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166
I was requested by the Works, Sanitary, and General Purposes
Committee to state the facts regarding certain of these mews, for
the information of the Law and Parliamentary Committee, to
which the question had been referred:—Whether your Vestry
have power to pave and drain, or to compel the owners to pave
and drain, the surface of mews, regard being had to the provisions
of 18 and 19 Vic., c. 120, ss. 98 to 100 and 105—6; and of '25 and
26 Vic., c. 102, ss. 80 and 81 ? The mews specially referred
to were those named "Hayden's," "Golden," and "Colville."
Two of them are thoroughfares in the ordinary sense of the word,
but the first-named is a cul de sac. All of them have been "laid,
out" since the passing of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855,
application for permission having been made to, and granted by,
the Metropolitan Board of Works. The mews may therefore be
regarded as "new streets," but they have not been formally
"dedicated" to public use by being taken over by your Vestry.
The several mews are lighted and they are regularly inspected,
but your Vestry do not cleanse the surface nor exercise any control
over them, excepting under the Nuisances Removal Acts, when
occasion arises for the interference of the Sanitary Inspector.
The mews are practically cab yards, and in regard to one of them
(Hayden's) the public have been "barred-out" occasionally. In
regard to Golden Mews, "barring out" is forbidden by the
covenants of the lease. Cabs and other vehicles, moreover, are
constantly allowed to stand in the mews. The rooms over the
several stables are let to numerous private persons unconnected
with the businesses carried on in the Mews. The Committee
reported that in their opinion your Vestry have power to well and
sufficiently pave the mews, and to recover the cost of providing
and laying such pavement from the owners of premises abutting
on such mews. Steps, therefore, are in course of being taken, by
the service of notices, requiring the surface of the several mews to
be properly made up and paved in the usual manner.