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24
Police Court Proceedings.
17. There have been but very few, 13, prosecutions during
the year under the Public Health Act. Last year the number
was 35. The Clerk to the vestry, unlike the Clerk of the defunct
Board of Works, makes a practice of writing to defaulters
after the expiration of the notice warning them that proceedings
will be taken if the work ordered is not executed forthwith
Thus a little more time is gained and the work is usually commenced
before a summons has been applied for. Whatever the
merits or demerits of this practice in other ways it certainly
reduces the number of Police Court proceedings.
18. Smart and Campbell. There was one case in which
two men, named Smart and Campbell, were summoned for improperly
repairing a drain in White Hart Lane. An obstruction
had been caused by driving a paling through a combined drain,
and when the drain had been partially cleared a large hole in
one pipe was covered by laying over it a piece of slate. The
offence was admitted but a defence was made that the repair
was only meant to be temporary, and as less than one week had
expired since the work was done the magistrate refused to
convict. He stated however that it was a very serious offence
and that if there had been proof that the work was meant to be
permanent, he would have inflicted the full penalty of £20. He
ordered the defendants to pay the costs.
19. Purches. A man named Purches was also summoned for
a similar offence committed in Coxwell Road. He had repaired
a drain by laying an old tea-tray over it. He made the same
defence as to the work not being intended to be permanent, but
the magistrate fined him £5 and costs.