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The Board, being of opinion that the legislation proposed would
operate injuriously, by imposing additional burdens on the trade
and industries of the country, lodged a petition against the Bills
in order to assist the Corporation in their opposition thereto.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Chamberlain, the President of the Board
of Trade, consented to appoint a Special Commission of Inquiry,
before which the Railway Companies have been heard, and it is
questionable whether any further progress will be made with the
measures in this Session of Parliament.
River Thames.
At the request of the Vestry of St. George, Hanover Square, the
Board in January last appointed delegates to attend a Conference
of Vestries and District Boards of Works on the system of discharging
Metropolitan Sewage into the Thames, and the alleged
silting up of that river in consequence, viz., Messrs. Goodwin,
Hale, Hunt, and Rider, who attended several meetings of the
delegates, and on the 17th March the following resolution was
passed:—"That this Meeting is of opinion that the evils of the
present system of discharging the Metropolitan Sewage are such as
to require a remedy, and that it is in the public interest that a remedy
should be applied with the least possible delay"
Redistribution
Bill.
The Parliamentary Elections (Redistribution) Bill, introduced
by the Government as a sequel to the Act for the Extension of the
Franchise, was considered by the Board at an early period of the
Session, the Clerk having in January last reported upon the subject,
and a communication having been received about the same time
from the St. Olave's Board of Works respecting it. By the Fourth
Schedule of the Bill it was proposed to establish, in lieu of the
ancient Borough of Southwark, three new Boroughs, to be named
respectively Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, and Southwark, the latter
consisting of the Parishes of St. George-the-Martyr and Christchurch
only, to the exclusion of St. Saviour's, which last, together
with the St. Olave's District, was to be incorporated with and
form part of Kotherhithe. The St. Olave's Board, in the communication
referred to, while expressing approval of the division
of the Borough into three single member constituencies, objected
to the proposed names and areas, and recommended that the new
Boroughs should be constituted and named as under:—