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taught within the walls of a College, and others which require the ministrations of a Professor in his lecturehall or his laboratory; and in so far as a Commission concerns itself with delimitations of the spheres of educational usefulness proper to the University' and its Colleges respectively, there was really no need for a Commission at all-were it not that no preparations for the millennium are ever held to be complete which do not include an inquiry into the state of Oxford and Cambridge.

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However, the Commissioners have sat, and reported; and it remains to be seen how far the Colleges, which are revising (or have revised) their statutes with due regard to their recommendations, will surrender some part of their educational autonomy; for some extended rights of suggestion on the part of the University appear to be desired by the Commission. It may be hoped that there will in the upshot be no serious interference with the independence which is an essential part of the being of Colleges—an independence which they have at any rate in the last forty years exercised so usefully, and with such consideration of the best interests of the University. After all, so long as these great and venerable foundations are animated by the right ideals, there is, for the great majority of men who are to be trained for the service of Church and State, 'no place like an Oxford or Cambridge College. It is there that men best realise what Sir C. Mallet calls (in another connexion) 'the comradeship of master and pupil, the contact of mind with mind.' And it is the Colleges, and the tradition of life within their walls, which assure to the University its most excellent possession-the loyalty of its sons.

A. D. GODLEY.

Art. 9.-THE TROUBLES OF LONDON TRAFFIC.

THE old adage runs, 'Everything comes to him who knows how to wait,' but that only applies to those who can contrive to live long enough. It is twenty-two years since Mr Balfour, who was then Prime Minister, in order to meet the clamour that our traffic arrangements were chaotic, and that we were not looking ahead, appointed one of the strongest Commissions which has ever been got together. It sat for two years and a half, accumulated evidence from all directions, expended large sums, and reported in eight volumes containing a mine of informative suggestion. But one recommendation governed all. There must be a permanent authority to supervise and bring into line the traffic not only of London but of the rapidly extending Greater London-a Traffic Brain. The members of this authority must be gifted with imagination. Not only must they look far afield, but also generations ahead. Even then it was evident that horses were going to give place to machinery; already some men were burrowing under London, and others actually daring to fly above it; vast changes were foreshadowing. It was necessary to be up and doing. Co-ordination of effort was essential. And then, before they had time to set up this machinery, Mr Balfour's Government fell, and the dead hand of what one might call ultra-municipal politics was heavily imposed. Defeated and ousted from the County Hall, its influence shifted to the House of Commons, and remained there. Ignoring the obvious fact that to deal with London traffic problems it was essential to consider land, roads, and railways far outside the area of the London County Council, it was argued that that body must be the Traffic Authority. Moreover, it was forgotten that the Council was committed to tramways, and that as a competitor it could not be a judge. The dead hand pressed heavily, and the work of the Royal Commission was wasted. In vain was Mr Asquith appealed to. First one estimable gentleman was appointed and then another to work at keeping the facts which had been so laboriously got together up to date, and certain duties were imposed on the already over

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burdened police force; but there was no general superAFP vision, no money, no possibility of action. Seven years passed by. Then came the War, and ten more years were added on. To-day only five Members of that oth notable Commission and the Secretary remain alive. It is astounding to think how obstructive a narrowMinz minded outlook can be, and how long-suffering are the range public.

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But though politics may bar progress it is difficult wh to restrain the ingenuity of individuals and private and enterprise, and London, fortunately, did not stand still. nded. How could she? Every year more tunnels were driven gbeneath our feet. Every week motors were multiplied end and became more efficient. Every hour the public were thor more deeply bitten with the longing for speed. And

to-day at last we have got a Traffic Authority-not, and perhaps, the ideal 'Brain' we had hoped for, for there mare many conflicting interests which are compelled to o take divergent views and pull different ways—but still ian Advisory Board, appointed ad hoc, keen, businesslike, to powerful, to investigate and suggest schemes and regulations, with a Ministry behind it to carry them out, and a Minister imbued with the proper spirit. At long - last!

