APPENDIX No. 19. METROPOLIS LOCAL MANAGEMENT ACT.

Suggestions for its Amendment.

Offices,—Manor House, King’s Road, S.W. 25th March, 1858.

Sir,—In connexion with the subjoined letter, I have been directed to transmit for your consideration as a member of the Committee of Works and for General Purposes, certain general heads for amendment. Of the meeting for the discussion of the same, and of any others which may appear to you desirable, you will be specially advised.

I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, Charles Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

Metropolitan Board of Works, 1, Greek Street, Soho, 9th January, 1858.

Dear Sir,—I beg to apprise you, for the information of the Vestry of Chelsea, that the Metropolitan Board of Works are now engaged in considering what amendments it may be expedient to introduce into the Metropolis Local Management Act, in the present session of parliament, and will be prepared to receive from the Vestry any suggestions they may desire to offer in reference to those provisions of the Act which relate to the duties and powers of vestries and district boards. If the Vestry should deem it proper to offer any suggestions, and you will be good enough, at your early convenience, to transmit to me the draft of any amended clause or clauses which may be proposed, I will immediately bring the subject under the notice of this Board.

I am, dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, E. H. Woolrych, Clerk of the Board.

Chas. Lahee, Esq., Manor House, King’s Road, Chelsea.

Clauses in Act 18 & 19 Vict. cap. 120. General Heads for Amendment.

XI. For every parish mentioned in either of the Schedules (A) and (B) to this Act there shall be elected such number as hereinafter mentioned of the ratepayers of the parish who have signified in writing their assent to serve to be auditors of accounts, which auditors shall be so elected at the same times and in the same manner as members of the vestry; and the number of ratepayers so to be elected auditors in any parish not divided into wards under this Act shall be five, and the number of ratepayers so to be elected auditors in any parish which is divided into wards shall be the same as the number of wards, one auditor being elected in each ward: Provided always, that where the number of wards into which any parish is divided exceeds five, the vestry of such parish shall at their first meeting after the election of auditors as aforesaid, in any year, elect by ballot from among such auditors five of them, and the five persons so elected by ballot shall be the auditors for such parish exclusively of any other person or persons who may have been elected an auditor or auditors for such parish under the provisions herein contained; and a list of the five persons so elected by the vestry shall be forthwith published by the churchwardens in the parish as herein provided: Provided also, that no person shall be eligible to fill the office of auditor of accounts who is not qualified to fill the office of Vestryman for the parish; but no person shall be eligible to fill the office of auditor who is a member of the vestry; and if any person be chosen to be both a member of the vestry and auditor of accounts, he shall be incapable of acting as a vestryman. The system of accounts being necessarily intricate, and the scope of the powers of the Vestry to incur legal debts inaccurately defined, the duties of the auditors are very responsible. To consider whether a system of paid auditors, not being of necessity ratepayers, such as that in practice under the Poor Laws, is desirable, with the necessary powers for enforcing their disallowances.

XII. The auditors first elected under this Act in any parish as aforesaid shall go out of office at the time appointed for the election of vestrymen and auditors in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and the auditors then elected and to be thereafter elected shall go out of office at the election of vestrymen and auditors in the year next following their election. There appears to be no reason why the annual election might not be fixed for the 1st of May (sec. 7); the audit cannot commence until the 1st of May (sec. 195), it may therefore happen that the auditors go out of office before they can commence their audit.

XVI. On the day of election of vestrymen and auditors in any parish under this Act the parishioners then rated to the relief of the poor in the parish, or, where the parish is divided into wards under this Act, in the ward thereof for which the election is holden, and who are desirous of voting, shall meet at the place appointed for such election, and shall then and there nominate two ratepayers of the parish, or (if the parish be divided into wards) of the ward for which the election is holden, as fit and proper persons to be inspectors of votes; and the churchwardens, or, in the case of a ward election, such one of the churchwardens as is present thereat, or, where one of the churchwardens is not present, the person appointed by them to preside thereat, shall, immediately after such nomination as aforesaid by the parishioners, nominate two other such ratepayers to be such inspectors; and after such nominations the said parishioners shall elect such persons duly qualified as may be there proposed for the offices of vestrymen and auditors or auditor: and the chairman at such meeting shall declare the names of the parishioners who have been elected by a majority of votes at such meeting: Provided nevertheless, that no person shall be entitled to join or vote in any such election for any parish, or any ward of any parish, or be deemed a ratepayer thereof, or be entitled to do any act as such under this Act, unless he have been rated in such parish to the relief of the poor for one year next before the election, and have paid all parochial rates, taxes, and assessments due from him at the time of so voting or acting, except such as have been made or become due within six months immediately preceding such voting or acting. How are the churchwardens to know officially from the chairman of the ward meetings who are elected? and, in the case of persons elected to supply vacancies caused otherwise than by effluxion of time, (sec. 9), in whose places? Where there is a poll, the inspectors certify to the chairmen, (sec. 22,) and the chairmen should be required to certify under their hands to the churchwardens, in a similar way. Where there is no poll, they should certify in accordance with their declaration.

XXII. The inspectors shall, immediately after they have decided upon whom the aforesaid elections have fallen, deliver to the churchwardens, or to one of them, or other, the person presiding at the election, a list of the persons chosen by the parishioners to act as vestrymen and auditors or an auditor of accounts; and the said list, or a copy thereof, shall be published in the parish as herein provided. By whom should this list be prepared and published? (see sec. 26). If by the churchwardens an official copy should be sent to the vestry.

XXX. At every meeting of any vestry under this Act, in the absence of the persons authorised by law or custom to take the chair, the members present shall elect a chairman for the occasion before proceeding to other business, and the chairman, in case of an equality of votes on any question, shall have a second or casting vote. To consider whether a permanent chairman is desirable.

LV. Any member of the Metropolitan Board of Works, or of any vestry elected for any parish mentioned in Schedule (A) or (B) to this Act, or of the Board of Works for any district, may at any time resign his office, such resignation of any member of the Metropolitan Board of Works to be notified in writing signed by such member to chairman of such board, and such resignation of any vestryman or member of any such district board to be notified in writing signed by such vestryman or member to the churchwardens of the parish for which he was elected. How is the fact of such resignation to become officially known to the vestry? either a notice of such resignation should be sent by the churchwardens to the clerk of the vestry, or the resignation should be sent to him in addition to the churchwardens.

LXIX. The vestry of every parish mentioned in Schedule (A) to this Act, and the Board of Works for every district mentioned in Schedule (B) to this Act, shall (subject to the powers by this Act vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works) from time to time repair and maintain the sewers under this Act vested in them, or such of them as shall not be discontinued, closed up, or destroyed under the powers herein contained, and shall cause to be made, repaired, and maintained such sewers and works, or such diversions or alterations of sewers and works as may be necessary for effectually draining their parish or district. Instead of the words “as may be necessary,” to employ the terms made use of in sec. 135, “as they may from time to time think necessary.”

