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7
1862, enabling Vestries and District Boards to carry any
sewers or work beyond the limits of the Metropolis, subject, however,
to the consent of the Vestry of the Parish or place through
which the work was to paw, but giving an appeal to tho Secretary
of State if the consent were withheld.
At this time (1862) the Board had for several years been
engaged in defending an action brought against them by Mr.
Cator, the owner of the greater part of the intervening land in
Beckenham, for contaminating the Pool river with sewage; in
which action an appeal to the House of Lords was then pending.
Mr. Cator's agent opposed to the utmost the construction of the
sewer as proposed, and the consent thereto of the Vestry of .
Beckenham was consequently withheld; but, on an appeal to the
Secretary of State, an order was made by him for its construction.
The Board availed themselves of this circumstance to
bring about a compromise of the long pending litigation with
Mr. Cator, by the terms of which each Party paid their own costs;
the sewer was slightly diverted from the line originally intended
in order to suit Mr. Cator's views, and he waived all claim to
compensation for injury as owner of the estate through which the
sewer was to be laid.
The sewer was commenced in May, 1864, and completed
in April, 1866, the total coat, including all incidental expenses,
being £5580 6s. 7d. The Hamlet of Penge was thus connected
with the Metropolitan sewerage system, but the evils resulting
from a part of Beckenham, out of the Metropolis, intervening
between Penge and Lewisham within it, were by no means
removed; for the sewer was required by the Metropolitan Board
to be maintained for the exclusive use of the Lewisham District,
and the rapid increase of buildings on the Tongue of Land, all
of which drained into the Pool river, soon revived the nuisance,
which year by year became more intolerable.
Memorials were again and again presented by this Board to
the Metropolitan Board, urging them to obtain powers to include
the Tongue of Land in the Metropolis, and thus enable it to be
drained into the sewer which had been constructed and would
answer the purpose—but all without avail.
Applications of a similar character were also made to the
Metropolitan Board from several other outlying districts, urging