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34
and places on the Surrey side of the Thames; and that the
said Bridges, were, by the provisions of the Metropolis Toll
Bridges Act, 1877, placed under the care and control of your
honourable Board.
That with respect to Fulham (otherwise Putney) Bridge, one
of the said three Bridges, your honourable Board has already
recognised the necessity that existed for improving the
means of communication between the two banks of the
River, and has obtained an Act, called the Metropolitan
Bridges Act, 1881, in the preamble whereof it is recited, that
whereas the said existing Fulham or Putney Bridge is in a
dangerous condition and unfit for general traffic, it is expedient
to made provision for enabling your honourable Board
to build a new Bridge in lieu thereof: Your honourable
Board, in pursuance of the powers conferred by the lastmentioned
Act, has commenced the work of constructing a
new Bridge at Fulham, in order to meet the growing requirements
of the public ; And your Memorialists feel that
the ratepayers, inhabitants of this District and the Metropolis
at large, are deeply indebted to your honourable Board for
the manner in which a great public need has been met and
provided for, and the daily increasing traffic through the
southern highways of your Memorialists' district accommodated.
That your Memorialists are informed, and have reason to
believe, that your honourable Board has also had under
consideration the question of altering, strengthening, and
improving Hammersmith Bridge.
That your Memorialists desire to draw the attention of your
honourable Board to the fact, that, in the year 1824, while
the Bill for the building of Hammersmith Bridge was before
Parliament, it was publicly reported that some of the 'reasons
in favour of the proposed Bridge of Suspension at Hammersmith,'
were:—
That a communication across the Thames by a Bridge at
Hammersmith, has now become absolutely necessary to
the Neighbourhood, and would be of great general benefit
and convenience.
At present an extensive and increasing population are obliged
to submit to the inconvenience of a circuitous road of at
least five miles to arrive at places from which the River
alone separates them.
The Roads and approaches to Hammersmith out of Hertfordshire,
and the northern part of Middlesex, arc become