A correspondent, curious in figures, has collected for the Spectator
a number of fa?ts respecting the occupancy of the London bridges:upon which pontage is paid, A correspondent, curious in figures, has collected for the Spectator a number of fa?ts respecting the occupancy of the London bridges:upon which pontage is paid, during the Royal progress of Tuesday last. The toll for the Charing Cross Suspension-bridge was raised from a halfpenny to a penny. After making de- ductions for persons who passed over, the calculation founded upon the receipts is that 9,000 persons were on the bridge at the moment the spectacle passed. Mr. Bailey the engineer was stationed on the top, of one of the piers, to mark the effect of the weight and motion of the people upon what are called the " adjusting rollers "; and a professional gentleman was stationed on another pier. It was the most severe test, because the most unequal in its pressure, to which the bridge has yet been subjected: the result is anuounced to have been entirely satisfactory both as regards the strength and compensating power of the structure. The esti- mate is that the bridgewill sustain three times greater weight than can possibly be placed on it. On Waterloo Bridge, 20,000 persons must have taken up their sta- tions. The toll was continued at a halfpenny: the receipts were doubled. South- wark Bridge had not more than 10,000 spectators ; but the receipts, although the charge was continued at a penny, bear a much larger proportion to the ordinary daily income than does the sum realized by any of the others.
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