The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-18 00:00:00

PRICE_ 41). STAMPED; 5

THE: CHARING-CROSS RAILWAY.

This important metropolitan improvement, which
a short time since pass .the ordeal of inquiry in
the House 'of Commons, has, diming the whole of
the past week, formed the subject of inquiry before
a committee of the House of Lords, The committee
consists Of Lord -Belper tehairman), Earl Spencer,
Earl of Munster,. Viscount de Vesci, and Lord Tal-
bot de Maiahide; and as in the case of the Com-
mons, the members of the committee have displayed
the greatest possible anxiety that the whole of.the
merits of the ease, as welt of the promoters as of
the opposition, should be thOroughly investigated.
When the bill was before the Commons the opposi-
tion to it was something of a formidable character,
so far as the numbe: of petitioners were concerned,
and they were headed by the Metropolitan Board
of Works, which, as we then stated, was Unable to
carry out any metropolitan improvements them-
selves, and seemed determined to prevent any other
parties from 'doing so. The Metropolitan Board of
Works have, however, thought better of the matter,
and they are' now petitioners before the committee
praying that the bill may pass in its present form.
They have found, in fact, that the new street in
Southwark, which has been so long under consider
ration, will, if formed, be greatly benefited by this
undertaking. The only opponents, therefore, are the
Governors of 'St. Thomas's Hospital and a Mrs.
Jane Seymour, who claims compensation. for SOME
property which will be affected •by the proposed
line. The Governors of St. Thomas's hospital
have achieved for themselves the notoriety of
being the most litigant body in :the, country so
far as railway enterprises are concerned, and they
have probably spent more money in endeavouring
to prevent railway accommodation at London-
bridge than would have sufficed to build a new hos-
pital in any other part of London. When .the
Greenwich line was first proposed, they were before
the committees of both houses to oppose the scheme:
Four yeas later, in 1835, they were again oppo-
nents to a bill for effecting some desired alterations
in the station. In 1838 they opposed the London
and Croydon bill. In 1840 it was found necessary
to widen the railway for the accommodation, of the
traffic—the Governors of St. Thomas's Hospital
were duly at their post. Again, in '1845, when
the Greenwich Company was leased to the South
Eastern, there was opposition from the same
parties ; in 1846, when the Croydon Company was
proposed to be' amalgamated with the Brighton,'
the plan was opposed by the governors ; and on
every occasion on which it has been found neces-
sary, for the sake of public convenience, to provide
some additional room or accommodation, the ,autho-
rities of St. Thomas's Hospital have invariably
brought all their' power to oppose it, and on every
occasion have succeeded in claiming and exacting
some increased demands from the companies.- No
person would
undulywoulld interferedesiretos with, b
see the benefits
at tsofte sameahpublic
hospital
time the convenience of the public has also some
claim for consideration. More than thirteen mil

