Page 293 - Reading Mercury

Much damage was caused by the water and the hasty removal of the furniture, &c.,
but we find the house was insured in the “County” office, although through an
inadvertence from Mr. Dunning having changed his residence recently, the insurance
on the furniture had not been kept up, so that he will be a considerable loser.

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Sat 8 July
VESTRY MEETING
WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE PROBLEMS
Last week a meeting was held in our Town Hall which was very largely attended
and excited much interest to consider the position in which the Town of Wokingham
and its suburbs are placed with reference to the adoption of the Sewage Utilization
Act. In order to explain the present aspect of the question, it is necessary to state that
in 1866, after much opposition and a poll of the parish, it was resolved by a majority
to place a district then defined under the provisions of the Sewage Utilization Act, and
a committee was then formed to carry out the act. After one or two meetings of the
committee the subject was abandoned and it has been in abeyance ever since.
In the interim the Highway Surveyors, on complaint of the Inspector of Nuisances,
have expended a considerable amount on the drainage of the district, and the works
executed by them were approved and sanctioned by the Vestry. However at Lady Day
last, a ratepayer appealed against the allowance of the Surveyor’s accounts, on the
ground that the sums charged therein on account of the drainage had been illegally
expended, because of the vote of 1866 the sewer authority then created, was the only
body legally enabled to execute such works. In this view the appellant stated that he
was fortified by the opinion of the Secretary of State; and thus affairs have come to a
deadlock, the Surveyors naturally feeling indisposed to act.
At the meeting Mr Alderman Wheeler having been elected chairman, Mt. Edward
Roberts ably and clearly laid before the Vestry the present position of affairs when a
proposal to appoint a fresh committee under the Sewage Act was met by an
amendment to postpone the matter for twelve months, but this was negatived, and
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ultimately an adjournment until the 20 July was carried. In the meantime it will be
well for the ratepayers to carefully consider the whole subject as matters cannot
remain in their present state; and if we do not keep control of the local drainage in the
hands of our own elected committee it is possible Government may step in, and then
the ratepayers may find themselves powerless to prevent an expenditure which they
now have the power of controlling.

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Sat 29 July
THE SEWAGE QUESTION
Since the Vestry meeting held last week at which a large majority refused to appoint
a commission to act under the powers of the Sewage Utilisation Act which it is
considered was adopted here between four or five years ago much attention has been
given to the subject and a memorial to the Home secretary is being prepared and will
and will at once presented. We may therefore expect an official inquiry into the
sanitary state of the town and its suburbs an inquiry which viewed with very different
feelings by the two opposing parties, the one stating that we have nothing to fear from
the improvements recently effected on the public drains whilst the others contend that
in many places the drainage is wholly inadequate to remove the sewage that the water
supply is insufficient and often impure and that only under the compulsory powers of
the Act can the evils they depict effectually be remedied.

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