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Show i!D-FSMED FIRM J ILL BEJSSflLVED I JohnAifd & Co., Undertakers j of Great Enterprises, Soon M Only a Memory. j1 J DAMMED RIVER NILE Will Complete AH Outstanding Outstand-ing Contracts and Then Distribute Plants. 11 LONDON, Oct. 4. The ;ias3inc away fill II of one of the greatest contracting firms ill in the world, John Aird & Co., is an- nounced for next year. Tho firm i! 11 which dammed the Nile and carried m il out other great "works throughout the 111 111 world, will cease to exist next Sep- mv tember, by which time all outstanding ( j II contracts will have been completed. ' 1 II The decision to go out of business fjjjjj has been taken by the present Sir 11(11 John Aird, who succeeded his father I jjj in 1911, and inherited from him a for- Iftll' I tune of moro than $5,000,000. Tho i reason given ia that, while tho risks of Iff If J f contracting aro as great as they over l Ml were, the profits are not nearly so i III II large as they were some twenty or fill I thirty years ago. Groat plants will be 1i distributed and a staff of engineers and workmen, who are said to have no J superiors, will be Hooking now positious llln as a result of tho action. ijlli Veterans in London. J Liko that of most big contracting lllil firms, the history of John -Aird & ill $ Co. is somewhat romantic, it was 111 II I Btarted in 18-18 by John Aird. a Scot- tish maBon, who came to London from lilllll Eoss-Bhire and after following his trtido for several years, wbs appointed super- III intondent of the Phoenix Gas company j at Greenwich. There ho loarued (h'u t j business that gave him his start, and ji tho first big undertaking of his firm lllil was tho laying of water and gas mains j for London. His son, the first ( n baronet, who died in .1911, joined the fUUI firm in 1851, and undor him the firm 'fl 111 mado great strides. They roinoved ml Crystal Talace from Hydo Park to its l present sito at Sydenham; built water flllfi and gas works all over the country, as tillli well, as in Berlin. Copenhagen, Russia, Hi Si ii Franco, Italy, Denmark and Brazil. ill 1 1 1 - Thoy bnilt and extended railways, and ulfllll constructed the Royal Albert, East and nilltli "West India and Tilbury docks on tho lli Thames, and lator tho Manchester ship mil canal. The great docks at Avonmouth ji and Singapore were created by thorn, iljlil'l but the damming of tho Nile capped llSltr all their work. ! fjj Overcome Obstacles. J i It was not caBy to get this undertak- fill ll ing financed, the' Egyptian government III lf not being willing to fake tho risk. It jllllli was accomplished whon tho late Sir uHlfl' ' John Aird mot Sir Ernest Cassol. tho illlijl! banker, in Egypt ono day. Aird placed liSlfr the plans before tho banker and in two ( j- days the financial end of tho undertak- fllillr Ing was arranged and Aird was able jllllli to go to tho Egyptian government with, ill If! an offer to construct dams at Assouan 5 I Ji and Assiout without even the first pay- Jyfr ment boing mado until the work wara It nil I comploted. M fjj Girl Netmakers Strike. jlj The girl fish net makers of Lowestoft 3 if! have gone out on strike as a protest J'J( against the introduction of men and- jf boyB at the net-making machines. The n il? strikors allego that the boys work for IlliM less than thoy do and that tho em- !((rJ ploy era aim at driving the girls out of If III' the trade. IS sH Thus women have turned th tables lllffl on thoso who in tho past hare accused ilSlilil them of underbidding other workers., Illillii Tho wage paid the girls in about $8 a If lu week while the boys aro paid $2.50 a fj tj! week. Tho owners, however, say that . rilirli this wage for boys is only temporary llllfll and as soon as they learn the trado ilnlfff they will be paid more than the girls. Stfliffl Ab a result of the demand for nets the jnl; boys will be worked at night aa the In til factory act will not permit of women f U being worked at night. Mm !r |