The third reading of the Corporation of London's Bill for
building a new bridge across the Thames near St. Paul's Cathedral will be debated in the House of Commons next Wednesday. Opposition to the Bill has been growing, and a motion for its recommitment is to be proposed by Mr. Morrell and seconded by Lord Claud Hamilton. We have already expressed our extreme dissatisfaction with the Corporation's scheme, against which the Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects have recently passed a unanimous resolution. The design has apparently been made without any reference to architectural and artistic opinion. It takes no account whatever of the possibility of making an approach across the Thames leading to the centre of the south side of St. Paul's Cathedral. It would seem to us a deplorable thing to lose the opportunity for the creation of such a magnificent vista merely on account of the relatively small increase in the total cost which it would involve. We most sincerely hope that the House of Commons will insist next Wednesday upon a recon- sideration of the scheme. We cannot afford in a year like this to proclaim to the Empire and the whole world how little we care about the dignity and beauty of London and its river.
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