The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-09 00:00:00

ME M.

'T.ROPOLITAN MEAT 211.1RKET
AT SMITHFIELD.

Since the bill now before Parliament, empower-
ing the corporation, by whom it is promoted, to

establish in Smithfield a metropolitan market, on
an extensive scale, for meat, poultry, and other

provisions, left the hands of the select eommittr
a deputation from the corporation has had an in-
terview with Sir George Lewis, the Home Secre-
tary, with the view to learn whether he wcuhl
make an effort in the House to restore the measure
to its original state as regards toll and rent.
The select committee to whom it was referred
have been several days in a searching examination
of witnesses, with the assistance of seven counsel
retained on one side or the other. When the bill
was submitted to the committee it was understood

in the House that, being of a hybrid character,
partly public and partly private, the ordinary rules
by which the locus standi of opponents before
committees on private bills was determined should
not be applied to this inquiry. Acting upon the
spirit of this understanding, the committee reason-
ably enough allowed council to be heard on behalf
of the owners of salesmen's shops and slaughter-
houses in the neighbourhood of Newgate-street.
now used for market purposes, although strictly
speaking, the bill does not take compulsory powers
to shut up the old market, and the right of those
parties to be heard in opposition to the establish-
ment of a competing market might, therefore, have
been questioned. The bill was strongly resisted by
the salesmen and butchers on the questions of the toll
and rent which it proposes to legalise, and their
counsel were heard at great length on those points.
The promoters of the bill had estimated the minimum
supply of meat in the proposed market at 60,000
tons annually, which at 3s. 4d. a ton for toll would
have been just sufficient to pay the interest on the
cost of land, if borrowed at 4 per cent. It was also
calculated by them thatthe quantity might increase
to 80,000 or 90,000 tons, in which case a provision
would be made for a sinking fund to pay off the
principal in 25 years, when the toll was to cease.
The evidence, however, given by the salesmen was
I to the effect that the present supply exceeded
90,000 tons, and that it would probably increase to
160,000 tons. The committee acting, it is supposed, .
on the estimates of the salesmen, reduced the sche-
dule of tolls one-third below the amount specified in
the bill as laid before the committee. That amount
was id. a stone of 141 b. ; it now stands in the bill
at id. for 211 b. The committee likewise reduced
the rate of rent for shops, stalls, and standings in
the market, from a maximum of 10. per square
foot per week told. per square foot. The promoters
of the bill calculated that the market buildings
would cost from £185,000 to .£200,000, and that,
there would be a demand for about 75,000 square
feet for salesmen's shops. But the witnesses for
the salesmen adduced evidence to show that the
market might be constructed for £150,000, and
that tenants would readily be found for the whole
available space of 100,000 feet for shops and
standings.
Sir George Lewis was anderstood to have declined
to propose any alteration in the bill at the present
time, but he intimated that, if it should be found, as
the result of experience, that the salesmen had mis-
taken the amount of business likely to be done in the
market, the corporation might apply to have the
mistake rectified in a future session.
It is understood that this bill—which stands for

committee in the Commons to-morrow—and other
measures now before Parliament in connexion with

it, will cause about 20 slaughter-houses to be re-
moved, and more than 500 tenements to be pulled
down. The City Commissioners of Sewers, by a re-
cent regulation, will refuse to grant any more
licences for slaughterhouses in the City, and the
existing ones, when removed, will not be replaced.
A great boon in a sanitary point of view will thus
be conferred upon the public. Arrangements have
also been made with the railway con.paeies by
which Mr. Pearson's long-projeeted scheme for
locating the families of workmen in villages along
the railway lines, at a moderate distance from the
metropolis, will now be carried into effect. By the
time the Metropolitan Railway communicating with
the meat market shall be completed, and the Chat-
ham and Dover line extended to Farringdon-street,
it is expected that arrangements will be made with
some of the existing associations in the metropolis
for improving the dwellings of the poor for the
practical realisation of this project to a very con-
siderable extent. It is computed that cottages
built upon cheap land, eight or ten miles from Lon-
don, may be let, with 400 yards of garden ground
attached to each, at a less rent, including railway
fare throughout the year, than artisans now pay
for the same number of rooms in the crowded and
unhealthy courts and alleys of the city.
It should be explained that in the establishment
of the proposed market the whole of the ancient
site of Smithfield, except about 1-20th part, or les:;,
will be preserved as an open space, and that a por-
tion, circular in shape, and with a fountain in the
centre, will be planted ornamentally with trees and
shrubs and devoted to purposes of public recreation.
It now rests with the Common Council to say
whether they will proceed with the bill in its al-
tered shape, but it is not doubted that they will
hesitate for a moment to do so, seeing that the
changes in the measure only rest on calculations
more sanguine than their own, and which, if erro-
neous, can be remedied by subsequent legislation,
and that considerations of public convenience and
utility ought to override differences of opinion
founded on mere points of detail.

