The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-04 00:00:00

The Metropolitan Board of Works.

The weekly meeting of this board was held yesterday in
the offices in Spring-gardens, the chairman, Mr J. Thwaites
presiding.

The CHAIRMAN informed the board that the committee
of the House of Commons had struck out of the Subways
Bill the clause giving the board the compulsory power it
had sought over the gas companies, and he wished to know
whether or not the bill should now be proceeded with. He
said the committee had agreed to give the board power
over the water and telegraph companies, but, as the gas
companies obstructed the streets more than the others, the
great purpose of the bill would be lost, and it would be
better, in his opinion, to withdraw the measure and wait
for public opinion to ripen upon the subject than to proceed
further this session,

Mr TOTE, M,P., regretted that the committee of the House
of Commons had struck the gas
companiesot of the bill
and said that he was sure it wound be
advan-
tageous to the companies to lay their
,
pipes thweeysubwa s
as the rent the companies would be charged would be lyess,
than the expense of taking up and
rola in the thorough-
fares, and the pipes would not be so liableyg to breakage in
the subways as in the earth. The cost of the subways was
paidc omtreinrieeseahtsadin stpheen teuibnw.oaypa-
about £15,000 a mile, and the rent the companies would
have been required to pay would have been £4 per cent on
ayvtehe
my., moved that the bill should be p thatos op-
posing outlay. .
bill
for ten years to come.
The SOLICITOR then read the bill as altered, and asked
for instructions.
T
Mr. MILLER,
j2e
wouldm enhe
pro-
ceeded with, and said he should advise the board to ask
for compulsory powers with regard to water and telegraph
companies, and permissive powers so far as concerned gas
companies.
" The subject, he contended, was an experi-
mental one, and if the board could show at some future
time that the experiment had succeeded it would be entitled
to ask Parliament to give it compulsory Powers over those
companies that would not adopt the plan.
Mr. HEALEY seconded the motion.
Mr. DOULTON, moved as an amendment that the
bill should not be proceeded with, and remarked that the
decision of the committee had been arrived at on hearing
scientific evidence, which the board would have rebutted
had it been aware of the very strong opposition the bill was
to meet.
Mr. SAVAGE seconded this amendment, which,' on the
suggestion of Mr. LOWMAN TAYLOR, was altered to read
as follows :—" That, as the committee of the House of
Commons have resolved that so much of the Subways Bill
as relates to gas companies shall be struck out, the bill shall
be withdrawn."
Mr. Saunders, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Carpmael, Mr. Samuda
and Mr. Roche further addressed the board on the subject.
In the course of the discussion it was stated that the
companies did not so much object to putting their pipes in
the subways as They did to paying for the accommodation,
and it was urged that if the board now withdrew the bill
public attention would be awakened on the subject, and
Parliament on some future occasion would be more dis-
posed to fall in with the views of the board.
The amendment (that the bill be withdrawn) was car-
ried, there being—for, 24; against, 5.
A deputation from the volunteer fire brigades of the me-
tropolis waited upon the board and presented a memorial
urging that the board should propose clauses to be inserted in
the proposed Fire Brigade Bill recognising the disinterested
services of the volunteer brigades as auxiliary brigades to
the one about to be constituted.
Mr H. TAYLOR and Mr MILLER, 1\!.13., supported the
memorial, which was referred to committee,
A deputation from the inhabitants of Conatnereid.road
east waited upon the Board with a memorial calling atten-
tion to the entrance to the Connuercial-road. This road,
the memorialists stated, was one of the finest in London,
and leads to a thickly-populated district, and a district
reusing much traffic, and yet the entrance to the thorough-
fare was only from 15 to 22 feet wide. The estimated ex-
pense of making an improvement here was £122,000, and
the chairman remarked that he should like to know where
the money was to come from.
This memorial was also referred to committee.
The chief engineer (Mr Bazalgette) presented his monthly
report of the progress of the main drainage and northern
Thames embankment works up to the present time, of which