The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

A. special meeting of the board was held yesterday in
the Council Chamber, Guildhall ; Mr. Thwaites in the
chair.

PUBLIC PARKS FOR THE METROPOLIS.
Mr. WRIGHT brought up the report of the Committee
of Works and Improvements on the subject of providing
parks for the use and recreation of the inhabitants of the
metropolis. The report, in substance, stated that in the
opinion of the committee it was desirable, for the better
sanitary condition of the metropolis, and for facilitating
the means of healthy recreation for the public, that parks
should be established in certain parts of the metropolis
hitherto neglected in that respect. That the part most
urgently requiring such an improvement was the south-
eastern portion of the metropolis. Rotherhithe and
Bermondsey were both eligible, but they thought that a
site consisting of a portion of each of those suggested
might possibly be preferable to either considered singly.
The committee were of opinion that the next park in
point of urgency was that proposel for Finsbury.
The committee were further of opinion that, considering
the advantages which Hampstead-heath presented for
promoting the health and recreation of the inhabitants
of the metropolis, and its value, from the beauty of its
site, as an ornament to the capital, and considering also
that the acquisition of the site of the heath and of such
adjoining land as it might be desirable to connect there-
with would, if the purchase thereof were delayed, in
valve a very much larger expenditure than would be re
quired at the present time, it was important that the
heath and the adjoining land above referred to should be
purchased for the public use at as early a period as pa i-
sible.

The report having been received, it was agreed that it
should be taken into consideration on Tuesday week.
NEW STREETS IN SOUTHWARK AND COVENT-GARDEN.
The report of the committee stating that the steps
they bad taken relative to the prosecution in Parliament
of a biil relating to the new streets in Southwark and
Covent'-garden was then brought up, and, on the motion
of Mr. TURNER, was received.
MODES OF COMMUNICATION (INCLUDING BRIDGES) IN THE
• METROPOLIS.
Mr, Deputy HARRISON moved that it be referred to
the Works Committee to inquire into the state and con-
dition of the several communications in the metropolis,
including the bridges over the Thames, and the ap-
proaches thereto, and to report whether the communi-
cations and approaches were adequate to the present and
increasing traffic ; if not, the best mode of improving
the same.

The motion was agreed to.
PUBLIC COMPETITION 808 DESIGNS.
On the motion of Mr. WEIGHT, seconded by Mr.
WILKINSON, it was resolved,—" That prizes be offered
for public competition for designs showing the best
mode of laying out the surface and sub-soil of the new
street in Southwark, as an example of a first-class
street, and also for the street in Westminster, as a se-
cond-class street ; showing the disposition of the private
vaults, sewers, gas and water pipes, telegraph wires,
with any parts of the soil appropriated to other useful
purposes. Prins-Ist class street;loo guineas ; ditto,
50 guineas ; ditto, 10 guineas ; 2d class, 50 guineas ;
ditto, 20 guineas; ditto, 5 guineas ; and that the details
of this competitioa be carried out by the Works Com-
mittee."
The Board then adjourned at a quarter to 6 o'clock.

THE DWELLINGS OF THE LONDON POOR.

