SCHOOL OF MUSIC.--The School of Music in its present form at the Birmingham and Midland Institute was commenced in 1885. Classes were established in the following branches--theory of music, elementary and advanced part singing and solo singing, (a separate class for each voice, soprano, contralto, tenor and bass). The pianoforte, violin (elementary, intermediate and advanced), clarionet, flute, violoncello, and brass instruments generally. During the first term there were 1,233 students in the school, the fees range from one penny per lesson to half-a-guinea for a term of 12 to 15 lessons. During the current season the following additional classes have been sanctioned by the Council--organ, bassoon, oboe, double bass, and viola; and it is probable that classes will be formed for ensemble orchestral playing and part singing. CHAPTER VIII. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES (BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT.) BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.Sc. In the following pages an attempt is made to give to the reader some idea of the extent and variety of the manufactures of our town and neighbourhood. The method followed is to state at the outset the classes of material which come into the town, and to follow these in the mind’s eye through smelting furnace, forge, or workshop, until they come out in a wonderful variety of articles, one or more of which will ultimately be found in the possession of every nation of the earth. To carry out the proposed method with fulness and accuracy would require a strict blockade of the town, similar to that adopted for collecting town dues in continental towns with agents to report the quantities and qualities of the goods passing in and out. Failing this, we may, through the agencies of the railway and canal companies obtain at least some idea of the character and extent of our trade. In preparing some statistics relating to goods brought into and taken out of the town, I am particularly indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Henry Wiggin, M.P., one of the directors of the Midland Railway, and also to Mr. John Noble, general manager of that railway; Mr. J. Grierson, general manager of the Great Western Railway; and Mr. G. Findlay, general manager of the London and North Western Railway. Mr. W. Pilcher, of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and Mr. George, of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal, have also been good enough to supply information. In considering the traffic of our town we must remember that Birmingham is not only a manufacturing centre but a distributor of goods which arrive here in bulk. This, coupled with the circumstance that, from its inland position, there is a great deal of through traffic, renders it difficult to obtain such satisfactory figures as I hoped to have done when I commenced this work. Statement of principal classes of goods coming into and going out of Birmingham by railway during the year 1885, with weight in tons of each class. INWARDS.