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56
Council with reference to the long standing question
of the drainage. Mr. Costelloe expressed the
opinion that the Council might now report to the
Local Government Board that they were unable to
agree with the surrounding parishes with regard to
such drainage; in which case it would become the
duty of the Local Government Board, under the
Metropolitan Board of Works (Various Powers)
Act, 1887, after enquiry to determine the matter,
and he expressed his intention of forthwith bringing
the question before the Council in that form.
The proceedings for severance being at an end, at
any rate for the present, the Vestry took steps to
minimise, as far as possible, the inconveniences
which the inhabitants of the detached portion of
the parish had complained of. After the drainage,
the principal cause of complaint appeared to be that
there was no local public vaccinator, nor registrar
of births and deaths. These being matters under
the jurisdiction of the Guardians of the Poor, the
Vestry communicated with them, with the view to
their making local appointments for the purpose.
It was obvious in the course of the proceedings
before the Parliamentary Committees that the
Vestry was seriously prejudiced, from a pecuniary
point of view, by the fact that payments for permanent
improvements had been paid for from current
rates instead of by loans, it appearing that only
debts and liabilities would form part of a financial
adjustment under the present law. The Vestry
therefore took steps to protect the Parish as far as
possible for the future, and they obtained a loan
for the cost of the surface water drain, &c., recently
laid.
Cholera.—In view of a possible epidemic of
Cholera reaching the Parish, the Committee