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progress of the Bill. In due course the Bill was passed, and
for many years an amalgamated rate for all purposes was
levied in conformity with it; but the passing of the Highways
Act of 1835 and subsequently of the Metropolis
Management Acts, rendered a return to the former practice
of making separate rates necessary. The Act is, nevertheless,
still in force in respect of the poor rate, the appointment
of Collectors and matters connected therewith.
The design of the Act, as indicated by its title just
quoted, was not realised, unless the punishment of the poor
who refused to work "by moderate correction and by
distinguishing them in dress" secured the better employment
of the poor, and unless the abolition of the offices of
"scavenger" and surveyor of highways within the parishes
resulted in an improved condition of the streets.
The chief benefits conferred by the Act were in relation
to the rating of the inhabitants, and the more equitable
assessment of property. The preamble recites "that the
rate for repairing the highways in the said parishes is
so small that divers persons refuse the payment thereof."
No instance of subsequent refusal for this reason appears
on record, from which it is to be inferred that the grounds
of objection was effectually if not satisfactorily removed.
Except providing for the prosecution of contractors for
neglect to properly cleanse the streets, the Act gave the
Vestry no new powers. It is not surprising therefore to
find that amendments were soon found necessary, Within
ten years another Act was passed, 2 George III. cap. 21, for
paving, cleansing, and lighting the squares, streets and lanes
within the City and Liberty of Westminster * * * and
for preventing annoyances therein. In the next following
Session, and again in the 4th and 5th Sessions of Geo. Ill,
further Statutes were passed "to explain, amend, and render
more effectual" the Act of 1702.
Another Bill, introduced at the instance of the parish
authorities of St. James, was discussed by the Vestry in