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75
protection against injury by a pickaxe or chisel. It appears
to the Vestry necessary to have the mains re-laid at a greater
depth, and they have accordingly served notice upon the
Corporation to make this alteration. In the meantime the
laying of further mains is suspended.
The St. James's and Pall Mall Company have, with the
consent of the Vestry, laid a considerable length of mains
under the streets. This Company, from the necessities of the
system they have adopted, occupy for their mains a considerably
larger space than that required by the competing
Company.
In the month of April the Grand Junction Water Works
Company laid a main in Duke Street without previously
submitting a plan to the Vestry for approval. An explanation
was, however, subsequently given of the circumstances
under which the omission to submit a plan had occurred,
and the Vestry did not deem it necessary to take any
action in the matter.
HOUSE DRAINAGE.
Having experienced some difficulty in securing a satisfactory
amendment of an old system of house drainage
under the existing law, the Vestry have suggested to the
London County Council the desirability of an early opportunity
being taken for an amendment of the law, so that
a Local Authority may exercise identical powers with
regard to a worn-out system of drainage, in the case of an
old house, as they at present possess with respect to the
drainage of new houses.
The Vestry have further suggested that penalties should
be enforceable if a house drain is laid except in the presence