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the members go out of office annually; all the members go
out of office on the first Wednesday in June in the third
year from their election. The number of members for each
Parish is set out in the tabular form at the foot of this report.
The members of the Board were hitherto persons rated
or assessed to the relief of the poor in the Parish in which
they are elected, upon a rateable value of £40, excepting
in the Parishes in which the number of poor rate assessments
at £40 or upwards does not exceed one-sixth of the
whole number of such assessments, in which case the
rateable value constituting a qualification was reduced to £25.
This lower qualification applied of late years in the Parishes
of Plumstead and Charlton. The Local Government Act,
1894, (see special report p. 21) alters the qualification.
6. The principal duties of this District Board under this
Act, and the Metropolis Management Amendment Acts,
1862-90, consist in the construction, repair, and cleansing
of sewers (except main sewers, which are now vested in the
London County Council), the supervision of house drainage,
and the execution of the office of Surveyor of Highways,
which empowers the Board to repair, pave, light, improve*
water, and maintain public ways, and to prevent obstruction
there. Paving works and sewers in new streets can
also be constructed by the Board at the cost of the owners
and occupiers. Much work of this kind has recently been
executed. Under these Acts temporary repairs can now be
executed by the Board in new streets, and this has been
done in several cases. These Acts also empower the Board
to proceed against persons building beyond the general
line.