LXXX. Where any sewer in any of the parishes mentioned in either of the Schedules (A) and (B) to this Act, into which any drain shall be made or branched, has been built since the third day of September, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, and before the commencement of this Act, at the expense of any person or body other than any commissioners of sewers, the vestry or district board in whom such sewer is vested may order such sum as they may deem just to be paid and contributed by the owner of the house to which such drain belongs towards the expense of the construction of such sewer, which sum shall, on the receipt thereof by such vestry or board, be paid over to the person or body aforesaid, and such vestry or board may, if they see fit, order and accept payment of such sum, with interest after a rate not exceeding five pounds for the hundred by the year, by instalments, within any period not exceeding twenty years. This section would appear not to reach those sewers in Schedule D, which are vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works, and have been built by private persons, under the circumstances particularised therein. If equitable in the one case, it would appear to be so in the other.

CV. In case the owners of the houses forming the greater part of any new street laid out or made, or hereafter to be laid out or made, which is not paved to the satisfaction of the vestry or district board of the parish or district in which such street is situate, be desirous of having the same paved, as hereinafter mentioned, or if such vestry or board deem it necessary or expedient that the same should be so paved, then and in either of such cases such vestry or board shall well and sufficiently pave the same, either throughout the whole breadth of the carriage way and footpaths thereof, or any part of such breadth, and from time to time keep such pavement in good and sufficient repair; and the owners of the houses forming such street shall, on demand, pay to such vestry or board the amount of the estimated expenses of providing and laying such pavement, (such amount to be determined by the surveyor for the time being of the vestry or board;) and in case such estimated expenses exceed the actual expenses of such paving, then the difference between such estimated expenses and such actual expenses shall be repaid by the said vestry or board to the owners of houses by whom the said sum of money has been paid; and in case the said estimated expenses be less than the actual expenses of such paving, then the owners of the said houses shall, on demand, pay to the said vestry or board such further sum of money as, together with the sum already paid, amounts to such actual expenses. CVI. The vestry or district board of any parish or district may, if they think fit, by notice in writing put up in any part of any street in their parish or district, not being a highway, declare their intention of repairing the same under this Act, and thereupon the same shall be from time to time repaired by them under the authority of this Act: Provided always, that no street shall be repaired as last aforesaid unless such notice in writing be also given to all persons interested in such street, or if within one month after notice in writing has been put up or given as last aforesaid any person interested in such street, or the person representing or entitled to represent any person interested as aforesaid, by notice in writing to the vestry or board object thereto. CVIII. It shall be lawful for every vestry and district board from time to time to place any posts, fences, and rails on the sides of any footways or carriageways in their parish or district, for the purposes of safety, and to prevent any carriage or cattle from going on the same, and also to place any posts or other erections in any carriage-way so as to make the crossings thereof less dangerous for foot passengers, and also from time to time to repair and renew any such posts, rails or fences, or to remove the same, or any other obstruction or encroachment on any carriageway or footway. It has been held (and the decision upon appeal was not reversed) that the words “new street,” (section 105), mean a street formed since the commencement of this Act: the effect of this decision will be to leave in an unsatisfactory, perhaps a dangerous state, many streets used by the public, but which have not been formally taken in charge by the various parishes in which they are situated. Perhaps a power to vestries and district boards to close up as thoroughfares such streets might be advisable.

CXIX. If any porch, shed, projecting window, step, cellar door or window, or steps leading into any cellar or otherwise, lamp, lamp post, lamp iron, sign, sign post, sign iron, snowboard, window shutter, wall, gate, fence, or opening, or any other projection or obstruction placed or made against or in front of any house or building after the commencement of this Act, shall be an annoyance, in consequence of the same projecting into or being made in or endangering or rendering less commodious the passage along any street in their parish or district, it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board to give notice in writing to the owner or occupier of such house or building to remove such projection or obstruction, or to alter the same, in such manner as the vestry or board think fit, &c. To consider the propriety of introducing the words, “projecting blind, blind frame, or part thereof.”

CXXX. Every vestry and district board shall cause the several streets within their parish or district to be well and sufficiently lighted, and for that purpose shall maintain, or set up and maintain, a sufficient number of lamps in every such street, and shall cause the same to be lighted with gas or otherwise, and to continue lighted at and during such times as such vestry or board may think fit, necessary, or proper; and public lamps, and the lamp posts and lamp irons and fittings thereof, to be provided by any vestry or district board, shall vest in such vestry or board. Section 250 gives the following as the meaning of the word “street” any or part of any highway, road, bridge, lane, footway, square, court, alley, passage, whether a thoroughfare or not. There should be some limit to the obligation to light.

CCII. The Metropolitan Board of Works and every district board and vestry respectively may from time to time make, alter and repeal bye laws for all or any of the purposes following; (that is to say), for regulating the business and proceedings at their meetings and of committees appointed by them, the appointment and removal of their officers and servants, and the duties, conduct, and remuneration of such officers and servants; and the said Metropolitan Board may also from time to time make, alter, and repeal bye laws for regulating the plans, level, width, surface inclination, and the material of the pavement and roadway of new streets and roads, and the plans and level of sites for building, and for regulating the dimensions, form, and mode of construction, and the keeping, cleansing, and repairing of the pipes, drains, and other means of communicating with sewers, and the traps and apparatus connected therewith; for the emptying, cleansing, closing and filling up of cesspools and privies; and for other works of cleansing, and of removing and disposing of refuse, and for regulating the form of appeal and mode of proceeding thereon; and generally for carrying into effect the purposes of this Act: and every such board and vestry may thereby impose such reasonable penalties as they think fit, not exceeding forty shillings, for each breach of such bye laws, and in case of a continuing offence a further penalty not exceeding twenty shillings for each day after notice of the offence from the board or vestry: Provided always, that under every such bye law it shall be lawful for the justices before whom any penalty imposed thereby is sought to be recovered to order the whole or part only of such penalty to be paid, or to remit the whole penalty: Penalty: Provided also, that no bye laws shall be repugnant to the laws of England or to the provisions of this Act; and that no bye law shall be of any force or effect unless and until the same be submitted to and confirmed at a subsequent meeting of the board or vestry: Provided also, that no penalty shall be imposed by any such bye law unless the same be approved by one of Her Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State. The attention of the Metropolitan Board has been drawn to their powers under this section, and they have passed the following resolution upon the subject, in that “it is not practicable for this Board to lay down any uniform body of regulations for regulating the plans and levels of sites for buildings and for the construction of house drainage, properly adapted to the peculiar circumstances of each district; and that the Vestry of Chelsea be so informed.” No doubt uniformity is desirable; but regulation of some kind, for the guidance of the officers, is necessary. The power of making such bye laws should lie in the body for whom its exercise is practicable.

CCL. The word “drain” shall mean and include any drain of and used for the drainage of one building only, or premises within the same curtilage, and made merely for the purpose of communicating with a cesspool or other like receptacle for drainage, or with a sewer into which the drainage of two or more buildings or premises occupied by different persons is conveyed, and shall also include any drain for draining any group or block of houses by a combined operation under the order of any vestry or district board. To consider whether the word “drain” should be made to include any drain, for draining any group or block of houses, by a combined operation, under the authority of any former Commissioners of Sewers.

Suggestions made to the Metropolitan Board of Works, for the Amendment of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855, 18th and 19th Vict., cap. 120. Printed by order of the Board, on the 24th of April, 1860.

