult him in his 

 character of chief engineer. 



"You ask me under what impression I framed the Minute of 3rd Decem- 

 ber 1S06; but at this distance of time it is not to be expected that I can 

 retain exact impressions. That Minute must have been framed under direc- 

 tions ; but I have no hesitation in saying generally, that I conceive the Com- 

 missioners having obtained Mr. Rennie'sj?a/, thereby gave their sanction to 

 the building being of stone, as recommended by your father, the plan of 

 which bad long before been submitted to them. But surely the fact of the 

 Commissioners having placed your father's bust in the library of the Light- 

 bouse, conveys, in a manner not to be mistaken, their impression of the 

 party entitled to the merit of the work. 



"I am, &c. 



(Signer!) 



Newholm, Dolphinton, Lanarkshire, 

 "29^/1 May, IS 19." 



'Charles Cuningham. 



Hnytar Granite. — The size of some of the stones quarried at the Dart, 

 moor Grnnite Woiks may be imagined from one wliich was blown out a few days Hgo by 

 Messrs. Filmer and Hoar. The length of the bloek was 30 feet-, hieadth, 2i feet; helRht, 

 24 feet, cubical coiit.jnts. 16,.'i60 feet ; and it weighed no less than 1.380 tons. Only 

 50 lb. of powder were used in blasting. 



IMPORTANT RATING CASE. 



Sir, — The rating of the property belonging to gas, water, and railway 

 companies, to the relief of the poor, being now so much in dispute, every 

 decision thereon is of importance. 



On Friday, July 6th, an important decision was made, in the case of an 

 appeal of the Phoenix Gas Company, against the assessment of their property 

 to the poor-rate, in the parish of Greenwich, which assessment bad been in- 

 creased when the last rate was made, in April last, from the sum of 1680/. to 

 5671^. (both sums including the stations and mains), without any alterations 

 having been made by the company, to increase the value of their property in 

 that parish. The Phccnix Gas Company has very extensive buildings and 

 plant, the mains extending into twenty-three parishes, with large manufac- 

 turing stations at Vauxhall, Bankside, and Greenwich ; also store stations in 

 Kenoingtou-lane and Wellington-street. The parish ofBcers, by the advice of 

 their surveyor, Mr. Charles Penfold, of Cornhill, valued the property belong- 

 ing to the company, in the parish of Greenwich, as separate and distinct from 

 the rest of the company's works and mains (although the whole is most in- 

 timately connected, also managed by one board of directors, having one office 

 and only one set of clerks and officers) ; hy which scheme, the whole value 

 of the station and mains in Greenwich was assessed to the poor-rate of that 

 parish, as well as a portion of the value of the gas rental of the other pa- 

 rishes supplied with gas from the Greenwich station, — for the reason that the 

 gas used in those parishes passed through the mains laid in Greenwich parish. 

 They then proceeded to ascertain the net rateable value, by assuming that the 

 rent which a tenant would give, "from year to year," for the whole property 

 in Greenwich, with the right of supplying that and the other parishes now 

 supplied from the Greenwich station ; and this assumed rent was arrived at 

 by finding the power of production (not the quantity produced) of gas at the 

 station in Greenwich : the result was — 



Net rateable value of the station .. £3,000 



Ditto of the mains in Greenwich supplying gas in Greenwich only .. 2,924 



Ditto of the mains iu Greenwich supplying Lewisham l.'>4 



Ditto of the mains in Greenwich supplying other parts 393 



Total net rateable valuable £5,0/1 



The surveyor of the company, Mr. Lee, of Golden-square, contended, that 

 the whole of the property belonging to the company must be considered as 

 one concern, and taken as a whole, and so assessed to the poor-rate. Or, that 

 the rent which a tenant would give, "from year to year," for all the stations, 

 stores, and mains in the twenty-three parishes, must first be assumed ; that 

 the basis of this assumed rent should be the gas actually produced at the 

 three stations, and sold in the twenty. three parishes; and from the rent so 

 ascertained must be obtained the net rateable value of the whole property. 



Then, that the net rateable values of all the stations and stores most be 

 assumed and deducted from the net rateable value of the whole property, the 

 balance being the net rateable value of all the mains in the twenty-three 

 parishes, and that this balance should be divided in proportion to the quan- 

 tity of mains in each parish. Or, that the stations and stores should be 

 rated in the parishes in which they may happen to be situate, in proportion 

 to their present value; and the net rateable value of all deducted from the 

 amount nf the net rateable value of the whole properly, including the stores 

 and stations; and that the remainder should be divided amongst the twenty- 

 three parishes, in proportion to the quantity of fixed apparatus situate in 

 each parish instrumental in earning gas-rent : the result would be — 



Net rateable value of all the stations £5 438 



Ditto ditto of all the mains 3,320 



Total net rateable value of the whole property ^a,7orf 



Net rateable value of Ihe Greenwich station ifl.Slt! 



Ditto ditto 01 the street mains in Gieeuwich 314 



Net rateable value of all the property in Gieenwlch . . .. jfl.tVO 



The total present value of all the stations being £\7'6.'riS 



Ditto ditto of all the street mains U>.),7»>1 



Total present value of all the property £27t,'J\)^ 



The present value of the stations at Greenwich being .5^41.953 



Ditto ditto of the street mains in Greenwich 1 1 U4d 



Total value of the property in Greenwich ^£53,001 



The Court decided that the assessment must first be made on the whole of 

 the property in the twenty-three parishes, as a whole, iu accordance with 

 "The Queen v. the Great Western Railway Company," and tliat it was to be 

 then divided as contended for by the company's surveyor ; that the net rate- 

 able value of the whole was to be 13,600/., and in Gi'eenwioh parish 2,o32/. 

 — viz. station, 2,045/.; mains, 487/. The ease was gone into at great length ; 

 it came on by special appointment, and occupied the Court from niue until 

 half-past seven o'clock. 



The company have appealed against the assessment of their property, iu 

 various parishes, several times, for the purpose of having a principle decided, 

 but have not succeeded before this case. 



I am, &c. 



.\ Surveyor. 



