484 Sir Frederick Bramwell [Feb. 22, 



(where the Claimant was born) ; Boarded Entry ; Limebouse ; and 

 the Isle of Dogs on the other. Yet to attain this far east demands no 

 passage by a P. and 0. (Polite and Obliging) steamer, no traversing of 

 a Suez Canal : a Hansom cab and 5s. will take you there in three- 

 quarters of an hour. 



I am afraid you will accuse me of a levity, unbecoming as well 

 the importance of the subject as the gravity of the Eoyal Institution ; 

 but for years this condition of things, that the 890,000 inhabitants 

 on the 16 square miles to the north-east could only communicate 

 with the 655,000 on the 42 square miles to the south-east by going 

 westward to London Bridge, has struck me as something perfectly 

 ludicrous : a feeling that was intensified, when, not so long ago, I 

 listened to the arguments and evidence laid before a Parliamentary 

 Committee, grounded on the petty details of how many waggon 

 loads a-day traversed the imperfect means of communication which 

 now exist, put forward with the object of convincing that Committee 

 that no better means were needed ; that is to say — Afford no 

 facilities for traffic, thereby keep it down to a minimum, and then 

 argue that facilities are not needed for a minimum traffic. The 

 development of this argument might be as follows: — Stop up 

 Piccadilly from end to end for repairing, ascertain that only ten 

 carts a-day came up side streets to the houses that could be reached 

 therefrom, and then determine there was no need to be at the cost 

 of completing the repairing, because the returns showed so small 

 a traffic. You will say this is absurd. I agree, it is absurd, but it 

 is no more absurd than the arguments which are used in reference 

 to below-bridge communication. I venture to suggest that the true 

 way to look at the question is the one which I have adopted to- 

 night — two enormous towns, with practically no means of communi- 

 cation, and separated only by a puny stream, for puny it really is. I 

 have on the wall a large map of London. I have temporarily covered 

 over the part to the west of London Bridge, leaving visible the 

 *' Below Bridge " part only. Let us dismiss from our minds the 

 north and south of London above that bridge, districts (or towns, as I 

 shall call them hereafter) which really have nothing to do with the 

 question before us, except, that I propose to refer to them directly, by 

 way of illustration ; and let us ask ourselves whether it is not 

 absolutely incredible, and a matter which, when stated, inevitably 

 appears to be ridiculous, that this condition of separation of town A, 

 from town B, should exist ? 



Is such a state of things exceptional ? To answer this question 

 we will consider what has been done in other cases — New York and 

 Brooklyn. The well-known map is on the wall. The 1,350,000 

 inhabitants on Manhattan Island (New York) are separated by the 

 East Eiver from the 585,000 inhabitants of Brooklyn ; but for 

 years past these two millions have made strenuous efforts to, as 

 far as lay in their powxr, annul this separation. They have estab- 

 lished numerous lines of steam ferries, starting many times in the 



