The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-24 00:00:00

A GOOD RECORD.

The Times in a leader says: The report of tne
Metropolitan Board of Works for 1883 is a record of
something more than the usual amount of good work
done or attempted during the year. The Board has
been busy in many directions over an area which is
perpetually increasing in population though not in
extent. Its report for the past year gives a statement
of the multifarious duties which have been thrust
upon it by successive Acts of Parliament and of the
manner in which they have been discharged. The
sewerage and drainage of London is the first subject
which appears on the pages of the report. It was to
effect this that the Board was originally constituted,
at a time when the state of the Thames was a scandal
and a nuisance to the inhabitants on the river banks,
and when the drainage of London was imperfect every-
where and in many districts could hardly be said to
exist. London at the present day is the best drained
city in the world. The main part of the work has
been done, and. done effectively, at no snialr cost to
the ratepayers, and it is well worth all, and more
than all, that has been spent upon it. But the com-
plete drainage of London is too vast an affair to be
concluded at a single stroke. For some time past
the business of the Board has been to carry out in
detail the arrrangements which have been rendered
possible by the completion of the main outlines, and
to secure for each neighbourhood and each street its
due share in the benefit. The report shows us the
progress which has been made during the past year
with this important work, the obstacles which here
and there have impeded it, and the heavy expense
which has been entailed by it, and by the neces-
sary care and maintenance charges of the entire
system.
Under the heading of Metropolitan Improvements,
the repcirt introduces us to another and a more
agreeab/t" duty which has been intrusted to the
Board's care. It is of a nature even more idefinite
than the former one, and less capable of being dealt
with and completed out of hand. It divides itself
,intb sevel•al branches more or less connected with one
another; and formidable both by their number and
by, their xtent. -The widening of olel streets and the
construction of new ones, the opening out of new
thoroughfares between one part of London and
another, the pulling down of premises unfit for human
habitation and the housing of the ejected inmates, the
care of the London bridges and the provision of
further means of communication between the two
banks of the Thames, the provision and maintenance
of open spaces and parks—all these fall naturally
under the heading of Metropolitan Improvements,
and numerous as they are they do hot exhaust the list.
The maintenance of a fire brigade, which the Board is
compelled to manage as it best can with the insufficient
funds at its command, is a further duty of the Board. It
is concerned, moreover, with the inspection of the
gas and water supply of London. It has to 'watch
the London tramways-and to prevent them from ob-
taining powers the exercise of which would be a
hindrance to the general traffic. The Board is the
local authority for carrying out the provisions of the
Onnfnrinlia Diann coo ( A ”ix.......4/d) .eict within metro-
politan limits, and for giving effect to the successive
orders issued by the Privy Council under the Act.
It is charged with the supervision of slaughter-
houses, and with the regulation of various offensive
businesses carried on in the metropolis; with the
regulation of the manufacture, storage, and sale of
explosive substances of all kinds; with the protection
of infant life under the boarding-out system; and it
has jurisdiction over theatres and music-halls, so far,
at least, as to enable it to insist on proper precautions
being taken against fires, and on proper means of
exit being provided for the audience in the event of
fire or of alarm.

The above are the chief duties which have been
assigned to the Metropolitan Board. Those who may
be desirous to complete the list and to obtain a full
survey of the Board's Parliamentary powers can
gratify their curiosity by referring to the hundred and
eight Acts of Parliament which confer on the Board
the rights and privileges which it enjoys. The greater
part of these have little or no reference to the original
purpose for which the Board was constituted. The
Board has had the good or bad fortune which com-
monly attends the efficient discharge of any public
function whatever. That it has done one thing well
has been the sufficient reason for asking it to u-nder-
take something else.
The Board has not been inactive in making efforts
for the relief of the water-ratepayers, but it has re-
ceived no help from the Government, and has failed
accordingly in carrying its purpose into effect. It
may be thought, says the report, that the Board,
having done all it could, is free from further respon-
sibility. But, perish the ignoble thought. The
Board has too high a sense of duty to rest on such an
excuse as this. As long as it remains intrusted with
the care of metropolitan interests, it will be its duty
to protect and advance them in every. way so far as
its powers extend. With this object it 'llSs ii pran in
view for placing the water supply of London com-
pletely under public control, and it proposes to ask
Parliament for leave to introduce a bill to empower
the Board to prepare the necessary scheme and to lay
it before the Legislature. The prevention And con-
trol of fires is another matter in the
action of the Board has been hindered —in
this instance from the want of funds. The
expenditure on the fire brigade has been
increasing year by year, and for some years past it
has been in excess of the funds assigned for it. The
result has been an increasing and accumulating deficit
on the fire brigade working account, and a demand
from the Board for a more liberal supply of money.
We have had of late a somewhat unusual succession
of large fires, each of them taxing to the full the dis-
posable forces of the fire brigade. But we have been
again and again warned that in the event of two large
fires happening on the same night the brigade will be
unequal to coping with them. With so grave a danger
in view to life and property in London, it is high time
that the repeated demands of the Board should no
longer be disregarded. The brigade is notoriously
over-worked, and it needs to be very largely reinforced
if it is to continue to meet effectively the increasing
requirements which are year by year thrust upon it.

IN
TIIE DICTIONARY.—LittIe Willie, haying hunted
in all the corners for his shoes, at last appears to give
them up, and climbing on a chair, betakes himself to
a big book on a side table. Mother says to him,
What is darling doing with the book? "It ith
the dictionary; papa lookth in the dictionary for
things, and I am looking in to see if I can find my
shoes."
HE WAS MISTAREN.—A goodly parson complained
to an elderly lady of his congregation that her
daughter appeared to be wholly taken up with trifles
or worldly finery, instead of fixing her mind on things
above. "You are certainly mistaken, sir," said she.
"I know that the girl appears to an observer to be
taken up with worldly things, but you cannot judge
correctly of the direction her mind really takes, as she
is a little cross-eyed."