TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE STRAND IMPROVEMENTS—WATERLOO BRIDGE. ALTHOUGH we believe nothing definitive has been agreed on, there is a pretty general understanding that advantage will be taken of the present condition of the English Opera house to open up a road from the Strand into Exeter Street. Some of our contemporaries have already pushed it as flu. as Charles Street ; but this movement in advance is unsupported by any higher authority than their wishes,—Exeter Street will for the present be the utmost limit. The plan also of re- building the English Opera house on its late site, is yet undecided. It is quite evident, that to cut a way from the Strand to Exeter Street, except as a preliminary measure to more extended improve- ments, would be an idle„waste of money, and that carrying it to Charles Street would be nearly as idle. It might benefit a little the proprietors of that street, and it would facilitate the access to Covent Garden, and there the value of the improvement must terminate. 'What is really wanted, is such an opening as. shall give to the people beyond Oxford Street, a direct and decent access to Waterloo Bridge ; and conversely, that shall, by continuing the line of that noblest mo- nument of art, give to the Strand and the south side the full advantage that it was meant to afford. Nothing strikes the eye, in glancing over a map of London, more than the almost total want of communi- . cation, not between one bank of the stream and the other, but between the various quarters of the town and the end of the bridge that connects the two banks. From London Bridge, which was built at a period when people could not afford to build bndges for show merely, a roadway leads to the farthest suburbs, traversing in its course all the streets that conduct from the western to the eastern parts of that quarter of the town. On the contrary, the Southwark Bridge stops short in Thames Street, for Queen Street is a mere lane; the progress of Blackfriars is arrested in Holborn, and it only reaches so far by what a few months ago was the most abominable thoroughfare in London—Fleet Mar- ket; Waterloo Bridge serves merely as a convenient passage from the Obelisk to the Strand ; and Westminster seems as if built for no other purpose than to facilitate the interviews of the inha- bitants of the elegant suburb's of Lambeth Marsh and Pimlico. Of all these, Waterloo Bridge deserves most attention ; for of the whole five, it is planned to lead into that part of the metropolis which most requires the accommodation of a bridge. At this moment, there is not between Regent Street and Fleet Market even the tolerable means of access to Holborn, the great central artery of the west end, or to any of the numerous streets and squares that lie scattered beyond it. Among the plans of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, was a street from Charing Cross running nearly in the line of St. Martin's Lane to the British Museum; but it is evident that, however desirable , a ready access to the Musetan may be, it is very unnecessary so. near to Regent Street. What is really wanted, is not a road from Charing Cress to the northern part of the town, because there, by - a very small circuit, it may now be obtained: the people of London. require a road to Russell Square and the squares in its neighbour- hood, from the middle of the Strand, not from its extremity. • There is another point connected with this improvement, on which a few words will not be misbestowed. There is no doubt that if the road to Waterloo Bridge from the ncrth were as patent as from the south, the value of the bridge would be prodigiously augmenterl, we mean its value to the public that use it, and for whose use it Wa4 built. But there is one circumstance which must always come be tween the public and the full enjoyment of the bridge,-e-namely, the tolls. Every body in and about 'London is aware that • this noble bridge is not more a monument of the knowledge of architecture Eros, sessed by its projectors, than it is of their ignorance of arithinetic: The first contribution of capital being exhausted before the work was mUch More than half completed, a second, a third, and ultimately a fourth, were raised for that purpose.* The tolls pay the interest of the last sum, and a small fraction of the interest on the second and third. That they should be taken off twenty-four hours before the end ofthe world, is probable, because, in respect of such small dues, it is not likely that men will be exigent on the vigil of the final settlement : but it is quite impossible they should be removed sooner. It is also probable, that in process of time the fourth contribution may be paid off ; but it is utterly hopeless to look for the liquidation of the rest. The question, then, comes to this—is this fine bridge to remain for ever comparatively useless ? For comparatively useless it must be so long as the tolls remain. That. it is the most admirable communication ever executed in ancient times or modern, speaking of it merely as a road- way from Surry to Middlesex, is admitted ; it cannot therefore be a matter of indifference to the public that its utility should be for ever marred by the unhappy circumstances of its birth. Why should not the Woods and Forests purchase the tolls ? We are quite aware of the weighty arguments that may be ad- duced against such an appropriation of the public money, and we , think that the whole of them admit of a mighty simple answer. We shall be told, ill the first place, that the failure of the speculation proves that a bridge was not wanted in that Place. This was Mr. HUSKISSON'S argument, when in office ; whether he has altered his views since he went out, we cannot tell. The meaning of the objec- tion, in plain English, is, that public money is never to be applied to the public convenience : if people pay handsomely for it, they can get it without—if they do not, it is a sign they do not want it. We might ask tile gentlemen who make use of this argument, what was the use of a government, and why the people submitted to its burdens, if they were in addition to purchase every accommodation they wanted ? But it is needless. The Government have paid, are paying, and mean to pay lamely for the public accommodation ; and no pulling down of old streets, or building up of new, ranks more legitimately under that category, or can more contribute to general convenience and general pleasure, than would the purchase we recommend. The next argument is, that if Government, or the Woods and Fo- rests, take up the unsuccessful speculation of Waterloo Bridge, they - will be called on to take up all the unsuccessful bridge speculations i in the kingdom. Now, n the first place, we would reply to this argument, that we see no very substantial reasons why they should not. We do not see why the nation at large should not be at the expense of all public bridges, aye, and all public roads, inasmuch as there is not a public bridge or road in the kingdom by which the whole of the nation is not benefited; and strange as it may sound, benefiteA in 'a ratio very little differing from those who use them every day. But in the second place, before the precedent of Waterloo Bridge can be pleaded by any other set of bridge propri- etors, they must show that it applies to their case. Now we look with quite as confident an expectation to a second Waterloo Bridge, as we look to a second Waterloo battle ; and indeed, as rivers are not quite so easily made as revolutions, we rather look on the battle as the more probable of the two. But, in the third place, to remove all objections as to precedent, we do not propose that any thing in the nature of remuneration of their losses should be given to the pro- prietors of this famous bridge. What we recommend is merely that the Woods and Forests purchase the bridge, at its actual value-- that is, at the value of the annuity accruing to its proprietors fro the tolls, with the probabilities of increase. The interest of the ori- ginal shareholders is nil. There can be no injustice in asking the to resign what is neither a right nor a use—what gives neither power place, nor emolument. The interest of the rest admits of calculation: to them let the twenty-five years' purchase of the tolls be paid ; and let the bridge lie thrown open. 'We cannot conceive an objection on the part of the Company ; but if there were, we do not see Why an ac should not pass to enable a majority of them to agree for the whole.■
• The several sums expended in building the bridge were raised thus :-
1st. 500,0001. by way of shares. This may be looked on as sunk beyond redemption. 2d. :WON. by way of annuity, at 8/. for every 60/. 3d. 200,0001. mi the same way, at 71. for every 410. On these two sums, two or three shillings in the pound of the stipulated annuiti are paid.
4th. About 100,000/. by bond, on which full interest is paid. The worth of the bridge at twenty-five years' purchase, taking its present receipts as data, cannot much excee 150,0001. For 200,0001., the public we dare say might bare the fee simple of it.
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