THE TUNNEL UNDER HAMPSTEAD-HEATH.

1

(from a correspondent.)

Hampstead is much perturbed by the vision of

an electric railway burrowing mole-like under the

heath, and throwing up stations here and there to mark its track. The heath has been hitherto considered sacred ground. Some time in the sixties an adventurous railway company pro■nosed tn funnel under the he-ifh ■ but. in Fine of poseci to tunnel unuut tne neata , nut, in lace or the strong opposition of the residents and the then newly formed Commons Preservation Society, the , , , ,

scheme was abandoned. Since then no promoters have dared to touch the heath ; the North Lon,_r, -_- ... -

don Railway unloads its freight at the foot of the hill, but does not encroach on an inch of London’s playground. The Charing-eross, Euston, , „ JO , . „ ° . ’ , ’

and Hampstead Railway Company is not so

scrupulous. Should, its proposals be established, „ .. .. ,,_. . j, ..

a footing on the heath will be gained, and the I condilions under which London enjoys the nearest piece of wild nature within its reach will 1

be radically changed.

By a series of Acts, commencing in 1893, the

. , „ , . „ , .

Channg-eross and Hampstead Company have obtained powers to make a deep underground railway from King William-street, Strand, to the top of

Holly-hill, Hampstead. The lino is to run under tho Charing-eross and Tottenham-court roads, ,, , . _ , . ’

thence by way of Euston to Chalk Farm, and. so I along Haverstock-hill, Rosslyn-hill, High-street, I

UaIIw kin 4-^ o

and. Holly-hill to a point in the old Village of Hampstead a hundred yards or so from the flagstaff and the pond on the summit of tho heath. mu-- ______—1- u .

This railway has not been made- scarcely, it 15 believed, begun ; and the period for its completion has been extended from time to I time. Now, under the impulse given by the success of the Central London Railway,

it is proposed not only to carry out the

original project, but to greatly extend it, and the scheme, it is said, is to be financed by an American millionaire, who owes his dollars to tramways. By two Bills now deposited power is sought to prolong the line at each end—in t # ® 4." x7- 4....