RAIL hAY INTELLIGENCE:

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE *EEL

Miles Op ened Receipts.
Railways. ~.____^._
1800. 1859. 1860. ...-1859.‘
.£ £
Belfast and N. Counties.... 65 65 1,252 1,345
Belfast and County Down.. 20 20 615 624
Birkd., Lane., & Ches. Jane 33 32 3,044 3,763
Blyth and Tyne 2O 20 1,835 1,743
Bristol and Exeter 125 125 7,683 '1,245
Caledonian 143 1981 15,120 11,268
Ches.&Holyhead(withMold) 91 - -
Cockermouth & Workington 8 8 262 280
Cork and Bandon 2O . 20 424 on
Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6} 61 - -
Cornwall 531 531 1,402 1,000
Deeside l7 . 17 2:16 334
Dublin & Belfast Junction 63 63 1,283 1,143
Dublin and Drogheda 63 63 1,906 1,047
Dub. &Wicklow(in.Kingst ) 401 401 2,199 2,014
Dundalk and Enniskillen
Dundee and Arbroath l7l 171 748 628
Dundee, Perth, & Aber. J un. 31 31 1,038 1,224
East Anglian 671 671 3,018 799
E.Counties,Nrfk.,&E.Union 499 489 28,598 27,564
East Kent l9l - - -
E.Lancashire(in.Blackburn) 111 105 - -
Edinburgh and Glasgow
Edinburgh, Perth,& Dundee 78 78 3,361 3,317
Forth & Clyde Junction
Furness
Glasgow & South-Western 1832 1831 7,811 7,155
Great Northern 283 283 25.532 23,100
Great North of Scotland
flt.Soutlin. & Westn.(lrind ) 329 228 8,864 7,630
Great Western 466 466 37,639 85,955
Hull and Holderness - -
tnverness e.: Aberdeen June. 55 55 751 es 1
Irish South-pastern 251 251 222 267
Killarney Junction - -
Lancaster and Carlisle (in.
Kendal and Windermere) 100 ' 1001 - -
Lane. & Yrks.(in.Blackburn) 395 3951 40,285 35,230
Limerick and Foynes 2 261 -
Llanelly 4 461 505 .-;39
London Sc North-Western
London and Blackwall 52 52 1.020 1,813
London & South-Western
Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 2231 2021 21,991 19.140
L'derry and Enniskillen - -
Loud., Tilbury, & Southend. 421 40 1,699 t. 019
Man.,ShefUeld,& Lincolnsh. 1731 1731 11,552 10,510
Manch. S.Jun.& Altrincham 91 91 1,025 1,031
Maryport and Carlisle 2B 28 1,212 1,219
Midland
Midland Gt.Westn. of 'rind 177 177 4,182 4,021
Monkland 52 52 - _
Monmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 2,497 2,455
Newcastle and Carlisle 7B 78 4,022 3,671
Newport,Aberg.,& Herefor 5O 60 1,438 1,4 I n
North British (in. Dalkeith), 154 144 6,258 6,237
North Devon 35 35 543 521
I North-Eastern 764 764 39,348 38,274
North London 9 9 2,660 2,0 q
North Staffordshire 233 233 11,540 1,397
North-Western 461 -
-
N. Yorkshire and Cleveland 1 -
- Oxford, Wore~ & Wolver
244 2246
Peebles lBl 18
30 2,291 2,242
St. Helen's Canal & Railway 30
50 3,498 3,407
9 Scottish Central
115 115
23,037850
23:40r3
Scottish North-Eastern }Shrewsbury & Birmingham 291 ,,.
48 3,•>35 :33,12
S hrewsbury and Chester ... ill 51 1,937 2,020
Shrewsbury & Hereford • 291 291 935 P 0
Shropshire Union
', South Devon
South-Eastern
South Wales .....••••"'••• to 17,141
3,471 t,M
S.
53 8,518 7,605
53
Taff Vale ............... 52
52
ocYkortkonshainredani;cactv.gelb . 14_11_ 10819
4,900 4,321
Ulster ......... ~
726 50;
rrinoton an or . 4
1, UsrallieerSoftONlleflatahn.d..L.a.n..oa..sy.e
; Wra d Kilkenny 3l - -
s, Waterford
Limerick
77 1,302 1,20
271 271 631 80
'll vieletarfertinirdepwegnanoaildili arbr. &Rail. 39 30 4,867 3,65
Whitehaven Junction...... 12 12 717 57
Whitehaven & Furness Jun. 35 35 702 60,
w,haven,Cleator,&Egrmnt. 7 7 479 31
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
Antwerp and Rotterdam... 52
riloanand Lake H 52 1,012 91
uron... 82.1 3 673 39,396 ZS,o'.'
a Austrian
Belgian Eastern Junction
2641 126114 •,83 21
1 121 8(
Detroit and Milwaukie 18.5 185 2,168 2,1:
, Dutch Rhenish
Grand Trunk of Canada 970 880 11,118 7,61
Great Indian Peninsula
Great Luxembourg 277 1942 4,107 3,31
128 122 2,870 2,21
- -
6,232 4,7,
Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant 310 284 13,573 9,6,
Maria Antonia
Paris and Strasburg 2l 21
1,032 1,016 -
i-i 2 -
68
13514452 1,514452 6,023 6,81
Great Western of Canada
Lombardo-VenetianLonsandGeneva
d Northern of France 613 602 45,864 40,5:
, Norwegian Trunk 44 44 651 A
'.el• Paris, Lyons, & Mediterrn 879 840 74,171 85,24
in Paris and Orleans 922 922 68,630 Kol
ie Royal Danish 69 69 Lao 1,13
Sambre and Meuse
11- ,Southern of France
66 68
777 773 19,212 18,14
- _
75
at west Flanders
he w, and N.W. of France 74785