It may seem strange to begin an article under this heading by pointing out how vastly our traffic conditions have improved within the last generation, but this is only fair, for the improvement has been marvellous, and it is because we now realise how much faster it is possible to travel-in many different ways and more comfort-that the lingering on of some of the old handicaps annoys us. We have attained to a new standard of what speed in travelling can be; we want to get the fullest advantage of this. How can it be done? Well, our need is exactly that watchful, all-seeing, co-ordinating body for which we have waited so long. While avoiding monopolies we wish to eliminate punnecessary and wasteful competition, all the more so because that waste necessarily causes congestion. Three #generations ago the English were the freest people on earth. To-day in England's crowded areas some liberty ate must go. Town-planning has còme too late. Blocked streets are bad for trade; they are even worse for that

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improvement in housing which is the social problem of the day; for free and speedy movement is the purger of the slums. To many Londoners in all ranks of life the saving of time means not only money but health.

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Let us consider street traffic first, for it is always before us. How circumstances have changed since in those years when the old Commission was sitting! Piccadilly was often blocked from end to end witho horse vehicles, omnibuses, cabs, carts, and drays, above th all with great barouches, a dream of fine ladies, stout coachmen, and fat horses; and Piccadilly was only a fashionable sample of what went on all over the town. ple Then every vehicle was not only slower in getting under way, in movement and in acceleration, but also more awkward in turning and longer, and so took up more road space. To-day motor traffic is splendidly fluid, and everything can travel at high speed were it not for only a very few clearly defined obstacles.

Why are our streets so constantly under repair? Can nobody invent a paving surface which does not require constant renewal, some kind of carpet, and some method of tunnelling by which the various pipes and conduits can be got at without hacking down to them? Well, we hope for both these things, but, in the meanwhile, before it is three months old, our new Committee are up and taking action. They are going to stand no nonsense, and the Minister of Transport has issued orders requiring all road authorities within the London area, from the London County Council and the other County Councils and the City Corporation down to the humblest Urban District Council, to submit halfyearly statements of the road repairs they suggest. He is not going to allow two parallel streets to be up at the same time. Nor will he permit any public utility undertaking to cut down with high-handed independence into a newly reconstructed roadway. There is to be co-ordination and arrangement to put an end to such absurdity. For this, at least, we may be thankful.

So much for the surface of our streets and roads, but how about their dimensions? It is the fashion to speak as though all our streets were too narrow and all London was crowded out with vehicles and people. Is there any truth in this? Why, she has hundreds of

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al promiles of empty streets, and hundreds more where serious the blocking is unknown! The City, the dock area, a belt dof varying width on both sides of the river, and certain ealth industrial quarters and commercial centres are very it crowded, to a considerable extent by vehicles standing ed in the roadway-the ridiculous hay market at Aldgate is a flagrant case in point-but I make so bold as to say that over the greater portion of London very few of our thoroughfares of communication are overcrowded die except those which carry either tramways or omnibuses. Admittedly these are the main thoroughfares to which the people are accustomed. They are brought along them and throng them, and because of this, because of the advertisement, these are the streets which attract the big shops also. It is a thoroughly bad combination. Now here we have the opportunity for our new Authority. The Minister cannot, I fear, prevent the big shops from coming into and expanding along these established thoroughfares; but he can limit the number of public vehicles which both use and feed them, insisting on alternative routes and perhaps, in certain places, on one-way roads. If he chooses he can order half the omnibuses out of Oxford Street, and say that in ba South London and East London, so long as tramways exist, omnibuses should avoid most of the narrower streets along which their rails are laid. In that way he can create new thoroughfares. Is it necessary in these days that horses should go everywhere and at all hours? Their pace is different, indeed, it is obsolete; they necessitate a form of paving which does not last, for they themselves destroy it; and they demand flatter gradients. At the busiest hour a great coalcart with one large horse can hold up a congested thoroughfare. Crawling taxis also are a convenience to the few but a nuisance to the many. Would it not be better if, in a narrow thoroughfare like Bond Street, a taxi-driver when unemployed were bound to leave it at the first side opening; and if, in a wide street like Regent Street, he must either go out or station himself in the centre of the road. Taxi-ranks even of inordinate length are not so troublesome as crawlers. Indeed, it would be better if no waiting vehicles could stand by the kerb, for the convenience of the few must Vol. 244.-No. 484.

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