502 EEPOKT— 1886. 



of new intercepting sewers, so that they may be laid down with general 

 reference to the requirements of the united district at large, and in the case 

 of its being desirable that one constituent authority should use the exist- 

 ing intercepting sewers of another constituent authority, it devolves on the 

 Joint Board to say whether such sewer can and ought to be so used to the 

 extent of, but not exceeding, 40 gallons per head per day of the popula- 

 tion of the distrif :t. 



The costs of the Joint Board are divided into the costs of management 

 and the costs of outfall works (outfall works being the land, tanks, and 

 works for purifying the sewage). 



All the constituent authorities, with the exception of Perry Barr, are 

 liable to the costs of management, but no constituent authority is liable to 

 the expenses of outfall works until some portion of such authority's district 

 has been placed in connection with any of the said outfall works. 



The various districts contribute to the expenses of the Board in pro- 

 portion to the number of rated tenements in each district or contributory 

 place, such number being ascertained from the poor-rate made last before 

 the times for issuing the Board's precepts. 



The total area of the drainage district is 47,275 acres ; the population 

 in 1885 was estimated at 619,693 ; and the ratable value 2,401,093Z. 

 Appendix A gives a detailed statement of the area, population, and 

 ratable value. 



In accordance with the Provisional Order, the Drainage Board pur- 

 chased as going concerns all existing lands and works for treatment of 

 sewage owned by the various constituent authorities, such being Birming- 

 ham, Astou Manor, Harborne, and Balsall Heath. Of these the works 

 at Harborne and Balsall Heath were abandoned as soon as arrangements 

 for outlets had been carried into effect, and the sites of such works were 

 ultimately sold. Prom the Borough of Birmingham the Board acquired 

 about 159 acres of freehold and 103|^ acres of leasehold land, together 

 with the extensive system of tanks, machinery, plant, farm implements, 

 and stock situated at the general outlet at Saltley ; and from Aston Manor 

 about six acres of land, also situated at Saltley and surrounded by the 

 Corporation farm. 



As the outlet at Saltley is the natural point of discharge for fully 

 nine-tenths of the total population of the Drainage District, one of the 

 first cares of the Drainage Board after its formation was to assist the 

 various constituent authorities in their endeavours to put themselves in 

 communication with the outfall works purchased from the Birmingham 

 Corporation. Accordingly arrangements were speedily made for the 

 Corporation to receive into their main sewers the sewage from the districts 

 of Harborne and Balsall Heath, on payment of an annual sum for user ;. 

 the Manor of Aston Local Board entered into a contract for the construc- 

 tion of the sewer for conveying its sewage from the temporaiy outlet into 

 the Tame to the Board's tanks, the Aston Rural Sanitary Authority be- 

 coming joint owner with Aston Manor and Handsworth, and thereby 

 procuring an outlet for the Erdington and Witton poi'tions of its district -^ 

 the Handsworth Local Board extended one of the Aston and Handsworth 

 joint sewers , so as to accommodate the northern portion of its district, 

 and has since, in conjunction with Smethwick, extended the other joint 

 sewer, thereby completing for the present the intercepting sewers of 

 its own district and providing for Smethwick an outlet for the larger 

 portion of that district. The Saltley Local Board constructed the inter- 