Note.—The following suggestions, for convenience of reference, have been arranged under three heads:

1. Observations upon the Act, 18th & 19th Vict., cap. 120, not included in the Amendment Bill.

2. Observations upon the Bill prepared and forwarded by the Metropolitan Board of Works, on the 29th May, 1858.

3. Proposed New Clauses, and Suggestions for the same.

1.—OBSERVATIONS UPON THE ACT, 18th and 19th VICT., CAP. 120, NOT INCLUDED IN THE AMENDMENT BILL.

The provisions of the 83rd, 121st, 122nd, and 123rd sections of this Act, to be made to extend to the person causing the offences to be committed.

In section 109, gas companies to be prevented from taking up mains of pipes except for the purpose of substituting new pipes for old, unless by permission of vestries or district boards.

In section 119, to introduce the words, “projecting blind, blind iron, blind frame, reflecting shop lamps, gas reflectors,” or part thereof, below six feet six inches from the pavement.

That an independent paid auditor or auditors should be appointed to audit the accounts of all the vestries and district boards throughout the metropolis, as well as of the Metropolitan Board of Works. That power should be given to vestries and district boards, to put streets, which have never been properly formed, into a proper state of repair, and to rate the owners and occupiers of the property abutting on such streets for the expense of putting the same into a proper state of repair, the future maintenance thereof to devolve upon the vestry or board.

That power should be given to compel the owners or occupiers of property abutting on streets, to erect such fences as may be necessary for the protection of the public.

2.—OBSERVATIONS UPON THE BILL PREPARED AND FORWARDED BY THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS, on the 29th MAY, 1858.

It must be recollected that this Bill was not proceeded with, and is not the same as that now (April, 1860), under consideration, nor as that introduced by Mr. Tite, in the House of Commons, in August, 1859.

Clauses in Bill. Observations.

III. The inspectors of votes directed to be appointed under the first recited Act, shall, before commencing the duties of their office under the said Act, appoint by writing under their hands an umpire; and in case of any dispute or disagreement between the said inspectors, as to any matter which they are by the said Act required to determine, such matter shall be decided by the said umpire, and his decision in relation thereto shall be final and conclusive. The committee consider that in case of division amongst the inspectors, the umpire should be chosen by lot.

V. Any vestryman who during six successive months shall not have attended the meetings of the vestry of which he is a member, shall, upon the expiration of such six months, cease to be a member of such vestry, and the vacancy occasioned by his so ceasing to be a member, shall be filled up at the next annual election. The committee would have preferred three months as the limit; but that attendance at any committee should count. They think also that leave of absence might be given in certain cases.

XVII. In case any sewer shall be constructed by any vestry or district board in a street in which no sewer existed previously to such construction, and in and on which no sewers rate had been levied previously to 1st January, 1856, the expense of constructing such sewer, including the cost of gullies, side entrances, and other incidental charges and expenses, shall be borne and defrayed by the owners of the houses situate in such street, and of the land bounding or abutting on such street respectively, in proportion to the length of frontage of the houses or land belonging to them or any of them, and such expenses shall be apportioned by the vestry or district board, and the amount charged upon or in respect of each house or premises shall be paid by instalments within such period as the vestry or district board shall determine, not exceeding seven years, and shall be recoverable from the present or any future owner of the said house or premises in manner hereinafter provided. Suppose a street cut through market garden ground, upon which a small sewers rate has been paid, are the houses and land to be free from payment under this section.

XXI. The 77th section of the said Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that no person shall make or branch any sewer or dram, or make any opening into any sewer vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works, or in any vestry or district board, without the previous consent in writing of such board or vestry: provided that it shall be lawful for any person, with such consent, at his own expense, to make or branch any drain into any sewer vested in any such board or vestry, or authorized to be made by them, or either of them, under the first recited Act, or this Act, such drain being of such size and conditions, and branched into such sewer in such manner and form of communication, in all respects as the board or vestry shall direct or appoint; and in case any person, without such consent, make or branch any sewer or drain, or make any opening into any of the sewers vested in any board or vestry, or authorized to be made by them as aforesaid; or if any person make or branch any drain of a different construction, size, or conditions, or in another manner or form of communication than shall be directed or appointed by the said board or vestry, every person so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty pounds; and the said board or vestry may, if they shall see fit, execute the necessary works for making the drain conformable to their directions, at the expense of the person making such drain, or causing the same to be made, such expenses to be recovered in a manner hereinafter provided. The committee consider that this section should be made to apply also to any person causing the works to be executed.

XXX. The vestry of every parish, and the district board of every district, shall, with the previous consent in writing of the Metropolitan Board of Works, have power within their respective parish or district, to widen, alter, or improve any street, road, or way, for facilitating passage and traffic; or to contribute and join with the Metropolitan Board, or with any other body or persons, in any such improvements; and to take by agreement or by gift any land, rights in land, or property, for the purposes aforesaid, or any of them, on such terms and conditions as they may think fit. make, lengthen, continue, extend

XXXIV. So much or the 141st section of the first recited Act as provides that it shall be lawful for the Metropolitan Board of Works, from time to time, to cause to be painted or affixed on a conspicuous part of some house or building at or near each end, corner, or entrance of every street in the Metropolis the name of such street, and that the said board may, where more than one street in the Metropolis is called by the same name, alter the name of any or all such streets, except one, to any other name which to such board may seem fit, and which may be approved by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings, is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that vestries and district boards shall and may, within the limits of their respective jurisdiction, from time to time cause to be painted or affixed on a conspicuous part of some house or building at or near each end, corner, or entrance of every street in then parish or district the name of such street, and renew such name, whenever it may be obliterated or defaced; and the Metropolitan Board of Works may alter the name or names of any street, or of any place or row of houses, or in any line of road, to any other name or names which to such board may seem convenient and proper, and which may be approved by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings. The committee think the numbering should be also transferred to vestries, &c.

XXXVI. The 143rd section of the first recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that no building [or erection whether temporary or permanent] shall without the consent in writing of the Metropolitan Board of Works be erected [or made] beyond the general line of buildings, in any street, place, or row of houses in which the same is situate, in case the distance of such line of buildings from the highway does not exceed thirty feet, or within thirty feet, of the highway where the distance of the line of buildings therefrom amounts to or exceeds thirty feet, notwithstanding there being gardens or vacant spaces between the line of buildings and the highway; and in case any building be erected contrary to this enactment, it shall be lawful for the Metropolitan Board of Works to cause the same to be demolished, and the materials thereof to be removed to a convenient place, or to cause such building to be set back (as the case may require), and to recover the expenses incurred by them in so doing from the owner of the premises, in manner hereinafter provided. The committee think it would be advisable to introduce after the word “building,” the words, ‘wall, gate, fence, pier, or other projection,’ and that the application should be made and the consent conveyed through vestries, &c.

