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41
COMBINED DRAINS.
As the result of a conference of the Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards
convened by the Holborn District Board of Works, a Bill was drafted for the
amendment of the Metropolis Management Acts. The principle of this Bill has
already been approved by Parliament in the West Ham Corporation Act, 1898.
The object is to rectify the defective definition of the word "drain" as contained in
the Metropolis Management Acts. The interpretation of the word "drain" in the
draft bill approved by the conference is as follows:—
"In the construction of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the
"Acts amending the same, the word "drain'' shall be deemed to apply to and
"include the subject-matters specified in the interpretation of the word " drain"
"contained in the 250th Section of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and
"in the 112th Section of the Metropolis Management Act, 1862, and also any
"drain, the construction of which as a sewer has not been sanctioned by a Local
"Authority, or which has not been approved as a sewer by the Metropolitan or
"other Commissioners of Sewers, or by the Metropolitan Board of Works, or
" the London County Council.
"Provided that the London County Council may at any time hereafter
"approve as a sewer any drain for draining a group or block of houses where,
"in the opinion of the Local Authority of the district, it is desirable that such
"drains should be cleansed, repaired, and maintained at the expense of such
"Local Authority, and such drains shall thereupon become a sewer and be vested
"in such Local Authority."
It has been estimated that many thousands of pounds have already been
expended in the metropolis out of the rates by the Sanitary Authorities, in executing
work in connection with combined drainage, which in equity ought to have been
carried out by private owners. It is in the interests of all parties that a stop should
should be put to the construction of small sewers belonging to the Sanitary
Authorities upon property belonging to private individuals. The future may bring
with it difficulties and disputes between the owners of the ground in which such
sewers are laid, and the local authorities to whom they belong, and the sooner some
measure is passed into law to make clear the definition of the word "drain" the
better.
Instructions have been given by the Public Health Committee that in all cases
in which a combined drain is claimed to be a sewer, before any work in connection
with the same is carried out by the Vestry, a letter is to be sent to the freeholder of
the ground in which the combined drain is laid, informing him that if he desires to
retain full rights over the property, without the Vestry gaining such an easement as
would be given them by a sewer, the Vestry will consent to the work being done by
the freeholder, and will in future treat the combined drain as private property.