The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-01 00:00:00

CITY COMMISSION OF SEWERS.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Commissioners of
Sewers, held at Guildhall, Mr. De Jersey in the
chair, a rate of 3d. in the pound was made and
ordered to be collected forthviith upon all rateable
property within the City, to meet a demand of
£16,499 odd made by t}ie Metropolitan Board of
Works, being the estim.ated quota of the Citytowarde
the main drainage 'works for the year ending the
Ist of August, 18(1,2, and payable on the 25th March
next.

Mr. Dept)* yHARRISON, one of the Commissioners,
and a rep%•esentative of the corporation of the Board
of Wor'ss, stated incidentally that during the last
year the rateable value of the property in the City
of london had increased by.£20,000, a circumstance
which tended to lessen the rate, adding jocosely,
that he hoped the prosperity of every citizen had
increased in proportion.
Mr. Arthur S. Denny applied for and obtained
leave to exhibit before the commission an invention
for " dressing a scarfying" street pavements, the
object being to counteract the slippery smoothness
of the footways produced by constant friction.
On the recommendation of a committee, Mr. Se-
condary Potter was nominated to transact the legal
business of the commission until they shall have
appointed a solicitor in the room of the late Mr.
Charles Peat son.

An incidental conversation took place as to
whether the next solicitor to the commission should
be paid by fees or by salary.

At a recent meeting of the Common Council it
was referred to a committee to consider the duties
and emoluments of the City Solicitor, and whether
it was desirable to amalgamate the office with any
existing one in the corporation. Yesterday it was
suggested that the commission should wait for the
report of that committee before they appointed a
solicitor to the commission, inasmuch as it would.
save them the trouble of making a similar inquiry
for themselves. That was opposed by Mr. Deputy
Elliott, who said the appointment of the late City
Solicitor as such to be the solicitor to the commis-
sion was a mere accident, and not a desirable one
in itself. He contended that the commission ougbt
to appoint a solicitor of their own wholly regardless
of who might be the future City Solicitor.
The conversation led to no practical result,
Touching the sanitary condition of the City, Dr.
Letheby, the medical officer of health, reported on
the state of 190 houses that had been inspected
during the week, and he submitted a list of 149
places for sanitary improvement. He likewise sub-
mitted a list of 57 places which required further
proceedings on account of orders already issued but
not yet complied with. He also reported that the
markets and slaughter-houses had been duly in-
spected, and the officers had seized 960 lbs. of meat,
601bs. of sausages, and 175 head of game and poul-
try, as unfit for human food. All of it had been
destroyed in the usual manner. The mortality num-
ber for the week are a little below the average. The
returns of death was 45, and the births 48. Exactly
one-third of the deaths were among children of less
than five years of age, and ten were among per-
sons of 60 and upwards. The chief causes of death
were
as follows :—Phthisis, 9 ; pneumonia, 2 ;
bronchitis, 3 ; continued fever, 2 ; scarlet fever, 4 ;
measles, 2 ; and infantile diarrhoea, 3. Most of
the deaths were from diseases of a chronic charac-
ter. Yesterday the commissioners fined Mr. Baker
and Mr. Boakes, two of the contractors, £5 and £1
respectively, for proved neglect of scavenging duty.

GREAT INTERNATIONAL FRUIT SHOW. The
Commissioners of Customs have had under consideration
an application of the Royal Horticultural Society, stating
that a Great International Fruit Show will be held at South
Kensington on the Bth of October next, and requesting
that packages of fruit arriving from the colonies and from
foreign countries for the exhibition may be passed without
being opened or disturbed. The board allow all such pack-
ages addressed to the Horticultural Society to be forwarded
without examination under seals of office to the society's
premises, at Kensington, to the " care of the officers of
customs in charge of the International Exhibition," subject
to the same regulations ac were observed in regard to goods
for the International Exhibition.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S LAND TRANSFER ACT.
—The Land Transfer Act., which the Lord Chancellor suc-
ceeded in passing through Parliament last session comes
into operation to-day (October 1). The object of the Act,
as stated in the preamble, is threefold :-Ist,
2d,to givetotainty or security to the title to real estate:
der the dealing
facili-
tate the proof of such title; and
with land more simple and inexpensivetion to-day it is not 3d:ttcharen it is at present.
Although the Act comes irto
registry-officeoi will be opened
ex-
pected that the New Lana.
lutjateh
the different
do f the
publicn omffiocnetsh , i
And i
for public. bauosninsesbeetusivict place in the
s which have taken
consequence of the delay
communications
the numerous intricate details which necessarily have to
aroused.