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be in favor of this arrangement, and it becomes therefore simply a
question of how much the County Council shall contribute, and
there may also be a question as to what expenses are to be included
under the head of maintenance. Will the mere cost of repairs and
renewals be allowed, or will the cost of Scavenging and Watering
be included ? The County Council has given no intimation of how
these questions may be decided, and it is not improbable that
further legislation will be necessary to settle them. Whatever
may be inoluded in the cost of maintenance, the County Council
will probably contribute one half, but as this contribution will have
to be raised by the rates, the effect of the arrangement may in
some parishes be but small, but in others it may prove a gain or a
loss to the particular parish. The amount of contribution in cases
of difference between the claims of the Yestries and the offer of the
County Council is to be settled by an Arbitrator to be appointed
by the Local Government Board, and it is not difficult to foresee
that some trouble and expense will be incurred in the settlement
of these claims.
No contribution is to be made by the County Council in respect
to any road which is not certified by the County Surveyor to be in
a fair condition of repair, and there are many roads in the
Metropolis which, in their present condition, are very unlikely to
be certified. They must therefore be kept in their defective
condition by the parishes, or considerable outlay must be incurred
to put them in a passable state.
This Vestry has not yet made any claim in respect to the
main roads in Shoreditch, as it was anticipated that the County
Council would lay down some general principles to secure
uniformity of system throughout the metropolis, which has not yet
been done, but the time is approaching when the Vestry will be
required to make its claims upon the County Council.*
*Since the above was written the Vestry has submitted the following list of
places as Main Roads, which is now under consideration by the London County
Roads:—