XXXVII. The 157th section of the first recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that the Metropolitan Board of Works, and any vestry or district board, may, where necessary for the purpose of executing any work authorized by this Act, open and break up any turnpike road, under and subject to the restrictions and provisions hereinafter contained; that is to say, seven days’ previous notice, with a full description of any intended works, shall be left at the office of the Commissioners or trustees of the road; and the party doing the works shall cause all openings in the road to be effectually secured and fenced, and affix, and maintain lights during the night near to the place where the ground is open, so as to prevent accidents: and the said commissioners or trustees are hereby absolved from all liability in respect of any accident arising in consequence of such works; and the party doing the works shall restore every road so opened or broken up to its original state as to surface and materials, and in order to meet the future expenses consequent on the subsidence of materials newly filled in, shall pay to such commissioners or trustees, on demand, such sum as they shall require for such purpose, not exceeding one shilling for every superficial square yard, and, so far as the works affect the same, shall make good all drainage, paving of water channels, kerbs of footpaths, and other matters and things connected with the maintenance of the road; and in default the surveyor of the said commissioners or trustees may cause the necessary work to be done; and in all cases of expense incurred by any such surveyor, on the default of the party doing the works, such party shall pay such expense to the commissioners or trustees, on demand. See remark as to sec. 21.

XLIII. The Metropolitan Board may order any person on their behalf from time to time to inspect any of the rates for the relief of the poor in any parish or place within the limits of the said Act, and every district board may order any person on their behalf to inspect any rate for the relief of the poor in the parishes in their district, or either of them, and the books in which are contained the assessments by which the same are made, and to take copies thereof, or any part or parts thereof, or extracts therefrom respectively. And it shall be lawful for the said Metropolitan Board and district boards respectively by order in writing to require the vestry clerk, overseer, collector, or other person having the custody or control of such rate or books as aforesaid of any parish or place to furnish within such period, not being less than seven days, as shall be limited in such order, a true copy of such rate book, or of such part or parts of the rate book in his or their custody, as shall be specified in such order, on payment or tender for such copy at the rate of sixpence for every twenty-four names (inclusive of all the particulars in the several columns of the rate, so far as such particulars have reference to such names respectively); and such copy shall be examined and signed by such vestry clerk, overseer, collector or other person, and shall be verified by his solemn declaration, if the said metropolitan or district board shall require the same, which solemn declaration any justice of the peace, or commissioner duly authorized, is hereby authorized to administer; and any person having the custody or control of such rates or books as aforesaid respectively, who shall refuse or neglect at all reasonable times, to produce the same respectively to such persons so authorized as aforesaid, and permit him to inspect the same, and to take copies thereof or extracts therefrom as he shall think fit, or who shall refuse or neglect to make and deliver to such person such copy or extract, or to make such solemn declaration as aforesaid, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for every such offence, and to a further continuing penalty of ten pounds for each and every day during which the said offence shall be continued. These powers to be extended to vestries and district boards. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

XLV. The provisions of the 171st section of the first recited Act for enabling the clerk or other person authorized by the Metropolitan Board of Works to inspect or take copies of, or extracts from county rates, bases, returns, and other documents; and the penalties by the said enactment prescribed in the case of neglect of permission or refusal of inspection, or neglect or refusal of permission for taking copies or extracts, are hereby extended and made applicable to all other rates, taxes, and assessments, whether parliamentary, parochial, or otherwise, within the several parts of the metropolis, or the other parts liable to assessment by the said board, and the books in which the same are contained, and the valuations and returns relating thereto, and the person or persons having the custody or control thereof. These powers to be extended to vestries and district boards. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

XLVIII. The assessment of any money assessed or to be assessed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and the precept for obtaining payment of any monies required by the said board, may be according to the forms contained in Schedule A to this Act, or to the like effect. A form for use of vestries and district boards to be also given. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

XLIX. Whereas the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers in the exercise of the powers conferred upon them by the Act of the 11 and 12 years of Her Majesty, cap. 112, did approve and adopt certain plans for the main drainage and sewage interception of the metropolis, and certain sewers and works included within and forming a portion of the plans so approved and adopted were constructed and completed by the said Commissioners, or by the Metropolitan Board of Works, that is to say, the sewers and works known as the Counter’s Creek Diversion Works; and whereas the cost of the said works, amounting to the sum of £43,721 15s., was defrayed by monies borrowed on certain securities, which securities and monies are included amongst, and form part of the securities and monies enumerated in Schedule B to this Act, and the debt so incurred was charged by the said Commissioners upon the following sewerage districts, viz., the Counter’s Creek District, the Ranelagh District, and the Fulham and Hammersmith District, in certain shares and proportions, and has been apportioned by the Metropolitan Board of Works, pursuant to the 181st section of the firstly recited Act, among the several parishes or parts of parishes which heretofore constituted the said districts, that is to say, Paddington; Chelsea; St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington; St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, Westminster; St. Peter and St. Paul, Hammersmith; Fulham; Willesden; St. Marylebone; St. George, Hanover-square; Chelsea; St. John, Hampstead; Acton, Ealing, and Chiswick; and whereas it is just and expedient that the cost of and incidental to the construction and execution of the said sewers and works, amounting to the sum aforesaid, should be deemed to be, and become part of the expenses of, and incidental to the works directed by the 135th section of the said Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis, to be made and executed by the said board, for preventing all or any part of the sewage within the metropolis from flowing or passing into the Thames in or near the metropolis: be it therefore enacted, that the costs and charges of the said works, amounting to the sum of £43,721 15s., and the monies borrowed for defraying the same, shall cease to be the special debt and obligation of the said parishes and parts of parishes, and that the same shall be transferred to the metropolis at large, including the said parishes and parts of parishes, in the several proportions and in manner set forth in Schedule B to this Act annexed, and all sums becoming payable under or required for the payment of any security given for such monies, or any part thereof, or any interest accruing thereon, shall be raised by the said Metropolitan Board of Works upon the City of London and the said other parts of the metropolis, in the proportion of the annual value of the property therein, in the same manner as other monies raised for the expenses of and incidental to the execution of works for preventing the sewage of the metropolis from flowing or passing into the Thames in or near the metropolis; and the said board shall give the said parishes, and parts of parishes, credit for all sums which may have been overpaid by them, or any of them, in respect of principal or interest on the said security or securities (if any), since the 1st day of January, 1856. The committee wish the sums levied upon the Counter’s Creek District, under former precepts of Metropolitan Board, if not paid by vestries, &c., to be returned to the ratepayer or to the person holding the receipt for the time being.

LV. Any person who shall take up, remove, demolish, or interfere with any sewer or part of a sewer vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works, or in any vestry or district board, without the previous permission in writing of such board or vestry, or who shall wilfully damage any sewer, bank, defence, wall, penstock, grating, work or thing vested in the Metropolitan Board, or any vestry or district board, or do any act by which the drainage of the metropolis, or of any parish or district or of any part or parts thereof, may be obstructed or injured, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay to the said Metropolitan Board of Works, or to the vestry or district board in which the same may be vested, for every such offence, a sum not exceeding twenty pounds, and shall also pay to such board or vestry all the expenses of repairing, restoring, reinstating, or amending any sewer or other work or thing so taken up, removed, demolished, damaged, or interfered with. See remark as to section 21. tide valve, flap, side entrance.

