already had, the effect of lessening the scouring power of the stream, necessary to prevent the excess of that deposit on the banks which already is so serious an inconvenience. The provision for filtration is of some importance, notwithstanding the difference between the pellucid water generally found above Teddington Lock, and the opaque, semi-fluid compound lower down-so offensive to sight and smell during the last summer-which compound the Chelsea Company have been distributing without filtration. That such provision is important we think must be conceded, having regard to the great amount of sewage which has entered from towns higher up the stream. At the same time, doubt has been expressed as to the possibility of complete removal of impurities by any ordinary means, even by the use of charcoal. As to the exact efficacy of this latter filtering medium, it were much to be desired that any doubts were cleared up. The works in operation, or proposed, for the supply of some of the provincial towns, seem to us better calculated to meet the necessities of the case than the actual system as to London. Not only is the importance of the constant supply apprehended from the outset, but the best sources for purity are sought, even though at considerable distances. One of the chief of such recent works is that for the supply of Liverpool from Rivington Pike. In that case, however, it seems to be now doubted, whether the supply will be adequate; and this has revived an original proposal made by Mr. Rawlinson, to take the supply from Bala Lake in Wales. In Glasgow, the supply will probably be drawn from Loch Lomond.

Great exertions have been called for, throughout the kingdom, in order to provide the new cemeteries, pursuant to the Orders in Council, and the manner of administration of the Act of Parliament. Advertisements have been addressed weekly to architects, inviting plans to be sent in competition; though we must say that the terms offered-sometimes as little as 57. for the set of elaborate drawings which may chance to be accepted-do not seem calculated to induce much expenditure of thought by members of a profession which requires very varied attainments, and a long course of study. The whole question of architects' and sculptors' competitions is one too much mixed up with that of competition in general, for those who are most interested to have the chance of speedily settling it; and all that can be at present said is, that competitions now involve much that is unwise as regards all persons' interests, and the interests of art, if not much that is degrading or questionable in morals. This, however, is not the place to attempt to show why the best use in every way is not made of the available talent of the country, in cases where there is the necessity for a sudden and general appeal to it. But the government and the legislature are not less blameable than municipal and parochial authorities. We may instance the late offer of a premium by the Barrack Accommodation Committee appointed by the Minister of War, where it is stipulated that all plans sent in, rewarded or not, are to remain the property of the War Department. So that-as 130 sets of drawings are understood to have been sent--the country paying amongst half-a-dozen competitors, 6007. in premiums (not a pound more than the money-worth), is to get 124 sets of

drawings involving a cost of, at the most moderate computation, 1,500l. to 2,0007.-at the expense of the unlucky authors. We have not to urge that the system-here seen in but one of its phases, and that one a comparatively favourable one-is opposed to the high English spirit of honour; we have merely to say that it is one of those matters which require reformation,- -as an object which, like the popular information on art, and the natural apprehension of respective duties and claims between artists and the public, must be attended to, if ever the desired advancement is to be effected in art, and the best use made of such resources of education and skill as may happen to await demand.

The Marylebone Cemetery at Finchley, laid out by Messrs. Barnett and Birch, has been opened. The general character of the architectural features, somewhat resembles those in the joint cemeteries for Islington and St. Pancras, by the same architects, also open, and in the same locality. We noticed these last year. The cemetery for the City, at Ilford, in Essex, is about being completed. It occupies 95 acres of ground. The old cemetery of St. Martin's-inthe-Fields, St. Pancras, has had a portion of the ground laid out for building purposes-not, however, without lond remonstrance. The cemetery for Paddington has been formed of 25 acres of ground, at a site on the road from Kilburn to Willesden, and is one of the cases which we had in view last year, when we expressed the fear that sites had been chosen too near the metropolis. The architect employed was Mr. Thomas Little; and we may say that in the buildings, he has succeeded in producing an effect both novel and consistent, as contrasted with many attempts. The details will be considered as belonging to the early decorated style of Gothic architecture, and are well studied, but the important feature of the design is the grouping of the chapels with their accessory buildings. The whole forms a range of buildings on a site in the centre of the grounds. The two chapels are placed one at each end of a line, the intermediate features being made by porches and robing-rooms, two archways under gables, and a lofty gabled bell-turret in the centre. The chapels are dissimilar to each other, except as to position and general outline; otherwise, uniformity is observed. The aim of the architect was to avoid the insignificance of character which may be suggested by small chapels when isolated in large open spaces; and the result is better than that where chapels are placed in the position of lodges-thereby not only approaching too near to the bustle of a roadway, but also contributing little to the effect of the grounds. Lodges, in the present case, are placed at the gates for a keeper and a sexton. The amount of the contracts for the several works at the cemetery was 9,1597.

