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will pay an amount in respect of the discharged capital outlay of the Council and
its predecessors on main drainage works. The amounts so payable will be
calculated on the proportion which the annual rateable value of each district bears
to the whole area (including Leyton and Walthamstow) draining into the London
main drainage system, but, as a special concession, one-third only of the full proportion
of discharged capital will be paid. Payment will be made by means of one hundred
equal half-yearly payments of principal and interest combined. The other annual
charges to the district councils will be calculated on the rateable value and based
upon the portion of the County rate attributable to expenditure on main drainage,
including administrative expenses. Payments will be made at half-yearly intervals
in the first instance on estimated expenditure subject to adjustment later when
the actual expenditure is ascertained.
The Council on 29th July, 1924, decided to enter nto an agreement with the
Bexley Urban District Council for the drainage of property in Wickham-lane upon
payment by the District Council of an annual charge of £10.
Local
sewers.
Section 69 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, provides that no local
sewer shall be made without the approval of the Council. During 1924 the construction
or reconstruction of 142,300 feet of sewers of various sizes has been
sanctioned.
Buildings,
etc., over
sewers.
Under section 204 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and section 68 of
the Metropolis Management (Amendment) Act, 1862, no building or any other
enroachment may be erected in, over or under any sewer vested in the Council
except with the Council's consent. During 1923 the Council gave its consent in
16 such cases.
M illers'
rights.
The Council on 13th May, 1924, had before it a resolution passed by the Bucks
County Council as follows :—
"That the Minister of Agriculture be urged to enquire into the whole
question of millers' rights and obligations and to introduce legislation to
provide that such rights, if not usefully exercised, should be considered derelict
and be transferred to any drainage board or other public authority having
jurisdiction over the river concerned. In the opinion of this Council no drainage
board can usefully exercise its powers unless and until such legislation is passed."
There are a few mills on the river Ravensbourne within London and six mills
on the part of the river Wandle which is under the Council's jurisdiction as a main
sewer, and the Council, while not prepared to support the resolution of the Bucks
County Council in its entirety, stated that it would be prepared to support a request
to the Minister to enquire into the whole question of millers' rights and obligations
with a view of ascertaining whether legislation is desirable to deal therewith and with
any such rights as may not be usefully exercised or may become derelict.
Staff.
The National Joint Industrial Council for Local Authorities' Non-Trading
Services (Manual Workers) approved in July, 1923, a proposal that the Southern
outfall, which was within the area of the Southern Home Counties' Provincial Council,
should be included within the area of the London District Council and the District
Council decided that the transfer should take effect from and in respect of the first
full week in September, 1923. The National Council also decided in October, 1923,
that Abbey-mills pumping station, which was originally within the area of the late
Provincial Council for Middlesex, Essex and Hertfordshire should be included in the
area of the London District Council with effect as from 2nd November, 1923. In accordance
with these decisions the Council on 8th April, 1924, graded the workmen at
the stations in question in accordance with the grading of the London District
Council.
Difficulties arose in consequence of the better conditions secured to employees
who come within the purview of the London District Council of the National Joint
Industrial Council for Local Authorities' Non-Trading Services (Manual Workers)
as compared with other employees. In some cases the men of higher rank actually
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