LVIII. The 217th section of the first recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any vestry or district board, at their discretion, to require the payment of any costs or expenses which the owner of any premises may be liable to pay under the said recited Act or this Act, either from such owner or from any person who then or at any time thereafter occupies such premises; and the owner shall allow such occupier to deduct the sums of money which he so pays out of the rent from time to time becoming due in respect of the said premises, as if the same had been actually paid to such owner as part of such rent. To be altered so as to give vestries and district boards power to make improvement rates. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

LXI. The 234th section of the first recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that all penalties or forfeitures payable or receivable under the said first recited Act, or this Act, shall go and be paid in manner hereinafter mentioned, anything contained in the Act of the 2nd and 3rd Vict., c. 71, or in any other Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding, that is to say, one half shall go to the informer, and the remainder shall go to the vestry or district board of the parish or district in which the offence was committed, or to the Metropolitan Board of Works in case the injury shall have been sustained by or the offence committed in respect of that board, or if such vestry or district board or the Metropolitan Board of Works be the informers, then the whole of the penalty recovered shall go to them respectively, and all sums which shall go to or be recovered, by any board or vestry on account of any penalty or forfeiture, shall be paid to their treasurer or otherwise into such bank to their account as they may direct, and shall be applicable to the general expenses of the board or vestry. Penalties under Nuisances’ Removal Act to be made payable to vestries and district boards. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

LXIII. No writ or process shall be sued out against or served upon, and no proceeding shall be instituted against the Metropolitan Board of Works or any vestry or district board, or their clerk, or any clerks, surveyor, or other officer or person whomsoever, acting under their or any of their directions, for anything done or intended to be done under the powers of such board or vestry under the said Acts, or this Act, until the expiration of one month next after notice in writing shall have been delivered, as herein provided concerning the service of notices upon such board or vestry, or, where the action or proceeding shall be against such other officer or person, shall have been delivered to him or left at his office or place of abode, explicitly stating the cause of action, or ground of the proceeding or demand, and the name and place of abode of the intended plaintiff or claimant, and of his attorney or agent in the cause or proceeding; and upon the trial of any action the plaintiff shall not be permitted to go into evidence of any cause of action except such as is stated in the notice so delivered, and unless such notice be proved the jury shall find for the defendant: and every such action and proceeding shall be brought or commenced within six months next after the accrual of the cause of action or ground of claim or demand, and not afterwards, and every such action shall be laid and tried in the county or place where the cause of action occurred, and not elsewhere. And the defendant shall in any such action be at liberty to plead the general issue, and give the said recited Acts, and this Act, and all special matter in evidence thereunder. And it shall be lawful for the board or vestry or any person to whom such notice is given as aforesaid to tender amends to the plaintiff, his attorney or agent, at any time within one month after service of such notice, and in case the same be not accepted to plead such tender in bar, and (by leave of the court) with the general issue or other plea or pleas; and if upon issue joined upon any plea pleaded to the whole action the jury find generally for the defendant, or if the plaintiff be nonsuited or discontinued, or if the judgment be given for the defendant, then the defendant shall be entitled to full costs of suit and have judgment accordingly. And in case amends have not been tendered as aforesaid, or in case the amends tendered be insufficient, it shall be lawful for the defendant, by leave of the court, at any time before trial, to pay into court under plea such sum of money as he may think proper, and (by the like leave) to plead the general issue or other plea or pleas, any rule of court or practice to the contrary notwithstanding. To be given to contractors as well as to vestries, &c. C. of Wks. M.B. Vol. 2. Fo. 51.

3.—PROPOSED NEW CLAUSES, & SUGGESTIONS for the SAME

Any person who shall draw or drive any wheeled Bath or invalid chair, or perambulator, upon any footway or curb stone, shall be liable to a penalty not more than forty shillings.

Every person sweeping or placing, or causing to be swept or placed, any mud, dirt, rubbish, filth, soil, saw dust, shavings, straw, or refuse from shops, into or upon any thoroughfare, or into or upon any channel, or gutter on the side of any street, shall be liable to a penalty not more than forty shillings.

Every person placing or causing to be placed any dung upon any thoroughfare, or in any stable yard or mews, except into dung pits constructed to the satisfaction of the vestry or district board, as the case may be, shall be liable to a penalty not more than forty shillings.

Every person who shall affix any posting bill or other paper against any street post, lamp post, or public lamp, shall be liable to a penalty not more than forty shillings.

Every person who shall keep pigs upon premises, after notice from a vestry or district board to discontinue such keeping, shall be liable to a penalty not more than five pounds.

And be it enacted, That all doors, gates, and bars, not being underground doors, hereafter to be erected within the limits of this Act, leading to any house, building, yard, or land, and which shall open upon or towards any public street, not being a stable yard or mews, shall be constructed so as to open into or towards such house, yard, building, or land; and if any such door, gate, or bar shall be constructed so as to open in any other manner, the person who shall have caused such door, gate, or bar to be so constructed, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

And be it enacted, That if any such door, gate, or bar already erected, shall have been so constructed as to open outwards towards or upon any public street, it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board to alter the same, so that no part thereof opening or when open shall project over any public way.

And be it enacted, That when any house or building, any part of which now projects beyond the regular line of the street, or beyond the front of the house or building on either side thereof in any street, shall be taken down to be rebuilt or altered, the same shall be set back to the line of the street or the line of the adjoining house or building in such manner as the vestry or district board shall direct for the improvement of such street, and when the next house or building shall not adjoin the house or building to be so taken down, but shall be separated therefrom, then the same shall be set back to the line of such street: Provided always, that the vestry or district board shall make full compensation to any such owner for any loss or damage he may sustain in consequence of his house being set back according to the provisions herein contained.

And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board to allow any building to be advanced for the purpose of improving the line of the street or place in which such building may be situate or any building adjacent thereto.

And be it enacted, That the owner or occupier of every house or building in or adjoining any street within the limits of this Act shall, within twenty-one days next after service of any order of the vestry or district board for that purpose, put up and for ever afterwards keep in good condition, proper and sufficient pipes to carry off the water from the roof thereof into the common drains or sewers. And be it enacted, That when any opening is now or shall hereafter be made in the pavement or soil of any pavement or footpaths within the limits of this Act, as an entrance into any vault, cellar, or area, a door covering or grating shall be made by the occupier of such vault or cellar, of iron or such other material and in such manner as the vestry or district board shall direct; and such door covering or grating shall from time to time be kept in good repair by the occupier of such vault, cellar, or area, and if the occupier of any such vault, cellar, or area, shall not within a reasonable time make such door, covering or grating, or shall make any such door covering or grating contrary to the directions of the vestry or district board, or shall not keep the same when made in good repair, he shall forfeit for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds.

And be it enacted, That when any building materials, rubbish, or other things shall be laid, or any hole or excavation shall be made, in any of the streets within the limits of this Act, the person causing such materials or other things to be so laid, or the said hole or excavation to be made, shall at his own expense cause a sufficient light to be fixed in a proper place upon or near the same, and continue such light every night from sun setting to sun rising during the time such materials, hole, or excavation, shall remain; and such person shall, at his own expense, cause such materials or other things and such hole or excavation, to be sufficiently fenced and inclosed until such materials or other removed, or the hole or excavation filled up or otherwise made secure; and in case such person shall refuse or neglect so to light, fence, or inclose such materials or other things, or such hole or excavation, every person so offending shall for every such offence forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds; and in every such case of refusal or neglect, it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board to cause such light to be so fixed and continued during the time aforesaid, and such materials and other things, hole or excavation, to be sufficiently fenced and enclosed; and all charges and expenses thereof shall be paid by the persons causing such materials or other things to be so laid, or such hole or excavation to be so made as aforesaid.

