erted, under which
Walsall, West Bromwich, &c., could purchase the several mains and works
in their vicinity, if desirous to do so. The Birmingham Gas Co. received
from the Corporation L450,000, of which L136,890 was to be left on loan
at 4%, as Debenture Stock, though L38,850 thereof has been kept in hand,
as the whole was redeemable within ten years. The balance of L313,000
was borrowed from the public at 4%, and in some cases a little less. The
Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co. were paid in Perpetual Annuities,
amounting to L58,290 per year, being the maximum dividends then payable
on the Co.'s shares, L10,906 was returned as capital not bearing
interest, L15,000 for surplus profits, L30,000 the half-year's dividend,
and also L39,944 5s. 4d. the Co's Reserve Fund. The total cost was put
down as L1,900,000. The Annuities are redeemable by a Sinking Fund in 85
years. For their portion of the mains, service pipes, works, &c.
formerly belonging to the Birmingham and Staffordshire Company, the
Walsall authorities pay the Corporation an amount equivalent to
annuities valued at L1,300 per year; Oldbury paid L22,750, Tipton
L34,700, and West Bromwich L70,750.

~Gas Fittings.~--Curious notions appear to have been at first
entertained as to the explosive powers of the new illuminator, nothing
less than copper or brass being considered strong enough for the
commonest piping, and it was thought a great innovation when a local
manufacturer, in 1812, took out a patent for lead pipes copper-coated.
Even Murdoch himself seems to have been in dread of the burning element,
for when, in after years, his house at Sycamore Hill changed owners, it
was found that the smaller gas pipes therein were made of silver,
possibly used to withstand the supposed corrosive effects of the gas.
The copper-covered lead pipes were patented in 1819 by Mr. W. Phipson,
of the Dog Pool Mills, the present compo being comparatively a modern
introduction. Messengers, of Broad Street, and Cook, of Caroline Street
(1810-20), were the first manufacturers of gas fittings in this town,
and they appear to have had nearly a monopoly of the trade, as there
were but three others in it in 1833, and only about twenty in 1863; now
their name is legion, gas being used for an infinitude of purposes, not
the least of which is by the gas cooking stove, the idea of which was so
novel at first that the Secretary of the Gas Office in the Minories at
one time introduced it to t