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39
The early system of local government of London consisted of
parishes augmented by the Justices of the Peace. The administration
of the highways, streets and paving was vested in the various
parochial organisations; authorities which executed the sanitary
functions for the whole of London.
With the growth of the Metropolis, the small local authorities
sought and obtained local private act powers to deal with the serious
health hazards prevalent in their districts. Thus Improvement Commissions
were created to manage sanitary matters but it was not
until the passing of Michael Angelo Taylor's Act of 1817, that some
uniformity appeared in street sanitation previously performed by
ad-hoc commissioners of sewers, constituted under the Statute of
Sewers 1531 for land drainage purposes.
The Public Health Act 1848 dispensed with many Commissions
replacing them by one Commission of Sewers for the whole of London.
But generally London local government remained with the closed
parish vestries and the Justices who relinquished their poor law
powers in 1834. The Open Vestry system of local government led to
chaotic administration hence the creation under local private acts,
of the 'select' or 'closed' vestry or district board controlling two or
more parishes.
Surveyors were appointed under the Metropolitan Building Act,
1844 to supervise the construction of buildings and Commissioners
of Sewers were set up under an Act of 1848 to deal with sanitary
matters in the City of London.
Hobhouses' Act of 1831 introduced vestries elected by the ratepayers
and granted wide powers over public health matters. But these
were so profuse and diverse in their administration that together
with the absence of efficiency and uniformity a satisfactory discharge
of their public duties became impossible. Furthermore there
was no supervising body to co-erce these sanitary authorities to
perform their duties with the result that they were generally neglected.
It was not until 1855 that these defects were remedied by the
reformation of London Local Government, as a result of the Royal
Commission on London Government 1853, which recommended the
setting up of a central body to control the administration of I nndon
local government by the local authorities and ensure effective and
efficient execution of the law. This statute constituted the Metropolitan
Board of Works with powers to control main drainage of
London and execute the duties under the Metropolitan Building Act