The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-19 00:00:00

his house was in a worse s'-ate than it wag before ?

Mr. Williams said, undoubtedly that wax the fact, for
at the present time his house was swamped ; and if
there should be a thunderstorm in the course of the
summer, the water in the house would be up to the
mantel-piece.

Mr. DBEW inquired of Mr. Williams if he had made
any repre.,entation on the subject to the Woods and
Forests ?

Mr. Williams said he had not done so ; and asked the
board what course he should pursue ?
The CHAIRMAN said he should call the attention of the
vestry of Battersea to the subject, and if he had sustained
injury he should proceed against those who had
caused it.

Mr. Williams wanted to know against whom he was
to proceed.

The CHAIRMAN said, if the Government, in laying oxt
Battersea-park, had stopped up a ditch that had been
used as a sewer, there was no doubt but that they would
grant him relief. That, however, would not be the case
if he had improperly wed this ditch as a sewer.
The appellant said this very ditch had been under the
control of the Commissioners of Sewers, and two years
ego it was cleaned out by them, so that it was quite
clear that it was then a proper drainage.
Several members of the beard said Battersea park was
formed under the authority of an Act of Pariiament,
and there could be no doubt that they were justified,
under it, in stopping up the ditch in question.
The CHAIRMAN said, if Mr. Williams had any ground
of complaint, he ought to bring it before the vestry of
Wandsworth ; but, as he had shown no legal objection
to the rate, it must be paid.
Mr. Williams protested loudly against the injustice of
being calied upon to pay under such circumstances, and
said they might distrain upon him before he would
pay it.
Mr. Wm. Collins, of Albany-road, Camberwell, was
summoned for a similar amount for sewer rates.

Mr. Collins, upon being called upon to state why he
objected to pay the rate, said he lived near the Earl
open sewer, which formed the boundary between New-
ington and Camberwell, and although 500 houses were
drained into it, not an inch of it was covered over. He
bad been repeatedly to Greek-street, and bad represented
this subject.

The Engineer said that this place would be attended
to in the general arrangement for the main drainage.
Mr. Collins said that the Commissionere had made
sewers some miles off where there were no houses ; but
in their case, with a dense population, nothing had been
done for them.

The CHAIRMAN remarked that there were hundreds of
such cases which must depend on the execution of the
main drainage, and until that was laid down they could
not take up any particular case. However, a memo-
randum of what bad now been stated would be taken
and brought before the Commissioners on an early day.
Alfred Webb, of Albany-road, Camberwell, was sum-
moned to show cause why he refused to pay 18s. for
sewer rates.

Mr. Webb said he objected to pay because he had no
drainage, nor was there any sewer for a considerable dis-
tance. His wife was a laundress, and, in the course of
her business, she had a great deal of waste water, but as
there was no sewer or drainage he had to dig cesspools
all over his ground to get rid of it. He had recently
applied to the district vestry, but they told him they
could not interfere, as it was proposed to carry a main
line of sewer down the Albany-road, and that would be
under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works.
He bad no means of getting rid of the water, and if he
passed it into the Albany-road he was liable to be in-
dicted.

The CHAIRMAN said the parish must take some steps
for the purpose of getting rid of the drainage, and must
not leave it in the houses.

Mr. Webb wished to know, if he provided a large tub
and put the water into it, whether be would be allowed
to shoot it down the sewers, for the members of the dis-
trict board had told him that nothing could be done in
consequence of its being intended to pass the main sewer
down the Albany-road ; but he did not think much of
that, as they had been told the same thing for the last
thirty years.
Mr. IRVING said if he made application to the district
board they woad give him permission to form a drain
to communicate with the nearest sewer.

Mr. Webb said that Camberwell was the last parish
near the metropolis where a poor man would get redress.
As to draining into a sewer there wa,,; no drain, or even
a ditch, to carry off the surface water.
The rate was ordered to be paid in a month.
Several other cases were heard, but they possessed no
public interest whatever, the parties alleging poverty as
the cause of non-payment, and time was allowed to give
them an opportunity of raising the money.
The Court then adjourned.