And be it enacted, That in no case shall any such building materials or other things, or such hole or excavation, be permitted to remain for an unnecessary time, under a penalty not exceeding five pounds, to be paid by the person causing such materials or other things to be laid, or such hole or excavation to be made, for each week during which the same building materials or such hole or excavation shall so remain: and in any such case proof of the necessity of a continuance thereof respectively shall be upon the person so causing such materials or other things to be laid, or causing such hole or excavation to be made.

And be it enacted, That if any building or excavation on any land or place contiguous to any street within the limits of this Act shall for want of sufficient repair, protection, or inclosure, be dangerous to the passengers along such street, the owner thereof shall be liable to a penalty not more than five pounds.

And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board during such time as any street within the limits of this Act is being made or repaired, or during the making of any sewer or drain by the vestry or district board, or when they shall consider it expedient to close such street, or any part of the same, by such ways or means as they shall think fit.

Every vestry and district board shall have full power and authority to pave, if they think fit, any uninclosed space which may have been the forecourt of any house or building in any street, and the same shall thenceforward become the public highway, and whenever the fence or other enclosure shall have been removed, it shall not be lawful for the owner or occupier of the said house or building again to enclose the said space.

From the Vestry Clerk to the Clerk of the Metropolitan Board of Works.

December 29th, 1859.

Dear Sir,—I am directed by the Vestry of this parish to request that, when your Board shall apply to Parliament for the further Amendment of the Metropolis Local Management Act, a clause may be introduced, enacting that so much of the provisions of the 67th and 68th sections of the 57th George the III., cap. 29, being “An Act for better paving, improving, and regulating the streets of the Metropolis, and removing and preventing Nuisances and Obstructions therein,” as relates to the nuisance arising from hog styes, and to the breeding, feeding, and keeping of swine, and suffering them to stray, be extended to the following parishes and places within the Metropolis, which were not, at the time of the passing of the said Act, included in the Weekly Bills of Mortality: that is to say,—Paddington; Camberwell; Chelsea; St. Mary Abbot, Kensington; Woolwich; St. John, Hampstead; St. Paul, Deptford, including Hatcham; St. Nicholas, Deptford; Greenwich; Clapham; Tooting Graveney; Streatham; St. Mary, Battersea, excluding Penge; Wandsworth; Putney; including Roehampton; St. Mary, Stoke Newington; St. Peter and St. Paul, Hammersmith; Fulham; St. Mary, Stratford-le-Bow; and St. Leonard, Bromley: also enacting that the penalties imposed by these sections may be recovered in the manner provided by the 227th section of the Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis, 18th and 19th Vict., cap. 120.

I have the honor to be, dear Sir, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

J. Pollard, Esq., Metropolitan Board of Works, 1, Greek Street, Soho.

December 29th, 1859.

Dear Sir,—I am directed by this Vestry to request that when your Board shall apply to Parliament for the further Amendment of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 18 and 19 Vict., cap. 120, the 85th section of that Act may be altered by the insertion after the first word “works” of words to the following effect: viz.:—

“And in the case of combined drainage such notice may require that each house of any block of houses drained in combination, or so many thereof as the Vestry or Board shall see fit, shall be drained separately into a sewer.”

I have the honor to be, dear Sir, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

J. Pollard, Esq., Metropolitan Board of Works, 1, Greek Street, Soho.

January 23rd, 1860.

Dear Sir,—The Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health have brought under the consideration of this Vestry the desirability of extending to the cow houses within the Metropolis, the system of annual licenses, as it prevails with regard to slaughter houses, and they have directed me to acquaint you, for the information of the Metropolitan Board of Works, that if a proposal is made to provide for such an extension of the law, in their forthcoming amendment Bill, this Vestry, upon the recommendation of their Medical Officer of Health, will give such proposal their cordial support.

I beg to send you a copy of the Report of Dr. Barclay, our Medical Officer of Health, above alluded to.

I have the honor to be, dear Sir, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

J. Pollard, Esq., 1, Greek Street, Soho.

Extract from the Report of the Medical Officer of Health to the Vestry of the Parish of Chelsea.

22nd November, 1859.

At your last meeting I was requested to report upon a suggestion made to this Vestry by the Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health, to the effect that you should unite with other vestries in the endeavour “to procure insertion in the proposed bill for amending the Metropolis Local Management Act, of a clause relating to the annual licensing of Cow Houses.” I was also requested to consider the propriety of extending the system of licensing to the keeping of pigs.

With reference to these two questions, I have to observe, that the grounds upon which such a proposition rests are mainly two; viz.:, the necessity for such a business being carried on where it now is, and the probability that such a business may, if carelessly conducted, be a nuisance to the neighbourhood. For by the very fact of the license being granted, the option of endeavouring to remove the cause of nuisance altogether is entirely given up. This authority is accorded to the magistrate, by the Nuisances Removal Act, but is very rarely exercised in cases brought before the Metropolitan Police Courts, because it has generally been held that its powers were not intended to be used for the suppression, but only for the regulation of offensive trades.

In regard to the keeping of cows throughout the Metropolis, a necessity exists from which, under present circumstances, we cannot escape, because, in hot weather, neither milk nor cream can be brought from a distance in a perfectly sweet and fresh state, and at no time of year can good cream be obtained from milk (as I am informed) after a journey. At the same time, cow houses badly kept in a town are liable to become a nuisance, 1st by effluvia from the building itself; 2nd, by accumulations of dung, and annoyances during their removal, of which we have had several examples in this parish; 3rd, by injury to the health of the cows, which will consequently yield a supply of unhealthy milk, or may become the means of diseased meat being sold at the inferior butchers’ stalls. Under such circumstances, it seems not unreasonable that the vestry should seek by conceding the necessity for their permanence and granting a license, to place them more completely under the control of their officers.

Letter from W. Tite, Esq., to the Vestry Clerk.

My dear Sir,

* * * * *

Mr. Woolrych asks me whether the vestry can suggest a clause to meet the case of combined drainage when it has appeared to become public drainage by the ill advised arrangements of the late Commissioners?

This was the point on which I saw him some months since, and if the vestry wish it, I will try what is to be done; you had better perhaps give me a call any morning you please.

Yours truly, William Tite.

From the Vestry Clerk to W. Tite, Esq. M.P.

Pipe Sewers.

January 14th, 1860.

Sir,—Not being a lawyer I speak with great diffidence on the subject of your note of the 7th, but it appears to me that if an alteration were made in the interpretation clause of the Local Management Act, as to the meaning of the word “drain,” it would accomplish what we wish.

It now runs thus, “the word ‘drain’ shall mean and include any drain of and used for the drainage of one building only, or premises within the same curtilage, and made merely for the purpose of communicating with a cesspool or other like receptacle for drainage, or with a sewer into which the drainage of two or more buildings or premises, occupied by different persons, is conveyed, and shall also include any drain for draining any group or block of houses by a combined operation, under the order of any vestry or district board.” I would suggest that the following words be added “or under the order, sanction, or direction of any Commissioners of Sewers, acting within the metropolis previous to the passing of the Act for the better Local Management of the metropolis, 18 and 19 Vic. Cap. 120.”

