244
��NOTES BY THE WAY.
��Increase of traffic.
��Threadneedle Street, Upper Thames Street, and Liverpool Street. Electric The Commission of Sewers was also the pioneer body in electric lighting. lighting, and as far back as 1878 experiments were made on Holborn
Viaduct with the Jablochkoff system.
During the past fifty years the tide of traffic has been ever on the rise, and proposals for " Tube " railways had been long foreshadowed. The first step in this direction was the construction of the City and South London Railway, followed by that of the Central London, and the excavation of the Bank Station beneath the space hi front of the Mansion House. The City Press article rightly praises the manner in which all difficulties were surmounted in the construction of that huge underground station in the busiest spot in the world.
Although the majority of the City improvements were until ten years ago effected by the Commissioners of Sewers, the City Corporation has since the year 1760 spent over 11,000,000?. in public improvements, and in addition applied the net proceeds, between 1862 and 1890, of the 4d. coal duty, which during these years pro- duced 3,100,000?. Since the abolition of the duty the Corporation has contributed nearly 300,000?. towards the discharge of debt and interest on the Holborn Valley improvement and the widening of streets.
Among links with the past now swept away are many of the old City churches, long emptied of worshippers, owing to the few residents. The Daily Chronicle of Saturday, the 10th of April, 1897, gave the total numbers present on the previous Sunday at fourteen then existing churches 366 attending morning service, and 394 in the evening. At one of these only 4 were present in the morning, and 6 in the evening. This living was worth 925?. per annum, and the total of the fourteen was 10,453?. per annum.
Other changes have included the disappearance of the old Sessions House, and of the three schools : St. Paul's, founded in 1512 by Dr. Colet ; Christ's Hospital, founded on the 23rd of November, 1552 ; and the City School, which was erected on the site of Honey Lane Market, the first stone being laid by Lord Brougham on the 21st of October, 1835. Of notable old City hotels but few are left. The building of the General Post Office on the west side of St. Martin's le Grand obliterated the famous hotels that formerly stood there ; and an additional block is now in course of erection on the site of Christ's Hospital to accommodate the increasing business.
When The City Press first saw the light, Holborn Hill, with all its perils to horses, still remained. At 94, opposite Shoe Lane, was Fearon's well-known wine-shop (this branch is now at 39,
��1907, Aug. 10.
Old City churches.
��Disappear- ance of old
Sessions House.
��Holborn Hill : perils to horses.
�� �
