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7
The attention of the Board having been directed to the serious
loss and injury sustained by owners and occupiers of property in
the district, the letting and rateable value of which had been
greatly diminished owing to the procrastination of the Company
and the uncertainty felt as to whether they intended to proceed
with the works, the Board, in January last, on receipt of a
memorial from a public meeting of inhabitants and ratepayers
held at the Bricklayers' Institute, Southwark Bridge Road, complaining
of the delay, resolved to oppose the Bill for a further
extention of time, and instructed Mr. J. H. Burnet, of No. 27,
Borough High Street, Solicitor, to prepare and lodge a Petition to
the House of Commons against it. This was done, the Metropolitan
Board of Works and several of the local Vestries adopting a similar
course. In February, however, Mr. Burnet received an intimation
from the solicitor of the Company to the effect that they had
determined to abandon the 18th Section above referred to, and the
withdrawal was shortly afterwards effected accordingly. Thus
the matter stands, the powers of the Company, under the original
Act, as amended by the Various Powers Act, 1885, for the compulsory
purchase of lands, being still operative and unchanged,
but if not exercised by the 18th August next they will have lapsed.
Those for the carrying out of the works will not expire until the
18th August, 1887. The Company are proceeding with the
widening of the City Terminus Bridge, and works in connection
therewith as authorized by their several Acts, but it is understood
to be their intention to abandon the rest of the scheme.
In July, 1885, the Board presented a Petition to the House
of Lords in favour of the Corporation of London (Tower Bridge)
Bill, the object of which is the construction of a low-level
Bridge across the Thames, from Irongate Stairs on the north
side to Hartley's Wharf on the south, with suitable approaches
thereto, such Bridge to have a moveable central opening to
admit of the passage at all times of the tide, when required, of
vessels navigating the river. The principal grounds alleged
by the Board in justification of their support were as follows,
viz; (a) That a Bridge constructed at a low level and in the
manner proposed in the Bill would, in the opinion of the Board,
Tower Bridge