Report from Select Committee on Metropolis Sewers : with minutes of evidence, and an appendix.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Metropolis Sewers.
- Date:
- [1834]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report from Select Committee on Metropolis Sewers : with minutes of evidence, and an appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.
212/276 page 12
![12] II. Westminster and part of Middlesex District. Parishes named in the Commissions of Sewers, but not coming under the Act above mentioned. Hampton. Teddington. Twickenham. • Isleworth. Hanwell. Sewers’ Office for Westminster and Part of Middlesex,] 25 March 1834. J Brentford. Acton. Ealing. Hammersmith. Fulham (part). Vide p. 5. S p. 7. P- 49- P* 59* p. 68. 5.—COPY of Case and of the Opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General as to the Authority of the Commissioners of Sewers to build new Sewers. Case. BY the Bill of Sewers, (23 Hen. 8, c. 5,) it is enacted, that Commissioners of Sewers shall be directed, in all parts within the realm, from time to time when and where need shall require, according to the form therein stated, and the Commissioners are authorized, (s. 3,) “ to survey the said walls, streams, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gotes, calcies, bridges, trenches, mills, milldams, floodgates, ponds, locks, hebbingwears and other impediments, lets and annoyances aforesaid, and the same cause to be made, corrected, repaired, amended, put down or reformed as case shall require, after your wisdoms and discretions;” and after directing inquiry by whose defaults the annoyances come, and to assess them for the same, the Commission states: “ and also to reform, repair and amend the said walls, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gotes, calcies, bridges, streams and other the premises in all places needful, and the same as often as where need shall be to make new, and to cleanse and purge the trenches, sewers and ditches in all places necessary.” And by 2 Wm. & M ary, c. 8, intituled, “ An Act for paving and cleansing the Streets in the City of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs and Liberties thereof,” &c. after reciting that many new sewers, sinks and vaults had been made in the parishes within the city and liberty of Westminster, and other the parishes aforesaid, by the Commissioners appointed by 13 & 14 Car. 2, c. 2, which, since the expiration thereof were much neglected and noisome to the inhabitants, because of some doubt whether such new sewers were within the jurisdiction of the laws of sewers, it is enacted, “ that all* new sewers, at any time since the 12th year of the reign of the said late King Charles the 2d, made in any of the said parishes, shall be henceforth subject to the Commissioners of Sewers, and to the laws and statutes made for sewers, as fully, to all intents and purposes, as if such sewers, sinks and vaults had been expressly mentioned in the said statutes of sewers to be under the survey of the said Commissioners; and the Commissioners of Sewers for the time being, within the limits of their respective commissions, shall have power and authority, by virtue of this Act, to alter, amend, cleanse and scour any such new sewers, sinks and vaults, and to order and direct the making of any other new vaults and sewers, and to cut into any drain or sewer already made, and to alter and take away any nuisances in the same, and to alter or take away any cross gutter or channels in all or any of the streets or lanes in the parishes aforesaid.” And by 42 Geo. 3, c. 7, after reciting the Act of 2 Wm. & Mary, and that by the increase of buildings, and various improvements made and intended to be made within the limits last described, it might become necessary to make new drains, sewers and watercourses, and to alter and divert the course of some of the ancient sewers, it is enacted, “ that the said Commissioners of Sewers for the time being, or such number of them as are authorized to act by virtue of the commission of sewers, shall have power and authority by virtue of this Act, within the limits of their said commission before described, from time to time, as they shall see occasion, to widen, deepen, embank, alter, amend, cleanse and scour any sinks, vaults, sewers, drains and watercourses, and to remove and take away, or cause to be removed and taken away, nuisances in the same, and to alter and divert the course of the water in any of the streets, lanes and public ways, and also to order and direct the making of any new vaults, sewers, drains and watercourses, in all or any of the streets, lanes and public ways made or to be made within the limits last before described ; and such new vaults, sewers, drains and watercourses shall be subject to the control, order and direction of the Commissioners of Sewers, their surveyors and officers, and to the laws and statutes made for sewers, as fully, to all intents and purposes, as if such vaults, sewers, drains and water¬ courses had been expressly mentioned in the said statutes of sewers, to be under the survey and authority of the said Commissioners.” It is usual in the newly-built streets for the owners of the land, or the builders of the houses, to build the sewers. This is required to be done under the direction of the Com¬ missioners, according to the said Act, 47 Geo. 3, c. 7,(loc. and per.) from which it is to be inferred that those who, from having built houses have caused a necessity for sewers, are the persons who should build them. These sewers are afterwards received into the charge of the Commissioners, when they form a part of the general drainage of the district, and are repaired, cleansed, amended, reformed and rebuilt from time to time, as may become neces¬ sary, at the public expense. You are requested to advise whether the power given to the Commissioners by the Act, 2d Wm. & Mary, s. 2, c: 8, and confirmed by the 47 Geo. 3, “ to order and direct the making](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30459205_0212.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
