The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-25 00:00:00

" Whitehall, May 20.
" Sir,—l am directed byViscount Palmerston to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th inst., and to
state, in reference to your inquiry as to the application of
the sus of 150,0001., set apart by the Commissioner of
Sewers towards the commencement of those portions of
the main drainage works which are most urgently needed,
that the main drainage should be suspended for the pre-
sent.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Richard Jebb, Esq., H. WADDINGTON.
Chairman of the Sewers Commission,
1, Greek-street, Soho."
Lieut.-Colonel DAWSON—Sir, we cannot serve two
masters, and you yourself explained at the last Court
that the obligation upon us to do our duty was to the
ratepayers, and not to the Secretary of State. The
Government, in fart, have the power to displace us
if they see proper to do so, but otherwise, I believe,
they have no control over the exercise of our powers
in expending the funds of the commission according
to the terms of the act arid our own discretion. That,
I believe, is a true statement of our position under
the act as it now stands, but I should nevertheless re-
gret, and I am sure the commissioners would regret, any
disregard on our part of the, opinions, wishes, or
views of the Government—(hear, hear)—but when the
interests of the ratepayers are so deeply involved, under
circumstances of extreme urgency, I d,, not see how we
can hesitate to apply the funds of the commission to
works of such extreme urgency as we have the power to
complete. I believe that the present sum of 200,000/.
was granted for works of urgency, according to the
list we gave to Government of works that amounted
to 567,0001., which was the sum applied for, but
only 200,0001. was granted, and that was required
to be expended before last Easter. We were not re-
stricted as to its application to any specific works ; but we
reported to the Government that we had got two works
on hand which we deemed most important, although not
less urgent than others, and they were the main drainage
on the north and south sides of the river. The sum
set apart for those two works was 150,0001., but the
ultimate cost of them would be upwards of a million.
As we had not under the act of last session power
to carry out those works to their completion, we
were most anxious to. have the sanction of the Go-
vernment at the commencement of the works, for the
purpose of securing to us funds for their completion.
As we have not obtained the sanction of Govern-
ment at the commencement, and been told that the main
drainage works are to be suspended, it appears to me
that, as there are works of equal urgency, but not so
expensive, they should be at once commenced and com-
pleted, for it is our duty only to undertake works with
the funds at our disposal ; which, according to the act,
we are bound to expend according to our wisdom and
discretion. Sir, I therefore move that the order for the
works to the Counter's Creek district, reserved at the
last Court, to the amount of 51,300/. be immediately
executed, and that the engineer be instructed to prepare
plans and estimates for other works of the most urgent
nature, to the amount of 100,0001., to be submitted to
us for execution at the next Court.
Mr. T. HAWES seconded the motion, as he considered
that they were not justified in keeping this amount in
the banker's hands. If they could not undertake large
works, they must tske up such as they could complete,
their best duty being to spend it in the worst and most
urgent districts.

The CHAIRMAN—Before putting the question, I beg
to say that I concur in all the observations that have
fallen from Colonel Dawson, but with reference to an
observation in which I said that we were bound to ex-
pend the money without obtaining the opinion of the
Secretary of State, I made that statement in answer
to one of the commissioners, who seemed to be of opinion
that we should get the sanction of the Government for
all works of importance. My observations had refer-
ence only to its legality. I object to pursuing that
course, and I do not think it is one consistent with
our position, or a ground for throwing from ourselves
a degree of responsibility that the Secretary of State
would not thank us for. It is our duty, on all occa-
sions, to pay proper deference to the Government in
the execution of our works, but I must protest against
on every occasion running to the Secretary of State to
cast on him the responsibility of what properly devolves
upon us. When, however, a measure came before Par-
liament to furnish us with the means for making large
sewers, it behoved us to satisfy him and the country, by
obtaining his sanction for the large sums of money placed
at our disposal. We are now relieved from doubt as to
the propriety of the works we are about to order, for we
are well satisfied of their necessity, the public were sa-
tisfied, and I believe we should have the sanction of the
entire engineering world for them. Lord Palmerston
differed from us on the principle of drainage of part of
our works, but there was not a doubt as to the main
drainage ; it does not apply to works of this important
nature, which the Counter's Creek sewer and other
main sewers of London represent. In addition. I can-
not collect any distinct information that there was any
desire on the part of Lord Palmerston to control the
commissioners, as I expressed at a former Court, in
the exercise of our judgment upon this matter. I made
an observation some time ago that the expressions of
Lords Palmerston were made to elicit from us a
reply, so that he might, having the two cases fully be-
fore him, be able to form a judgment and come to a
conclusion upon it. I think there is not the slightest
ground for delay, and that we should be shrinking from
our duty if we hesitated to order these works.
After a few words from Mr. Gibson,
The CHAIRMAN put the question, which was unani-
mously agreed to.
The
works referred to, estimated to cost 51,3001.,
consist of 1,500 feet of sewer, 9 feet 6 inches by 9 feet,
to commence at the river Thames between Cremorne-
gardens and the Kensington Canal, and proceed in a
northerly direction to King's-road, Chelsea ; and 11,190
feet of sewer, 8 feet
the King's-road, Che?so.elenae, haensdbpyr
ef
ee
de t
into oa cnoomr
tmh
ee
rnlcye
dit
-
rection
Royal-
crescent, Notting-hill. -road, and to a point near rection to the Uxbridge-road,
The Court granted permissitiohn to Mr. Richard Dover
to make a communication w
for taking a portion of the sewage water Essex
-street sewer,
therefrom.
ordered
to be paid
were or
The following expenses of wo''rkswadti
by means of special sewers-rates
out of the district sewers-rates of such dirsetdri to be paid
respec-
tively :—Counter's Creek, 4341. 158.4 d.; RanZ 3,,,
2s. 7d.; Western Division of Westminster ' r sewers, 6351.
16s. 2d.; Eastern Division of Westminster sewers, 1,0541.
165. 9d.; Holborn division, 1,7651. 4s. 7d.; Finsbury di-
vision, 3,5591. 9s. 2d.; Spitalfields, 2,8061. ss. 9d.; Ser.
rey and Kent, 2,6211. 2s. 2d.
A document was transmitted to the Court giving the
humiber of persons at the public zconveniene.A,in Covent-_
garden for the three years it has been established. For
the year ending May
21, 1852 91,600 ; for 1853,
33,222 ; for 1854, 97,121. Total for the three years,
276,933.
After disposing of some routine business, the Court
adjourned.