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.