The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-02 00:00:00

TILE CITY OF LONDON AND THE REMOVAL

OF SMITHFIELD.

The Obserrer says :—The corporation of London,
at the eleventh hour—or, indeed, we might almost say the
twelfth—have decided to take upon themselves the entire
management and responsibility of the " Act for providing •
Metropolitan Market, and conveniences connected there-
with, in lieu of the Cattle Market at Smithfield." This act
is better and more familiarly known as the Smithfield Re-
moval Act. It received the royal assent on the Ist of
August, 1851, and the six months' grace allowed to the cor-
poration fur carrying out an enactment which they had
strenuously opposed through all its stages, expired lest (Sa-
turday) night. They were offered, first and last, by the
government, the option of carrying out • measure which
the interests and health of the City so loudly called for.
But all through they pertinaciously refused. And yet, after
being defeated in both houses of parliament, the alternative
was given to them, and they have at last availed themselves
of it.
By the set-14 &15 Viet., c. 61—her Majesty is em-
powered to appoint five commissioners, three to be a
quorum, for the purpose of carrying out its provisions ; and
by the 3rd section they are incorporated and to have a
common seal.

They aro empowered to procure or provide a site, &e., by
the ith section ; and by the .sth they aro commanded to
provide for the supply of water, drainage, Be. They are
farther authorised to appoint officers and to make by-laws
I —to let slaughter-houses and stale in the market—to fix
tables of tolls and payments—to report to the Secretary of
State, who is to close Smithfield, and to regulate the route
of cattle, &c., through the metropolis—to raise money by
mortg.sgc—to prepare an annual statement and to have
their accounts duly audited—and, last of all, to impose
pana,ties for all sorts of obstructions of the public commerce
or to the public health. Such are the provisions, supposing
the management to be vested in crown commissioners.
But • locus penitential wu provided for the offending
corporation. By the 37th section, the corporation of the
City of London is authorised after six months to take upon
themselves the execution of the act, which they have done
at the last moment, after all their previous opposition, and
by the 314th section they are further empowered to take all
the tolls, &c., provided they resolved to carry out the act at
their own expense and risk. This, too, the corporation have
consented to du, proving, in the most substantial manner,
that they fully recognise the nature of the arrangement
which they opposed so violently and so long. The tolls,
however, are placed, by the schedules attached to the act,
beyond the control and caprice of the corporation, and the
site of the new market must be one approved by the Score.
tory of State.
There arc people ill-natured enough to say that the im-
maculate corporation were loth to part with the patronage
and management of the new markets; but, for our parts,
we are glad that the City authorities have been wise in
time, and that they, too, have come forward to assist in a
scheme of improvement that was so generally demanded
and approved. Far a public and • representative body,
they kept their secret remarkably well ; and it was only on
the very last day but one that the City authorities trans-
mitted their assent, under the common seal, to accept all
the risks and all the profits of the now arrangement.

THE BIMIIOP OP MADAM has appointed him son,
the !ter. 11. J. Maltby, M.A., rector of Eggleseliffe, to the
canonry in Durham Cathedral, vacant by the death of the
Rev. lie. Dun 11. The rev. gentleman will be installed on
Saturday, and read himself in on Sunday next. We under-
stand this appointment does not prevent Mr. Maltby retain-
ing his living at I.:aglowlitre. The Rev. Dr. Oglo is 11.1 W
the oldest member of the chapter of Durham. The next
vacancy will fill into the hands of the ecclesiastical c..m-
missiuners, awl cannot be filled up except by an order in
council, enaldin.t the commissioner% to appoint some nllleini
who already bolds o stall without any emolument aCaelo d.
L) whams Cloruniek.