Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/623

 LONDON 61T 14 ft. wide, and 16 ft. high, separated by a brick wall 4 ft. thick with 64 arched openings. The crown of the arch is 16 ft. below the bot- tom of the river. The descent and ascent are effected by stairs winding round cylindrical shafts 38 ft. wide and 22 ft. deep. It is the greatest achievement of the elder Brunei, and was commenced March 2, 1825, interrupted by an inundation Aug. 12, 1828, recommenced in January, 1835, and opened March 25, 1843. The total cost was 468,000. The penny toll and other receipts were under 6,000 annually, and the constant influx of land springs caused considerable expenditure. The tunnel was consequently sold in 1865 for 200,000 to the East London railway company for connecting the Great Eastern and North London railways with those on the south of the Thames ; and it was altogether closed as a public footway on July 19, 1869. A new tunnel, known as the Thames subway, was commenced Feb. 16, 1869, by breaking ground for the shaft on Tower hill ; and in February, 1870, a number of persons were already conveyed from one shaft head to the other; the cost was only 20,000. It is 25 ft. below the bed of the river ; the pas- sage is accomplished by a tubular displacement of about 8 ft. in diameter, and its entire course is through the impermeable London clay. The shafts are less than 60 ft. deep and 10 ft. in diameter, and are lined partly with cast-iron cylindrical rings, and partly with brickwork in cement. The omnibus runs upon a railway of 2 ft. 6 in. gauge, and is lighted by colza oil lamps, as are also the lifts and the waiting room. The subway is remarkable for its dry- ness, but the temperature is high. Its success led to the construction of another subway or tunnel from Arthur street to St. George's church, Borough, passing under the principal districts of the city of London and of South- wark. An additional tunnel from Poplar to Greenwich, entering close to the East and West India docks, is intended to benefit the traffic between the N. and S. parts of the river. Penny and twopenny steamers ply between London bridge and the West End bridges, and stop at many piers, including Greenwich ; but, though still overcrowded, especially in summer, they are destined gradually to disappear before the more speedy means of communication. Boats for Margate and Ramsgate start from London bridge ; and the steamers for conti- nental ports start from the same point, and from St. Katharine wharf or Tower stairs. Many lines of packets leave London for Australian, East Indian, American, and other transoceanic ports. The omnibus service comprises about 100 metropolitan and suburban routes, and employs nearly 1,200 coaches and 12,000 horses. The annual receipts are estimated in the aggregate at 1,000,000, and the number of passengers at over 80,000,000. The vehicles traverse a circuit of about 300 streets, and about 24,000,000 miles annually, the daily average for each omnibus being 60 m. The coaches are slow and uncomfortable, and are shunned by ladies, but they are nevertheless overcrowded. The London general omnibus company, the largest, runs about 600 coaches. The drivers are employed from 12 to 16 hours a day. Hackney carriages were till 1869 under the control of the board of inland revenue, and were subsequently placed under that of the commissioners of police. The taxes have been reduce'd considerably, and the horse duty has been abolished altogether. Cabs have conse- quently increased from 5,687 in 1869 to 7,341 in 1870, 7,818 in 1871, 8,160 in 1872, and 9,655 in 1873 ; and the number running in the autumn of 1874 comprised 3,641 Hansom and 4,223 Clarence cabs, altogether 7,864. Strin- gent regulations" have been passed to insure safety, speed, and comfort; and since Jan. 1, 1874, the cushions are required to be of horse- hair and other good material, and not as for- merly stuffed with hay, straw, seaweed, or whalebone shavings. There are 2,800 propri- etors, of whom only 89 own more than 20 cabs each. The proprietor lets them out by the day to licensed drivers at an average price of 18 shillings during the season, and as low as 6 shillings at slacker periods. The number of licensed drivers is 10,093, exceeding that of the cabs. The rates of fare are strictly regulated by law, and the cabmen complain of hardship and risks, especially as they are often obliged to pay the proprietors in advance. The num- ber of persons run over and killed by these and other conveyances in 1872 was 118, which was below the average of the six preceding years; the maimed or injured were 2,677, a number much above previous averages. The main drainage of London has been carried out since 1859 by the metropolitan board of works, through a series of large sewers under streets and buildings on both sides of the river, at right angles with the old and defective sewers and a little below their level, in order to inter- cept the sewage and prevent it from contami- nating the river in its passage through London. The termini of the sewers are at Barking creek, on the left bank, and at Crossness, near Plum- stead, on the right bank of the Thames, where they discharge through a general outfall chan- nel. Much of the sewage is carried away by gravitation, excepting that of the low levels, which must be pumped up by steam engines into the outfall channels after having gone through a process of deodorization. The high- level Clapham channels, S. of the Thames (10 m. long), unite with the low-level Putney chan- nel (11 m. long) at Deptford creek, whence they run to Erith over a distance of 7 m. The three great Hampstead, Kilburn, and em- bankment sewers, N. of the Thames, form a junction on the river Lea. The bridges, aque- ducts, culverts, and conduits are on the largest scale, especially at Bow creek, below Black- wall ; and one of the finest pumping stations is at Abbey mills, West Ham, where the low- level drainage is lifted by steam to the upper