View report page

19
appointed day all current debts and liabilities. It likewise
provides for the continuance of all contracts, securities, actions
at law, &c., &c.
POSTAL TELEGRAPH CABLES.
In September, 1899, a letter was received from the Superintending
Engineer of the Post Office Telegraphs Department
asking for permission to lay cables in several of the streets
within the St. Saviour's District, in manner shown upon the
plan accompanying the application. The proposal involved the
laying of a cable throughout the entire length of Southwark
Street,—a street which had only recently been repaved with
Jarrah wood at a cost of over £10,000,—and the making of a
trench which would have been most injurious to the pavement,
however well it might have been repaired afterwards. The Board
therefore refused to give its consent, and the Department shortly
afterwards withdrew its application.
TRACTION ENGINES.
A circular-letter was received from the Vestry of Hackney
calling attention to the nuisance and annoyance and the damage
to property occasioned by the use of traction engines for the
drawing of trucks, oftentimes heavily laden with building and
other materials, along the streets of the metropolis; expressing
an opinion that it was never contemplated that under the
Highways and Locomotives' Act, 1861, they should be so used,
and inquiring the opinion of the Board in regard thereto. The
Board concurred, and a letter was written in support of the
views enunciated by the Vestry.
PRESERVATIVES AND COLOURING MATTER IN FOOD.
In August, 1899, the Secretary to the Departmental Committee
appointed by the President of the Local Government
Board for the purpose of inquiring into the use of preservatives
and colouring matter in food, wrote asking for the assistance of
the Board in obtaining from the consignees samples of imported
goods coming from foreign countries, and asking the Board to
depute one of its sanitary inspectors to endeavour to procure
samples from any consignees having places of business in the
district. The Board resolved to comply with the request, and
instructed its inspectors to do their best to obtain the required
samples. Some difficulty, however, was experienced in so
doing, inasmuch as the goods were, in most cases, deposited for
warehousing merely, or for sale in bulk, the custodians having
no power or right to break any of the packages for sampling,
but ultimately a few samples were obtained by Inspector Grist
and forwarded as requested.