The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-05 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

The usual meeting of the Metropolitan Board of
Works was held yesterday, at the offices, in Spring-
gardens ; Sir John Thwaites in the chair.

The financial statement was presented, from which
it appears that the aggregate cash balance on the
Ist of October was £534,135, and payments were
ordered to the amount of £6,963 Bs. sd.
THE ENCLOSURE OF WANDSWORTH-COMMON.

A deputation from the Wandsworth-common
Preservation Society, headed by Mr. Anderson Rose,
waited on the Board for the purpose of presenting a
memorial praying for the assistance of the Board in
resisting the encroachments which were being made
on the rights of the inhabitants of Wandsworth and
Battersea by the further enclosures that were taking
place of large portions of Wandsworth-common. It
stated that great anxiety was felt to preserve what
remained of the common for public use and recrea-
tion, for more than one half of the common had
already been enclosed—in the first instance for
semi-charitable purposes, and on that account those
enclosures had not been opposed. Since that time,
however, enclosures had been made by private per-
sons in collusion with the lord of the manor, and an
enclosure had been made by the Brighton Railway
Company, not for the purposes of the railway, and
not under the powers of their Act of Parliament,
but as a building speculation. The purchase of that
part of the common had been made by Mr. Laurie
and Mr. Slight, as appeared by the conveyance deed
for their own use, but purchasers Of some of the lots
refused to complete on the ground that there were
commonable rights, and that the Brighton Railway
Company had no power to extinguish them ; where-
upon the railway company allowed the objection and
returned the deposits, therefore it was with a full
knowledge of all these defects that the land had been
purchased. Notwithstanding this, several footpaths
had been stopped up, but these fences had been
repeatedly broken down, and yet the railway com-
pany refused to try the right. The Brighton Rail-
way Company had made enclosures for dust and re-
fuse of the district, and a vast heap of accumulated
filth had been deposited, and was constantly sorted
and sifted there, and a Mr. Todd and a Mr. Hewitt
were building a public house on the common land
so illegally enclosed by the Brighton Railway Com-
pany. An avenue of trees a mile long, skirting
the east side of the common, was being destroyed
by Mr. Todd, although it was outside the fence and
on the public footpath, and the line of building it
was believed was proceeding illegally, and set most
injuriously to the public traffic. The width of the
main road was only 25ft. from kerb to kerb, and the
carriage road was only 18ft. 4in. For these reasons
it was prayed that this Board would take such steps
as might be necessary to prevent the enclosure of
Wandsworth-common by the Brighton Railway
Company and their agents, as a building specula-
tion, and to stop the buildings now bAng erected
thereon.

After a short discussion the subject was referred
to the Works and General Purposes Committee for
consideration and retort.

THE SOUTHERN OUTFALL.—STATE OF TUE RIVER.
Mr. 11. L. TAYLOR said, in consequence of com-
plaints which had been made to him with respect to
the state of the river Thames near the Southern
Outfall Works, in which it was stated that there
was a large amount of deposit, he wished to ask the
chief engine& what was the nature of that deposit,
and whether it was of a deleterious character.

The CHIEF ENGINEER said there was a survey
made of the part of the river complained of by the
Thames Conservancy Board i❑ 1861, and there was
no doubt that the report of 1867 would show a con-
siderable accession of mud, but it &wald be remem-
bered that the works of the Board were not opened
until 1861. and they would have to ascertain how
much of this accumulation was due before 1864,
and how much since that time. He had a report
which would throw some light upon the subject, but
at present he was not in possession of complete in-
formation as to what the deposit was before that
period and what it had been since. In those reaches
of the river there. was a considerable tendency in
the mud to accumulate, as there bad been in other
parts of the river. He must say, however, that the
accounts he had seen in the papers in reference
to this subject were much exaggerated, for,
although he believed in some places there had been
an increase of :deposit since the outfall works
had been opened, in other parts of the river there