The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-19 00:00:00

THE COST OF METROPOLITAN PAVING•

A report from the Highways, Sewers, and Public
Works Committee of the parish of St. Pancras has
just been printed for the consideration of the vestry,
showing the enormous cost entailed upon the rate-
payers for paving purposes, as well as the addi-
tional sum thrown upon the parish by the abolition
of tolls, by which that vast monopoly, the London
General Omnibus Company, has derived such enor-
mous advantages without affording the public any
adequate benefit. The report sets out by stating that
for 1866 the rates levied for paving purposes were
insufficient by £4,600 to meet paving require-
ments, whilst at the same time extraordinary expenses
hail to be incurred out of the general rate, includ-
ing expenses of cholera committee £1,631, excess of
labour in sanitary precautions £154, extra cost of
water carts £6OO, cartage of snow £B2l, repairs,
of vestry hall £256, and compensation for ac-
cidents £ll3—making a total under this head of
£2,975. The cost of works in relaying footways
and paving intersecting portions of adjacent roads
in connection with paving certain of the late turn-
pike roads had been £6,976. The total cost of
paving these roadways amounted to £49,661, for
defraying the cost of which £50,000 had been
borrowed by the vestry, the balance of which, £339,
the finance committee had appropriated towards
the paving expenses adjacent to the turnpike roads,
leaving a balance of £6,643, the whole of which was
charged to the rates during the year under consi-
deration. To meet this sum £2,801 was estimated
by the assessment committee as a liability to
Michaelmas, 1866, leaving the balance of £3,842
unprovided for. In consequence of works executed
there was a large quantity of surplus material in the
depot, which being available for other streets re-
quiring repair might be regarded as an asset to
the value of £1,500. Amongst the estimates for
1866 was an item for repairing the carriage way
and footways of Tottenham-court-road at a cost
of £8,288, but seeing that Tottenham-court-
road is a most important thoroughfare, and that the
then existing paving had been laid down about
twenty years ago, and also that the paving
could be advantageously dressed for other thorough'
fares of lesser traffic, if not allowed to be still
further depreciated, the committee, taking into con-
sideration the dangerous condition of Tottenham"
court-road, directed the chief surveyor to caul
out the repaving, which swelled the amount of eest
to £11,147. After referring to the payment of great
works on roads, such as Gray's-inn-road and others,
out of the general rate to the extent of £13,000,
which they considered a great mistake, the corn"
mittee report that the cost of maintaining the roads
thrown upon the parish by the abolition of tolls was
£ll,OOO per annum, but the vestry having bor-
rowed £50,000 referred to, and paved with granit°
those portions of the old turnpike roads that vier
subjected to the heaviest traffic, had reduced tile,
cost of maintenance, including the payment 01
the instalment of loan and interest, to £8,400 Pef
annum, which was equal to a rate of 21d. in 0u
,
pound. The appendix to the report thus shows thali
the amount required for paving work in the pariso
of St. Pancras in 1864, the year in which tolls Net
taken off and turnpike roads thrown on the paris,
had been—March £18,097, Sept. £17,710 ; in 1865;
March £18,517, Sept. £21,607 ; in 1866, Marc:
£18,794 ; September, £21,710 ; in 1867, Marv'
£2l,B42—total, £138,277, the amount for all pure
poses required under the general rate for the sata
period being £170,156.

It is announced, says Galignani, that the QueeP
of
,Spain is again in an interesting situation.
Vert
rILE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND.—The-The e;
rable Duke of Northumberland is extremely ill at AIeVIG.4
Castle, and in consequence of his great age his nines° I,
causing much anxiety to his family. The Earl and C°t'll,,llo
tess Percy, Lady Louisa Percy, and other members a
Percy family are staying at Alnwick Castle with the vello,
°'
rable duke. The marriage of the lion. Mr. Little
to
eldest
to
son of Lord and Lady Hatherton, and Miss BctillY o 1
is postponed in consequence of the illness of the
Northumberland. The marriage had been appointeu ,-,,
take place on Thursday last. According to a telegl'ii,
received from Alnwick Castle the Duke was considered
shade better. Ho is, however, not out of danger. , ~...
THE FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES IN AIEXICt,,,,,
The Official Gazette of Florence publishes a report fromt"-
Italian Charge d'Affaires at Mexico announcing tbal,l
the 9th of July an agent of the Corps Diplonaatique 0-1
informed General Porfirio Diaz of the intention of
the
foreign repsesentatives to quit Mexico. The General r
ef
plied that the affair would be regulated on the arrival. 0...'
Juarez. The represefitatives intended to await at
Wes
1.1
ington the instructions of their respective Governmeuts:
.0
STAMP DUTIES.—The now Act on star* datit:
just issued provides that all letters of allotment in stamp,c
pany or proposed company must now boar a penny
0,
as also all scrip and scrip certificates. Any person 515n.,:0a
or issuing any document chargeable with the duty, I)" of
the same Li duly stamped, is to be liable to a polaltY
£2O.