The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, JANUARY 2, 1847,

EFFECTS OF METROPOLITAN
RAILWAYS.

The following are extracts from the minutes of evi-
pence taken before the metropolitan Railway Commis-
sioners. Mr. R. L. Jones is the witness first examined.

You have had a good deal of experience in the course
of the metropolitan improvements which have been made
under the direction of the city, of the effect produced by
such alterations in the removal of habitations of an in-
ferior class, and the removal of the poor from districts
in which they were congregated?—Yes; there have been
some instances of that certainly.
What generally is your opinion of the effect of such
changes, are they detrimental to the poorer clasess or
otherwise?—l should say rather a benefit than other
wise; it induces them to go out of those hordes and
dirty places which they would not think of if they were
not driT •ri out.

It not only induces them, but compels them go, no
doubt; but does not that compulsion inflict any great in-
jury or suffering upon them?—l should say not, because
in all cases in which I have been concerned, we have
always given them a compensation, however, small it
might be, and they havo got dwellings elsewhere in a
better situation.

Is it the interest of some speculators to provide dwell-
ings for the poor in such cases ?—My own opinion is
that that would never answer to any great extent. If
you took a manufactory where the manufacturer was
going to employ 300 or 400 men, and there were no
small dwellings near, it would be worth the while of a
builder to build small cottages for such a class of people;
but I have been consulted by several who have been
desirous of building habitations, and I find that the
workmen will not go away from their labour. What
has been the cause of all the hundreds and thousands of
small houses at Blackwall and Poplar, and all those
places ? the docks, which have brought the labour them.
The labourer will not go away from where the manu-
factory is, however bad the occupancy of his dwelling
may be ; he still will be near his work.
Then in what manner have you found that the poorer
classes, who are compelled by the course of those im-
provements to leave their dwellings, are provided with
new ones ?—There are always builders who are building
smell places, so as to catch here and there one, but not
to any extent.

But sufficient to make provision for them ?—Just so.
There are many situations in the City where o'd courts
have been pulled down and better classes have been built,
but they have been near their work, and therefore oc-
cupied by the workmen ; they will not travel far from
where their labour is.

Mr. J. W. Higgins gives evidence to the following
effect upon the same subject :
What is your opinion as to the effect that a railway
has passing through a low neighbourhood, where the
houses are bad, and the population bad, as in the case
of the Blackwell and the Eastern Counties Railways?—
It appears to me that, with reference to the taking down
some of the low neighbourhoods, it has the advantage
of letting in light and air, and spreading the popu-
lation, but it is exceedingly painful very often
in its operation, for people are put to vast incon-
venience, and those who can least bear it. I
apprehended that, with reference to the dealings with
public streets, &c., even the improvements made by the
Metropolitan Improvement Commission, and by the
City, are attended with loss to many. I have had to
do with them for a good many years, and have seen
very much of them.
'Will you state them ?—I will endeavour to do
so. The improvements in this respect by new
streets, &c., are by no means an unmixed good ;
there are many unduly paid, over paid ; then, on the
other hand, some, especially trades of a sound character,
and rooted as it were to a spot, no reasonable compen-
sation does pay them. Many, in a small way, waste
the few pounds or hundreds they receive, and frequently
damage is done to other properties to a very serious
amount by the operations of new streets, as in the
case of Chandos-street, and recently of Broad street,
and High-street, St. Giles's, and the west end of
Holborn, the new Oxford-street will damage pro-
perty there, both freehold, leasehold, and trades, to a
very serious extent, and persons are left without a
claim of any kind. There are many which are called
consequential damages ; many of those inconveniences
and losses I believe it is difficult to redress ; to a great
extent I think it is almost impossible. I mention these
matters that they may be impressed upon the minds
of Legislators carefully to avoid the granting of such
powers unless they are made out to be important and de-
sirable. There are very many inconveniences in cases
of leases, &c. I have seen great hardships in the cases
of leases and trust properties. In the case of lessees
who would continue renewing from time to time when
the As; has passed the lessors, such as Dean and Chap-
ter, and other proprietors, take the whole of the property
except the years due in the lease under the strict letter of
the law: the custom of renewal is lost to the lessee, I
have known hundreds and thousands that would have
been continued to families so lost to lessees. All this I
think it my duty to point out, as importantreasons for con-
ducting these affairs with very great caution. Many
instances I have met with where tradesmen have been
carrying on business without leases, and for years. I
remember, among others, in the Strand improvements,
some serious cases. I represented to the Metropolitan
Improvement Commission, and the best was done that
circumstances would admit of ; but there were parties
who had lived for years without leases, and would have
gone out without leases ; they were thrown upon the
consideration of the Commissioners, who kindly ordered
some allowances, but some lost their means of livelihood ;
and I believe many of those cases are unavoidable ; but
again it shows how necessary it is to be cautious how
such liberties are allowed to companies, who are seeking
their own interest only in these matters.
Those observations would mainly apply to better
neighbourhoods than the Black wall Bailin ay ? I made
an estimate for it, and had occasionally to do with it
afterwards, and I have seen cases of hardship which
have been the unavoidable consequence in all such affairs
—the parties whose property is taken get paid, some of
them, as I said before, unduly paid—but with regard to
parties on the opposite side of a street or in the neigh-
bourhood, whose property is not touched, they do not
get paid, and their trade is sometimes damaged to a
great extent, by sweeping away a portion of their cus-
tomers. So that in cases, even in the neighbourhoods
of which your Lordship speaks, there are these unavoid-
able inconveniences of which the public know little.
With regard to the benefits that may result from run-
ning a railroad through a low district of that sort, to
what extent do they accrue?—Except that it is a public
benefit from better air, and sometimes better drainage,
Ido not know that much advantage is derived. I cannot
calculate upon much except that, and encouraging the
general trade and commerce of the county by railway
accommodation.
Take the two points of air and drainage, do you con-
sider that the neighbourhood of those two railways, the
Eastern Counties and the Blackwall, have been bene-
fited upon those two heads ? Do you consider that
Rosemary-lane, near the Blackwall railway, and the
Bethnal-green district, through which the Eastern
Counties Railway passes, are any the better drained, or
any the better ventilated ?—I think the probability is
they are better drained. I have not watched that.
Have you been there lately ?—Yes, I was there on
Saturday last about an extension.
On the Eastern Counties ?—Yes ; I was there looking
over a property for a friend in the same profession, who
is ill, and in aid of his duties I was there on Saturday,
and have been there several days. I do not know how
the Acts constituting those railways compel drainage,
but generally they have clauses about drainage, and the
railways improve drainage very frequently ; but with
regard to taking down a number of the houses and spread-
ing the population, opening out those courts and alleys,
and giving light and air, they certainly are to some extent
and in some places advantageous ; they are proposing
now to take down some wretched places in that imme-
diate neighbourhood, but they have some very filthy re-
essptach s under some few of their arches.

