Surrey Roads.
The Times, 1824-12-06T00:00:00

: On Saturday -a ;neeting of the Commlissioners an.0 Trustees of- the New Surrey-road, was held at Johnson 9 Coffee-house;- for the purpose of considering thevarious;, propositionii which hav; been submitted respeoting the: local improvements in progress in the vicinity-of New Betlhlem HepitaL A great division of opinion prevails amongst the.owsers of property in-tbe neighbourhood andi the gentlemen of the county on the subject of these im- provements. Some are of opinion, that the old Lambeth road ought to be blocked up, for.the purpose of making 2 better area in front of the new Hospital, aud giving full': effect to its architecture. The City of London, which possesses considerable property in the neighbourhood, pro- p as to build on the ground which wouldbeacquired by the blocking up of the tontine road; andthere are others who think that bothl roads ought to be kept open, and that the public might have the benefit of themn withlout im- pairing the effect of the new building, and that the opporttd ity ought to be taken of the expiration of many of the city leases on the spot. to make a handsome approach from Lambeth to all the bridges, ant also to Southwark. The subject led on Saturday to a very long, desultory1 and, li many parts, irregular discussion. Mr. Slade, vho h,ad taken an active part dtring-the preliminarv c6nsideratiot of this business, strongly advocated the propriety of enablinfg the city to advance the local improvements on a suitable scale, by having 6ne main road on the site in front of' New Bethlem, instead of separating the ground into two avenues, as at present, in which case the city wouldl build on a corresponding scale. This proposition, which had been from the beginning opposed by a nuniber of Magistrates and others interested in local property, vas again resisted in a vehement manner; and the in- terests of private individuals, particularly publicans andl brewers, who are served by the population which throngs into the small houses of theeld neighbourhood, was opposed to the plan ef general improvement. M?r. Hedger, the ma- gistrate, stoutly defended the interest of tbe 'lan public. house, which Was affieted by the demolition of seventten small houses in the neighbourhood. Mr. Young took the same side. Mr. Jones, the Marshal of the Xing' Bench, had also a strong objection to the proposed plan of the city. Mr. Randle Jackson concurred wftie the opillions of the majority of the Magistratc* that the arrangement proposed by the Corporation London was inexpedient. In the end, an amendment was moved by Mr. Jackson, and seconded by Mr. Young, which hadl the effect of rnegativing Mr. Slade's propositionf, and of necessarily thwarting the main plan of the proposed local improvement. Considerable doubts were expressed upon the legality of the successful amendment, as it was extraneous from the specific object of the reqeuisition in pusr- suance of which the meeting was called. [he clashing of private interests, and the operation of influence consequent upon them, rnade the discussion ef so confusad and contra. dictory a nature, that it was difficult to understand the real bearinigs of the question; but the general result, which doea not at all conclude the subject, was as we have mentioned. In the course of the discussion which took place, soine individuals gravely complained of the convexity of one part of the new road, which, as compared with the old, made a detour of a few dozen of yards in measure- ment, in their distance iu traversing it, so as occasionally to amount to the difference of a sixpenny fare. This ground of argument was well occupied by Mr. Lawson, the Surrey Clerk of the Peace, who st2ted that he had this comparative distance regularly ascertained by measurement, and pointed out the inconvenience which he sustained from it, as he had often to transact business at Union-hall, and there- fore to paws this line of road from his residence, called Surrey-lodge, opposite Carlisle ChapeL As the matter stands, the two toRds are likely to be opened, supposing that the proceedings of the Surrey ma- gistrates and trustees are on this occasion legal, and of course the intentions-of the city of London in a great tegree frustrated, for making the localtimprovement commensurate with the character which ought to attach to a}l the leading avenues of this grea met h h. SUR3REY ROADS.