Combined Drainage. Pig Sty Regulations.

These two matters formed the subjects of my communication to Mr. Pollard, of the 29th ultimo, and copies of them were on the same day sent to you. They both have reference to the amendment of the Act, and were recommended to the vestry by Dr. Barclay, the Medical Officer of Health.

I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

William Tite, Esq., M.P. &c. &c. 42, Lowndes Square.

The Vestry Clerk to the Solicitors.

May 2nd, 1860.

Metropolis Local Management Act Amendment Bill.

Dear Sirs,—You may have observed that Mr. Tite introduced this Bill into the House of Commons on Monday evening, consequently no time must be lost in seeing him with reference to the following matters.

It is unfortunate that the Bill accompanying your letter of the 24th ultimo was not the last reprint: however, I beg to send you a copy of the last reprint, which you will observe differs in some particulars, and as to the numbers of the clauses, from the former one.

With reference to your letter of the 24th ultimo, and the Bill accompanying it, they were referred by the Vestry on that day to the Committee of Works, and they met yesterday to consider them.

I beg to send you an extract from the Minutes with reference to them.

I am, dear Sirs, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

Messrs. Lee and Pemberton, 44, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W.C.

Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of the Committee of Works and for General Purposes, held in the Board Room, Manor House, Tuesday, May 1st, 1860,

The Committee considered the letter of the Solicitors (Messrs. Lee and Pemberton), dated 24th of April, respecting the Bill for the Amendment of the Metropolis Local Management Act. The Clerk laid upon the table 12 copies of the last reprint of the Bill, and reported that the Bill had been introduced the previous evening in the House of Commons by Mr. Tite, M.P.

Resolved,—That this Committee do not concur with the Solicitors in their remarks upon the Bill accompanying their letter respecting the following five clauses:—

Clause 11, enacting that any Vestry or District Board may pay the precepts of the Metropolitan Board of Works out of any money in their possession, and reimburse themselves out of the Sewers Rate. Remark referred to:—‘We think this clause very objectionable; it appears to involve a breach of trust on the part of the Vestry. Funds raised for one purpose should not be applied to another; and the effect is to give the Metropolitan Board of Works a first charge on every Rate collected. What does the Poor Law Board say to it?’

Clause 13, enacting that if any Vestry, &c., neglect to pay the money required by the precepts of the Metropolitan Board of Works, that Board may make a rate on default, without awaiting the expiration of the period fixed by the precept. Remark referred to:—‘Two months is not enough, it should at least be four.’

Clause 41, relating to the case of a Vestryman—a member of a District Board—not attending meetings for six months. Remark referred to:—‘Or committee thereof. We think this inexpedient. The member should go out as if by rotation, and be ineligible for the vacancy so created.’

Clause 60, relative to contributions to the cost of main sewers and sewers built since January 1st, 1856, or hereafter to be built. Remark referred to:—‘Leave out these words (lines 32 and 33, ‘at their discretion’).’

Clause 62, prescribing the regulations to be observed in making openings into sewers. Remark referred to:—‘We think this clause is better out, unless it is made to go further. The Vestry should have power to alter old drains.’

Resolved,—That if in the opinion of the Solicitors further powers are requisite than are contained in the above clause, they be authorized to prepare such a clause.

Resolved,—That this Committee do concur with the solicitors in their remarks respecting the following ten clauses, and authorize them to prepare clauses to give effect to their recommendations.

Clause 22, relative to the recovery of moneys assessed by the Metropolitan Board of Works on extra parochial property for payment of debts. Remark referred to—‘Instead of ‘a justice’ should be ‘two justices or a police magistrate,’ the same error occurs in other parts of the Bill.’

Clause 42, providing that owners and occupiers of land may execute drainage works at their own expense. Remark referred to:—‘We think the sewer when built should vest in the Vestry. It should be built under the superintendence of their Surveyor; and the party applying should find sureties for the performance of the work, under penalties, to be recoverable as liquidated damages.’

Resolved,—That in the opinion of this Committee the words in line 21 ‘hereinafter mentioned’ should stand, with the interlineation ‘or that any Vestry may think proper to attach.’

Clause 48, prescribing the regulations to be observed on abandonment, alteration, &c., of designs for sewers previously approved by the Metropolitan Board of Works. Remark referred to:—‘And in case they do there should be a heavy penalty recoverable by action.’

Clause 66, empowering Vestries, &c., on neglect of owners, &c., to carry out works, pursuant to orders, to proceed for the penalties, or do the works themselves, and recover the cost. Remark referred to:—‘Line 27 erase ‘person or persons,’ insert ‘such owner or occupier.’ Line 37 insert ‘or occupier.’

Clause 67, extending penalties to persons causing offences. Remark referred to:—‘And all penalties recoverable under this Act.’

Clause 69, empowering Vestries, &c., to compel supply of water to houses. Remark referred to:—‘We do not think this clause will work, unless a power be invested for making the expense a first charge; it will be nugatory and will cause useless expense.

Clause 74, empowering Vestries, &c., with sanction of the Metropolitan Board of Works, to effect improvements within their districts, &c. Remark referred to:—‘We think this clause requires remodelling. It does not go far enough. We think the clauses for improving streets in the Towns improvement Clauses Act should be embodied in this Act, particularly sec. 67; and also the clauses of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, enabling the Vestry to take compulsory possession of land.’

Clause 75, enacting that buildings projecting beyond the general line of the street, where taken down to an extent exceeding one half, shall be set back to the general line. Remark referred to:—‘This should be extended to Vestries with the consent of the Metropolitan Board of Works.’

Clause 78, empowering Vestries &c. to drain and pave courts, &c. on default of owners, in lieu of enforcing penalties. Remark referred to:—‘The judgment when recovered should be a first charge on the property, with power of sale in default of payment, on three month’s notice affixed on the premises.’

Clause 93, enacting that a Vestry or District Board may require payment of costs or expenses from an owner or occupier, and the occupier paying to deduct from rent. Remark referred to:—‘We do not think the clause goes far enough. The Vestry to be properly protected against their enormous outlay, should have a statutable charge upon the premises for moneys expended by them recovered by judgment. We see no reason why the Vestry should not have a power of sale something similar to that given to the Commissioners of Police under the 74th section of the Metropolitan Buildings Act, 18 & 19 Vic., cap. 122; unless this is effectually done, the annual loss to every parish which carries out the intentions of the Metropolis Local Management Act, must be considerable; the Act will become a dead letter, or Vestries must be protected from loss.’

Resolved,—That the attention of the Solicitors be directed to the discrepancy between the marginal note to Clause 52, and the body of the clause.

Resolved,—That the Solicitors do endeavour to obtain the following alterations:—Clause 90 in the Bill above referred to, line 29, omit the words, ‘which may be unfit for the keeping of swine, or where the breeding, feeding, or keeping swine may create a nuisance or be injurious to health,’ in order to insert the words, ‘within forty yards of any street.’

Line 31, insert after the word ‘place’ the words, ‘or in any locality, premises, or place in such manner as to be a nuisance to other persons residing near thereto.’

Resolved,—That the Solicitors and the Vestry Clerk be instructed to arrange with Mr. Tite as to the best mode of obtaining the above alterations in the Bill now before Parliament.