lions of persons use the railway station at London
,
Bridge, and it is somewhat hard upon a majority
of those persons, as well as upon the whole traffic
of the metropolis, which is more or less impeded
by their goiing to and from the station, that an
imaginary injury to two or three hundred patients
in the hospital should be allowed to stand in the
way of carrying out any enterprise which cannot
fail to be of real benefit to the public.
The manner in which the company promoting
this bill has sought to propitiate the governors of
the hospital has been marked with the utmost
liberality ; indeed, we think they have almost gone
beyond what was due to the intereas of their pro-
prietary body._ When the bill was' before the Com-
mons the company offered a sum of £20,000, though
they did not take a brick of the hospital buildings,
or a yard of land on which it 'stood. This • sum
would have enabled the hospital 'authorities to
erect a new wing from the design submitted by Sir
Charles Barry, on some open ground belonging
to the hospital, which would be completely re-
moved from, and out of sight of, the railway, and
which might be used for patients ; while the exist-
ing north wing would still remain, and might be
used as convalescent wards, for the purpose
of the museum, of a laboratory, or for offices
connected with the hospital. The company per-
sisted in their refusal, and the committee went
down to the proposed sites-of the tailway, examined
the line of the railway which was shown by a
emporary erection near the hospital, and they
very clearly expressed their opinion of the injury
which would be done, and of the sufficiency of the
compensation which was offered, by passing the
preamble of the bill ; and the committee left it to
the hospital author ities to say whether the amount
of compensation should be dealt with in the usual
way, according to the Lands Claim Act, or referred
to arbitration ; or whether they would themselves
name any sum which should be , agreed upon and
inserted in the bill, the company paying in addition
all the expenses which the hospital had incurred in
their opposition. With the most dogged determi-
nation the authorities refused every offer which
was made, and the bill was read a third time in
the Commons, despite the opposition of 'Mr. Tite,
M.P., one of the governors of the hospital, with-
out any claim of compensation, it being understood
that the hospital authorities were to reserve them-
selves for the great fight on the bill in the Lords.
This is, however, by no means all that has been done
in order to remove the apprehensions and satisfy the
demands of the governors of St. Thomas's. It is
proposed that the sides of the railway should be
constructed of lattice work, in order not to inter-
fere with the ventilation of the hospital ; that the
roadway should be formed of indiarubber or some
other material which would deaden the sound of
passing trains ; that no train should be allowed to
pass the north wing of the hospital at a speed of
more than six miles an hour ; that the steam whistle
should not be sounded except in ease of absolute
danger; and that the arcade leading to the railway
station should be removed to give increased ventila-
tion. The line of railway is proposed to be con-
structed on iron columns of 24 feet in height, which
would rest on the garden of the hospital, so as to
afford as little obstruction to light and air as possible,
and the removal of some houses in Wellington-
street, to provide for the passing of the railway,
would serve to give an increased amount of open space
in front of the hospital. All, however, has been una-
vailing, end the hospital authorities have, during the
week, opposed the bill with a resolution and deter-
mination worthy of a better cause. The case was
continued on Friday, and the 'committee have ad-
journed until Tuesday, in order to afford them an
opportunity to try once more the effect of negocia-
tion upon terms more liberal than those offered
when the bill was before the Commons. The offer
now stands thus :—That the company is prepared
to pay compensation to the amount of £20,000; to
erect buildings for the hospital on a plan proposed
by Sir Charles Barry, and which would improve
the architectural appearance of the hospital as well
as give increased accommodation ; or thirdly, to
adopt the suggestions wnich had been thrown out
by one of the members of the committee, to extend
the south wing, so as to give an amount of accom-
modation equal to that now afforded by the north
wing. This latter course will involve the removal
and rebuilding of St. Thomas's Church, and the
purchasing of several houses in St. Thomas's-street,
the whole costing from £35,000 to £40,000. Con-
cession must surely now have reached its limits,
and we cannot conceive upon what grounds the
committee can hesitate, on Tuesday next, to declare
the preamble to be passed.
That it is desirable upon public grounds to construct
this line there can be no two opinions. There are
25 petitions in its favour from the inhabitants of
various towns on the line of railway, who desire
to have the convenience of a West end terminus,
and are anxious to avoid the danger and annoyance
of the journey through the City. The Lord
Mayor and corporation of London are petitioners
in favour of the bill, and the principal mercantile
establishments in the City pray that the line may
be constructed, "as it would be a great public ad-
vantage, and would tend to relieve the thorough-
fares of the City, by a diversion of the traffic." In
the evidence of Mr. Mitchell, one of the inspectors
of the city police, he stated that on the 17th of
March last there passed over the bridge 4,483 cabs,
4,286 omnibuses, 9,245 waggons,als
t ,2nir4e43,Osa inontdhveaerthli
ec
alvehi-
cleses,stn u m .
baenr de
d5460h,
8o
3r horses;, s
a; thatnd on thefoo
foot
three-fourths of the omnibuses
and 7
cabs passing
over the bridge came from or went westward. The
authorities of the Poq office complained of the de-
lays which were continually taking place, and that
more time was taken in
.conveying the mail bags
the short distance from the Post-office to the Lon-
don-bridge Railway
S andtatiNoonrthth_wanesttoornthe Euston
Station of the Londonßailway.
Mr. Eborall, the traffic manager of the South-
Eastern Rail showed that of 3,611 cabs pass-
pinlageeos stvewr
eLonwdain,-bridge 2,386 were to and from
of Temple-bar, and some idea of the
traffic going on may be formed from the fact that
320 trains leave the London-bridge Statian every
day. In the midst of all this traffic, and "this con-
tinuous rumbling noise," as it was described by