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7
quinquennial revaluation. I am not aware of any improvement in trade or the
letting of house property in Shoreditch sufficient to account for the above heavy
reductions in loss of rates, but on the contrary, through the action of the London
County Council many empty properties are now on the rate-book which were
previously left off, so that the loss has for some quarters past been increased to
this extent. I think, therefore, the whole of the above reductions are fairly
attributable to the new system above described, and that the result justifies the
future enforcement of every part of the system, the introduction of which has
involved a good deal of friction, and has given a large amount of trouble and
anxiety to the Finance Committee and their responsible officials.
DUSTING AND SCAVENGING SCHEME.
During the year a most important departure in the system of dusting and
scavenging the parish has been carried out. Instead of the work being let out to
contractors, as has long been the custom, it is now being performed directly by the
Vestry employing its own men and plant for the purpose. The necessity of the
Vestry having direct control over the performance of this work was strongly shown
in the Eastern division of the parish at (he commencement of 1891, when the
Vestry's contractor for that division, Mr. A. Turner, completely broke down, and
after a scandalous number of complaints of non-removal of dust and failure in
cleansing the streets, the Vestry was compelled to step in and employ men and
carts to carry out the work, and the contract was let for the remainder of Mr.
Turner's period to another contractor at an enhanced price. On the Vestry's withholding
the money which Mr. Turner would have been entitled to receive had he
performed the work undertaken, he proceeded to sue the Vestry for £532, being
one instalment of his contract, but the Vestry defended the action, made a counter
claim for £1,820 5s. 4d., and at the trial of the case on 12th February, 1891,
recovered judgment against Turner in the Queen's Bench Division for £1,820 5s. 4d.
with costs, being £357 2s. 8d. for work of snow removal executed by the Vestry
tor the contractor, £200 for fines inflicted on the contractor for 40 cases of special
neglect, and £1,263 2s. 8d. for the additional sum paid to another contractor for
completing the work. Of this judgment, £300 will be paid by Mr. Rogers, one of
the contractor's sureties, who has given three bills of exchange of £100 each,
payable at six, twelve and eighteen calendar months, but as both the other surety
and Mr. Turner have become bankrupt, there is little hope of recovering the balance.
On the 25th March, 1891, contracts for dusting and scavenging the parish for
six months only were entered into, and the Special Committee charged with the
execution of the new scheme had made sufficient progress to be able to take over
the Eastern division of the parish on the 29th September, 1891, when the Vestry
commenced doing its own work in that half of the parish. The arrangements made
were so far satisfactory that on the 25th March, 1892, the remainder of the parish