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whether it will act upon the suggestion given in the Committee's report,
and bring forward a more general and extensive plan, or will only
propose isolated improvements, there is very little doubt that the
widening of the High Street of this Parish will bo again submitted to
Parliament in the Session of 1872. The New Street from Shoreditch
to Old Street Road or City Road will, very probably, also bo brought
under the notice of the Metropolitan Board this year, and if the
Bloomsbury Communication is considered as part of a general scheme, it
would bo necessary to include this short length as part of that general
line which would bo otherwise left incomplete.
THE TOWN HALL.
Between Lady-day, 1870, and the same period this year, the Public
Hall has been lot 217 times, and the Council Chamber 20. There have
been Vestry Meetings, besides many Meetings of the Vestry Committees,
and others of a private or non-parochial character. The
receipts for letting the Hall for the year were £906 5s. It must be
remembered that a considerable amount of the cost of heating, lighting,
cleansing, repairing, and attending the Hall, is incidental to the business
of the Parish, and would be incurred if the establishment was used
for none but parochial purposes.
I suggested in my last report that some course might bo taken to
encourage the more profitable letting of the Hall, but I cannot say that
as yet any stop has been taken in that direction.
PROPOSED MORTUARY.
The Medical Officer has long urged the provision of a Public
Mortuary, as a great sanitary necessity, and the Vestry has endeavoured
to provide one, but the difficulty of securing a site has hitherto prevented
that object from being realised. Negociations for the erection of one in
the Church-yard of St. Leonard, failed from various causes. The Vicar
and Churchwardens of St. John's, Hoxton, very liberally gave their
consent for the erection of an ornamental building in the Burial-ground
of that Church, provided that the inhabitants of that district parish,