Cycles, Motor-vehicles and Tubes 491 



of short-distance passengers by the main lines was only small, 

 the probable demand for the accommodation of short-distance 

 traffic would not justify the sacrifice of property or the ex- 

 penditure of money that would be involved in placing the 

 termini in crowded centres. The same Commission recom- 

 mended that if, at any future time, it should be thought 

 necessary to admit railways within the prescribed area, this 

 should be done in conformity with some uniform plan. Under 

 no circumstances, they urged, should separate schemes having 

 no reference to each other be tolerated. 



It was not long before the growth of London and the trans- 

 port needs of its population made clear the fact that the 

 exclusion of railways from the central area could not be 

 maintained, though the recommendation of the 1846 Com- 

 mission as regards a uniform plan was wholly disregarded. 



Supplementing the omnibuses originally established between 

 Paddington and the City in 1829 by Shillibeer came, in 1863, 

 the first line of underground railway, connecting Paddington 

 station with Farringdon Street, and constructed in an open 

 cutting, where possible. An earlier idea of having one central 

 station in London for all the different main lines of railway was 

 discarded in favour of underground railways of the type here 

 in question ; and the " inner circle," linking up most of the 

 main-line termini, was eventually completed. The original 

 restrictions in regard to the central area were also modified, 

 such stations as those at Charing Cross, Cannon-Street, Hoi- 

 born and Liverpool Street being allowed to be set up 

 within the once sacred precincts. Branches were made from 

 the inner circle of the underground system ; the main-line 

 railways began to develop their now enormous suburban 

 business ; the omnibuses were crowded in the busy hours of the 

 day, while the tramways, though excluded from the central 

 area still more rigidly than the railways had been, gained no 

 lack of patronage to or from the " outer fringe." 



All these facilities served a most useful purpose ; but they 

 obviously required to be supplemented by lines of railway 

 which would directly serve the central area of London, and 

 both allow of easier movement from one part of London to 

 another and enable City workers to travel more readily 

 between their suburban homes and the immediate locality 

 of their places of work or business. Neither surface nor over- 



