eshment, billiard, and
retiring rooms, &c., there is a large assembly-room, frequently used for
balls, concerts, and entertainments of a public character. The
dimensions of the principal hall are 70 feet length, 40 feet width, with
a height of 23 feet, the assembly-room above being same size, but
loftier. The central tower is 110 feet high, the turret, in which there
was placed a clock made by John Inshaw, to be moved by electro-magnetic
power (but which is now only noted for its incorrectness), rising some
45 feet above the cornice. Other portions of the building are let off in
offices.

~Excise.~--It is but rarely the Inland Revenue authorities give the
public any information showing the amount of taxes gathered in by the
officials, and the return, therefore, for the year ending March 31,
1879, laid before the House of Commons, is worth preserving, so far as
the Birmingham collection goes. The total sum which passed through the
local office amounted to L89,321, the various headings under which the
payments were entered, being:--Beer dealers, L2,245; beer retailers,
L7,161; spirit dealers, L1,617; spirit retailers, L8,901; wine dealers,
L874; wine retailers, L2,392; brewers, L9,518; maltsters, L408; dealers
in roasted malt, L17; manufacturers of tobacco, L147; dealers in
tobacco, L1,462; rectifiers of spirits, L11; makers of methylated
spirits, L10; retailers of methylated spirits, L33; vinegar makers, L26;
chemists and others using stills, L4; male servants, L1,094; dogs,
L1,786; carriages, L4,613; armorial bearings, L374; guns, L116; to kill
game, L1,523; to deal in game, L136; refreshment houses, L366; makers
and dealers in sweets, L18; retailers of sweets, L42; hawkers and
pedlars, L68; appraisers and house agents, L132; auctioneers, L1,210;
pawnbrokers, L1,958; dealers in plate, L1,749; gold and silver plate
duty, L17,691; medicine vendors, L66; inhabited house duty, L21,533.

The Excise (or Inland Revenue) Offices are in Waterloo Street, and are
open daily from 10 to 4.

~Excursions.~--The annual trip to the seaside, or the continent, or some
other attractive spot, which has come to be considered almost an
essential necessary for the due preservation of health and the
sweetening of temper, was a thing altogether unknown to the old folks of
our town, who, if by chance they could get as far as Lichfield,
Worcester, or Coventry once in their lives, never ceased to talk about
it as something wonderful. The "outing