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7
Mile End Road.
On the 1st of November last the Act of Parliament
authorizing the Trustees of the Middlesex and Essex
Turnpike Roads to levy tolls terminated, and the maintenance
of the road as a highway devolved upon the
various parishes through which it passed. The boundary
of this Hamlet in the Mile End Road to the west
is at Cannon Place, the eastern boundary of the Hamlet
is at the City of London Union, opposite the centre of
Coborn Road.
The whole length of this portion of the road has
been cleansed, lighted, and repaired by you. I find
that the line of road extending from our eastern
boundary, near the "Moor's Arms," Bow Common,
along the Old Road, Bull Lane, Diamond Row,
Smith Street, North Street, Epping Place, Raven Row,
and Cannon Place, which formerly was largely used by
persons for the purpose of avoiding the toll, is now
comparatively unused, and consequently this long line
of thoroughfare which has hitherto been very costly for
maintenance, has, since the abolition of the tolls, ceased
to be more used than any of the other ordinary roads
of the Hamlet. I cannot at this moment give you the
difference of cost of maintence of these roads as compared
with last year, sufficient time not having expired, but on
a future occasion propose to do so.
While on this matter I would wish to observe that
at the expiration of the Act, a large balance remained
in the hands of the Trustees, a large portion of which
was, by the judicious management of the Trustees, who
were inhabitants of this Hamlet, with Mr. E. L. Johnson
at their head, expended in laying down pitcliings in
various parts of the Mile End Road in this Hamlet,
effecting a saving to the ratepayers of over a thousand
pounds.