1884.] on London {below bridge) North and South Communication. 501 



829,900; south-west of London Bridge, 237,000; giving for the 

 western section of London, therefore, 1,066,900 ; north-east of Lon- 

 don Bridge, 415,300 ; south-east of London Bridge, 173,000 ; giving 

 for the below-bridge towns a population of 588,300. In 1881, half a 

 century later, the total pojDulation within the Metropolitan area was 

 3,834,360, the north-west section 1,662,060, the south-west 627,300, 

 making for the western towns 2,289,360 ; while the north-east was 

 890,000, the south-east was 655,000, making for the eastern towns a 

 population of 1,515,000. Thus, while the increase in the whole 

 Metropolitan area had been 2*31 times; west of London Bridge it 

 had been only 2*14 times, while east of London Bridge it had 

 been as much as 2*62 times ; and in those fifty years new Black- 

 friars Bridge and new Westminster Bridge had been built at the 

 public expense ; Chelsea Bridge had been built at the public expense ; 

 Hungerford, Lambeth, the Albert Bridge, and Wandsworth Bridge 

 had been built by companies, but had been subsequently acquired by 

 public money ; while the condition of communication, or rather of 

 want of communication, to the east of London Bridge had remained 

 as it was. Moreover, the rateable value is shown by another table * 

 to have been in 1881 for the whole of London in which the above- 

 mentioned population lived, the sum of 27,970,552/., divided as 

 before into north-west 15,819,758/., south-west 3,665,229/., making a 

 total for the west of 19,484,987/. ; north-east 5,224,924/., south-east 

 3,260,641/., making a total for the eastern district of 8,485,565/. 



Leaving London Bridge out of consideration, as this is common to 

 the east and to the west, the western section has had provided for it, 

 out of the public funds in the first instance, old Blackfriars, 261,500/., 

 new Blackfriars, 396,000/. ; old Westminster, 400,000/., and new West- 

 minster, 393,000/. ; and has acquired by purchase Southwark, paid 

 for by the Corj)oration of the City at a cost of 384,000/., and the 

 various other bridges paid for by the Metroj)olitan Board at a cost of 

 1,332,025/., to which has to be added the cost of new Putney, new 

 Battersea, and new Hammersmith bridges, the underpinning of 

 Waterloo, and the repairs to other bridges, 848,304/. : making a total 

 that has been paid or will have to be paid for the bridge accommo- 

 dation west of London Bridge of 4,014,829/., or, taking the population 

 of that district, of 1/. 15s. per head. While the only money, so far as 

 I know, w^hich has been contributed by the public purse to afford 

 means of communication below bridge has been the sum for the com- 

 pletion of the Thames Tunnel — I believe, but am not certain, about 

 200,000/., or, taking the population of that district, only 2s. 7d. per 

 head. 



I trust that after all these dry but necessary figures, you will think 

 I have said enough, to show that a communication is needed ; and I 

 will now state very briefly and generally the nature of the work of 

 which the Metropolitan Board, by their engineer. Sir Joseph 



* See Table C in Appendix. 



