The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-27 00:00:00

NEW WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

It is some comfort in the midst of the delays and
mistakes that have been made with regard to the
Kensington-road, to find that we are likely to have
at least one improved thoroughfare in London open
in time for the Exhibition. Mr. Page is confident that
he will have the whole roadway of the new bridge at
Westminster finished in May. next, and, according
as he succeeds or fails in his endeavours to this end,
he may look for praise or censure from the public.
The long work of constructing this very handsome
bridge, without for a day interrupting the carriage
or passenger traffic, has been one of no ordinary
difficulty, and to this is due much of the delay that
has arisen in its progress towards completion. Old
Westminster-bridge, ruinous and unsafe, had to be
cut almost in two to allow of the erection of the first
portion of the structure, and then its crumbling
foundations had to be gathered from the bed of the
river before the other half could be proceeded with.
When we see how week after week great main
avenues of traffic are blocked up if a gas pipe hap-
pens to be out of order or a 3ft. sewer wants a few
bricks in its crown, it is a contrast creditable to
Mr. Page that he has been able to build his bridge
across the Thames without t. single stoppage of
traffic of any kind. The last vestiges of the old
structure have now been dredged out, and all the
arches of the remaining half, save the fifth and
sixth, are completed. The two latter will have
their crowns of wrought-iron girders bolted in next
week, and as fast as each is placed the buckle plates
for the roadway will go down. Over these plates
comes a packing of blocks of pine wood and asphalte,
and over all the stone pitching pavement of the road.
Up to the present the eastern half has been entirely
disconnected from that which is finished. It is
now being joined by a number of short cross girders
or stay pieces of cast-iron, and over these, as
soon as the timber scaffolding is removed, the
plates and roadway will be laid so as to form one com-
plete structure of the two halves. When the two are
connected into one rigid mass the vibration now ex-
perienced on the western and smaller half will en-
tirely disappear. Before the bridge can be opened,
however, the half that is now finished and closed
must be entirely complete. A very broad foot
pavement will be laid down with small handsome
terracotta tiles, croesbarred in contrary directions,
to give firm foothold, and these are to be edged in
with a kerb of red granite. These terracotta tiles
are coming much into use, as experience shows
them to be better, drier, more easily repaired, and
stt
ier
onangmeawrn tadrya
dsffii s
for
utr hs
sahi noe
nag
vr
ya
it n t
hasirt
ae
ffii t
been
ee
el
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edlong
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and fro in the centre of the bridge, leaving two
roadways of 20ft. wide on each side for the lighter
vehicles. The side next the Houses of Parliament
is completely finished, except some ornamental
shields that can be bolted into the Gothic quatre-
foil sprandrils of the arches at any moment. From
this point therefore the effect of the whole struc-
ture can well be judged, and it appears to be both
graceful and massive, and the perforated trefoil
balustrade between the granite piers has especially
a light and pleasing look, and serves as a cornice
to the whole. The conventional street lamp-post
will not intrude upon this thoroughfare, as hand-
some lamps and posts of cast iron have been
specially designed to be in keeping with the main
architectural features of the rest of the work, and
all the iron portions are to be painted of a pale
neutral tint, excepting only the ornamental shields
we have spoken of, which will be emblazoned with
the arms of England and Westminster in gold and
enduring colours. Since the western half has been
opened for traffic not the most remote approach
towards a sinking of the piers has taken place,
which is something to say when even with all the
care with which London-bridge was built it sunk
more than an inch on the eastern side before it had
been open a month. When the entire bridge is
finished there will be two footways of 15 feet wide
each, two tramways is the centre of 7 feet 6 inches
wide, and two roadways for the light traffic of 20
feet each; The extreme width of London-bridge is
only 56 feet from parapet to parapet, or exactly the
space of the roadway of the new bridge exclusive of
footpaths. To enable the bridge to advance as far
as it has done, nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet of masonry
ttaa
hhrn
eeed
river
occupied
cwie
ucr kpbo7
iirwrsteisoldode
2rgl
fbkfeefyeiehist
este.
tthvto
heßebbeseubeel
tseoa
daeffwomrnfoe
scaffolding,
athegsaimi
nesps
dgorstV:ophe:uaade
tecti
present
to,
under
fenonl
omeeranavuenrebral
elbybe thebtosl
eevahesadretn:oe
mnwels
zaafaasneiioct_entedsh.
in-
creased tbelow e thenew
a rreihv
ee
sr
At When
present,all i
tcho me pwl eattee,
waterway
ae
ybed n
doe of
some 10
h
the new structure. In a month or two more these
will all be removed, and for. the first time within.
the lastsscloi
slightly
hr 2
tOdl
yoy
down
aingr sth
the
erh the tidevaenr will
i has
al flowsbeh trhe
largelyeaurs
tne
hitherto
dimd
iopnnecedrewadsheiudl
while
settlement
and down the Thames. The result of this will be of
course that the tide above Westminster-bridge will
rthisee
The knowledge of this fact ought to hasten the Com-
mittee of the Bridge-house Estates to an immediate
risk of
Idscdhheereeetfecteyia
Bilrese
defective
ecioadovanmesnnv
structure,
utitgnhrb
itesah aoee
xlwmmpnreferenceoooasssnitetndactdeoaewrtßft
omeial
teiaahantensiokvst
uo, fie
without
arches
,teahrarheedshe-
greatest
os i
aodnfg tie
increased
in all human
probability most of the arches in the centre of the
stream would be certain to follow. As a stimulus
towards arriving at a decision, Mr. Page cannot do
better than get his bridge finished at once, and then
leave the public to judge of the soundness of his
opinions as to what a bridge should be. For the
sake of the public, and their convenience, we cer-
tainly hope that this opportunity will on no account
be deferred beyond next May.—Times.

