The Sun.
London, England, 1836-07-27 00:00:00

REPARATION OF BLACKFRIARS

BRIDGE.

Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider the
practicability of widening and improving Blackfriars-
bridge, and to report their observations thereupon to the
House ; and to whom was referred the Petition of the
inhabitants of Chatham-place, Blackfriars, in the City of
London ; and who were empowered to report the mi-
nutes of the evidence taken before them to the House,
have considered the matters referred to them, and have
agreed upon the following Report :
The attention of your Committee was first directed to
the necessity of widening Blackfriars' Bridge, and upon this
point the witnesses concur in stating that the present width
of the bridge is not sufficient for the traffic over it, and
that accidents have frequently happened from that cause.
The width of Blackfriars' Bridge, within the balustrades, is
41 feet 10 inches, upwards of 12 feet less than the
width of London Bridge. Blackfriars' Bridge could be
sufficiently widened at an expense of about 40001.,
during the repairs now in progress ; but, if the present op-
portunity is lost, the expense of widening the bridge, at any
future period, would be more than double the sum for
which it can now be effected.

Mr. James Walker, the engineer employed to superintend
the repairs of the bridge, has produced before your Com-
mittee a plan and model for widening Blackfriars' Bridge,
the particulars of which are stated in his evidence: By
widening the bridge, a change will be produced in the style
of its architecture, by the removal of the columns over
the piers. Upon this point your Committee have been
attended by Mr. Mylne, the son of the engineer who built
the bridge, but, after due consideration of the objection
stated by Mr. Mylne, your Committee do not consider
them of sufficient importance to prevent the widening of
the bridge upon the plan produced by Mr. Walker.
In addition to the substantial repairs of the bridge, the
Corporation of London have entered into arrangements
for raising the carriage way at each end of the bridge ;
and, after takinc, into their consideration the petition upon
this subject from some of the inhabitants of Chatam-
place, Blackfriars, in the City of London, your Com-
mittee have no doubt that the houses at each end of the
bridge will be rather benefited than injured by raising the
roadway at each end of the bridge.
The sum of 90,0001., author iced to be raised by the Act
of the 3d and 4th of William IV., c. 118, for the repair
of Blackfriars' Bridge, will not be more than sufficient for
the repairs already contracted for by the Corporation of
London ; and it appears to your Committee that the bridge-
house estates, upon the surplus of which the sum of
90,0001. is charged, are not capable of providing for more
than the amount of the present charges upon them, and that
the Corporation of London have no other fund applicable
to such a purpose.
Under these circumstances your Committee are of
opinion that the sum for widening Blackfriars' Bridge should
be charged upon the fund for improving the approaches to
London Bridge, consisting of the rate or duty of Bd. per
ton on coals imported into the port of London, and the
sum of 11,5001. per annum, and other sums paid by the
Corporation of London, after the payment of the present
charges thereon ; and as the sum necessary for that pur-
pose will not occasion a continuance of the duty beyond
the period of eight or nine months, they do not see any ob-
jection to such a course.

Your Committee being of opinion that the present oppor-
tunity of widening Blaekfriars' Bridge should not be lost,
recommend that a Bill be brought into Parliament, in the
present session, for the purposes aforesaid.
July 1, 1836.

M. Arago, on Wednesday, on delivering a lecture
on the theory of the central heat of the earth, related an ope-
ration at this time carrying on in Paris, which may be of the
highest importance not only to science, but to public economy.
The municipality have ordered an Artesian well to be pierced
near the Barriere des Martyrs ; but the men employed, after
getting to a depth of 900 feet without finding water, came to
a stratum of chalk, so thick that the undertaking would have
been given up but for the interference of men of science, who
wished it to be continued, with a view to the elucidation of
the above theory. According to observations made by means
of a thermometer, a maxima, no doubt remains as to a fact
which hitherto it has not been possible to verify with any de-
gree of precision—namely, that the temperature of the earth
rises in regular proportion towards the centre ; so that, at the
tenth degree from the surface, all known matter must be in a
state of fusion. At the point to which the perforation in
question has reached, M. Arago expects a spring of water will
arise of a sufficient degree of heat to warm public establish-
ments, supply baths, and serve for other purposes. We cannot
help thinking this expectation of M. Arago a very fanciful
one,— Gaggnani's Messenyer.