The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-25 00:00:00

NUMBERING OF THE STREETS.

AT the meeting of the Health Committee, on Thursday, the
following report of the borough engineer, on the numbering of
the streets, was read :

In again submitting to the committee the lists prepared for
the adjustment of the numbering of the houses in the borough,
it may be well to recapitulate the substance of my former re-
ports of April, 1853, and July, 1854, explanatory of the prin-
ciple on which those lists have been prepared.
Ist, The Town-hall is assumed as the centre point, and in
every street the numbers begin at its end which is nearest to
the Town-hall.

2nd, The numbers are so arranged that the odd numbers are
on the left, and the even numbers on the right, in going from
the Town-hall.

3rd, Where very little irregularity was found, the correction
has been made by adding a letter to the duplicate numbers, as
No. 1 and No.

4th, Where any row of houses forming part of a street is
named terrace or place, such as Falkner-terrace, in Parliament-
street, or Crown-place, in Crown-street, the houses have been
numbered continuously, as belonging to the street, and not to,
the terrace. Thus, in Crown-place, Nos. 2:, 4,6, and 8 are pro-
posed to be 78, 80, 82, and 84, Crown-street.
6th, When there is vacant land in a street, as many num-
bers are allotted to it as it could contain of houses of the aver.
age extent of frontage of those already in the street. Thus, in
Alfred-street, after No. 1, there is a space of vacant land 46 feet
long, equal to the width of three houses ; therefore, as these
houses will, when erected, be 3,6, and 7, the next number in
order is 9. As another example of this, and of the disregard
of places and terraces, take Hope-street, south from Canning-
street. Here the first house going southwards is. at present
No. 1, Gambier-terrace, but in the list it becomes 41, Hope.
street. At the end of Gambier-terrace, which is 57, Hope
street, there is a piece of vacant land, extending all the way to
Huskisson-street, 348 feet long ; this will contain 14 houses of
8 yards frontage, and, therefore, the first house beyond. Hus-
kisson-street is numbered 87.

Such is a brief recapitulation of the principles on which• the
lists have been prepared, and, if it is satisfactory to the com-
mittee, the work may be immediately proceeded with.
As it is of great importance that the work, once begun,
should be finished without delay, it will be advisable to divide•
the town into districts,. and: to employ a large staff of joiners
and painters, under the direction of the clerks who made up,
the lists, and thus have the'work completed forthwith, in place'
of having it executed by a small staff and extended over a long-
period. The clerk, with the•liet in his hand, will go over the•
numbers in the street, markingthose which have to be altered,.
and the workmen will follow and. make the requisite altera-
tion. Iron-plate numbers. will be• substituted for. iron-plate
numbers, and painted and gilded. numbers for others of the
like kind.

It is right that attention should be. drawn to the communi-
cation of the postmaster, complaining of the serious inconve-
nience to which the public are expose.% and the great additional
labour cast upon the letter carriers,.by the frequent repetition
of a given number in the same street,. and the confusion and
irregularity which prevail as to the.numl3ers generally.
It is very difficult to form an exact estimate of the expense,
as it is impossible to obtain data on which to found it ; but,
taking the best means to avoid errorjcalculate that the actual
work required should not cost more than £5OO.
It will be necessary, also, to complete immediately the copies
of the lists I have prepared, showing. the number of every
house as it now stands, and as it will ,bewhen altered, for the
use of the post-office, the parish-officeythe Head Constable, the
Town-clerk, and Treasurer. The expense of preparing the
original lists of these copies is, of course, notrincluded in the
above estimates.