Utilities
The borough acquired the horse-drawn tram services in its area in 1898, electrified them in 1904, and extended the network. There was also through running of the corporation trams and those of the London County Council system. West Ham Corporation Tramways operated 134 tram cars on 16.27 miles (26.2 km) of tracks when they became the responsibility of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933. The borough ran its own fire brigade which was absorbed into the London Fire Brigade in 1965. The corporation's electricity generation and supply undertaking was nationalised in 1948, when it was transferred to the London Electricity Board.
Following the passing of the 1929 Local Government Act the Council took over responsibility for certain health services, such as the large Whipps Cross Hospital (now the Whipps Cross University Hospital(in neighbouring Leyton) which they developed until it passed into the new NHS in 1946.
Read more about this topic: County Borough Of West Ham
Famous quotes containing the word utilities:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Flowers and fruits are always fit presents; flowers, because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all of the utilities of the world. These gay natures contrast with the somewhat stern countenance of ordinary nature: they are like music heard out of a work-house.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)