Folios 121-124. To: The General Board of Health. From: Charles E Deacon, Town Clerk...

Folios 121-124.

To: The General Board of Health.

From: Charles E Deacon, Town Clerk and Clerk to the Local Board of Health, Southampton [Hampshire].

Subject Matter: Letter having reference to the circumstances attending the construction of certain sewers in Southampton by the Local Improvement Commissioners previous to the introduction of the Public Health Act 1848 into the borough, and the subsequent proceedings of the Local Board of Health in connection therewith. Deacon explains that the Local Board have made and levied Special District Rates to repay the principal and interest due upon the sum so borrowed for the completion of the main sewerage works, and that these rates have been equally made upon all premises situated within the borough, entirely irrespective of the question whether the premises were sewered by the Local Board of Health, or whether they were sewered by the Commissioners acting under two local Acts of Parliament. He enquires whether any, and if so, what deduction should be made, and for what time, from the Special Rates, in respect of the sums expended by the Local Board for the general sewerage works of the town, in consequence of the Act existing previous to the local Improvement Act of 1844, and of the sewers constructed under the provisions of that Act, according to the following proviso contained in Section 86 of the Public Health Act 1848: 'Provided always, with respect to the cost of making any such new sewer, that if it appears to said Local Board that any premises were sufficiently drained before the new sewer was made, they shall deduct from the amount of rates otherwise chargeable in respect of such premises, such a sum, and for such a time as the said Local Board may, under all the circumstances of the case, deem to be just'. Deacon adds that the matter is of great importance to the town, as the question has been raised by the occupiers generally of premises that were sewered by the owners previous to the introduction of the Public Health Act.