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the river the water which is supposed to have been diverted from it
by the construction of the Sewers in Rushey Green, and an intimation
was at the same time held out that legal proceedings would be
taken in the event of non-compliance with the request, but notwithstanding
that the Board declined to incur any expense for the
object pointed out, no proceedings have been, nor does it appear
likely that any will be, taken.
Penge.
The Sewerage of Penge has occupied considerable attention of the
Board, but from the difficulties which surround its execution, the
progress has been slow. In order to effect the drainage of the inhabited
part of the Hamlet, a Sewer will have to be made along Green
Lane and Kent House Lane to Bell Green, a length of about 8,000
feet, without any houses within a long distance of its course. The
estimated cost of this work is about £4,000, which is a large outlay,
having regard to the rateable value of the houses in the Hamlet;
and the Board, therefore, sought contributions towards the cost of
the work from the Crystal Palace and the Kent Water-works Companies,
as the former discharges an immense volume of sewage into
the river, and the latter was interested in maintaining its purity.
The application to the Crystal Palace Company was, however, unsuccessful,
but the Kent Water-works Company were prepared to
respond to it in a liberal manner, when the Board were unexpectedly
prevented from carrying out the work by the Metropolitan
Board, who declined to give their sanction to its execution, on the
ground that the provisions of the Act (section 69) did not (as they
were advised) confer on the Board any power to construct the
length of sewer which would have to be laid in the parish of Beckenham.
Had the execution of this work not been thus stopped, the
Board would also have applied to Mr. Cator, the owner of the land
in Beckenham, between Penge and Lewisham, for a contribution
towards the cost of it, with whom some arrangement would, no
doubt, have been made for giving the houses on this intervening
slip of land the benefit of the sewer, and at the same time assessing
them to its cost.
In the meantime two sewers had been projected for the abatement
of the nuisance (of which serious complaints have frequently
been made), arising from the sewage of a number of houses in the
upper part of the Hamlet, running along an open channel into the
piece of the old Canal adjoining the Anerley Tea Gardens. These
were sanctioned by the Metropolitan Board, and let by tender to
Mr. Goodison for £542, but on a more minute survey of the locality
one of them was found to be unnecessary, and such extensive modifications
were required in the other as (with new circumstances
c 2