From the year 1851 to 1873 was a period of steady progress in our municipal affairs; but the mayoralty of the Right Hon. (then Mr.) Joseph Chamberlain, 1873-6, was signalised by the building of the Council House; the acquisition of the undertakings of the two Gas Companies of the Borough, as well as that of the Waterworks Company, and the authorisation of a great scheme of street improvement of which the formation of Corporation Street is the principal feature. Curiously enough, the acquisition of the gas supply of the Borough had a consequence, apparently as far removed as Tenterden steeple from the Goodwin Sands, viz., the provision of the present commodious Art Gallery (p. 123.) The explanation is, that under the Free Libraries Act, the Town Council had the power to appropriate the site for the purpose of an Art Gallery, but no power to raise money to erect the building otherwise than by the penny rate, which was then hardly sufficient for the annual cost of the Free Libraries. The Gas department of the Corporation requiring to build larger offices, the Council, at the request of the Free Libraries Committee, granted the land to the Gas Committee, on condition that they should build over their offices the new Art Gallery, which they have done at an estimated cost of £40,000. By this means a difficulty which seemed insuperable was overcome. In addition to this benefit to the town, the Gas Committee have earned for the Corporation a profit of more than £25,000 a year. Thirty years of municipal activity, such as has been described, commencing with the Act of 1851, of course involved repeated applications to Parliament, and in 1882 the mass of legislation was found to be enormous, and a consolidation of twenty separate Acts was effected by the Birmingham (Corporation) Consolidation Act, 1883, which removed the limit of the Free Library rate, and enabled the Corporation to establish the Municipal School of Art (see p. xviii.), and to provide adequate funds for the maintenance of the Corporation Art Gallery.