:Do you think that those railways take down more
houses than are absolutely necessary for the breadth of
their own line ?—They rarely take down more than is
necessary, either for the breadth of their line or for
their other purposes ; generally speaking, they are
cautious about that I believe.
Does not that necessarilyf limit the benefit which might
be derived from their opening out those low neighbour-
hoods ?—lt does, unquestionably ; but it is not merely
their line, they take surplus property : the Eastern
Counties, for instance, have a wider extent taken near
High-street, Shoreditch, than the mere trunk line ; they
want it for different purposes, or expect to do so,
But they do not occupy it by building ?—lt is not all
built upon at present. It will be built upon with a
better description of building. My impression since I
have thought of this subject is, decidedly, that with
regard to these railways, as far as I can form
a genet al judgment upon the subject, there are
two extremes, the one of bringing them into the
heart of the town, which, I think, can't be borne with.
I have seen a very clever model of my friend Mr.
Pearson's, but it appears to me to have, with all its ex-
cellencies, the vice of emptying and filling in a part al-
ready crowded beyond endurance. At the same time,
keeping the termini of railways too far from the sides
and near the centre of London, I think, a great incon-
venience, not only to the railway world, but to the
general public who have nothing to do with railways ;
the means of conveyance are occupied in getting to and
from the termini, and blocking up the thoroughfares
longer than need be.
Have you in your mind any limitation which you
would propose to apply to the progress of railways
towards the metropolis ?—No ; it is strongly im-
pressedoilrouhmaysetanthoeosu.gh2ftf)a,boui
u
it,
that upon pmo nu s
tm
ydepmeinndd,
sincepo upon
im-
pression that if the Birmingham Railway had come
to Russell-square formerly they would have done
wisely, but I would not let them at once into Hol-
born ; it is one of the great arteries ; but if they had
been as far as Russell-square, or somewhere there, they
would have been near the centre of London, and would
have had space and numerous avenues, and the traffic
' could have spread in various directions. I mention this
as my general notion of where and what a railway ter-
mt thus should be. The Eastern Counties I take to be
ptoov do
ert with in
that
inm early
Isyt ospt ap
too far eastward. The South Western I have had much
go eds :atthNisinel s suppose,;
Elmsppo s; e
t,
hfraotmisitas
mot s it t unhappy position, a • appears to me, for a rail-
way station.
What is your opinion with respect to •
those districts
which are mostly inhabited by the merely labouring
classes ; does the displacement of the habitations of
such classes tend more to good or evil in youropinion?
—I have great difficulty in judging upon the subject, al-
though I have formed a large acquaintance with that
description of persons recently, for I had much to do in
St. Giles's, in the very Rookery.
RWith reference to that particular district to which
you have adverted, the Rookery, do you believe, upon
the whole, that greater benefit has been derived from
opening that aggregation of habitations of the worst
class than the disadvantage of the compulsory removal