FEBRUARY.
11.—A public meeting was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, to give the citizens the opportunity of expressing their opinion upon the new Water Works Bill. A resolution was adopted in its favour. On the 12th the Town Council agreed to petition the House of Commons in opposition to the Bill, on the ground principally that no provision was made for such a supply of water as the inhabitants required, and that the scale of rates was too high. On the 19th the Corporation authorised the expenditure of £250 “to defray the expense of defending the rights of the present Water Works Company and of opposing the new Water Works Bill in Parliament.” On March 27th Mr. David
Stevenson, C.E., Edinburgh, held a public inquiry at the Guildhall respecting the application for the new Bill, and subsequently made a tour of inspection. He stated that Norwich was as badly supplied with water as any place he was ever in. The Bill went before the Committee of the House of Commons on May 2nd, and on the 16th was reported to the House of Lords. It passed its third reading in the House of Commons on June 3rd. The Town Council, on June 12th, appointed a committee to confer with the promoters of the Bill as to certain clauses; and on June 15th it was announced that the promoters had adopted a course that was satisfactory to the representatives of the Council. Opposition was then withdrawn. The first general meeting of the shareholders of the Norwich Water Works Company was held on October 15th, under the presidency of Mr. Bignold, chairman of the company.
MARCH.
13.—Festivities commenced at Shadwell Court, and were continued three days, in celebration of the coming of age of Sir Robert Jacob Buxton, who was presented by the tenantry with a massive silver salver. The band of the 2nd Life Guards was in attendance.
24.—Snow fell to the depth of 12 inches. A drift occurred in the chalk cutting between Narborough and Swaffham, and delayed railway traffic.
26.—Died at Lambeth, aged 66, Mr. William Bath, President of the Money Order Office, St. Martin’s le Grand. He was Mayor of Yarmouth in 1824 and 1826, and was the first Mayor of that borough after the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, when he occupied the civic chair during two successive terms.
APRIL.
5.—At the Norfolk Assizes, before Lord Chief Baron Pollock, Blofield John Rix and Henry Senior were charged with stealing, embezzling, and misappropriating various sums of money, to the amount of £10,589 18s., the property of their employers. Both prisoners were employed at the Diss Bank. The proprietor, Mr. Dyson, was taken seriously ill in the month of December, 1848, and an arrangement was made that Mr. Thomas Lombe Taylor, son of Mr. Meadows Taylor, a former partner with Mr. Dyson, should be taken into partnership, and the partnership commenced in 1849. On January 19th Mr. Dyson died, and Mr. Taylor intended to dispose of the business to the firm of Messrs. Harveys and Hudson. It became necessary to go through the accounts, and then the frauds were discovered. The prisoners were tried on a charge of simple larceny, whereupon they pleaded guilty, and were sentenced, Rix to 18 months’ and Senior to 12 months’ imprisonment.
—The action, Berney v. Delane and Co., was tried at the Norfolk Assizes, before Lord Chief Baron Pollock. The question at issue was the right to the use of the stream which worked Taverham Mills. The defendants manufactured the paper for “The Times” newspaper, “and