Though at starting it was announced that the undertaking was not
intended for profit,--such were the advantages derived from the
operations of the Company that the shareholders it is said, in addition
to a dividend of 10 per cent., received in the course of couple of years
a benefit equal to 600 per cent, in the shape of reduced prices. Large
dividends have at times been received, but a slightly different tale is
now told.--The New Union Mill was started in 1810; the Snow Hill Mill
about 1781; the Britannia Mills in 1862.
~Fly Vans.~--"Fly Boats" to the various places connected with Birmingham
by the canals were not sufficient for our townspeople seventy years ago,
and an opposition to the coaches started in 1821, in the shape of Fly
Vans or light Post Waggons, was hailed with glee. These Fly Vans left
the Crescent Wharf (where Showell and Sons' Stores are now) three
evenings a week, and reached Sheffield the following day. This was the
first introduction of a regular "parcels' post," though the authorities
would not allow of anything like a letter being sent with a parcel, _if_
they knew it.
~Foolish Wager.~--On July 8,1758, for a wager, a man named Moraon got
over the battlements of the tower at St.
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