(From the Lancet.)
Public attention is at last being practically aroused to
the unhealthy influence of the close and crowded habita-
tions of the London poor. All our modern street im-
provements and alterations have hitherto only tended to
increase the evil. The crazy houses, long tenanted by the
poor, are supplanted by grand as )ps and warehouses
" tow'ring to the skies," whilst the former inhabitants
are driven to herd more closely together in neighbour.
hoods already over-crowded. It resembles that method of
hunting where the game is included within of a circle of
keepers, narrowing and crowding together the luckless
deer, until the work of the hunter becomes sheer
slaughter. Unfortunately, the chief sportsman in our
human preserves of London are Cholera and Typhus.
It is now proposed to open out two new streets through
districts thickly inhabited by the poor (in Southwark and
on the north-west side of Csvent-gdrden), without any
adequate provision being made for lodging those thus
driven from their abodes. The working man, worn out
wih his day's toil, cannot walk miles away to his home ;
he is therefore compelled to take up his abode in some
pent-up and unwholesome court or alley near at hand,
where no sunbeam penetrates, and no current of fresh
air circulates ; where his health will suffer, his children
droop, and his morals be contaminated by the commu-
nion into which he is driven by his own poverty and the
indifference or the greed of others. The result is, that a
person 20 years old, residing in one of these crowded
localities, can only expect to live till 40, or 20 years less
than is the average expectation of life throughout Eng-
land ; whilst the death rate is exactly doubled in the
most thickly populated districts. Nor is the evil eine
that can be expected to diminish, for it is stated that the
increase in the numbers of• working men and mechanics
in London is at the rate of 20,000 a year.
It seems singular that the ratepayers have not impera-
tively insisted on some improved dwelling-places for the
lower classes, since it is obvious that any diminution in
the amount of sickness and death amongst them would
correspondingly relieve the poor rates. Still more
strange, in this money making age, is the neglect of the
fact that comfortably.arrangsd and well-ventilated habi-
tations for the poor, like the model lodging houses al-
ready established, prove most profitable investments.
Yet, during the past year, not one of these establish.
ments has been erected. We perceive that it is now pro-
posed to establish one in a very crowded district in the
Strand. Miss Burdett Coutts, with a discriminating libe-
rality which, though usual in her, is unusual in others,
has subscribed 1,0001. towards the capital, the interest
accruing therefrom to be devoted to charitable purposes,
The building is to be erected by a company (enrolled
under the Limited Liability Act) and the capital is
nearly subscribed. We trust it may prove the precursor
of many similar institutions, to afford healthy dwelling-
places for the wosiking classes,

Sixty non-commissioned officers and men belonging to
the depots of the Bth, 24th, and 35th Regiments, at the
e
Provisional battalion, Chatham, have been selected and
placed under the instructions of Capt. W. Nott, 83d
Regiment, the instructor of musketry at Chatham, for
purpose of undergoing a course of instruction in the use
of the Enfield rifle previous to their embarkation t. join
the service companies of their respective corps in India,
ADVERT'S:MAST. j - SIGHT AND HEARING SPECTACLES,
POWERFUL TELESCOPES, OPERA, RACE, AND PRRSPECTI
GLa.ssss.—Messrs. S. and B. Solomons, opticians, 39, Albe-
marle-street, Piccadilly. Observe—opposite the York Hotel.
By ker Majesty's Royal Letters Patent for valuable and
extraordinary improvements in the most powerful and
brilliant Telescopes, Camp, Racecourse, Opera, and Per-
spective Glasses, to know the distances. These telescopes
possess such extraordinary powers that some three and a-half
inches, with an extra eye-piece, will show distinctly Jupiter's
tmeiocognzso,p Se actaunr sre ienng
a, apnedrstohne,sdcoouubniteensttanreso.
thNiyeiethmtilhee sa
be s tn,
a
half distant, and an object from 16 to 20 miles. They arr., of
larger and all sizes, with increasing powers accordingly.--The
Royal Exhibition, 1851. Valuable, newly-invented, very small,
powerful waistcoat-pocket glass, the size of a walnut, b'y which
a person can be seen and known 1i miles distant ; they answer
every purpose on the race-course, and at the opc.a houses,
country scenery, and ships aro clearly seen at 8 to 10 miles.
They are invaluable for shooting, deer-stalking, yachting, to
sportsmen, gentlemen, gamekeepers, and tourists. Opera,
rice-course, camp, and perspective glasses, with wonderfcl
power. Newly-constr=ted Spectacle Lenses of the grea'c-
est transparent power. The valuable advantage derived
from this invention is, that vision becoming impaired is
preserved and strengthened, and very aged persons are
enabled to employ their sight at the most minute occr-
pation—can see with these lenses of a much less magnify.
ing power—and they do not require the frequent changos
to the dangerous eCects of further powerful
assistance.
Persons can be suited at the most remote part of the world., by sending one of the glasses out of their spectacles in a
letter, and stating the distance from the eyes they can Teal
small newspaper print with it; and those who have
not made use of spectaclessall, nbeywsitya.tininvgentteh:iirnsatrtlgem.
onDtefafor-
ness. New Discovery. The Organic Vibrato; an ex-
traordinary powerful,
small,
entirely different from all others, to surpass any-
thing of the kind that has been, or probably over can be,
produced. Being of the same colour as the skin, is not per-
sano tenorpi
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