The New York Rapid-transit Subway

86 DISCUSSION ON NEW YORK SUBWAY. [Minutes of Mr. Fitz- Was the price of €200,000 to £250,000 per mile based on the actual ' figures of the Rapid-Transit Subway Construction Company or on the detailed figures which the Author gave in the Paper, and which were extremely interesting, as they were the figures of the sub-contractors ? The Author might give some information on that also when replying to the discussion. Mr. Fitzmaurice would like to express his admiration for the rapidity with which the whole work had been carried out, and the way in which all difficulties had been quickly and satisfactorily dealt with. This could have been accomplished only by long and careful study of all details before the contract was let. Although the description of the work by the Author could not be improved on within the limits of a Paper, it was impossible without actually seeing the work to realize what a vast undertaking it was. Mr. Macassey, Mr. Lynden MACASSEY apologized for intervening in an engineer- ing discussion, but having had the honour and misfortune of being the Secretary to the much-maligned Royal Commission on London Traffic, and having in the course of his duties spent a considerable time in New York in investigating, and in writing about 200 to 300 pages of a Blue book on, the subject under discussion, he took considerable interest in it. Not being an engineer, he did not presume to criticize the engineering, nor did he propose to say any- thing with regard to the excellent traffic-results ; but when the Royal Commission was sitting in London and abroad, many witnesses, from all parts of the world, proposed schemes for London, bringing forward figures based on experience in New York and elsewhere, and attempt- ing to show that because in New York subways had been built at certain costs, and there were so many journeys per capita per annum on them, therefore subways could be constructed, in London at the same cost, and that if they were so, the promoters would be sure to reap an exactly similar return. That form of argument was not unknown to expert witnesses in another place. It seemed to him, after an exhaustive inquiry, that there were conditions in New York which might be described as unique. For example, there was the extraordinary topography of Manhattan, which lent itself to minimum route-mileage, and probably to the maximum of traffic. If one examined all over the world the different ways in which cities grew, it would be found that there were three or four different types. One was what was commonly called the “ island” or " delta " form, a city on the lines of old New York, Manhattan Island, or San Francisco, or a valley-shaped city something like Pittsburg or Philadelphia. In another type, of which London was perhaps the most marked example, the city grew out, gradually extending radially from a