OUR LONDON THAMES.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—May I remind the citizens of London of a truth which in their corporate capacity they fail to lay to heart ? It is that in their river they possess a property of inestimable value. Suppose it were proposed to create in the heart of the Metropolis a superb water park flanked by a long line of noble edifices or buildings instinct with human interest, the only objection to the scheme would be that it would cost more than the richest community in the world could dare to spend upon its delights. But Nature and History have presented it to the present generation for nothing. This week the steam- boat service which the County Council has provided is to be inaugurated with becoming pageantry. The managers, in their concern to make it financially self-supporting, attach importance to the development of a popular taste for tripe by water. They are right. Nothing could be more refreshing than the varied panorama of palaces and churches, of wharves and warehouses, of gardens and quays, of bridges that span the flood, and picturesque craft of all sorts that rush or drift or lie lazily upon its bosom. Unfortunately, trade in these days has ceased to be aware of its own dignity. The use of a wall, according to the usage of modern competition in eye-catching, is to carry huge placards : the function of a roof is to bear letters of still more monstrous size. It is only too certain that the advent of the municipal boats will stimulate the tendency to multiply and magnify the advertising defacements on the banks. Already there is a marked extension of opera- tions undertaken with a view to bitting the defenceless passengers in the eye. The remedy ? Surely it is obvious. Some years ago the Council got powers to prohibit sky-signs. They are prohibited accordingly. No one murmurs. And every man, woman, and child in the Metropolis is the happier (though they may not all be conscious of the obligation) for the statute which has saved the firmament from eclipse. Spring Gardens has only to ask the Legislature to give con- sistent effect to its intention by enabling the municipal authority to prohibit any grossly disfiguring display in the way of letters or advertising emblems.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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