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32
GENERAL PURPOSES.
With reference to the management and keeping of the streets
and ways in the parish much improvement has been made.
Thirty-two years is a long time to earn', but those who can call
that time to mind will remember that the streets when cleaned
were not cleared, but the stuff was allowed to remain sometimes
in the road and then in heaps at the side of the footpath till some
convenient opportunity occurred for it to be taken away. The
paved footways were few and confined to the inner parts of the
Parish; in the greater portion the footways were gravelled.
Along the turnpike roads the footways were not considered a
liability of the Trustees nor acknowledged by the Parish, so that
they were worse cared for than any.
The demand for improvement in footway paving was one of
the most pressing duties the Vestry had to provide for, and they
commenced upon the principle of dealing first with main arterial
lines, Clapham Road, Brixton Road, Wandsworth Road, South
Lambeth Road, Camberwell New Road, Cold Harbour Lane,
&c., where flagging was necessary, then followed on with the
further portions of the Parish where the traffic is sufficiently
provided for by the substitution of tar paving for gravel. The
work was steadily and systematically pursued, so that in the
course of a few years the whole of the Parish was put in a
fair and equal condition. This was effected by loans, which
enabled the work to be done quickly, so as to prevent the feeling
that one part was neglected while another was favoured, and the
loan being spread over several years, was discharged by a
moderate charge in the annual rate.