the public offices as clerks, cash-keepers and others employed in various duties, and many of them are not in a position to keep a horse and gig, they in consequence make up generally a party of three or four and engage a bullock or horse carriage for a sum of about 15 or 20 rupees per month to convey them to and from the scene of their business; besides there are many who in very hot sultry days or in wet weather prefer hiring a conveyance to the fatigue of walking; we are therefore of opinion that if a company was formed, and a sum sufficient to answer the cost of carriages, horses, harness, &c. were raised, and were these vehicles to leave town and the places where those who thus daily come there reside, at certain and convenient hours of the day they would be sure to find a great number of passengers, who would be glad to prefer it to the uncomfortable and slow mode of locomotion we have at present.

A sum of 15000 rupees will be we think sufficient for providing a dozen of omnibuses, (which need not in the first instance be quite so expensive as in England, yet capable of carrying as many passengers,) the horses and other furniture, the keeping of them with the wages of the driver and conductor and other expences including the interest of the capital invested would come to about one thousand rupees a month. Now suppose we calculate each carriage to make daily journies, conveying, at an average, twelve people

backwards and forwards at the very moderate charge of two annas each, the daily income would be six rupees, and at that rate the whole of them would bring 2160 rupees per month, which after deducting the expences would leave a profit of 1160 rupees to the proprietors. Thus we have shown on a rough calculation that it is not an unprofitable speculation, and we most sincerely trust that some of our countrymen will weigh and consider the subject, and we are confident that this mode of conveyance would add a great deal to the physical comforts of the inhabitants of Bombay.

Indeed the undertaking is within the reach of a single individual, and we must observe that should our suggestion be put in practice, it will be necessary to obtain the sanction of the proper authorities for it, as well as their protection to the parties for the first few years against competition, as a reward for the first enterprise.

BRIDGES.

We went to look frequently at the several bridges of London, and beautiful structures they are; we cannot but regret that we could not insert plates of them, but we can give all particulars about them.

LONDON BRIDGE, it will be found above, has five arches; they are what architects call semi-elliptic, and they are by far the largest of this description of arch ever previously erected. The middle arch has a span of 152 feet, and is 29 feet 6 inches above high water mark. The arches, on either side next to the centre arch, have each 140 feet span. The roadway is 53 feet wide between the parapets; and each of the footpaths occupy nine feet out of that quantity. The rise in the road is only 1 in 132. The bridge is all composed of granite, and there were 120,000 tons of that stone used in building it. To help the Corporation of London to defray the expense of building it, they are allowed, for 26 years, to charge a tax of 10d. per chaldron of 36 bushels, upon all coals enter

Opened.

ing the port of London. It was opened by the King in person, on the 1st of August, 1831, with a very grand procession. It cost very nearly, with the ground and houses they were obliged to purchase for the approaches, two millions of pounds, or sixteen millions of rupees. Some of the piles of English oak, which were driven in in the year 1176, were taken up in 1832, and Sir Edward Banks, who was the contractor for building new London Bridge, finding them as sound as when they were first driven, had several pieces of handsome furniture, tables, &c., made from them, which are now in the possession of his son Delamarck Banks, Esq., of the Isle of Sheppy, who is now, in 1841, the High Sheriff of Kent. We ourselves have a box presented to us by Mr. Baldock, the receiver of Chatham Dock Yard, made from one of the piles, and which was given to him by Mr. D. Banks.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE is built of huge masses of Portland stone; few of them weigh less than a ton, while many are two, three, four, and some as much as five, tons each. The span of the middle arch is seventy-six feet. The bridge, and its approaches, cost £387,500. Government paid the whole of this. £197,500 was raised by lotteries, and the remainder was voted by parliament. There is supposed to have been twice as much stone used in this bridge as in building St. Paul's Cathedral.

WATERLOO BRIDGE, which it will be seen, is the longest of the bridges, being one thousand three hundred and twenty-six feet long, was built by private individuals, but we know not the cost; it was thought that the toll of a penny for each person passing, and a small sum to be paid for each horse or carriage passing, would well repay the proprietors, but it has not done so; even this small payment has induced the crowd to pass over the bridges where there is nothing to pay. At this bridge there is an ingenious contrivance by means of a turning stile, which registers the number of individuals that pass the bridge, and it is a great protection to the company against any impropriety on the part of the toll gatherers, who are answerable for the money received from the public, and which must be equal to the registered number.

We have learnt that the proprietors have resolved to reduce the toll to a halfpenny, instead of a penny, which is paid at present.

SOUTHWARK BRIDGE has also a toll, and belongs to a private company; it consists of three very large arches of cast iron; the span of the centre arch is two hundred and forty feet, and of the side ones two hundred and ten feet; the lower part is of masonry. This bridge also, we hear, does not repay the proprietors for the capital advanced. During the years 1839 and 1840 there have been public meetings in London