London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Mitcham 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Mitcham]
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29
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
In connection with the administration of the Public Health Acts the following legal proceedings were undertaken during 1933:—
| particulars. | Result. |
|---|---|
| Non-registration of milk retailer and non-registration of a dairy. | Fined 40s. and 20s. |
| Seventeen summonses taken out under Sec. 91, Public Heath Act, 1875, against the ownerof certain property. | Summonses adjourned for two months; eventually summonses withdrawn on payment of agreed costs. |
| Action in High Court of Justice claiming a declaration that certain structures, caravans, converted omnibuses used as dwellings were temporary buildings within the meaning of Sec. 27, Public Health Acts (Amendment) Act, 1907, and that the Council were entitled to pull them down or remove them. | The declaration was made. |
With reference to the last case mentioned above the following
remarks of Mr. Justice Humphreys, before whom the case was
heard, may be of interest. His lordship, in giving judgment, said
that the first question was whether the structures referred to were
temporary buildings within the meaning of Section 27 of the Public
Health Acts Amendment Act, 1907. On that point he held that it
was impossible for any court now to entertain any doubt, and they
were clearly temporary buildings. It was true that they were
dwelling houses where people had lived for some time and contained
all the ordinary conveniences of life except sanitary conveniences,
but that appeared to be a very excellent reason why a local
authority should take an interest in the matter, because with the
advance of science and sanitation, methods of dwelling which were
regarded as quite satisfactory in the time of our ancestors were no
longer to be regarded as satisfactory at all.
His lordship thought it quite right to say that, in his opinion,
there was much to be said in favour of the view of those persons
who said that a great deal of trouble, and even of crime, was due to
bad housing conditions, and that if a man was made to live like a