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Rotherhithe is joined to the Parishes of Saint Olave and Saint Thomas, Southwark, and Saint John,
Horselydown, for the purpose of electing and returning one member to the Metropolitan Board of
Works.
That in the year 1851 the population of the said Parish of Rotherhithe was 17,805, and in the
year 1861 it has increased to 24,500, and the area of the said Parish is 886 acres.
That there are twenty-four elected Vestrymen appointed by the ratepayers under the Metropolis
Local Management Act, 1855, and three ex officio Vestrymen.
That in the year 1851 the population of the said Parishes of Saint Olave, Saint Thomas, and
Saint John, Horselydown, was 19,375, and in the year 1861 it has decreased to 19,053 and the area
of the said Parishes is 169 acres.
That there are eighteen elected Vestrymen appointed by the ratepayers of the said Parish of '
Saint Olave, and five ex officio Vestrymen.
That there are eighteen elected Vestrymen appointed by the ratepayers of the said Parish of
Saint Thomas, and three ex officio Vestrymen.
That there are eighteen elected Vestrymen appointed by the ratepayers of the said Parish of
Saint John, Horselydown, and five ex officio Vestrymen.
That the said Parish of Rotherhithe, from its peculiar locality, and being so much below the
level of Trinity high-water mark, and also containing large Docks, and being intersected by a Canal,
requires very considerable local knowledge as to the carrying out an effective system of drainage,
and that at the present time it is very inefficiently drained, a large portion of the said Parish being
without any drainage whatever.
That during the last ten years several new streets have been formed, and upwards of 670
houses erected in the said parish.
That your Petitioners, at the last two elections for a member to the Metropolitan Board of
Works, endeavoured to obtain gentlemen to be returned who were residents of the said Parish of
Rotherhithe, and persons of very great local knowledge of the said Parish and its requirements as to
drainage; but owing to the large preponderance of Vestrymen for the said Parishes of Saint Olave,
and Saint Thomas, Southwark, and Saint John, Horselydown, all of whom united in opposing such
nomination, your Petitioners could not, and cannot at any time, succeed in returning their
nominee.
That the said Parishes of Saint Olave, and Saint Thomas, Southwark, and Saint John, Horselydown,
have for many years past been supplied with good and effective drainage, which does not,
and will not, require any great alterations in carrying out the system of main drainage, whereas
the said Parish of Rotherhithe will require very great attention, care, local knowledge, and
experience.
That a large number of new houses are now in process of being built, and several new streets
marked out within the said Parish of Rotherhithe, and there is now in the said Parish upwards of
200 acres, which are reserved by the owners for, and will shortly be applied to, building purposes,
and for which there is at present no system of drainage laid down.
That your Petitioners humbly submit that the said Parish of Rotherhithe is not efficiently
represented at the Metropolitan Board of Works.