The scheme of the London Necropolis Company comprised the purchase of 2,100 acres of ground at Woking, extending for upwards of four miles along the line of the South Western Railway. Four hundred acres of this have now been enclosed and planted, and a short branch line has been formed for the approach of the funeral train to the chapels, which are at present temporary buildings. The ground is situated in a picturesque locality, and is appropriately laid

out. A separate station for the Company has been formed in the Westminster Road, from which a train starts at an appointed time with the funerals and mourners. Rooms are provided for the reception of each funeral, or for the mourners to assemble at,-privacy of course being regarded. The entrance from the Westminster Road is by a large arch of Norman character in decorative brickwork. This, with the whole London Station, was designed by Mr. Tite,Mr. Abrahain, and subsequently Mr. Sydney Smirke, A.R.A., being the architects employed at the Cemetery itself. The Company claim that their cemetery is the largest in the world, and that it is one of very few not liable to be closed at some future, and perhaps not distant time. To every corpse is allotted a separate grave, "which cannot be re-opened except at the request of the friends of the deceased previously interred, for a space of ten years." The Company will also undertake the whole arrangements of a funeral, the charges being a mere fraction of those incurred under the old, or, we may say, the other existing system; one which few have had any experience of without disgust, or sorrow, that human nature should sink so low under the greed of gain. If the Company should persevere, and succeed in raising up any different system-in place of that which has been so often commented on, but with little practical result-it may be confessed, even by those who believe that some of the last offices of the dead should not be transferred to agents-that the scheme has been productive of good, independent of public health. One of the original proposals of those most active in the subject of extramural interments, was for houses of reception,-in order that where families resided in a single apartment, the corpse might be at once removed; and so, a custom might be altered, which is now injurious to health, hurtful to the feelings, and somewhat prejudicial to the maintenance of that tone of mind which is productive of good morals. The influence of the people of Lambeth, however, prevented the Necropolis Company from having this power within the metropolis, and the Company are obliged to remove all bodies to the Cemetery without a detention longer than twenty-four hours. In some cases, however, it is found that relatives do not object to the conveyance of the corpse unattended,-when it can be deposited at the Cemetery till such time as the funeral may be arranged for.-A similar scheme is on foot for a cemetery at Colney Hatch, with conveyance by the Great Northern Railway; and, though opposed by the authorities of the parishes which have opened cemeteries in the same direction, it will perhaps be carried out. If the original proposal to form the cemeteries on the river side, could have been adhered to, the objects might have been better attained. In the cemeteries, generally, there is great difference of art-merit. In very many cases, the utmost that the architect could design, is shown in two ordinary Gothic buildings as chapels, with porches for carriages to drive under-one building having a tower and spire,-the result of that arrangement of course being that the other chapel appears to want its intended finish. We have seen designs, however, which avoided this defect, though for places the names of which we are just now

not able to call to mind. Mr. Truefitt has made some in which, by a projection of the roof and other devices, greater novelty, yet consistency of character, was produced than we have seen in many cases. Mr. R. S. Potter, also, lately exhibited a drawing, showing a tower and spire over the porch, where an effective massiveness was obtained, and the frequent discordant junction of parts, culled from church towers and porches, was avoided. In the Episcopal chapel in the Rochdale Cemetery, Mr. R. M. Smith has given his design somewhat the character of the Norman style. The building consists of a square tower, with a pyramidal crocketed roof, between a short galilee, or nave, and a chancel,-the principal effect of the interior being given by the two arches carrying the tower above.

