, the "Prison
Philanthropist," visited the Philip Street prison in 1782, when he found
that the prisoners were not allowed to do any work, enforced idleness
(as well as semi-starvation) being part of the punishment. He mentions
the case of a shoemaker who was incarcerated for a debt of 15s., which
the keeper of the prison had to pay through kindly allowing the man to
finish some work he had begun before being locked up. In these
enlightened days no man is imprisoned for owing money, but only because
he does not pay it when told to do so.--See also "_Dungeon_" and
"_Gaols_."

~Privateering.~--Most likely there was some truth in the statement that
chains and shackles were made here for the slave-ships of former days,
and from the following letter written to Matthew Boulton in October,
1778, there can be little doubt but that he at least had a share in some
of the privateering exploits of the time, though living so far from a
seaport:--"One of the vessels _our_ little brig took last year was
fitted out at New York, and in a cruise of thirteen weeks has taken
thirteen prizes, twelve of which are carried safe in, and we have advice
of 200 hogsheads of tobacco being shipped as part of the prizes, which
if now here would fetch us L10,000," &c.

~Progress of the Town.~--The Borough Surveyor favours us yearly with
statistics giving the number of new buildings erected, or for which
plans have been approved, and to show how rapidly the town is
progressing in extent, we give a few of the figures. The year 1854 is
memorable in the building trade, as there were 2,219 new houses erected,
the average for years after not being 1,000. In 1861 the number was but
952; in 1862, 1,350; in 1863, 1,694; in 1864, 1,419; in 1865, 1,056; in
1866, 1,411; in 1867, 1,408; in 1868, 1,548; in 1869, 1,709; in 1870,
1,324; in 1871, 1,076; in 1872, 1,265; in 1873, 993. The building report
for the last ten years is thus tabulated:--

1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Houses 1611 3395 2903 2700 1205 1197 1301 1236 666 938
and Shops
Churches 1 1 1 1 -- -- -- -- 2 2
Chapels 2 2 5 3 1 -- 1 1 -- 1
Schools 9 15 6 6 4 -- -- 2 6 1
Manufactories
and 76 80 107 86 64 102 64 91