The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-16 00:00:00

The New City Traffic Regulation Act,

A. statement has just been put forth, under the authority
of a committee of the Court of Aldermen, as to the pro-
ceedings taken on the part of the Corporation for carrying
out the provisions of the City of London Traffic Regulation
Act of last year. This document embodies a correspondence
which has passed between Sir G. Grey, the Home Secre-
tary, and the Corporation on the subject, and from which it
appears that Sir George, with the Attorney end Solicitor-
General on the one hand, and the Court of Aldermen with
the law oflic,r.4 of tho Corporation on the other, are directly
at variance in many respects as to the powers conferred by
the new act upon the Court of Aldermen t a regulate the
traffic. For the present the result of this cliff Tence seems
to be, in the opinion of the Recorder of London, the Com-
mon Sergeant, and the rest of the law officers, " to render
nugatory whet has been considered one of the most impor-
tant provisions of the act," and the Court of Aldermen,
they add, have no course open to them but to confine the
by-laws which they had submitted for the sanction of the
Home Secretary to those approved by the law officers of the
Crown. These are only three in number of 17. The first
prescribes the route to be followed by passenger carriages
going from St Paul's-churchyard to the further side of Lon-
don-bridge and returning—viz., by Cannon-street; the
second provides that no vehicle shall be driven through the
streets between 9 in the morning and 6 in the evening laden
to a greater height than 10ft, measuring from the ground, or
to a greater width than 7ft; and the third prohibits driving
of carts and waggons with logs of wood, metal, scaffolding
poles, masts, and the like, exceeding 25ft in length or SR
6in in ;breadth, within the same hours. By the by-laws,
which have been rejected by Sir G. Grey, tho conducting
of any kind of locomotive propelled by steam between 6 in
the morning and 10 at night, except a steam fire-engine
actually going to or returning from a fire, was to be strictly
prohibited. No coals, beer, wine, or other liquid in casks,
conveyed in carts, waggons, or vans were to be allowed to
be delivered in 24 of the principal streets of the city, which
were named, between 9in the morning and 5 in the even-
ing. The sale of vegetables, fruit, fish, or other articles car-
ried upon any truck or vehicle was prohibited betwen 9 in
the morning and 6 in the evening in the same streets, and
on London and Elackfriars bridges. Every waggon and
van was to be placed with its side parallel with the foot
pavement when being loaded or unloaded, or stopped for
any other purpose. Upwards of 70 principal places were in-
dicated at which in the whole 88 shoeblacks might ply their
calling, and the Commissioner of the city police was em-
powered, for the public convenience, to alter or increase the
standings or the number of shoeblacks so that the number
of standing places did not exeeed 150, and the number of
shoeblacks, 300 in the whole. These were the principal re-
gulations ; but there were others prohibiting the obstruc-
tion of streets and footways by persons with various enu-
merated articles for sale, or by goods or merchandise during
removal, so as to hinder or incommode a free passage. A
power is conferred by the act which the Alderman have nor,
as yet, exercised, namely, to regulate the mode of distin-
guishing hackney cabs when empty and when actually ply-
ing for hire. Of all their functions this is the most clearly
defined, and it was intended to meet one of the most patent
and vexatious obstructions of the legitimate traffic in all the
chief thoroughfares—namely, the loitering in them of
empty cabs on the look-out for customers, instead of re-
pairing to the nearest cabstand.
The code of by-laws which we have epitomised was pre-
pared by the Committee of Aldermen, in conjunction
with the Commissioner of Police, the City Solicitor, and
the clerks to the magistrates at the Mansion-house
and Guildhall justice-rooms. It was afterwards approved by
the Court of Aldermen, and, having been published in ac-
cordance with the statute, was forwarded to Sir Geo. Grey
for his sanction on 4th December last, together with certain
suggestions for its modification, so as to meet the wishes
and requirements of the wine and spirit trade and the build-
ing trade, in respect to parts of the regulations which were
likely to press seriously upon them. The Home Secretary
replied, on
22d December, that no power appeared to be
given by the act to him to alter the by-laws made under its
authority, and that his province was only to approve them.
lie enclosed two complaints which had been addressed to
him on the part of persons whose trading operations it was
alleged would be prejudicially affected by the proposed re-
gulations. One was a letter from Mr Alderman Salomons,
calling his attention to the entire prohibition of the sale of
fruit from barrows and trucks iu the City between the hours
of 9in the morning and 6in the evening. This, wrote the.
alderman, "is closing the city as a thoroughfare to ancud -
dustrious, and, indeed, a useful class, who retail a cheap
wholesome luxury to the working classes of the metropolis."
The other was from a brewery firm at Ratcliff, objecting to
a clause apparently, to them, so sweeping as to, pr,ohbibit the
delivery of a cask of beer for private use at any house in
between 9 a.rn and 5
committeename, between
aldermen,
of
certainp .
isit roe erte7,l ryeofenr rtehde
ptaorttiy of nthame
under date of Jan. 21, was that the clause in question was
never intended to apply to the delivery of beer by retail, and
that, alter due consideration, they did not see any reason to
alter the regulation cited by Alderman Salomons. On Jan.
29th, referring to the regulations which, with some modifi-
cations, had been
preparatory
r epa submittedtoryto their
to forhim
civicauthorities being published, the
Home Secretary wrote thus :-
4, The first question which presents itself to Sir
George Grey is, whether they are strictly within the
power of making by-laws which is given to the Court of
the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London by the third
section of the act of 1863, and are confined to the special