Architectural London In 1884.

private edifices worthy of the name of architecture . We may also safely conclude that the present ideas of purification will have assumed a so much hi g her standard by that time , that a vast stream of perfectly clear water will be constantly flowing in unimpaired beauty through the heart of the

metrop olis , receiving at the same time a great additional interest from the fact , that many kinds of fish , such as are not driven away by the mere activity of the steamboat traffic , will flourish abundantly and greatl y multi p ly in its limpid Avaters . In order , however , that the vast plans of the

Thames Embankment may be fitly earned out to their ultimate results , the public must inform itself more fully on the subject . If all that v ast avenue of murk y warehouses and dark cellars , varied b y intermediate spaces of black mud , are really to be swept clean aAvay , and we are to get

in their places an unbrolcen line of spacious quays , with all their concomitant features of broad and noble stairways , and balustraded jDarajDets—while the land side of the Avide roadway MAY become bordered b y a series of statel y buildings—the public must make itself thoroughly acquainted

Avith the plans actually in progress , the grasp and splendour of which will necessai-ily expand as the public become aware of what is reall y being done , and applies its sturdy shoulder to the somewhat

sluggish chariot of official progress . How much stimulation from the power of " pressure from without" is required to ensure a perfect carrying out of the p lans , as yet but vaguely indicated , may be inferred from the course of events , during which the cold shadoAV of official

inertness so long rendered abortive all the plans for a Thames Embankment Avhich had from time to time been pressed upon successive GoA ernments for the last forty years . There Avas Col . French ' s complete and elegant plan , in which full advantage was taken of all existing public

buildings , such as the river front of Somerset House , & c . Beautifully-illustrated p lans of the effect of the proposed quays were published at the time by their spirited projector ; but all was of no avail . Then there Avas the bolder aud more comprehensive plan of John Martin , the painter of "

Belskazzar ' s Feast , " which included a vast plan of metropolitan drainage Avithout polluting the Thames . But the long effective official principle of " how not to do it" successfully swamped both these and many other plans . The stimulations that eventually forced the How-not-to-do-its to

reverse the power of their celebrated official engine Avere of a somewhat irresistible character . Nothing less than three destructive -visitations of a fearful pestilence , combined Avith the utter obstruction of the increased traffic in the old

thoroughfares , and at the same time such indications of general public opinion as rendered further opposition something more than unadvisable . Under this unusual pressure the " How-not-to-doit" princip le broke down ; and , therefore , now

Architectural London In 1884.

that the narrow end of the wedge is at last got into the question , the public must see that it be fairl y driven home . It must see that the proposed quays be of sufficient spaciousness , and of imbrohen continuity ;* and . that the noble sites for public and private edifices be not jobbed away , as other

important sites have been before . f With due vi gilance , we have now a chance of seeing , within the next twenty years , such a line of river quays , bordered b y such a line of statel y buildings , as shall not be matched in the Avorld ; in the presence of which the boasted Parisian quays of the Seine will sink , into comparative insignificance . ( To be continued . )

The Grand Lodge, Alpina.

THE GRAND LODGE , ALPINA .

At the request of several brethren we give m full the Report presented to the Managing Council of the Grand Lodge Suisse Alpina , by the W . Bros . ITavre , from the Orient of rTeufohatel ; Freud weiler , from the Orient of Zurich ; and Duoi-et , from the Orient of Lausanne , on the circumstances connected with the loan from the Temple Unique to the Orient of Geneva , and especially with , reference to the disorders -which took place on the occasion , of the third drawing of the lottery to pay off , this loan .

To the Managing Council of the Swiss G . Lodge at Berne . M . W . Grand Master . M . W . Members of the Managing Council . The committee which you nominated on 7 th October , to inquire into the grave facts which attended the third drawing of the lottery for the Temple Unique , met afc the

Orient of Geneva , on Sunday , 25 th October , at eight o ' clock in the evening , under the presidence of W . Bro . Favre , Deputy Grand Master . Having first examined the plan that they ought to adopt to obtain the best possible results , the committee decided on hearing the Deputy Masters and the Masters in the chairs of the lodges of Geneva , as well as the

members of the managing committee of the Temple Unique , aud , if necessary , other brethren who could give positive information on the subject of the inquiry : it decided , moreover , that these brethren should be heard individually or as a lodge ; this was done with the object of rendering tho discussion more free , and of clearing it , if possible , from bitterness , fear , or pressure , which is

often exercised on witnesses of different opinions ; it determined , lastly , in a general manner the points upon which its investigations ought essentially to bear . The V . W . Bro . Favre announced that he had informed , by letter , the W . Bro . Ducommnn , Deputy Master , of the arrival of the committee of inquiry , requesting him , in his turn , to summon the dignitaries mentioned below , in

the meeting place of the Temple Unique . On the following morning , Monday , 26 th October , at nine o ' clock , the committee met at the above-named place . When the committee had announced to the