The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-03 00:00:00

,roo7

E VENTING SUN.
METROPOLITAN IMPROVE-
MENTS.

On Saturday evening
last, a preliminary meeting was
add at the offices of Mr. W. Lindley, Adelphi-terrace,
vith a view to the formation of an association to watch,
)11 the part of the public, the improvements now in pro-
gress, and-to urge upon Government the importance of
ereparing some general and comprehensive plan em-
lracing the interests of the whole metropolis.
The mecing was numerously and respectably at-
tended. • Several distinguished artists, merchants from
' the City, and men of scientific and literary reputation were
present. C. W. DILKE, Esq., waa called to the Chair.
The CHAIRMAN briefly explained the object of the
meeting. They were met, not to promote isolated pro-
iects of improvement, or to forward the personal and
• irivate interests of surveyors, or any persons connected
/ 'my property with new lines of streets ; but to take up
t question of considerable practical importance on broad
ntblic grounds. Hitherto the subject had not been so
treated. It had been left almost entirely in the bands of
individuals anxious to promote the interests of particular
neighbourhoods, but the interests of the metropolis as a
' whole had not been considered, and hence the progress
.nade for some years past had been far from satisfimetory.
It was high time the subject was discussed on its general
merits, not exclusively in reference to merely local im-
. ' 'improvements, and this was the object for which they had
then assembled. : • . ,
• - Mr. SMITH cordially approved of the object, of the
neeting. It was one which harmonised with that of
mother Society with which he was connected—the Se-
iety for throwing open Public Monuments, which, at a
cry inconsiderable expenditure, not exceeding, he be-
ieved, from first to last, a hundred pounds, had effected
t great amount of good. Hampton Court, the Tower,
Ind Westminster Abbey, were gratifying instances of
what might be effected for the public by the rightly-di
ceded efforts of a few individuals. In the present in-
;taw: he thought it would not be expedient, indeed, it
was not contemplated, that the proposed Society should
undertake, themselves, the preparation of any general
plan of metropolitan improvement—it should confine
itself to the object of urging Government to employ fit
and qualified persons for the task.
Mr. C. FOWLER said, that while employed in the
erection of Hunger Ford „Market, and in superintending
various architectural works in the metropolis, he had
)ften found reason to lament the want of unity of pur-
pse that had prevailed in whatever was undertaken in
,he name of the public. Hence it happened, that when
'arge sums were to be expended on public buildings, no
suitable sites were obtained for them, although they
.night easily be provided in any general plan of ina-
n-ovement founded upon an accurate survey. Scarcely,
lowever, any one of the plans now brought forward
tppeared to have any relation or connection with any other,
mud hence the whole were, to a great extent, failures. A
'committee of the House of Commons, to whom these sub-
ects are ref rred, was a body open to various objectionable
effluences. Some of their resolutions were certainly
;erious mistakes, and not the result of enlarged views.
What could be more lamentable than the decision of the
;ast Committee not to pull down the Rookery in St.
S4-iles's, in carrying out the new line from Oxford-street,
end this merely to save a sum of but 8,000/. or 10,000/,
Ile resolution of the Committee to make a crooked
mile from Bow-street, instead of a broad, 'straight
thoroughfare, was also greatly to be deplored. In both
tases the new property to be created would be depre-
tiated, perhaps to the extent of at least one-third, by
he course about to be pursued.
Mr. IV. E. lIICKSON thought that the attention of
iovernment, should be earnesty directed to the sanitory
tate of the poorer districts of the metropolis, as perhaps
-he most important part of the subject. it was a startling
'lett stated in. the returns of the Register-General, that
.vhile the mean annual mortality of the population. for
the whole of England was 1 in 45, the mortality of the
,Vhitechapel district, owing to its over-crowded state and
lefective drainage was 1 in 28. This was an alarming evil,
mud not one from which the inhabitants of the western
left of the metropolis were exempt, for whenever the
N ind blew from the East, whatever pestiferous gasses were
generated in the neighbourhood of Spitalfields or Rat-
:litre were driven to our most fashionable squares. It
tad been proposed to improve the health of the metro-
)4:)lis by passing Drainage Bills, but drainage was only
one part of a general question, and could not be
,properly effected as an isolated measure. Before there
tould be new main sewers, there must be new
main streets, letting in the light and air where the
sun now never penetrated. The work afterwards of
flaking lateral sewers would then be attended with no
liffieulty. The necessity for new thoroughfares to fa-
Alitate the traffic of the metropolis in extensive diStricts,
!onsisting of intricate labyrinths of lanes and blind alleys,
was a point upon which he need not dwell. The prac-
Ical question was, how the object could be effected.
mince the death of George the Fourth very little, compa-
nithely speaking, had been undertaken upon au enlarged
wale. The improvements in the Strand, Regent,street,
mud in the Regent's-park were well conceived in their
;enema outline, however defective in detail, and we owe
them to the personal influence of that monarch. The
,oss of Nash could easily have been supplied, but
Government had remained passive. What had
Ocen done had been effected only through the
exertions of individual surveyors,. and that net always
in the most judicious manner. The experience of the last
Session showed that nothing further could be expected
from a Committee of the House- of Commons, and the
;mike must rouse itself in the matter if its intent were
not to be neglected. The public, however, could not be
got to move in favour of any isolated local schemes ;
they were considered rather private than public ques-
tions, but it would be otherwise if a comprehensive plan
were proposed, attractive in its general features, and em-
bracing the interests of all the metropolitan boroughs.
For this reason he believed it would ba found more
easy to raise funds for a comparatively costly plan. of
teneral improvement than a tenth part of the same sum
t'or any one of the local projects which had been set
inn foot. The one would have public support, the other
can only have the support of a section. '.l he public also
looked with suspicion (though often unjustly) upon local
1 projects as originating in jobbing motives, Hence, a,
general apathy existed on the subject of all the plans
which had been approved by the House, and their exe-
cution had been found very uphill work. In a Com-
mittee of the House there had always been a divided in-
terest. A small sum of money had been raised by a tax
on coals, and Metropolitan Members had scrambled for
it, each wanting it and much more for his constituents.
From similar motives rival surveyors come forward to
depreciate each other's plans that their own might have
the preference. Government should be urged to put an
end to this indignified course. All should unite
in some general plan for consulting the interests
of all. Government ought to look forward perhaps ten
years, and employ fit and competent persons to report
upon the improvements most needed, and which might
be carried into effect within that period. Not the Woods
and Forests, already overworked, nor Members of the
House of Commons, but engineers and architects of high
and established reputation, should be selected for the task.'
One Act of Parliament should then be passed for the
whole. If the plan were popular, as he had no doubt it
would be ; and if the expenditure were somewhat equally
divided between different districts, a landlords' tax of 3d.
or 6d. in the pound might perhaps easily be raised ; 3d.
in the pound on the rental of London would alone pro-
duce nearly 100,0001. per annum. It could not be thought
of now ; fur why should Lambeth pay for the local
improvement of Westminster ? A popular general plan
would also facilitate the raising the money by other
modes, if either Parliamentary grants or indirect im-
posts' were deemed preferable to direct taxation. All
difficulties would be surmounted, as in the case of Mr.
Barry's new Houses of Parliament, if the plan to be
realized were one which the public could regard as an
object of national pride. It should also be borne in
mind that the money expended could not in this case be
sunk or lost. The rental of London would be increased
in a proportion greater than that of the outlay.
Mr. DILLON, as one of the public deeply interested
i
in whatever steps might be taken for mproving the
communications of London, and removing the existing
obstruction s to its commercial intercourse, wished to
express his hearty concurrence in the' objects of the
meeting. As an instance of the injudicious character of
some of the improvements now in progress, he might
allude to the widening; of Cateaton-street at an enormous
expense, without rendering it either a handsome street,
or one which it would be possible to continue further •
to the east or west, pa as to relieve the crowded
thoroughfares of Newgate-street, Holborn, and other
streets in the same line. He was sorry to observe the
narrow view sometimes taken by the City autho-
rities, which led them to suppose that the inte-
rests of the City were entirely unconnected pith
or opposed to time interests of the surrounding districts.
It was this unhappy spirit which induced them to con,
tinue to levy an octroi duty upon non-freemen's carts, as
if the object were to discourage, as much as possible. all
traffic with their neighbours. The City, however, occa-
sionally displayed a liberality which, he trusted, would
in this case be called into exercise, and that they would
take a sound view of what the public interest really
required.

