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7
I, therefore, appeared on several days before the
Committee in opposition to the Preamble of the Bill,
and examined various witnesses in support of the
opposition. The result was entirely successful, inasmuch
as the Committee unanimously decided that the preamble
was not proved. The Bill was therefore thrown out.
Since that time the attempt to build upon the open area
of the Square has not been renewed.
Metropolis Railways.
Shortly before the commencement of the present
Session of Parliament various plans for making
railways by taking property in and otherwise affecting
this parish, were deposited, and 11 notices of intended
applications to Parliament for constructing such railways
were given. Such of them as were able to satisfy the
Standing Orders, relating to the deposit of the necessary
portion of the capital of the proposed Companies,
were submitted for the consideration of a Joint Committee
of the Houses of Lords and Commons, who
recommended that only one of them should be allowed
at
to proceed during the present Session. That Bill is
entitled "The Hampstead, Midland, North-Western,
and Charing Cross Railway Bill." It recommended
itself to the Joint Committee and to this Vestry, by
proposing that in conjunction with an Underground
Railway from Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, to Charing
Cross, the Railway Company should construct a series
of streets from the corner of Oxford Street and
Tottenham Court Road to Charing Cross and thus
provide what has been long wanted, viz., a good
thoroughfare to carry away the traffic from the Strand
to the North-Western and Western Districts of the
Metropolis.
As, however, such a measure will necessarily