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about £200 per annum, and this amount your Board, on the 18th of
July, 1876, ordered should be expended, together with a further
amount of £200, or a total of £400 per annum, in the carrying out of
the above-mentioned alterations.
The number of lighting hours was consequently reduced in
September last. A design of lamp-post, submitted by your Surveyor,
was subsequently approved by your Board, and the works of rearrangement
of the lamps, and the substitution of new for the old
ones were commenced during the recent winter and are now being proceeded
with. The result of these alterations has been satisfactory.
Tavistock Mews.
In May, 1876, application was made by His Grace the D uke of
Bedford to the Metropolitan Board of Works, and subsequently, on
23rd November, 1876, to your Board, for approval of a proposed
alteration in the public way of Tavistock Mews. .
The Mews varied in width from 11 to 27 feet, and it was proposed
by His Grace to form in lieu of it a new street, 27 feet wide throughout
its whole length, and about 20 feet eastwards of the old line of Mews.
After considerable negociation, the application was acceded to by
your Board, on condition that the whole of the works of the formation
of the new line of thoroughfare, including its sewerage, paving, lighting,
surface drainage, &c., were performed in accordance with your
Board's requirements, and to its satisfaction, at the expense of His
Grace. This was agreed to by the Duke's agents, and the work was
commenced on 24th March last, and was completed, and the thoroughfare
opened to the traffic, on 5th May, 1877.
Metropolitan Street Improvement Bill.
Various improvements were projected during the present Session of
Parliament, by the Metropolitan Board of Works, in various parts of
the Metropolis, and the necessary notices, plans, and Bills, were deposited
to obtain Parliamentary sanction to carry them into effect.
Some of these proposed improvements involved the demolition of considerable
areas of property within the St. Giles District, and, inasmuch
as the deposited Bill proposed to relieve the Metropolitan Boald from
the liability cast upon promoters of such schemes by the Lands
Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845, of making good the poor-rates
during the formation of the works, your Board resolved to petition the
House of Commons against the Bill, with the view of obtaining the
insertion of such clauses as would protect it against the loss of such
rates. This was accordingly done, and evidence given on your behalf
in support of your demand ; but the opposition was unsuccessful, the
Committee of the House of Commons, to which the Bill was referred,
refused your application, and the Bill has since passed the House of
Commons in its original form, as far as your interests are concerned.