Mr. MARTIN, ill signifying his desire to become
member of the proposed Society, stated that, although he
had taken, as was generally known, an active part for
many years in favour of a comparatively local plan
though upon a larger scale, for an embankment of the
Thames, lie was convinced, from his own experience,
and from what had been said, that the only effectual way
to promote it, or any plan of corresponding importance,
was to allow it to merge in the general question. He
hoped Govermnent, would be induced to take up the
whole subject in an impartial and a comprehensive
spirit. _

- Mr. J. D. Flummox, alluding to the observations
which had been made respteting the sanitory state of
London, said that notice had been given of an applica-
tion for an Act to form a new burial ground in the heart
of the borough of Southwark. Every such measure
should be resisted, if any real efficient steps were to be
taken for improving the health of the metropolis.
Colonel Prosser, Mr. Gray, Mr. Lott, and other gentle•
men expressed their approval of the object of the meeting.
Some conversation took place upon the benefits which
had arisen from the Wide-street Improvement Act
passed for the City of Dublin fifty years back, and which
gave to the Commissioners power to purchase all houses
in certain lines as the leases fell in. The causes also
which had led to the setting aside of Mr. Elmes's plan of
improvement for St. Paul's Church-yard were discussed,
and a strong desire was expressed for the co-operation of
Mr. R. L. Jones and Alderman Sir Matthew Wood.
Various resolutions were proposed
Society with a view to
mously, constituting the proposed a.nd carried unani.
the object defined by the Chairman, and other speaker%
The meeting then adjourned.

Re"--The convict
Fon DEA T
PREPARATION
Delahunt, who is to he executed next, Saturday at Dublin,
amused himself during part of last Saturday with
Dithin9
mouse-traps and catching mice !
This fact is mentioned in a
let t""w a 6entlQ"l "Q sowhim ill the prison upon that day: