The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-01 00:00:00

LODGINGS FOR WORKMEN.

With regard to cheap lodging. for the vast num-
bars of the working classes who will endeavour to visit the
ziabition, 01.3ers are not in so forward u they should
be. Fa middla•dsm visitors we Wilms there will always
be sufficient room; but how accommodation is to be pro.
1 Tided for the thousands of workmen who will wive In
' London in large holies, Is a consideration which has not
received much attention up to this time. New, bower. r,
speculative men are beginning to examine the lents build-
ings of L'inion, with the view of turning them into
mechanics' home. One or two speculators propose
Ito fit up vast warehouse, with berths, ship-luhion ;
while others ate bent upon providing palaces for
working men at the smallest poesible cost. One firm
(that of M . liversfield and Hoene; hu now lodging spars
ter about LW) Mkelleilial, which his been approved of by
Mr. Hedgrave, on betel( the Royal Commissioner.; but
they declare that, even now, in the commencement of their
operations, the find a difficulty in meeting with persons is
conduct the management of each place, and undertake the
fi•tiog up thereof. la Lunbetb, a meeting has been held
this week, to hear suggestion. from Mr. Samuel Sidney, on
the subject of lodgings for mechanics. His remarks, aid
those of the etteizoteo,are wor.h some attention

Mr. SIDNIT stated that be appeared on that occasion in
his private capacity as a ratepayer, end although he had had
the honour of being employes by the royal commissioners,
they were in no way parties to the scheme he had suggested.
He need not dilate ninon the feet that large crowds of
possewovineaill iddt Landon during t►e exhibition, and
therefore he would at once state, that the report
which he had made to the commissioners upon
the subject had met their approval. He had d
elvered that clubs had been formed in various parts of
England to bring the people to London is lug- maws ; but
up to the present time no organised plan had been adopted
with • view to supply these prople with lodgings during
their stay in the metropolis. The consequence would be,
that the householders of London would not derive that
benefit from the exhibition which it ought to center upon
them ; and he had therefore turned his attention to • plat.
I .Dien he thought would be the inmate of Enabling persona
who might have rooms unoccupied to make • profit by
letting them. Lambeth being au extensive parish, con
raining a large number of persons in an humble position
of life who had rooms to let, but without the me.ens of
ulvertisehg them, lee had thought it adviseble to me mien:
nu views to the inhabitants of this dist•wt. His pho
was, tilt the parish be divided into convenient districts,
and that in Cacti of these districts • register should be kept by
'person, whose duty it woulit be, upon the receipt of • Mali
fee, to register the s.:eominoiation in his own locality.
When they had tilled up their registers thi y should give one
regular return, and aft. r wards appoint a secretary to make •
summary of tae SOZOMIAOCiIitiOn. and Waco himself in c..as
munication with the v'•rioua travelling clubs. By such
correspondence they would mutually ascertain what amount
of accommodation wou'd be required by those who desired
to obtain •temporary residence in the metropolis. He felt
that if this spy em were properly organised it would be a
source of comfort and gratification to the large euenbers of
persons who would visit London tale year, and at the same
time confer a gr.at benefit upon the peoter classes of
persons in this Extensive parish.
The CHAIRMAN said he thought the present plan was
well deserving tneir attention, and he hoped it might re-
ceive the support of the parishioners. There were a large
cumber of per,ons in the parish who had rooms to let at
the rate of 61. or 61. a week, and it was with • view to
benefit this clam of people that the plan had been brought
lorw•rd. He did not think they ought to think lightly
upon • subject of this nature, but to do all in their power
to &acuities whether the plan was feasible, and it feasible to
support it.
borne con eeeee tion then took place as to the practicability
of the scheme, and en opinion was expressed by Mr.
Drummond, • licensed erietuaher, that it could not b e con•
venienily carried into effect, inasmuch as the saatropolis
(according to a statement which he had read in the news-
papers) was to be surrounded by soldiers, and many of them
would be billetted upon the publichoutes, thus depriving
the landlords of the opportunity of letting their vacant
apartments se they might think proper.
The CHAIRMAN assured Mr. Drummond that be did not
think there was any ground ior such an apprehension on his
part, unit that it there were, the matter was quite irrelevant
is the question now under consideration.
After some further rvaserks, the CHAIRMAN suggested
that a committee be formed to &uremia whether the plan
was practicable. and if so to adopt the necessary measures to
carry lt into effect.

