Bow Churchyard the problem how to afford the greatest amount of light for the display of the brighter goods of a Manchester warehouse consistently with architectural character is very fairly solved in the warehouse of Messrs. Copestake, designed by Messrs. Tress and Chamberlain. The façade will not accord with the rules of any architectural school, but-its purpose considered-it is perhaps none the worse for that. About Aldermanbury, Wood-street, and the neighbourhood, many warehouses, and around the Exchange, Fenchurchstreet, Mark-lane, Mincing-lane, &c., numerous offices and chambers are finished or building, in all of which an attempt is made after architectural character, whilst some are really effective buildings. In Lombard-street a substantial but rather plain bank has been erected for Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock, and Co. The site of the former bank of Sir W. Lubbock, opposite to the Mansion House, is about to be occupied with the new Union Bank, their present premises not being large enough. In Finch-lane a neat Italian building of white brick, with rusticated pilasters, quoins, dressings, and entablature of Portland stone, has been erected for the London and Middlesex Bank, from the designs of Mr. Ponget. For a branch of the London and Liverpool Bank a spacious building is in course of erection at the Borough corner of the new Southwark street. For the Royal Assurance Company a large space has been cleared in Lombard-street, and a showy building is contemplated. For the North British a spacious edifice is rising in Threadneedle-street. The Prudential, in accord with their title, have contented themselves with a comparatively modest building on Ludgate-hill, designed for them by Mr. R. L. Roumieu. Proceeding westward, we may note in passing that preparations are making for a new wing to the Record Office in Fetter-lane; that in Chancery-lane Auction Rooms of more than average merit have been erected for Mr. Hodgson, from the designs of Mr. G. Pownall; that in Lincoln's Inn Mr. Vulliamy has built for Messrs. Freere a rather ornamental block of chambers; and that in the neighbourhood of the British Museum a large number of shops and private houses on the Bedford Estate are being rebuilt or undergoing transformation-the facing, unfortunately, being for the most part of cement. The new shops, &c., rendered necessary by the construction of the Charing Cross Railway Terminus may be left till the works are completed. In the new street, Covent Garden, little architectural progress has yet been made. The Garrick Club will probably be for some time the principal feature. In Soho-square the Hospital for Women is being rebuilt. In Oxford-street a showy shop has been built for Messrs. Hyams, from the designs of Mr. H. Jones; but the massiveness of the upper part piled on the vacuity of the shop is a fatal artistic defect. In Jermyn-street, it not being necessary to husband every possible inch of shop front, some more satisfactory business houses have been built by Mr. J. Blore. Banks, warehouses, assurance offices, chambers, shops, and manufacturing establishments, of which we had prepared notes in order to particularize at least the more characteristic, have been completed at Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Lincoln, Worcester, Bristol, Totnes-every where in fact-of claim to notice on account of their size, the architectural taste and skill displayed in the designs, or the costliness of the materials. This year, however, they must pass unspecified. ---- Among the results of the Limited Liability Act none have been so beneficial to the architect as the proceedings of the Hotel Companies. We have in previous years recorded the erection of several of these palace-like structures. This year they extend beyond our grasp. One, the Langham-place Hotel, the most splendid perhaps yet built in London, is making rapid progress; others are begun or talked of in Holborn, the Strand, the Inns of Court, &c.; and on Hampstead Heath, an egregious pile,-Richmond Hill, Norwood, and, in fact, on every attractive spot around London where a suitable site can be discovered they are commenced, completed, or projected. In the country they will be hardly less numerous. Every large town has or will have them; in every touring locality they are begun or promised, and every watering-place, whether sea-coast or inland, will soon be adorned with a stately hotel and an almost equally stately rival-if the airy visions of limited liability projectors be realized in solid bricks and mortar a consummation for the peace of the shareholders in many cases to be devoutly deprecated. 