The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-23 00:00:00

MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.

Deputy WHITE moved, pursuant to notice, "That
the Corporation of London do subscribe the sum of
£l,OOO in aid of the fund for the establishment of a
system of middle-class education." The hon. deputy,
in proposing the motion, remarked upon the great
importance of the object sought to be attained; and
he observed that, after the princely munificence of

the 42 merchants of the city of London who had put
down their names as donors of £l,OOO each in sup-
port of this proposition, the Corporation of Loudon
would not hesitate to do the same for an object that
was calculated to be of so much benefit to the citi-
zens and to the public at large. (llear, hear.)
Mr. LAwLEY seconded the motion, which was
supported by Alderman Hale and Mr. H. L. Taylor,
both of whom expressed their warm approbation of

the proposed scheme, and several other hon. mem-
bers, and in the result the motion was unanimously
agreed to by the court.

THE OPENING OF SOUTHWARK-BRIDGE.

Mr. H. E. MURRELL moved that it be referred to
the Bridge House Estates Committee to consider the
propriety and expediency of purchasing Southwark-
bridge, with power to negotiate with the Southwark-
bridge Company for the purchase thereof, and if the
committee should deem it advisable that the bridge
should be purchased by the Corporation, that they
do consider the best mode of raising the requisite
funds for the purpose, conferring, if necessary, with
the Coal and Corn and Finance Committee thereon,
and report fully upon the whole subject to this
court.

To this motion there was an amendment by Mr.
C. ROBINSON, that it be referred to the Bridge House
Estates Committee to negotiate with the Scuthwark
Bridge Company for the purchase of Southwark-
bridge, to consider the best mode for providing the
requisite funds for that purpose, and report fully
upon the whole subject to this court.
This motion and amendment led to a rather
lengthened discussion, in which all the old arguments
so frequently used upon the subject were repeated.
The motion was supported by Alderman Law-
rence, Alderman Salomons, Deputy Fry, and several
other honourable members, on the ground that the
opening of the bridge was absolutely necessary for
the accommodation of the public, and to facilitate
the traffic, and that it was the duty of the Corpora-
tion to effect such an important improvement.
On the other hand, both the motion and the
amendment were opposed by Mr. H. L. Taylor,
Deputy de Jersey, Mr. H. A. Isaacs, Mr. Fricker,
and Mr. Hartridge, on various grounds, among
which were that the bridge was not worth £200,000;
that in consequence of the steepness of the ap-
proaches to it it could not be used by the heavy
traffic, which would be compelled, as at present, to
pass over London-bridge, and that even supposing
the Corporation were to agree to purchase the bridge
for £200,000, they would be compelled to spend a
very much larger sum afterwards in making ap-
proacheS to it.

Eventually the amendment was put and nega-
tived by a large majority.
Mr. DE JERSEY, upon the original motion being
put, proposed another amendment, to the effect that
it be referred to the Bridge House Estates Com-
mittee to take into consideration the subject of the
toll bridges in the metropolis, and report whether
they considered it expedient to purchase any of
them or to build a new bridge, and report thereon
to the Court.

This amendment was carried, and the Court then
adjourned. _