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15
each other very rapidly, frequent changes in the modes
of doing the same kind of work must also follow—these
changes, often the subject of ridicule, are, however, as a
fact, necessary.
St. James's has almost the oldest and, consequently
some of the most imperfect Gas Mains in London, not of
one company only, but in time increased to five or six,
which have been gradually absorbed into one again; any
attempt to describe the complication that now exists would
be simply impossible, but such complication in connexion
with the Water Main, Drains, Sewers, old Vaults, &c.,
forms an almost insurmountable obstacle to the carrying
out of many apparently simple improvements, from the
expense that would have to be incurred to re-weave, so to
speak, this subterranean net; in addition to the important
item of expense is the much more serious item of public
and private inconvenience, any attempt to estimate this
would be also impossible, so that all decisions that have
to be arrived at with regard to surface improvements have
to be regulated or balanced by the amount of disturbance
that will have to be made beneath the surface, to effect
the desired result. This part of the subject has to be
dealt with by the local authorities themselves, the projectors
of new methods of Paving, &c., not taking it into
account, and probably as a rule it is not worth much
attention, unless the circumstances are exceptional, as in
St. James's.
The Works, therefore, as executed and shewn on the