Report of the Highway and Sewerage Committee of the Local Board of Health.

  • Leicester (England). Local Board of Health. Sewerage and Highway Committee.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Highway and Sewerage Committee of the Local Board of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    6/68
    professional reputation, and the admirable evidence given by him as published in the first Eeport of the Commissioners for enquiring into the Sanitary State of Large Towns and Populous Districts. At the time of liis appointment, it wms not known, or even suspected, that any personal feeling of hostility existed towards him on the part of any influential member of the General Board, or that the Superintend- ing Inspectors of the General Board would have been permitted to act as principal Engineers for any Local Board; as, a 2iriori, such employ- ment by Local Boards would have appeared to be inconsistent with the independent position of the General Board and the perfect impartiality of their Inspectors in reporting on the plans of other Engineers. Influ- enced, therefore, solely by a desire to procure the best plan by securing the highest engineering talent, the Local Board made the appointment in question, and Mr. Wicksteed at once entered upon the consideration of the subject and the examination of the district. The result of his deliberation was embodied in a Eeport presented to the Board, and an Act of Parliament was applied for in the Session of 1851, to enable the Local Board to purchase the land, and form the main sewers and outfall recommended by Mr. Wicksteed. When the notices for this Bill were given and the Parliamentary plans prepared, copies of the Bill, &c., and plans were sent to the Gene- ral Board, but no communication was received from them until the day appointed for the Bill going before the Committee of the House of Commons, when the Chairman, Mr. Bernal, stated that he had just received a long letter from the General Board on the subject of the Bill, which would render it necessary for the promoters to communicate with the General Board before it could be further proceeded with. He, therefore, very politely adjourned the Committee to the following day, and wrote a letter with which the Borough Members, Mr. Whetstone, and the Town Clerk proceeded at once to the General Board. Their names were sent up, but Mr. Ellis alone was admitted to an interview, the Board having in the first instance stated that they could not see any of the deputation. The result of the interview of Mr. Ellis with Mr. Chadwick was that the Bill was altered in one of the clauses, so as to prevent the Local Board borrowing money without the previous consent of the General Board. No intimation was given that the scheme itself contained such defects in principle or detail, or was so radically objectionable, as to render it probable that such consent would be withheld.