View report page

57
OLD WALBROOK SEWER.
The remaining portion of this sewer running under the premises known as
Joiners' Hall Buildings, between Upper Thames Street and Greenwich Street,
was found to be in a very bad condition upon some alterations to a drain
which ran into it being taken in hand; it was practically an unventilated
cesspool, with a considerable quantity of sewage lying in the bottom.
The drain was connected to the sewer under the public way in Joiners'
Hall Buildings, and the old sewer filled in and demolished.
This completes the abolition of this sewer which formerly, for nearly the
whole of its length, ran under private property.
METROPOLITAN SEWERS AND DRAINS BILL, 1908.
Combined Drainage.
This Bill, referred to in my Report for 1907, was initiated by the
St. Pancras Borough Council, and met with the general support of the
Metropolitan Borough Councils and the City of London. It was introduced
with a view of amending the law relating to combined drainage in the Metropolis
which had been for many years in a most unsatisfactory state, and cast an
unduly heavy burden on the ratepayers.
The Bill, which was introduced by a private Member, was read a first time
on 5th March, 1908, and on 30th January, 1908, the Court of Common
Council adopted a recommendation of the Sanitary Committee that the draft
Bill be approved and the City Members requested to support the same in
Parliament.
In a letter dated 13th August, 1908, it was pointed out by the promoters
of the Bill that the experience of the previous Session showed that there was
little prospect of a private Member's Bill dealing with the difficulties created
by the definition of "sewer" and "drain" becoming law without the
co-operation of the Government, and suggesting that representation should be
made to the President of the Local Government Board urging him to take
over the Bill on behalf of the Government. Both the Sanitary and Streets
Committees, to whom this question had been referred, concurred therein, and
Mr. Remembrancer was instructed to consider the advisability of adopting
the suggestion.
It ended, however, in the Bill being dropped before obtaining a second
reading.