180 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



P.S. The above are the conditions the Committee resolved upon, but 

 since tlicii tlicy have determined to receive plans of churches including a 

 chancel." 



Accordingly we set about making the drawings, but it subsequently oc- 

 curred to us that something ought to be specified as to the terms of compe- 

 tition ; whether or not the successful competitor was to superintend the work, 

 or if any premium was to be received for the best design, and we immediately 

 applied' for information, in answer to which application the following letter 

 was forwarded us : — 



Sir— In answer to yours of yesterday's date. I beg to state that no pre- 

 mium will be given for designs ; and whether the successful competitor will 

 be allowed to superintend or not I cannot say, but most likely he will. 



I am. Sir, (for Mr. Boycot) 

 Your obedient servant, Geo. Boddixgton. 



Now, had we not proceeded so far with the drawings as to render them 

 useless for anything else, we should, of course, have declined having anything 

 to do in a matter so strangely conducted ; but we hoped they would improve 

 upon acquaintance, and attributed this behaviour to want of good breeding 

 as well as experience. Our designs were accordingly forwarded on the 21st 

 of December, and not having received any communication, we wrote on the 

 1st of April to inquire whether the Committee had made selection of a de- 

 sign. Two days after this we received the drawings, unaccompanied by any 

 note or acknowledgment, in a most shamefully mutilated state, and bearing 

 evident marks of having been used on the ground. Three days afterwards 

 the following letter came to hand : — 



Sir— Your plans were forwarded by coach on Saturday, the Committee 

 having only decided on the 1st instant, and they desire me to thank you 

 for having sent in designs. 



I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 



Kidderminster, April 5, 1842. W. Boycot, Jan. 



As the description of our designs was not returned with the drawings, and 

 not having then leceived the above letter, I wrote to Mr. Boycot as follows : 



SiR_I beg to acknowledge the receipt of our designs for the proposed 

 church at Kidderminster, but the description thereof is not returned, and I 

 shall feel obliged by your forwarding it at yonr earnest convenience. ^Ve feel 

 somewhat surprised at the uncourteous treatment received at the hands of 

 the Committee, no note having accompanied the drawings, stating whether 

 they were approved of or not, and I think that after having detained them 

 for nearly fifteen weeks, a letter of thanks is at the least due to the architect. 

 I should feel obliged by your informing me who is the successful competitor. 



I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 



WiL. W. Wardell. 



To this letter we received one in reply from Mr. Boycot, expressing surprise 

 at the contents of the above, but not mentioning one word about the success- 

 ful candidate. The matter then remained silent until Monday, the 11th of 

 April, when, to our great astonishment, we perceived the following adver- 

 tisement in the " Times" ; — 



To Builders.— Builders desirous of contracting for the erection of the new 

 church at Kidderminster may inspect the plans and specifications, by appli- 

 cation to \Yilliam Boycot, Esq., Solicitor, Kidderminster ; and sealed tenders 

 must, with the names of the sureties, be left at his office, addressed to the 

 Committee for building the new church, on or before the 18th of April 

 instant. 



In the letter above quoted you will observe that the Committee only de- 

 cided on the 1st of April. Now is it likely that in nine days an architect 

 could prepaie contract drawings, specifications, &c. ready for advertising for 

 tenders ? and not only so, but there was no architect's name mentioned in 

 the advertisement. These circumstances aroused our suspicion that the 

 whole affair was one of those disgraceful pieces of chicanery so frequently 

 exposed in your valuable Journal, and determined us to pursue the inquiry 

 of who was the successful competitor ; and we accordingly wrote to inquire 

 on the 14th of April, and on the 20th received the following reply :— 



Re Kidderminster New Church. 

 Sir — I duly received your letter, but could not answer it till this day, the 

 Committee having only decided yesterday. The successful architect is Mr. 

 G. Alexander, of London. 



I remain Sir, your obedient servant, 

 Kidderminster, April 20, 1842. W. Bovcot, Jun. 



Now what are we to understand ? for this letter completely contradicts 

 that received on the 6th of April. It -was therein stated that the Committee 

 decided on the 1st, and in the last letter he informs us it was on the 19th. 

 Mr. Boycot will surely see the truth of the old adage, " " * 



* * " Probably when Mr. Boycot wrote to us on the 20th he had for- 

 gotten the contents of his letter of the 5th. ^Ye can hardly imagine that so 

 respectable a member of the profession as Mr. Alexander could have lent 

 himself to anything so unjust and contemptible, but it does appear to us 

 that the advertisement for designs was a mere matter of conformity to the 

 regulations of the Church Commissioners, and that it never was intended to 

 be an open competition or an impartial selection. 



1 shall leave the matter in your hands, yet I trust. Sir, for the benefit of 

 that profession whose cause you so ably advocate, you will not fail to expose 

 this instance of the manner in which these robberies of professional time are 

 carried on. ^Ye do not wish it to be understood that we consider our design 

 had the least claim to preference, or possessed the slightest degree of merit, 

 vet I must confess these extraordinary circumstances, together with the con- 

 tradictory statements of Mr. Boycot, confirm the opinion that his conduct in 

 the first instance suggested. 



I am. Sir, 



Your very obedient servant, 

 WiL. W. Wardell. 



REGULATIONS ON RAILWAY.^ IN FRANCE. 



Tm; Minister of Public Works, in conformity with the opinion of the 

 committee on steam-ungines, has provisionally issued the following orders ■— 



1. The employment of locomotives on four wheels is forbidden with 

 passengers' trains. 



2. Neither tender nor any other carriage on four wheels to be placed at the 

 head of the trains before the locomotives. 



3. The locomotives to be placed at the head of the train, and never behind. 



Tliis regulation never to be violated, except in case of changing the di- 

 rection of the trains at the stations, or in case of a tr.iin being stopped by 

 accident, and that it should be necessary to send assistance from behind the 

 train; but in such case the speed of the train not to exceed 22 kikmetres 

 the hour (13.7 miles). 



It is moreover absolutely forbidden to enclose a train between two loco- 

 motives, one before and the other behind. 



4. Until abetter mode shall have been discovered to diminish the ellect of 

 shocks and collisions, there shall be placed one wagon without passengers at 

 the head of each train composed of five carriages at most, and of two wagons, 

 when the number of carriages in the train shall exceed five. 



5. The passengers' carriages never to be locked. 



6. Every railroad company to keep books, in which shall be entered the 

 state and length of service of every axle-tree, whether straight or curved. 



7. The Prefect will publish an ordinance, stating the interval at which two 

 trains are to succeed each other. 



8. The speed of the trains in their descent from Yersailles to Paris on 

 either line not to exceed 39 kilometres per hour. (21 miles.) 



Independently of the above measures, the Minister of Public Works has 

 requested the committee on steam engines to examine— 



1. Whether m the descent from Versailles to Paris, and in fact in all rapid 

 descents, it would be advisable to prohibit the use of more than one locomo- 

 tive, and. if not, under what regulations they should be tolerated. 



2. To discover the best mode of preventing inflammable matter from being 

 communicated by the locomotives. 



The Minister is moreover about to appoint a special commission to make 

 experiments— 



1. Upon the degree of perfection to which the axletrees of locomotives 

 may be brought, and the length of time they ought to remain in use. 



2. Upon the different means to be employed in order to diminish the eflects 

 and danger of collisions on railroads. 



