The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-18 00:00:00

New City Traffic Regulation Bill.
On Saturday the new bill which is being pro-
moted by the Corporation of London for the better
regulation of the traffic of the city was printed and
put in circulation by the authorities at Guildhall. It
has been prepared by the City Remembrancer and
Solicitor, with the assistance of Colonel Fraser, the
City Commissioner of Police, and Mr. Oke, the
chief clerk to the Lord Mayor. The preamble re-
cites that it is expedient that better provision than
now exists should be made for the regulation of the
traffic of the city of London so as to prevent ob-
structions, and so that it maybe conducted with less
delay and in a safer manner than at present. It also
recites that for these purposes it has become necessary
to amend the City Police Act, passed upwards of 25
years ago. The bill first of all repeals the City
Traffic Regulation Act of 1863, which has proved a
failure, so far as there has been any very perceptible
relief to the traffic or any greater safety to life and
limb. That act, however, and the by-laws made
under it by the Court of Aldermen are to remain in
force until the new bill comes into operation, if it
should pass into a law. It then empowers the Lord
Mayor and aldermen to make, from time to time,
with respect to the city such by-laws as they may
think necessary or expedient —first, for regulating
the routes to be followed and the particular streets
or parts of streets to be used by all or any of the
omnibuses, metropolitan stage carriages, vans, and
other carriages licensed for the conv4.lance of pas-
sengers ; second, for regulating theheight andwidth
to which carts, waggons, drays,
,and other vehicles
for the conveyance of goods, wares, and merchan-
dise, traversing the streets between nine in the
morning and six in the evening, may be laden, and
for regulating the breadth between the outsides
of the wheels ; third, for determining the periods
of the day between which vehicles conveying goods,
wares, and merchandise may stop in any street
to be laden or unladen, and the time during
which they may remain for such purposes ; fourth,
for regulating the manner in which barrows,
trucks, handcarts, and the like, may be driven,
pushed, or wheeled through any street or part of a
street, and the particular streets or parts of streets,
and the particular time or part of the day, in which
they may be allowed to pass or to stand or remain,
or be prohibited from standing or passing. Also for
regulating the mode in which cabs or hackney car-
riages shall be distinguished when hired and when
not hired; for determining the time of day during
which coals and beer may be delivered ; for regu-
lating the rate at which vans may be driven through
specified streets, and generally for preventing ob-
structions in the streets. The byelaws may be
varied, altered, and repealed as the Cceirt of Alder-
men may consider expedient ; and every person
offending against them is to be liable to a penalty
of not more than £5 for every such offence. The
bylaws, however, are not to be enforced until con-
firmed by a principal Secretary of State, who is
empowered to suggest alterations in them. No by-
law is to be submitted for such approval until one
month after the intention to apply for such approval
shall have been duly advertised. The bye-laws when
so made and approved are also to be properly ad-
vertised and posted at the Mansion-house, the Guild-
hall, the Royal Exchange, and other public places.
By the bill there are to be no loads driven through
the streets with more than four horses between 9 in
the morning and 6 in the evening, no locomotive,
between 6 in the morning and 10 at night, no tim-
ber or other articles exceeding a certain size between
9in the morning and 6in the evening. Each of
these offences is punishable by a fine of not more
than £5. Again, every person will render himself
liable to a like fine who shall drive or conduct
any covered or tilted cart, van, or waggon through
the streets unless the horse or horses are led or
driven from a box, or, if driven from the inside,
unless the vehicle be so constructed as to enable the
driver to see into the street laterally as well as in
front of him. Above all, every person under
the age of 14 is to be expressly prohi-
bited from having the temporary charge of
a waggon, cart, or carriage, and the animal draw-
ing the same in a street, the penalty in this case
being leviable on the person intrusting the charge
to another of less than that age. Again, persons
under 20 years of age are not to be allowed to drive
vehicles drawn by more than one horse ; and per-
sons under 16 are prohibited from driving at all ;
the penalties in these cases falling upon the owners
who may offend against the law. Various kinds of
defined obstructions on footways are also prohibited,
under penalties, as is also the placing a flower-pot
or box, or other matter or thing, in any upper win-
dow without sufficiently guarding it from being
blown or thrown down. The City Commissioner
of Police is likewise, with the consent of the Court
of :Aldermen, empowered to license street shoe-
blacks and commissionaires or messengers to exercise
their calling in the city, and to appoint places at
which they may stand.
There is a most important and entirely novel pro-
vision in the bill,—namely, that empowering the
City Commissioners of Sewers, with the consent of
the Court of Common Council, to construct bridges
and subways for the accommodation of the foot
passengers at crossings or intersections of streets,
wherever they may think such accommodation is
required, and to purchase houses or land for the
purpose of forming the necessary approaches ; and
to defray the costs of such bridges, subways, and
purchases out of the consolidated rate. Of late
there have been several fatal accidents, as there have
often been before, at crossings in various parts of the
city, and the danger at such places to life and limb
appears to be greater than ever. At the last sessions
of the Central Criminal Court the grand jury made
it the subject of a special presentment to the judges,
and dwelt upon the reckless manner in which vans,
waggons, and cabs were often driven, to the common
danger of foot passengers. The hum of approbation
which the reading of the document elicited from the
people in court showed how generally the evil is
understood and felt. Again, on last Lo Mayor's-
day, when the present chief
Courtmagistrateooff tE rd
hxecchiteyquwears,
presented to the Barons of the
the Lord Chief Baron made this a prominent
topic in his address to the civic authorities from the
bench, and mentioned the remarkable fact, on au-
thority, that in the course of a single year, taking
one year with another, the accidents which result
in death and injury and loss of power and utility
in the streets of London alone exceed those on all
the railways in England put together. With
bridges and subways at dangerous crossings, and
with the manifold regulations prescribed under
penalties by the bill under consideration for driving
in the public streets, especially that prohibiting
driving by young persons, the city authorities may
in time rid themselves of the reproach implied in
the statement of Chief Baron Pollock, and the lives
of the citizens be guarded from the danger to which
they are now exposed from the cause in question.
It may be added, as showing how much the cor-
poration is now alive to these matters, that Mr.
Alderman Stone, the chaifman of the Police Com-
mittee, has now a motion before the Court of Com-
mon Council to increase the city police by 50 addi-
tional men, at an annual cost of £3,300, in order
the better to cope with the present exigencies of the

traffic.

The Main Drainage of London.

On Saturday the members of the Metropolitan
Board of Works, headed by Sir John Thwaites, the
chairman, paid a visit to the spot on the Plaistow
Marshes where the river Lea passes through the
Abbey Mills. The purpose of the visit was to per-
form an important publicact in connection with the
great main drainage works of the metropolis,
namely, the laying of the foundation-stone of the
Abbey-mills pumping station—a building which is
to rival the works at Crossness, and in which will be