View report page

68
Conservators of the River Thames and the Watermen's Company.
The Bill provided that the Commission should consist of a Chairman,
Vice-Chairman, and Commissioners appointed or elected as
follows:—By the London County Council, 8; Common Council of
the City, 2; the Admiralty, 1; the Board of Trade, 1; Trinity
House, 1; Railway Company's Association, 1; Payers of Dues on
Ships, 1; Traders, 10; Wharfingers, 4; Owners of River Craft, 2.
This Council were of opinion that the respective Councils of the
Metropolitan Boroughs abutting upon the River Thames which
have a special interest in the river traffic should be represented on
the proposed Commission. A petition asking that the Bill might
be amended in this respect was presented to the House of Commons.
The Bill was referred to the Joint Committee and on the
12th August, 1903, proceedings were suspended until this Session.
The Bill was eventually withdrawn on the 8th August, 1904.
Metropolitan
Streets.
73.—This was a Bill to empower the police to make
regulations with respect to the places where and
the conditions under which persons may collect
money in streets for charities or other purposes. The Council
approved of the Bill which received the Royal Assent on the
nth August, 1903.
Prevention of
Pollution of
Rivers and
Streams.
74.—The principal object of this Bill was to improve the law
for preventing the pollution of streams by extending
to County Councils, Joint Committees, and River
Boards in England the main provisions of the
Mersey and Irwell Act, 1892, and the West Riding of Yorkshire
Rivers Act of 1894. The Council petitioned in favour of the Bill,
which was afterwards dropped.
Borough
Funds.
75.—Section 6 (6) of the London Government Act, 1899,
extended the provisions of the Borough Funds Act,
1872. which relate to the powers of promoting and
opposing Bills in Parliament to Metropolitan Borough Councils.
The procedure under the provisions in question with reference to
the promotion of or opposition to Bills in Parliament for the promotion
or the protection of the interest of the inhabitants in
Boroughs was unnecessarily cumbrous and in a populous Borough