The Water Works

The sensation of the week ia the Water Company'a assignment, whieh was iikkIc, nol because the business ha ; i! profitable, but to protect itscreditors and to flnd out where it stands. I:Ünancea bad become só mixed with those of A. W'. Hamilton, that some stop bad to be taken to get an accounting. The company i,as an indebtedne$s of over 200,000, made up of a Brsl mortgage of $150,000; a second of 140,000, on wbich $12,000 had 'neen realized by the company and about $28,000 floating deht.s. However, the remaindèr of the second mortgage bonds had been hypothecated on uotes, so that it i-s uncertain uliat they may be worth to tlie company. The stock of $100,000 originally eost DOthing, but Goodhue & liirnie, the builders and iirst ownere, sold it at flfty cents on the dollar, and it has come into gome purchasers' bands at par, t)ie most ut it being held in tliis city. The pumps are of the Knowles make, being the best on the market, and were in splendid condition, but puur mechanica] attendaiu-e and neglect had put them in a terrible bad state. With the renta froni 1,400 takera and tlie hydrant rentáis the inconie is $24,000 a year. As it ouly costs the company about $0,000 a year to pay running expenses, a good profit is in si;xht with proper management. It is now time that the city should step forward and purchase the water worka plant, for tlie $6,000 it annually pays for liydrant rental could be put into a sinking l'und, which in tweuty-five years would, with the ordinary increase in receipts, pay the bonds. In this way the rental of the hydrants would go tov.anls the purchase, together with a larger iucrenient each year. The franchise given tlie company providea for the purchase by the city, and now is tbc time to act, if on investijjatiou the plant should be iound in lit condition. The Courier opposed the city's going into debt when the water worka were Started, and it is fortúnate that the project to bond the city to bnild water works was then defeated, for thousands of dollars have been wasted and spent in experimenta. These the city could now profit by, and start in so much anead, with a property on a paying basis. The council should appoint a committee to investígate the matter and find out what it can be purchased for, and if satisfactory, let action be taken, for the question will never be settled until the city owna its water works. ■■ - ■ Throwing the search litrlit upon the records oí the past, ve perceive no actor wlio has attained such prominence as Thomas V. Keene iu the partoi "Richard III." He lias lent to the part a etrength and individnality eutirely his own. Although at times soyerely criticized for his interpolations, he has at last M'on from the most critical, the acknowledgement that his original conceptions of this unique character, is the correct one. But it is not ín "Richard" aloue that Keene towers liead and shoulders above other competitors for honors in the field of the legitímate drama, but as Richelieu, Othello, Shvlock, and in other characters he shows the extreme versatility of his genius and his sterling qualitiea and power as an actor. The coming of Keene will be welconoed by our public as the weary traveler welcomes the oasis in t hdesert, for they have grown weary of the tiasli torced apon thein by managers ander the name of comedy farce. Satiated with comedy, theylongfor a feast of the thoughts and beautiea of expressioD found only in the worka of 8uch niastei'-niinds as Shakespeare, Bulwer, Goldemitb and Sheridan. At the Grand Opera House next Tuesday evening in Othello. e Joseph Clinton, who had been ill for sonie time, died Tuesday evening, at his residenee on E. Catherine st., and bis funeral will be held tomorrow ïnorning, at Bt. Thomas' Chorch. Mr. Clinton was one of the oíd residente of the rity, and had eonducted a tailor shop for a long time previous to his death. ■ Next Sunday niorniug Kev. Mr. Cobern will preach his last sermón previous to conference, which convenes in Detroit the following Wednesday.