208 Quotes of the 'Month on Affairs in General. [^AuG. 



one iiuUviilual, and nearly all let to yearly tenants, greatly facilitates the pur- 

 chase ; and the difficulty and uncertain expense of making purchases from 

 several proprietors, and of compensating various possessors and tenants, which 

 in most cases of public improvement have operated so unfavourably, will in 

 this instance be almost wholly avoided. 



" Under those considerations, an association has been formed for the purpose 

 of carrying the above objects into eifect ; and arrangements have been made 

 with the proprietor for the conditional purchase of the whole of the estate of 

 Hungerford Market, extending from the Strand to the river. 



" There are two charters by which the market was originally established ; 

 but it will be further necessary to obtain an Act of Parliament during the next 

 Session, to authorise the establishment of the company, — to limit the liability 

 of the proprietors to the amount of their respective shares, — and for other 

 necessary purposes. 



" Plans and estimates of the whole expenditure for carrjang this measure 

 into effect have been prepared and approved ; by which it appears, that the 

 sum of 210,000/. will be sufficient — and this amount it is proposed to raise in 

 shares of 100/. each. 



" The Hon. George Agar Ellis, M. P., Alexander Baring, Esq. M. P., and 

 William Courtenay, Esq. Clk. Pari., have accepted the office of Trustees, who, 

 together with a provisional committee, have undertaken to carry forward the 

 necessary measures until the company is so far matin-ed as to justify the calling 

 together a general meeting of subscribers to determine as to its future and per- 

 manent government. 



" Having thus far explained the nature and purposes of the proposed under- 

 taking, it only remains to observe, that its pretensions are grounded, first, on 

 the great public benefit to be effected ; and further, that, as an investment of 

 money, it possesses undeniable security, and is calculated to produce a pro- 

 fitable return." 



To this paper is annexed a list of the acting committee, in which we 

 find the highly respectable names of Lords Essex and Clarendon, Messrs. 

 Agar Ellis, Alexander Baring, Courtenay (clerk of the Parliament), Dr. 

 Richards, the Hon. Mr. Bouverie, Hon. W. Ponsonby, Hon. F. Byng, 

 and others. We are still more gratified by seeing to it as seci'etary, the 

 name of John Britton, the very meritorious and active antiquarian, a man 

 who deserves well of the community in all points, and whose indefati- 

 gable activity, good humour, and good sense, have conducted undertak- 

 ings much more difficult than this to a prosperous conclusion. Once 

 aj'ain we congratulate the committee on having ]Mr. Britton for their 

 secretary. 



To the plan itself, or rather its proposed advantages, we see no objec- 

 tion but in point of the steam-boats. If by these are meant the large 

 Margate steamers, never will the smoke of one of them blacken the fair 

 visages of the syrens and nereids of Hungerford Stairs. The committee 

 might as well expect to see one of the pyramids floating: under Black- 

 friar's bridge. But we will allow that all steamers are not necessarily of 

 this enormous size, and that in all probability the chief use of the steam 

 engine on the river will at no great distance be that of a tug, certainly 

 its simplest, most powerful, and most comprehensive application. A 

 barge carrying an engine of twenty-horse power will draw a ship that an 

 engine of forty-horse power on board of that ship would scarcely stir ; 

 and the tug might draw not merely one, but twenty. The large pas- 

 sage vessels will not be able to get through Blackfi-iars Bridge ; but the 

 conveyance of passengers to those steamers from Hungerford Stairs 

 would be a highly productive work, as in the filth and distance of the 

 Tower from the west part of London, they are nearly inapproachable. 

 Let them go on and prosper. 