T1h8661 produced a
years's dluBt6iels.—in
re-
turns show
(without deducting charges of collection) of
increase of X 59.1 143
1g16,526, an mc ) over the receipts of
(,)44
Tea produced £5,521,320 ; coffee, £442,253; cocoa,
3. and sugar, X 6,414,425. Corn brought no less than
£14,90 ,
7 633. Tobacco had to pay £5,604,032 ; wine;£1,219,533,
xs3 ,
increase of £45,428 over 1860 ; and foreign and colonial
an
Fpirits £2,641,257, an increase of £109,000 over 1860. But
this is not the whole of the taxation on stimulants ; tha
exciseman in 1861 taxed 19,698,722 gallons of homemade
spirits retained for home consumption (a falling off, how-
ever, of 1,705,296 gallons from 1860, and of 4,179,869 front
1859) ; to which may be added 46,650,100 taxable
bushels of malt (4,896,050 mere than in 1860, but 1,096,189
fewer than in 1859, and lastly 23,430,1701 b. of hops--
crop so variable that this quantity is more than double
that theECXuUsltSoEmsl'N
that of 1860, but really not very greatly more than a third
gross CUSTOMS
revenue AND
.
of that of 1859.
CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC JoKE.—A corre4ort-
dent of the Union writes :—" As Dr. Gobat and Mr. Veitch
nearlp succeeded in converting half a Jew between them,
it is not unlikely that this conspicuous sucxess may have
induced the Bishop of London to appoint Mr. Veitch to the
parish of St. Saviour's, Paddington, which, from the num-
ber of Jews resident there, has acquired the name of the
New Jerusalem." We are glad to find our ecclesiastical
contemporaries—the Guardian quotes the paragraph—in
such excellent spirits, having received the impression that
very serious matters, demanding all their attention,
were
pending.
lows —Restoration to
LADvEitTisnmENT.)—Holloway's .. t •
Health.—When disordered action is
all right again. They
resort to these purifying pills willhs:t
stomach, and overcome
improve the appetite, strengthen !
so well adapted for the
all its difficulties. No medicine is. r .
they fortify the n Jrves,
noticed, an early
anal give
sedentary and studious—
universal tone to _
the system. Be the Malady what it may,
Holloway's
purifying pills will abate its severity and
-o i
n. They extract all poisonous matterrj
from the blooa
. and expel all gross humours from the fray Jo.
0,, flatulency, distention, and coast'tulency, nausea,
'prAtion .
:
abridge its duration.
give3lilio waY at once to these pills, which, acting through the
n odium of the constitution, exercise a
40St benefi,oial fr./.
Buenos over the entire body,