Cricket 1891

86 CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. MARCH 26,1891 THE LITTLE TUNNEL UNDER LORD’S. “ From the Saturday Bevieiv.” Sir Edward Watkin wishes to bring the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln­ shire Railway into London. He is not content to bring it through some district already spoilt by railway operations. For some reasons more or less occult he desires an open, airy, quiet, and pic­ turesque neighbourhood, with a maxi­ mum of public interest attaching to the preservation of its character, and an exceptional number of artists and men of letters to be dislodged. He selects St. John’s W ood; and truly he could not have done better from the point of view of getting the most nuisance possible out of his operations. But there are those who doubt—and we are among them—whether the desire to create the maximum of nuisance is a strong enough motive for this selection. The suburb which Sir Edward Watkin asks P arliament this Session to let him spoil is—need we remind our readers ?— situate on a slope which was formerly the property of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. Some three hundred and fifty acres, known as the St. John’s Wood Estate, have now for some con­ siderable time been owned by the Eyre family, by whom this large extent of land has been leased out in plots for the erection of residences. This estate, which adjoins the Western extremity of Regent’s Park, and reaches to South Hampstead, has an entirely exceptional character among the residential suburbs of London. The ground landlord under whom the suburb was laid out had a soul above the mere question of the longest rent-roll, and exacted the construction of high-class villas, detached and semi­ detached, with ample gardens and fore­ courts ; allowing only such terraces of shops as would suffice for the service of the neighbourhood. This ideal ot an open neighbourhood has been rigorously enforced up to the present day; and owners of leases who have from time to time desired to enlarge their houses have been met by the consistent objection that their proposed operations would militate against the open character of the neighbourhood, which the ground landlord meant to maintain regard­ less of the heritage of bricks and mortar which he might secure to his successors by allowing the openings to be blocked. This is the main reason why the air of St. John’s Wood is so much purer than that of other residential suburbs. The northerly winds sweep over Hampstead Heath, pass across the St. John’s Wood Gardens, and between the well-separated blocks of building, and reach Sfarylebone comparatively uncon­ taminated ; and the air passing over Regent’s Park reaches the thickly-built neighbourhood of Paddington in a far purer state than would have been the case if Walpole Eyre had let the jerry- builder do his will with the estate of the old Knights Hospitallers. The open character of St. John’s Wood may be well exemplified by the remark that, of the thirty-five acres just south of the Regent’s Canal which Sir Edward Watkin proposes to take for his terminus station, only about five are actually built upon ; while thirty are made up of gardens, fore­ courts, and roadway. Besides this general freedom from close streets of lofty brick­ work, St. John’s Wood possesses two considerable open spaces a stone’s throw north of the Canal—to wit, Lord’s Cricket Ground, and the charming garden, dotted with fine forest trees, laid out in the disused burial ground attached to St. John's Wood Chapel. Altogether there are nearly fifty petitions to Parliament not to grant the powers which Sir Edward Watkin seeks. The Vestry of St. Marylebone, the resi­ dents of St. John’s Wood, and the com­ mittee of the Marylebone Cricket Club, started a most vigorous opposition, re­ gardless of cost; but suddenly, about a fortnight since, a rumour got abroad that the Marylebone Cricket Club had been “ squared” ; and last Saturday “ An Interview with Sir Edward Watkin,” published in the Pall Mall Gazette, con­ firmed this rumour. The interviewer, who seems to have been specially caught and tamed by Sir Edward for the purpose, elicited that, in exchange for the right to make a tunnel under the nursery end of Lord’s, the ground is to be enlarged by a good slice of the Clergy Orphanage. He was also kind enough to ask Sir Edward the question “ Have you any more schemes in view ?” and to record the answer, “ No ; when I settle with Lord’s I am ready for Father Abraham’s bosom. Please point out in what you write that the new railway will certainly not injure Lord’s, but improve it.” That is to say the tunnel is to be con­ structed under a strip of the nursery end only 124 feet wide, although the deposited plans show an open cutting 250 feet wide, with eight lines of railway—not at all too much for the approach to a great terminal station. There are other evolutions tending to shake confidence in the interviewer. According to the interviewer, Sir Edward Watkin says of the Clergy Orphan School site, which he has been using for traffic with the Marylebone Cricket Club:— “ That we have arranged to buy from the Clergy Orphan School.” But the Times of Tuesday, the 24th of February, says the treasurer of the cor­ poration, Canon Elwyn, denied this at a meeting held on Monday, the 23rd. “ The treasurer stated that there was no truth in thejreport that the corporation had agreed to sell their premises at St. John’s Wood to the new railway that was projected. On the contrary, they had lodged a petition against it.” Now, is it conceivable that any in­ telligent body should be so blind as not to see the real issue? Cannot the Mary­ lebone Cricket Club see that what Sir Edward Watkin wants is the reversion of Lord’s, not to mention the burial- ground opposite ? And how long do they think they will be allowed to enjoy their increased space ? Such a scheme as Sir EdwardWatkin’s would be nothing without room for growth; and wbat strikes the mere common-sense observer is that he has chosen for the triumphal entry of his railway into London a neigh­ bourhood where there is plenty of open ground; that he has chosen as the site of his terminus a spot within a stone’s- throw of Lord’s ; and that, when once the right to make the “ little tunnel ” is secured, it will be easy enough to encroach, and get powers to convert the tunnel into the originally proposed cut­ ting. The mere success of the scheme in outline will form a sufficient motive for allowing Sir Edward Watkin to grasp the rest of Lord's on the one side, and the St. John’s Wood burial-ground on the other side; and the public may rest assured that the admission of the railway through the gardens of St. John’s Wood and Lord’s Cricket Ground will carry with it the absorption into the com­ mercial whirlpool of two open spaces, the preservation of which the public has the best of rights to expect. But this is not all. What is the ultimate aim of flouting London by this invasion of its unique suburb, and the central resort of the national game ? In two words—Channel Tunnel. Again this session is this infernal device of an abandoned commercialism to be flaunted before the country; again, let us hope, for its promoters to fulfil their natural fate, and be brushed aside. What then ? The tunnelling under the Channel being for the time blocked once more, there is the “ little tunnel under Lord’s ” silently fulfilling its mission, preparing to bring into London new traffic, to be gathered along a new route. Sir Edward Watkin will of course find no difficulty in ar­ ranging with himself as Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway for running powers to Dover—or perhaps he thinks of buying up the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. That accomplished, the Government, which will have thus far successfully resisted the most un­ patriotic of all unpatriotic schemes, will be confronted with a new enemy. They will have to deal with the tremendous pressure of commercial interests silently and solidly forming up at the doors of the dreamt - of Channel Tunnel; and what Government is going to resist a commercial pressure so entirely new in kind ? Through traffic between Manchester, Sheffield, &c., and all the towns and cities of Europe waiting for England’s leave to tunnel under the Channel, where is the human nature that is going to resist that argu­ ment ? When that is secured, if there is any scrap of Lord’s left, such scrap will, of course, be doomed ; for the opening of the Channel Tunnel will make a new development of trade, requiring new space ; and even the guardians of Regent’s Park may well begin to shiver in their shoes—that is, if the place is any longer worth guarding when the south-west wind brings with it the grime and coal-dust from the abomination of desolation intended to adjoin its western extremity. Sir Edward Watkin is, of course, blind to these the real issues of his proposals; it must be a mere accident of his festive nature that he has so dexterously con­ centrated public attention on the squabble NEXT ISSUE, APBIL 16.