his dilemma, noticed in a previous chapter. The owners of 8-11 Mercatoria were to be permitted also to drain on the same terms, and the same rule to apply to a house on the west side of the Archery Gardens, which Lady Boothby had given notice of her intention to build.
Coal Dues. At the meeting on June 24th, it was stated that the coal duties which had been put up by auction not having commanded the reserve price, were bought in at £250. They were sold, last year, for £275.
Stone Crossing. Mrs Mills having applied for the stone crossing at 57 Marina to be removed to avoid noise in her delicate state of health, the request was granted on the condition that the removal be at her own expense, and its restoration also if required.
New Assessments. Resolutions were passed for the following new assessments:-
| 25 East Ascent | £30 | Mrs Braham’s | 80 Marina | £120 |
| Mr Turner’s new house at the Fountain | £18 | Mr Simmons’s | 81 “ | £120 |
Sea Wall etc. At the meeting on August the 1st, an order was given to re-point the sea-wall nearly opposite the church, and to relay the crossing on the east side of the Victoria Hotel.
Can you help us! Such, in effect was an application by the Local Board of health to the St. Leonards Commissioners at a time when the former were persistently pursuing, in various ways, an imperious attitude towards the latter. The same kind of spirit was evinced when Mr Smith, finding that his 14 new houses at Stanhope Place were rated to the Local Board, naturally applied to that Board for the means of draining them, and received in reply the cold comfort that if people built houses where there was no drainage they must put up with the consequence. The Local Board appeared to forget that Mr Smith was a pioneer builder on land which had theretofore not required any drainage appliances; also that the drainage of new, as well as old habitations was the great sanitary object for which the Town Council obtained the additional powers as a Local Board of Health. Mr Smith, in his dilemma, allowed the soil to run from his houses into the St. Leonards Mews and was summonsed for the same, but the summons was dismissed, the magistrates declaring that the St. Leonards Commissioners had no jurisdiction. If, however, Mr Smith had not afterwards availed himself of the Commissioners’ offer to drain into their sewer, the case would have been carried to a higher Court, where either Mr Smith or the Local Board might have found that the Commissioners had at least a jurisdiction against the committal of nuisances. But, now for the application received from Mr John Phillips, acting for the Town Clerk, who was then ill.
- “Gentlemen – there is a considerable tract of land within the district of the Local Board of Health to the north of the limits of the St. Leonards Commissioners’ Improvement Act which has its natural drainage for surface water to the sea through the sewers of your Commission, which must of necessity be continued. As, however, houses continue to be built upon the -