Notes of a few works in the department of sanitary economychiefly separate buildings-we reserve for another section. The whole question of sanitary improvement is of vast extent, and is one which is just now of such importance, that although we have given to it more than usual space, we feel as though it had been dismissed summarily. Especially does the question of the provision of healthful and comfortable places of abode, meet us before every step that we would take towards social amelioration. We are concerned to think that, year after year, our chronicle of progress can show so little done by such means, connected as they must be with the removal of what now most loudly demands attention in the records of crime, and reports of the police courts. Houses and streets both, in districts which were the chief resort of disease, such as the district near Golden Square, still remain in the state in which they were. And we do not hesitate to say that, whilst we attach no mean value to the improvement of drainage and water supply, to ventilation, and still more to the better internal distribution of all the accessories of a residence, we believe that even the absence of ordinary art in the character of houses, may have something to do with that state of mind and frame which invites the attacks of disease. At least, this argument has lately been put forward with reference to the district we have mentioned. We should here not omit to speak of the aid given through the columns of The Builder to the sanitary cause, and especially to the subject of dwellings. By Mr. Godwin's personal investigations, and by the manner in which he has set the facts before the public, there is now no reason why the condition of the inhabitants of London should be known only to a limited number of philanthropic persons. The Metropolitan Association, and the Society to which Mr. Henry Roberts has so long rendered his arduous and disinterested assistance, can do little to cope with that which makes, at once, the great evil in London house-building, and in London life and morals. The Society last referred to has of late given its chief attention to the remodelling of existing tenements. Wild Court, Great Wild Street, before the operations of the Society, had been in a condition which it had required all the force of description, and of drawings, to convey an idea of. The houses were filled with heaps of ordure and putrifying refuse; and the requisites in dwellings, usually thought indispensable, were wanting. The rents were high; but the houses were crowded with inhabitants, more or less nomadic

in habits, and cultivated on the descending scale of surrounding influences. For the poor must live somewhere; and the sooner this very simple and easy fact is brought to the knowledge of persons who seem to ignore it, the better for the diminution of misery and crime which herd with it, and are developed by it. The houses in question, 13 in number, have now been remodelled at a cost of 20007.; drainage, water supply, and ventilation, have been properly attended to; and a water-closet, in an open gallery, is provided for each floor. About the end of last July, we found that ninety-two rooms were occupied by eighty-three families, at rents varying from 1s. 3d. to 3s. per week, each room. The rules which it is necessary to impose upon tenants, we should say, require very careful consideration, lest they provoke prejudices which would defeat the object. There should be no interference, except where necessary for protection of property, and the comfort of other tenants. The regulation in Wild Court, against pasting pictures on the walls, seems to us far from desirable, and a positive denial of what may be means of intellectual culture. Rooms, in property of this description, are of course prepared with the expectation of some such usage. But, to secure all the advantages of well-ordered dwellings, new buildings are necessary; and the external gallery system should be brought into use.-In some of the provincial towns, new model dwellings, however, have been erected. Some at Dudley, of which Mr. Wiggington was the architect, are amongst the most recent.-In Manchester, whether from over-speculation or other causes, the number of empty houses has been increasing. In September last, it was stated in a speech by Mr. Bright, that the number of such houses was that year 7,000, the number in 1854 having been 6,000, and in the year before that, 5,000.

3. STREET ARCHITECTURE AND IMPROVEMENTS; PARKS, &c. Looking at the growth of the metropolis, we find little this year that would call for particular remark. In some of the suburbs, the progress of house-building has been comparatively less than of late years, the change being attributed to the effects of the war.

In the matter of new lines of street, nothing fresh has been done; and the information which we received last year, as to the extension of Farringdon-street has turned out to be fallacious. Quite recently, however, it seems to have become apparent to the City authorities, that it would be better to borrow money, even at high rates of interest, than to leave what might be valuable building-plots longer unoccupied.

The line of buildings in Cannon-street may now be considered as complete, only a small portion of a block remaining to be erected. The latest structure, next to the warehouse of Messrs. Cook, Son, and Co., in St. Paul's Churchyard, follows many of the details of that, and the other buildings. Whilst we saw an improved character of architecture in the earlier buildings of this line, we must now regret that it has not been felt that novelty is an object to which importance should be constantly attached. The triangular space next St. Paul's is yet unencumbered, and though projects have been