View report page

104
interest or easement, and should not relieve them from,
any claim for damage occasioned by them; that they
should be required to remove or alter their wires if the
premises were about to be raised, or for any other good
cause shown; and that the occupier should be able to
appeal to the local authority to order the removal of the
wire if he could show special circumstances which caused,
it to be an injury to him or his property.
With regard to attachments, it was explained that
wires could not be attached to buildings without the
consent of the occupier and owner, and that in certain
cases it might be impossible to obtain access to premises
for the purpose of connecting them with the generals
telephonic system, owing to the refusal of an individual'
to allow an attachment. The Committee thought that
in special cafes, where it could be proved to the satisfaction
of the local authority that certain individuals or
certain districts were debarred from telephonic communication
owing to such refusal, the local authority should
be authorised to give permission for wires to be attached
to premises under suitable regulations and on payment
of such compensation as the local authority might think
just.
The Select Committee suggested that bye-laws for the
regulation of all wires, as to substance, length of span,
durability and other matters, and for their identification
and inspection, should be made for the whole of London
by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and for other places,
by the municipal and other authorities, in each case
subject to the sanction of the Board of Trade, and that in
London the enforcement of the bye-laws should be
entrusted to the City Corporation and to the Vestries and
District; Boards. The Committee thought it necessary,
for the protection of the public, that there should be