1884.] on London (below bridge) North and South Communication. 485 



hour, making the passage in but a few minutes, and giving all 

 passengers shelter, warmth, light, and the most scrupulous cleanliness, 

 in a way that shames anything that we can show of a similar nature 

 on this side of the water. Excellent as this ferry service is, and 

 carrying as it does, 112,000 persons a day, it did not satisfy the 

 needs of the inhabitants of these two towns, and the result has been, 

 the construction of that magnificent engineering work, the East Eiver 

 High Level Bridge, opened on the 24th of last May ; to a rough 

 diagram of which I now point. Three suspension spans, the central 

 one being 1595 feet, the two side spans 930 feet each, the bridge from 

 abutment to abutment therefore, 3455 feet in length; the clear 

 height above high water 135 feet; the width of the platform 85 feet, 

 giving accommodation for a central footway, a double line of rails 

 for a rope tramway, a double line of road for carriages. The 

 foundation of one of the piers had to be carried down to a depth of 

 78 feet below high water, and was executed by the aid of compressed 

 air (to Lord Cochrane's invention of which system reference will 

 hereafter be made), the men working (at the maximum) in a pressure 

 of 33 lbs. to the square inch above atmosphere. This bridge with 

 its approaches, and the land for them, it is believed, has cost from 

 14 millions to 15 millions of dollars— say 2,800,000Z. to 3,000,000Z., 

 of which Brooklyn, the smaller town, contributes two-thirds, and 

 New York one-third. 



Having established this communication across the East Eiver to 

 Brooklyn, the inhabitants of New York are not satisfied. To the 

 west of New York runs the Hudson, cutting it off from the State 

 of New Jersey, and its thriving towns ; and although there is main- 

 tained across this stream, a splendid service of ferry boats, there is 

 now being driven below the Hudson (and again by the use of Lord 

 Cochrane's system) a tunnel, of about a mile in length, to effect a 

 communication that shall be independent of ice and fogs, and one 

 through which the railway trains, that are now compelled to stop at 

 the New Jersey shore, shall be able to enter the City of New York 

 itself. 



Another instance nearer home — Liverpool with its 552,000 in- 

 habitants on the one side of the Mersey, and Birkenhead, and the 

 neighbouring towns, on the other side. Here is established a system 

 of steam ferries, which, so far as easy access from the shore to the boat, 

 notwithstanding a great rise and fall of tide, is concerned, are not 

 surpassed, even if indeed they be equalled, anywhere ; and the boats 

 themselves of late years have been good, though not up to the standard 

 of the ferries of New York. But the inhabitants of Liverpool and 

 Birkenhead have not been content, and, as you know, even since the 

 beginning of this year, the preliminary drift way of the Mersey 

 Tunnel has been completed from side to side. This tunnel (of 

 which the engineers are Mr. Brunlees and Mr. Fox) is one mile long 

 from shaft to shaft (1232 yards being under the river), and its floor 

 at the lowest point will be 145 feet below the level of high water ; 



