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37
the representatives of the County Council the terms
upon which the sanction of the Board of Trade should
be asked to the reconstruction of the line in question.
Tenders have been invited by the County Council for
the work and it is hoped that it will be pushed forward
as rapidly as possible. The repairing of the road with
wood has been deferred by this Council in order that
the paving of the tramway and of the margins may be
carried out at the same time.
London Water
(Purchase of
Companies
This Bill, promoted by the London County
Council, would have empowered the Council
to purchase the undertakings of the eight
London Water Companies, and would have transferred
to the Council the properties, rights, and powers of the
Staines Reservoirs Joint Committee. In the event of
the Council and the Companies not coming to an agreement
for the purchase the matter was to be settled by
arbitration. The Bill provided that there should be
paid by the Council such a sum of money as the
arbitrators determined to represent the fair and
reasonable value of the undertaking, together with such
further sum as the arbitrators might award to meet the
cost of re-investing such money (in the event of no
arrangement being made by the Council under which
such money might be re-invested without cost), and the
arbitrators in order to ascertain such sum were to
enquire into and consider all the circumstances of the
case, but no allowance was to be made for compulsory
purchase. The Council would have been authorised to
appoint a Committee (to include representatives of
other bodies and persons not members of the Council),
and to delegate to such Committee any powers with
reference to the management and administration of the
water supply. This Council disapproved of the Bill
It was rejected by the House of Commons on the
second reading.