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fewest houses, and therefore having the least necessity for Sewerage works,
is the one most heavily charged towards their cost; and if it happen that
the houses be situated in one Parish and the land in another, as is the case
to a great extent in the area charged to the cost of the Ravensbourne and
Sydenham Sewer, the anomaly is the greater and the wrong the more
intolerable.
Your memorialists therefore earnestly hope that your Board
will take the several circumstances detailed into your consideration,
and especially with the view to the transfer of the cost of
the Ravensbourne and Sydenham Sewer to the Metropolis at
large; and that in settling the general principles upon which the
apportionment of the debts of the Metropolitan Commissioners of
Sewers should be based, provision may be made for the exercise
of a discretion in your Board with reference to the peculiarities
of each particular case, and for the equitable adjustment of questions
which may be raised by any Vestries or District Boards
affected thereby.
The above Memorial was presented by a Deputation of the Board; and,
with several Memorials from other Vestries and District Boards, was referred
by the Metropolitan Board of Works to their Committee of Works
and General Purposes, who had suggested the reapportionment referred to,
with an instruction to reconsider the principles of such apportionment in
connection with the several Memorials referred to them. The following
are
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE WORKS AND
GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE,
June 13, 1859:—
"In their Report of the 21st March, your Committee stated that where
the work executed benefited one Parish only, they imposed the whole cost
of the work on that Parish, and where it benefited more than one, they had
divided the cost between the Parishes benefited, in the proportion of the
area in each Parish drained by the work.
"It is in the class of cases falling under the latter branch of the foregoing
rule that the modification above referred to has been introduced. Further
consideration has satisfied your Committee that the test of area alone is not
the just principle for apportioning the cost of a work; but that it is also
proper to consider the rateable annual value of the property situate within
the limits affected by the work, and with respect to some few works, therefore,
they have distributed the cost between the Parishes in the ratio of the
rentals.
"With respect to the Memorial from the Board of Works for the
Lewisham District, your Committee find that the cost of the Ravensbourne
and Sydenham Sewer from Bell Green to Deptford, amounted to
£26,545 16s. 5d. and that it was partly constructed with the view of