The Vestry Clerk to W. Tite, Esq., M.P.

April 25th, 1861.

Metropolis Local Management Act Amendment Bill.

Sir,

I am directed to send you copy of a Petition of this Vestry to the House of Commons respecting your Bills (Nos. 1 & 2) for Amending the Metropolis Local Management Act, which Lord Enfield has been requested to present.

I am also to send you the four new clauses and amendments which are referred to in the prayer of the Petition, and to request that you will obtain the introduction of them into the Bill No. 1.

I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

W. Tite, Esq., M.P., &c., &c., 42, Lowndes Square.

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the Vestry of the Parish of St. Luke, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex,

Sheweth,

That Your Petitioners are informed and believe that two Bills, intituled respectively “The Metropolis Local Management Act Amendment Bills, Nos. 1 & 2,” are now before your Honourable House, by the first of which relief is proposed to be given to the late Counter’s Creek separate sewerage district in this parish, for certain sums expended in respect of the Counters Creek Diversion Works, and improperly charged upon the said district in respect of the construction of sewers and works for the general benefit of the Metropolis; and by the other it is intended to settle upon equitable principles the parishes, districts, and parts, upon which certain debts of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers shall stand charged, having regard to the benefit derived by those parishes, &c., respectively from such expenditure.

That under the Act for the Better Local Management of the Metropolis, 18 & 19 Vic., cap. 120, the Metropolitan Board of Works found themselves unable, from the defective powers of the said Act, to give any relief to the said Counters Creek District from payment of the charges upon it above mentioned, and in consequence thereof a great amount of dissatisfaction has existed in this and other districts similarly circumstanced.

That in consequence of such and other defects in the practical working of the Metropolis Local Management Act, the Vestries and District Boards constituted under the said Act have instigated the Metropolitan Board to introduce the said Bills to your Honourable House to remedy the same, and for other purposes.

That your Petitioners being by the said Metropolis Local Management Act constituted the authority to order the levying of the rates under the said Act, have incurred a considerable amount of unpopularity and censure in performing a duty which is against their own consciences, and repulsive to the feelings of the ratepayers residing in that district.

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Honourable House that the said Bill, with certain amendments and new clauses which your Petitioners propose to endeavour to effect the introduction of, when in Committee may pass into law.

And your Petitioners will ever pray.

Chas. Lahee, Vestry Clerk.

Given under the common seal of the said Vestry, this 23rd day of April, 1861.

The Four New Clauses.

1.—In Clause 46, line four, for the words “twenty-six” substitute the word “thirteen;” add a clause after said clause as follows:—“If any member of the Metropolitan Board of Works shall be absent from the meetings of the said Board for thirteen consecutive weeks, he shall thereupon cease to be a member of the said Board; and the said Metropolitan Board of Works shall immediately send notice of the fact to the Vestry or District Board by which such member was elected, whereupon which Vestry or District Board shall forthwith proceed to elect a new member for the said Metropolitan Board in the room of the member so ceasing to be a member as aforesaid; and such election shall be conducted in accordance with the 44th, 45th, and 46th sections of the firstly-recited Act, so far as the same are respectively applicable.”

2.—Provided always that in construing the 6th section of the firstly-recited Act, in calculating the number of Poor Rate assessments in any parish, each house, or piece or parcel of land, tenement, or hereditament rated to the relief of the poor, shall be counted and taken as a separate Poor Rate assessment.

3.—Notwithstanding anything in the said recited Acts or this Act to the contrary, Be it enacted, that the Vestry of the Parish of Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, shall from time to time raise and levy the sums which they may require for defraying the expenses of executing the said Acts and this Act, and shall for that purpose make separate equal pound rates upon their parish or part thereof, in like manner as overseers are required to do with respect to the sums for which orders are by the firstly-recited Act directed to be made upon them by Vestries and District Boards; and shall in raising such sums act upon the like principles, and have the like discretion, as provided in the firstly-recited Act with respect to orders upon Overseers by Vestries and District Boards, subject to the provisions of this Act, and shall for that purpose have free access to, and be at liberty to copy or adopt any assessment to the Poor Rate in the said parish, or any part or parts of such assessment; and such Vestry shall have power to appoint a collector or collectors for levying the amount of such rates, and to pay him or them such salary, poundage, or allowance as they may deem just and reasonable; and shall take such security from every such collector for the due execution of his duty as they shall think reasonable and proper; and such collector or collectors shall proceed in the same manner, and shall have the same powers and remedies, and be subject to the same regulations and directions with reference to the levying of such rates, as if he or they were an overseer or overseers of the poor, and shall pay over the amount of such rates to the said Vestry or otherwise, as such Vestry may direct; and such collector or collectors shall, when and in such manner as shall be required by the said Vestry, make out and deliver a true and perfect account in writing, signed by him or them, of all monies received by him or them, in manner provided by the 65th section of the firstly-recited Act; and in default of his or their so paying over such moneys, or making out and delivering such account in writing, he or they shall be subject to the penalties mentioned and contained in the said 65th section of the firstly-recited Act in the case of officers or servants failing to account for moneys received; and it shall be lawful for the said Vestry by order in writing, to require the Clerk to the Guardians of the Poor of the said parish or other person having the custody or control of any rate for the relief of the poor in such parish, or of any other rate or of any book containing a copy of any such rate as aforesaid, to furnish within such period, not being less than seven days, as shall be limited in such order, a true copy of such rate for the relief of the poor, or other rate or of such copy thereof, as aforesaid, or of such part or parts of the same as shall be specified in such order, on payment or tender for such copy at the rate of sixpence for every twenty-four names (inclusive of all the particulars in the several columns in the rate, so far as such particulars have reference to such names respectively), and the said copy shall be examined by and signed by such Clerk, or other person, and shall be verified by his solemn declaration, if the said Vestry shall require the same, which solemn declaration any Justice of the Peace or Commissioner duly authorized is hereby empowered to administer, and any person having the custody or control of such rate, or copy thereof, who shall refuse or neglect to make and deliver to such Vestry or any person by them authorised to receive the same, such copy or extract, or to make such solemn declaration as aforesaid, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £10 for every such offence, and to a further penalty of £10 for each and every day during which the said offence shall be continued, to be recovered by a summary proceeding.

4.—That in place of the 109th Clause, the following be inserted:—“The two hundred and thirty-fourth section of the firstly-recited Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof be it enacted, that all penalties or forfeitures payable or recoverable under the firstly-recited Act, or this Act, and all penalties or forfeitures recovered by any Vestry or District Board acting as the local authority for the execution within their respective parish or district of ‘The Nuisances Removal Act for England, 1855,’ shall go and be paid in manner hereinafter mentioned, anything contained in an Act made and passed in the session holden in the Second and Third years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-one, or in any other Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding;—that is to say, shall go to the Vestry or District Board of the parish or district in which the offence was committed, or to the Metropolitan Board of Works in case the injury shall have been sustained by, or the offence committed in respect of that Board; and all sums which shall go to or be recovered by any Board or Vestry on account of any penalty or forfeiture, shall be paid to their treasurer, or into such bank to their account as they may direct, and shall be applicable towards the general expenses of such Board or Vestry.”