The Express.
London, England, 1863-03-04 00:00:00

HIGH WATILEAT WirDON

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4.

THE opposition to the new metropolitan rail-
ways, after what has been allowed in past years,
even up to last session, is very like trying to shut
the door after the steed has been stolen. If it is
bad to allow railways in and through the town,
the Blackwell, the Eastern Counties, the South
Eastern, the South Western, and other lines
ought to have been kept farther off—to say
nothing of the Metropolitan Railway and its ex-
tensions. We object as strongly as any one to the
cutting up of the City proper ; we are diaguated
with the prospect of a railway bridge across Lud-
gate-hill ;we hate the viaduct across the Borough
even more than we detest the half-smothered
church spire which sprouts out of the sewer at the
Southwark foot of London-bridge ; we have very
little sympathy with people who want a railway
station at every street corner, and promise soon to
lose the use of their legs ; but more than all these
we hate privileged interests. The projected rail_
ways—some thirty or forty in number—have
mostly a claim to their bills on the ground
that they wish to place certain main
lines on a fair level to compete with
others already favoured with metropolitan juno-
tions and extensions. We have nothing to do with
the questions as to whether they are wanted and
will pay ; we presume that those who propose to
build them are the best judges of their own inte-
rests. Some of these lines, while in program.,
will doubtless be as great nuisances as the Metro
politan Railway was; but when finished and
opened, they will largely benefit the public. If
a park, a square, or a main thoroughfare is to be
crossed or run through, the passage should be made
underground ; and if the levels will not allow this,
and a detour cannot be made, the Bill ought to be
refused. A central Government Board, that dream
of expectant officials and the advocates of admi-
nistrative meddling, is no more required, however,
to do such parochial work as this than it is to
sweep the craning'. Maps of London are plentiful
enough. People, unlike Lord Denny, who know
every inch of London, are plentiful enough ; and
a vigilant Parliamentary Committee, capable of
calling for and sifting evidence, ought to be quite
equal to this task, without requiring more official
machinery.

The chief railways proposed are twenty-four in
number. First comes the Albert Station and
Mid-London—a line to run from Fulham to
Leicester-square ; and We, like a similar line from
Kew, Richmond, and Hammersmith to the same
central point, is opposed by the Metropolitan
Board of Works, who defend the present and future
sewers of Piccadilly. The sewers are as important
to the public as railways, and this opposition,
therefore, is entitled to a patient hearing.
The East London and Rotherhithe, and Northern
and Southern City Junction, are both railways
which propose to cross the Thames below London-
bridge, and no schemes are more deserving of
liberal support. Anything which promises to re-
lieve London-bridge, and 'to connect the vast docks
on the north side of the river with the railways on
the south side, is the one thing needful at the
present moment. Most of the other proposed rail-
ways are extensions of existing main lines to
and from the remote suburbs, and their
character is sufficiently indicated by their
titles. There is the Barnes, Hammersmith, and'
Kensington ; the Fulham and Hammersmith ; the
Grand Surrey and Commercial Dock (a goods
line); the Great Eastern Extensions from Shore-
ditch to Tottenham and the City ; the Greenwich
and Woolwich; the Hammersmith and City Juno-
tion with the Great Western ; Kensington,
Knightabridge, and Metropolitan Junction ; Ham-
mersmith, Kew, and Richmond ; South London,
Tooting, and Sutton ; Metropolitan, Tottenham, and
Hampstead ; Midland Extension to King's-cross;
North London and Edmonton ; Pimlico and Pad-
dington ; Putney, Balham, and City Junction ;
Rotherhithe ; King's-cross to Regent-circus ; South
London, Woolwich, and Greenwich ; a small private
line ; and one or two that are not worth mentioning.
Some of these railway schemes may drop through,
for the present, from a want of compliance with
the standing orders, and others, like the Regent-
circus Bill, may be thrown out under the influence
of prejudice; but most of them will crop up again
in another year or two, and get their bills as surely
as the sun will rile to-morrow.

The Right Hon. the Speaker grill hold hie fret
Parliamentary Levee on 'Wednesday, the 11th of
March, at 10 o'clock p.m.

A pantgraph in the &title Oates that Lord Pal-
omino' gatetaily feign up evn his basket days vii •
pine at bilitard..