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BOROUGH OF SHOREDITCH
The Vestry of the Parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch,
IN THE COUNTY OF LONDON.
ANNUAL REPORT OF SOLICITOR AND CLERK.
To the Chairman and Members of the Shorediteh Vestry.
Gentlemen,
The past year has been a most important one in the history of Shoreditch,
having been marked by the completion of three main sections of the Vestry's heavy
combined scheme, namely, the Electricity Station, Dust Destructor, and Public
Library, leaving only the Baths and Washhouses and Technical Institute (both of
which will be completed in the ensuing year) to finish this unique collection of
municipal institutions upon one site.
The Electricity undertaking has been an unqualified success, far exceeding the
estimates made of it, for in the nine months of working, ending Lady-Day 1898,
there was a balance of income ever expenditure of £3,893 19s. 10d., which in the case
of a private company would have provided a dividend of about 5½ per cent. upon the
loan capital of £71,032 involved in the undertaking, but a municipal autherity is under
the disadvantage of not only having to pay the interest on its capital borrowed for
the undertaking (which in the case of a Company is paid by way of dividend), but is
also bound to pay off annually such a portion of the debt as corresponds to the life of
the object for which it is borrowed. Such a repayment of capital corresponds to a
heavy depreciation fund in the case of a Company, and renders it unnecessary for
the Vestry to set aside a fund for such a purpose, as at the end of forty-two years
they will present to the future ratepayers of Shorediteh an undertaking absolutely
free of debt (which must then be in full working order), including a site of improved
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