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25
The development of a building site in White Hart Lane hag
led to the raising anew of the question of a relief surface water sewer
down that street into the river, with the idea of avoiding one cause,
at any rate, of overflow from the Beverley Brook. At the present
time, and for years past, this brook has served as a surface water
drain in respect of certain low-lying parts of the district which
cannot drain into the available surface water sewers. A
relief sewer would be costly, but is practically a necessity. For,
whatever may be our opinion of the wisdom of those who built
houses in the low levels of the district, and of those who subsequently
bought the houses, the property is there, and producing
rates, and doubtless anything that may properly be done in this
direction for the advantage of a section of the community will
prove ultimately to the advantage of the whole.
For many years this district had to bear the reproach, no
longer a just one, that epidemic diseases were far too prevalent ;
and, for many years, medical men in London were in the habit of
dissuading persons from taking up their residence herein. Those
days are past, but it seems almost romantic that, within a few
hundred yards of the Metropolitan cab radius, considerable
numbers of staid and sober citizens should be from time to time
held up by floods in the streets and inconvenienced by mediaeval
conditions in their basements. Possibly, however, when the
Beverley Brook has been taken in hand, and the relief sewer is an
accomplished fact, something will be done to remedy the intolerable
nuisance caused by the periodical flooding of The Terrace. This,
though perhaps less frequent than formerly, owing to the rise of
level contingent on the wood-paving, is really far more inconvenient
than it was. For, owing to the necessity of now closing the
road (in order to conserve the wood) whenever the water comes
over, vehicles have, that they may get from White Hart Lane to
High Street, Barnes, a distance of only a few hundred yards, to make