SITE OF THE PUBLIC PARK. 



159 



to tlie sanitary condition of some of the principal mann- 

 factuxing towns in the United Kingdom. Snch is the im- 

 portance of the subject^ that it weU deserves the attention 

 recently paid to it by Government. Certainly it would be 

 no misappropriation of the public funds were a commis- 

 sion authorized to purchase^ in the suburbs of many 

 large towns^ land sufficient for the formation of a park ; 

 thus doing what might not be within the power of the 

 local corporations : and putting sanitary considerations 

 out of the question^ we do not believe that, in most 

 cases, the concern would be a losing onC;, for the ground- 

 rents of the houses contiguous to the park would be 

 higher/ and the sites would be more readily occupied by 

 the wealthy citizens than elsewhere in the neighbour- 

 hood. We have seen estates, in the suburbs of large 

 cities, which would probably, by this time, have been 

 covered with streets had the owners given, with a wise 

 and self-rewarding liberality, some thirty or forty acres 

 to form a public park — a measure which would have 

 speedily indemnified them for the apparent loss by the 

 increase of rental received from the remainder of the 

 lands. By forming parks round London, recent govern- 

 ments have conferred a great boon on the inhabitants of 

 the metropolis. Perhaps, however, they might have 

 proceeded on more judicious principles. If, instead of 

 enlarging the parks to the extent of 150 to 270 acres, 

 and placing them at considerable distances, they had 

 confined them to 80 or 100 acres at one-half the dis- 

 tance, and had multiplied them proportionally, they 

 would have easily procured a sufficient quantity of 

 ground nearer and more accessible to all classes of the 

 inhabitants. 



Laying-out of Public Parks. — The designing of these 



