The service-pipes employed varied in diameter from three inches to three-quarters of an inch, and measured, in a straight line, about three-quarters of a mile, being united by more than two thousand sockets.  Separate mains conducted the gas to the western elevation, the tower, the dome, the cupola, and cross; the latter standing 8 ft. above the ordinary cross of the church, and being inclosed in a frame of ruby-coloured glass.  These mains were connected with a ten-inch main from a heavily-weighed gasometer at the Windsor Street works of the Birmingham Gas Company, which was reserved for the sole use of the illumination.  It took forty men three days to put up the scaffolding, but the whole work was finished and the scaffolding removed in a week.  It was estimated that the consumption of gas during the period of illumination reached very nearly three-quarters of a million of cubic feet; and the entire expense of the illumination, including the gas-fittings, was somewhat over six hundred pounds.  The illumination was seen for miles round in every direction.  From the top of Barr Beacon, about eight miles distant, a singular effect was produced by means of a fog cloud which hung over the town, and concealed the dome and tower from view—­a blood-red cross appearing to shine in the heavens and rest upon Birmingham.  As the traveller approached the town on that side the opacity of the fog gradually diminished until, when about three miles away, the broad lines of light which spanned the dome appeared in sight, and, magnified by the thin vapour through which they were refracted, gave the idea of some gigantic monster clawing the heavens with his fiery paws.  All the avenues to the church and the surrounding streets were crowded with masses of human heads, in the midst of which stood a glittering fairy palace.  The effect was heightened by coloured fires, which, under the superintendence of Mr. C.L.  Hanmer, were introduced at intervals in burning censers, wreathing their clouds of incense among the urns upon the parapet in the gallery of the tower, and shedding upon the windows of the church the rich tints of a peaceful southern sky at sunset.  The several gateways were wreathed in evergreens, amongst which nestled festoons of variegated lamps.  So great was the sensation produced throughout the town and surrounding districts, and such the disappointment of those who had not seen it, that the committee, at a great expense, consented to reillumine for one night more, which was done on the 13th.  The last general illumination was on the occasion of the visit of Prince and Princess of Wales, Nov. 3, 1874.

Improvement Schemes.—­See “Town Improvements.”