7. BRIDGES, DOCKS, &c. We have already spoken of the Blackfriars and Charing Cross Bridges. The projects brought before Parliament last session included no fewer than five new bridges within the limits of the metropolis-at the Tower, St. Paul's, the Temple, Battersea, and Wandsworth. On one of the bills, however, the Lords passed a general resolution to the effect that "it is not desirable to sanction the construction of any additional toll-exacting bridges over the Thames," and, as all of them were toll-exacting, they were all laid aside for a more favourable season. New bridges are to be made in the place of the inconvenient ones already existing at Fulham and Hampton. The chains of Hungerford Bridge have been carried to Clifton, where the new suspension bridge is making steady progress under the direction of Messrs. Hawksworth and Barlow. Lendall Bridge, York, a handsome structure of a single span of 175 feet, designed by Mr. T. Page, the engineer of Westminster Bridge, to which it bears a general resemblance, is much praised by the local critics. Continuous progress is being made with the vast docks and works at Birkenhead; and at Liverpool important extensions are in hand. Some extensive docks are proposed to be made at Hull and else. where. A great breakwater has been commenced at the mouth of the Tees, with a view to convert the estuary into a harbour of refuge. Óf the works at the Government Docks, harbours, piers, fortifications, barracks, military stores, and the like, immense and important as they are, it is plainly impossible to speak here. They would require a paper to themselves. JAMES THORNE. VIII. ABSTRACTS OF IMPORTANT PUBLIC ACTS PASSED IN THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE EIGHTEENTH PARLIAMENT PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES' ANNUITIES. [26 Victoriæ, cap. 1.—March 5, 1863.] An Act to enable her Majesty to provide for the Establishment of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and to settle certain Annuities on her Royal Highness. Power is given by this Act to her Majesty to grant an Annuity of 40,000l. per annum for the establishment of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandra on their marrriage, with a further grant of 10,000l. to the Princess during her marriage, and an annuity of 30,000%. per annum in the event of her surviving the Prince of Wales; all of them to be charged on the Consolidated Fund. UNION RELIEF AID ACT (1862) CONTINUANCE. An Act to extend for a further Period the Provisions of the Union Relief The provisions of the Act 25 and 26 Vict., cap. 110, applying to the expenditure during the quarters of the year ending at Michaelmas and Christmas, 1862, are extended (§ 1) to the quarters ending at Lady Day and Midsummer, 1863, and sums borrowed under that Act (§ 2) may be repaid by annual instalments not exceeding fourteen. The word expenditure (§ 3) is to include the amount paid under any order of contribution issued by the Poor Law Board in pursuance of either of these Acts. When the Union applying for aid extends into two or more counties (§ 4), each of such counties is to contribute to the aid according to the rateable value of so much of the Union as shall be situated within such county; and "where the Union required to contribute shall be situated in two or more counties, it is to contribute upon the annual rateable value of so many of the parishes of the Union as shall be wholly within the county or counties within which the Union applying for aid is situate, and the contribution shall be borne exclusively by such parishes, and shall be apportioned by the Guardians between such parishes according to their rateable values respectively, in exoneration of the common fund of the Union." By § 5 the parishes within the Mansfield Union are exempted from the operation of § 1 of the Act of last Session. The powers of borrowing (§ 6) are extended to the overseers of any parish under a separate Board of Guardians in either of the counties. Parishes not in Union (§ 7), and not under a separate Board of Guardians, are to contribute in aid according to their annual rateable value. The power of the Poor Law Board (§ 8) to issue orders under this Act expired on Sept. 1, 1863; (§ 9) and the Act is to be construed, except as herein provided, in the same manner as the Act of 1862. TOBACCO DUTIES. [26 Victoria, cap. 7.-March 27, 1863.] An Act for altering the Duties on Tobacco, and permitting the Manufacture of Cavendish and Negrohead in Bond. Instead of the duties heretofore leviable upon tobacco § 1 enacts the following scale : Tobacco, manufactured; viz., Segars Snuff, containing more than Snuff, not containing that quan- other manufactured tobacco unmanufactured, containing 10 lbs. or more of moisture in containing less than 10 lbs. of on every pound of Cavendish or 8. d. the lb. 5 0 4 6 but no tobacco packed and prized shall, on importation, be examined as to the quantity of moisture, except by special order of the Commissioners of Customs, and unmanufactured tobacco is to be entered as formerly, distinguished as stemmed or unstemmed. The drawbacks, with a number of trade regulations respecting the quantity of moisture and of other ingredients used in manufacturing it, are in proportion to the duties. By § 2 the Commissioners of Customs are empowered to appoint warehouses for the manufacture of tobacco in bond as Cavendish or Negrohead, and for weighing, wrapping up, and labelling such manufactured tobacco, whether of British or foreign manufacture, so as to secure the duty on such tobacco; and § 3 enables such manufacture to be carried on in the said warehouses by licensed manufacturers, subject to the provisions of § 2. No Cavendish or Negrohead tobacco (§ 4), whether imported and warehoused as such, or manufactured in the warehouse, shall be delivered from any warehouse for home consumption, except on the following conditions :"-that they are to be made up in packets of such weights as may be directed, not exceeding one pound nor less than one ounce; that they be inclosed in wrappers approved by the Commissioners, at the expense of the importer or manufacturer; each wrapper to be securely fastened by a |