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16. That as a further illustration of the injurious effect of there being
a second Administrative body in the Parish, the Governors and
Guardians entirely ignored the following resolution passed by the
Vestry on the 6th October, 1869, viz :—
" That the Owners of rateable hereditaments in the Parish of
" St. Mary, Newington, to which section 4 of the ' Poor
"Rate Assessment and Collection Act 1869' extends,
" shall be rated to the Poor Rate in respect of such rate"
able hereditaments instead of the occupiers in all rates
" made after the date hereof."
In this case the Vestry had only two alternatives before them, (1)
either to move the Superior Court for a Mandamus, or (2) to rescind
their resolution, which was done on the 25th January 1871, after
being assured by the Governors and Guardians that the carrying out
of the Order would entail a serious loss upon the Parishioners. From
this period down to last January the Vestry were entirely ignored,
for although the agreements entered into by the Governors and
Guardians with owners of property were by section 3 of the Act
subject to the control of the Vestry, these agreements were never submitted
to the Vestry, and the Vestry had no power to enforce
compliance with the Act. On the 20th December 1893, however,
the Vestry passed a resolution calling upon the Governors and
Guardians under the provisions of the Metropolis Local Management
Acts to provide them with a return of all compound agreements,
which when delivered disclosed the fact that the 25 per
cent. composition allowable under section 3 of the Act amounted
to no less a sum than £9,327 on the rates levied in the Parish for
the year ending Lady-day 1894. Here again is direct evidence of
the property owner being considered at the expense not only of
the direct ratepayer, but also to the injury for a long period of
years of by far the larger portion of the electorate, the occupier
of small tenements rated under £20 annual value, because if the
sliding scale of composition provided by section 4 of the Act had
been adopted, a large annual sum would have been saved on every
penny rate levied, and the Vestry thereby enabled to carry out
much-needed sanitary improvements for the benefit of the artisan
and labouring classes so largely predominating in the Parish.
17. That upon the qualification provided by section 4 of the Metropolis
Local Management Act 1855 being removed by the provisions of
the Local Government Act, 1894 (in this parish, occupancy and
rating to the extent of £25 annual value), the electorate, feeling
so much dissatisfaction with the general management of the affairs
of the Parish, returned at the general election in December, 1894,
a Vestry pledged to the abolition of the Board of Governors and
Guardians. If any proof was wanting of the manifestly unfair and
partial administration of the Governors and Guardians, it was shown