Tait propositias being unanimously agreed to, the meeting
separated.

How far it is possible to cury Mr. Sidney's scheme is a
question which a little experience will prove ; if it he fea-
sible, and be not injured by the action of class interests, it
may satisfactorily wive the dithcul y in which the Exhibi-
tion authorities are placed.

. -
For foreign nekton a scheme on a gigantic scale Is being
matured under the title of the " Foreigners' Purvey and
Registry." From Germany, Imo*, and Belgium, it Is
proposed to bring ov.r 100,000 visitors per month, to locate
them, board them, and send them back to their ►omes for
a given sum. The preparations for this undertaking are
110 a being made. We hear of confirms :e for the fitting
up of a large mansion in PaU•mall to dine three thousand
duly ; of houses being fitted up to hold five hundred beds ; of
gigantic arraorments with railway and steamboat comps•
Mee, and other movements which betoken something like a
working system for the accommodation of foreigners. The
exhibitors of France an about to form th:inselves into
conifers of the vari ,1111 manufacturing interests they retire-
' sent: thus the clockm Aura will come over in a holy, and
lodge and sat together. However, the comparatively ad
Tanned state in which the preparations for the reception of
foreign visitors are, should only won people that tome corn-
' prehensive and well matured plan is neceuary for the proper
accommodation of native visitors. It appears to us, more.
over, that the Commeseienen will be compelled in the end
. . . . . _

to check charlatans by giving their officill countenance to
legitimate speculators and purveyors.

Loan WILLOUGHBY Milo with his Renal libe-
rality, hired, at his own expense, a bons. is L,ndon for the

accommodation of such of the tenants on his exteuive estates
as may wish to visit the Exhioition. How many landlords
will follow his example 1

Yesterday the Etututive Committee received, in the
coon, of the forenoon, no less than four bushels of letters.
For some time past their correspondence hos been suntan.
latiog with great rapidity, but the Poet•office delivery of
yes:erday Is the largest they have yet had. It was caused
by intending exhibitors sending in, as required, epee ifications
2f what they intend to show for the ev.,.'vgim. va There.
Me
day upwards o; was taken at the door, ►nd for bone
time past the receipts have been steadily on the increase.
The fund thus formed now amounts to a very handsome sum,
A portion will go as a donation to $t George's Hospital,
where all the workmen who have met with injuries have
been sent for medical advice. A portion has been absorbed
as a sick and accident fund, and the remainder will be
divided among the most deserving of the hands employes
during the proem of the undertaking. The muses of
material that have hitherto occupied the ground area having
been gradually absorbed in the works, the whole space is
now comparatively clear, and the first steps in parcelling off
the allotments of each nation are about to be taken. The
word "Franca," suspended to one of the gall ' of the
centre aisle, rout of the transept, indicates the intended
whereabouts of our nearest neighbours acmes the Channel in
the great industrial show; one or two hoardings have been
pat up en the boundary lines of other foreign countries, end
the limits of oar own colonial prcduce begin also to be
defined.

Oa Thursday evening a singular accident took place at the
new building. The wind, u night tell, began to blow heavily
teem the sow h-west, bat was not nearly so high as it het
been from about the same quarter slows the work commenced.
Suddenly the glazing of about 1,000 square feet gave way,
but not ice the usual way when glass is blown to, for it rather
seemed to be the effect of an eddy than of a direct current of
air. The afoot of breakage, though it seems large when
stated in figures, is not so when exuained with the
eye. The Gauss of it is now coder investigation, and
will no doubt be satisfactorily explained ; but in
the meantime it will be satisfactory to the public to bear
that the columns, girder., and other important parts
of the structure at t►e 'pot where the accident took place
do not appear to have been in the least affected, and that,
as far as we could amertals, the permanence and stability
of the structure are not at all compromised by what has
happened. It may be mentioned, as a marline fact eonneeted
with thh subject, that when the glazing of the treasept arch
wee in program, a large portion of the oat side bed bees
&abated before the west side had been clamed in. While the
work was in this state it came on to blow a gale from the
west, and though the arch caught the wind as is a heed,
sot e pane of ens gun way.