The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-28 00:00:00

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and intends still to assert, a certain amount of con-
trol over the construction of railway bridges cross-
ing public roads in London. These indispensable
edifices are a new feature of our thoroughfares, and
not a pleasing one. We shag in time become recon-
ciled to their ugliness, though the later use of them
as placarding stations makes them uglier than neces-
sary. But with the outward appearance of these
bridges the Board of Works has nothing to do. Its
dconcernents andi s solelystrength, with f
os such c h points
which
are detailed in the report. We notice the omission of
any provision touching decoration, merely asking all
the new companies if they cannot do something for
theasprthinecaeunstioionnslgrk:
their road bridges in the same spirit as the London,
Chatham, and Dover Company have done for their
bridge over the river. An act of Parliament is now
all that the patents from the Crown were in the days
of the Stuarts. The monopolx,obtained cannot
be resisted, and if the directorS`Nould allow their
• ngineers to rise a step or two above the sordid and
repulsive the public would take it as a favour at
their hands. All the conditions the railways have
been subjected to at the instance of the Board of
Works appear to be essential to the very existence
of the foot, and horse, and wheel traffic of the metro-
polis. There are a few other railway bills, nine in
number, which Mr. Bazalgette does not take into
consideration, as their works will not come under
the jurisdiction of the Board. The following six
proposed lines—East London and Thames Tunnel ;
Metropolitan and South London (Thames Tunnel) ;
Blackwall, Greenwich, and Woolwich ; Waterloo and
Whitehall ; Fulham ; the King's-cross, Islington,
and Limehouse ; and the London, Blackwall, and
Millwall Extension—as, Mr. Bazalgette reports,
" not only interfere with portions of the Main
Drainage sewers, but also with the sewers through
which the works pass." There is no special clause
in the last-named bill protecting these important
works, and the report advises that such a protection
should be introduced. Of the new lines, probably
the most remarkable is that proposed under the name
of the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway. This is a
pneumatic line, not for the conveyance of letters and
parcels only, not an iron tube like the gigantic pipe
between the Post-office and Euston-square ; it is an
extension of the plan that has been for some time ex-
hibited in operation in the grounds of the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham. The tunnel admits a full-sized
omnibus carriage, which is propelled by a pressure of
the atmosphere behind the vehicle, produced by les-

sening the density of the air in front. It is an under
ground railway, worked without locomotives. The
proposed line will rim in a tunnel under the Thames,
and open a communication between Whitehall and
the Waterloo station, near Vine-street. As a means
of communication between one part of London and
another this line will be quite an experi-
ment. Of all the railroads in Mr. Bazalgette's
list, minute details are given of how and to what
extent the works will affect the existing sewerage,
and suggestions are made of the course to be
adopted in each case ; but most of these particulars
are given in too technical a form for extract. A
note informs us that the Crystal Palace High Level
Railway has been withdrawn.
The report -then deals with the miscellaneous im-
provements other than railroads. All the opera•
tions they render necessary within the jurisdiction
of the Board of Works will of course require a
similar vigilance on the part of those who represent
the public. The following is the list of schemes
proposed :—The Metropolis Sewage and Essex Ac-
clamation ; Limehouse Basin and Cut; Whitechapel
and nolborn Improvements ; Piccadilly and Park-
lane New-road Improvements ; Courts of Justice
Concentration ; St. Clement Danes Improvement ;
Public Offices Site and Approaches, Westminster ;
India Office Site Approaches, Westminster ;
Westminster Improvements ; Hyde Park-gate
Estate ; South Kensington New-road ; London-
field Purchase and Appropriation ; Wimbledon-
common Improvements, and West London Docks
and Warehouses. •
A Bill promoting an Essex reclamation in connec-
tion with the metropolitan sewage almost explains
itself. What the Board of Works has completed
the present scheme is intended to utilise on the coast
of Essex, by rendering fertile the present waste
shores at Ray Sands, Dengie Hats, and the Foulness
and Maplin Sands. As the works contemplated by
this bill are mostly beyond the jurisdiction of the
Board, Mr. Bazalgette merely states the course of
the conduits and the nature of the operations without
comment. But the bill is remarkable if only for the
fact that it is the first on the list of actual proposals
to carry into effect a measure that has long been
desired and often suggested, but never attempted,
from the general conviction that the plan was a prac-
tical impossibility. There are two bills for the im.
provement of Piccadilly and Park-lane, but of these
we learn only that they are " promoted by the Board
of Works." A bill is required for the acquisition
of a site for the concentration of the courts of jus-
tice, between Carey-street and the Strand, Cle-
ment's-lane and Bell-yard. But the only concern
of the Board with this improvement is an anxiety
that the building, if erected, may not be allowed to
interfere with the Essex-street main sewer. The
St. Clement Danes Improvement Bill conceals half
its merits under such a general title. It will be
sweep
rr aapwparyeciHywateeidaseia measureet. that,Th
l
strhas done part of the work, but the great clearance
remains to be made between St. Clement's Church
and St. Mary's, in the Strand. In the place of
-ee if passed, edHel
will
these old decaying dwellings are to be erected
houses for the working classes, chambers and offices
connected with the Courts of Justice, and shops.
These combined improvements, if effected, will be
among the most striking changes in modern Lon-
don. Bills are also to be proposed in the coming
Session to obtain sites for new public offices and the
new India-office, between the new Government
buildings and Gardner's-lane, and Duke-street and
King-street, Westminster. A new street is to con-
nect Victoria-street and the Broadway, and another
is to continue the Horseferry-road into Rochester-
row. The communication between South Kensing-
ton and Belgrave-square is to be improved, and the
report closes with a brief reference to the proposed
improvements on Wimbledon-common. Should
these bills be sanctioned the Session of 1865 will
leave a very perceptible mark on the present metro
Polls, both in the centre and at the outskirts.
a

feeirthenrcfeotor
---DEATH FROM CRINOLINE.—Om Wednesday last
ffice theo a
IS solicitor Ellen Sykes, aged 27, the wife of William Sykes, went to
the chemical works of Mr. Carr, Knostropp. near Leeds,
child in one of the rooms, her
where her husband works, and while playing with her
expanded by crinoline, was waught by some revolving
machinery. The unfortunate woman was drawn into the
machinery, and her body was much crushed and lacerated,
and one of her legs almost pulled off. She died the same
dress, which was greatly
evening from the injuries sho received.
THE GOVERNMENT REWARD IN MULLER'S CASE.
fyrlMthre. Home-office,
the assignees in the case of Jonathan Matthews, the cab..
the reward offered by the Government for the
Mr. Briggs.—"Sir,—l am instructed by S murder of
—Yesterday Iveady
a( Flerittedra
George Grey to acknowledge the receipt of Secretary Sir
the 21st inst., applying, on behalf of the Your letter of
than Matthews, for the reward offered assignees of Jona-
Government in the case of Muller, by her Majesty's
that the Treasury have instructed' and am to inform you
same to Mr. E. W. Edwards, the their solicitor to pay the
official assignee." The
money will be paid into
the Court
dis-
tribution among the creditors of of Bankruptcy for ,
of the expenses in. the case. Matthews, after payment