Metropolitan Disfigurements.

It has been calculated that , if at the beginning , a regular system of railway communication had been devised , we should now possess , twofold the amount of accommodation , at half the cost of the present redundant and competing network ; a glance at the railway map will show lines running almost parallel , and eompeting for the scanty traffic of the same district . In France we see the advantage of following a totally different system , and treating the question as a whole from the outset . There the

lines were laid down as parts of one plan , to satisfy the traffic requirements of the whole empire . True , there were occasional departures to satisfy tbe greed of capitalists , who could operate on the Bourse in political crises , or to corrupt constituencies , as in the case of the line from Paris to Calais . Nevertheless , the wisdom of the French railway policy is established beyond all doubt . Thus , whilst shares in our railways are , iu the great

majority of instances , at a discount , and the highest premium of a main line is 24 per cent ., in France there are three main lines , whose shares are at 156 , 135 , and 125 per cent , premium respectively . Possessing cheaper fuel , cheaper engines , and cheaper rails , better organization of labour , and larger traffic , English railways ought to yield more profit than French ones , notwithstanding the extravagance of promoters in preliminary expenses ; instead of whichthey hardlaverage a dividend of

, y 2 £ per cent . One would have thought that the bitter experience acquired since 1846 would have taught the community the folly of immoderate competition , which has depreciated railway property to upwards of 180 millions sterling at the present day . Nothing of the kind ; so far from experience teaching wisdom , never were foolssince tbe days of Solomonmore faithful to their

, , folly . If they themselves only suffered , there would be no cause for interference ; but , unfortunately , they inflict injury upon society at large , and ounht , therefore , to be pnt under control . In tbe case of the metropolis , the evil has reached to such a head that the Legislature has been compelled by public

opinion to take the matter up in both Houses . There are some thirty schemes for constructing railway extensions into the metropolis , stimulated hy the success of the Metropolitan Railway . Those who know anything of London , especially in the suburbs , will be convinced that not a tithe of them is needed . Indeed , when those which are in the course of execution are completed , there will be more than are wanted or than can possibly prove remunerative . For instancecontinental

, traffic through Dover and Folkestone , and Newhaven , has , or shortly will have , five termini in a distance of 2-J- miles as the crow flies . There are , moreover , stations on these lines within the metropolitan area , which must assuredly provide ample accommodation . Now , what difference can it make to a traveller from the Continent , whether he alight in Cannon-street or Blackfriars ? The railways from the north and west have a terminus

in Farringdon-street , and will soon have two others—one in Smithfield and the other in Finsbury Pavement ; besides which they are to be connected with the southern railways , by the hideous disfigurement of a viaduct acrass Ludgate-hill . The Great Eastern Railway is promoting a scheme for appropriating Finsbury Circus as a site for a new station , which is very properly resisted , for it crosses the North London lineand i \ onld run

, parallel to an extension of the North London that is to have a terminus within 200 yards of the one which tbe Great Eastern is to obtain by building on tbe Circus . A map with the lines existing , authorised and projected , laid down , will convince the most sceptical or the most sanguine that the thing is overdone , is not requisite , and cannot pay . We have the authority of Mr . Heywardthe City engineerfor saying thatif common

, , , sense and an equitable understanding between the companies had influenced the laying down the present lines , a station might have been provided within half a mile of every man's dwelling . What more is required it is difficult to say , unless Londoners are to be treated as too sluggish or too debilitated to walk for six or seven minutes .

It is high time to have determined what is to be done with London ; to have it ascertained if people will be permitted to dwell and carry on business within the metropolis , or if it is to converted into a mere day encampment and grand central station for all British railways . The architectural appearance of the capital is already so disfigured as to become hideous in parts ; and what it will be ten years hence , if railways are suffered to proceed as hitherto , can be better imagined than described . The money expeuded on improvements and embellishments is wasted , and our public monuments rendered totally ineffective . London-bridge has its southern approach completely

Metropolitan Disfigurements.

spoiled ; and St . Mary Overies—the relict of an age in which men were not so brutalized as to be insensible to beauty in art , and were not such money-grubbers as to make the accumulation of riches the sole object of their lives—is shut out from view b y the railway works . . . . Mr , Disraeli suggested we should burn an architect if we desired good works . It might , perhaps , tend to prevent the destruction of architectural monuments , if Parliament were to compel the authors of disfigurements to the metropolis to affix tablets of infamy in conspicuous positions on their works , which would record their names and doings ; or if it were to oblige them to contribute their busts to a Temple of Shame .

Railway concoctors do not for a moment allow it to be suspected that they are aware London is a place of habitation , and that if the architectural character of the capital may be sacrificedto utility , or rather to speculation , the health and convenience of the inhabitants have paramount claims to consideration . Itis of all things essential to maintain free circulation of currents , of air in the streets in order to preserve public health and attain . a satisfactory sanitary standard . Butwith numerous railway

, viaducts crossing our thoroughfares , it is impossible to do so , forthey convert them into mere culs de sac , wherein the air stagnates and becomes vitiated . In many parts of the southern and north- western districts there are areas enclosed by railways and . thereby converted into so many cells as it were . It is unfortunately impossible to remedy this sad state of things , which must in the end injuriously affect public health ; but we can prevent

the mischief from extending . With this view the Metropolitan-Board of Works is to be allowed to appear before Committees ; but we are inclined to believe that the Board possesses far greater powers than is supposed , and that it can veto the erection of bridges over streets with the area placed under its jurisdiction " In our second volume , pp . 743 , 766 , and 776 , it was reported that the Law Clerk to the Board showed that bridges could not

be constructed by private individuals over public thoroughfares , without the consent of the Board , which , in accordance with this showing , prohibited the erection of an iron bridge between two warehouses over Thomas-street , St . George's-in-the-East , and of a timber one at Rotlierhithe . If the Board could exercise , in virtue of the Act of Parliament , such control over individuals , we cannot see that it is so powerless in the presence of railway

companies as it seems to have fancied it is . At all events , it should have raised the question , which , whatever might have been the decision in the law courts , would have secured for it a status before parliamentary committees on every bill for theextension of railways into the metropolis . This status has justbeen conceded ; and if the Board will do its duty fearlessly and honestly to its constituents , further injury to public health and disfigurement of the metropolis may be effectually prevented . —Buitdiny News .

Sensation Incident In Freemasonry.

SENSATION INCIDENT IN FREEMASONRY .

The late gallant Commander J . A . P ., R . K , when employed on the coast of Africa in the suppression of the slave trade , rendered important services to his country by his daring and successful capture of slavers . On one occasion off the dreaded Bight of Benin ( where it is said , in reference to the fearful mortality from fever which prevails there , " a hundred come out where a thousand go

in" ) , H . M . S . W 7 ihove to and lowered two boats , each containing fifteen seamen and marines , for the purpose of boarding a suspicious looking barque-rigged vessel , then , under full sail , and steering directly out of the Big ht . Commander P ., then a lieutenant , had charge of the two boats—they nearcd the dark sides of the rakish craft and hailed her captain to heave to , but were answered with

a shoAver of musketry bullets , which wounded three of the crew of each boat—the wind lulled almost immediately into a calm ( another remarkable scientific mystery of these climes , perhaps the concussion or report of thefirearms having something to do with it ) . Amid the unwelcome salutation the stern clear voice of the lieutenantwas heard "board her , boys , starboard and port" ( which ,

means one boat to each side ) the crews bent to their oars , and ere thoy reached the sides a broadside from the * slaver commander passed harmlessly over their heads— - and cutlass in hand , with a dash and spontaneous Britishi