View report page

ventilating pipe from the sewer ventilator shall be carried from
the sewer side of the interceptor up the side, or back or front of
the house, thus avoiding any interference with the interceptor,
while theoretically securing sewer ventilation. There
would be just as little nuisance if the plan were tried of
putting the soil pipe in direct communication with the sewer
by a water-tight drain, the soil pipe to be carried upwards
in the manner as prescribed in the London County Council
By-laws.
During the past year there have been many points of
interest to chronicle in respect to the By-laws relative to the
houses let in lodgings. The most noteworthy of these was the
decision of the magistrate on a summons taken out against a
firm of house agents for breach of the By-laws. The defence
was that they were not the landlords within the meaning of the
By-laws, for the house was let to one man who himself sublet;
this defence was successful, as the magistrate held that
proceedings should have been taken against the one who sublet
This raises a very serious point to the Vestry, and one
that I do not hesitate to say will to a great extent render
nugatory the good effect of registration.
The tenancies of the sub-lessees are of a fleeting character,
the property usually being let at a weekly rental, and if they
are to be held liable it will fender the registration and reregistration
of these houses a matter of common occurrence,
for no sooner shall we have registered a house than it will be
let to another person, and the whole procedure will have to be
gone through again. This will provide a means of evading the
By-laws.
Further need has shown itself of the desirability of
raising the rent limit, if those houses which it is most desirable
to register are not to evade the By-laws regulations. Ido not
think that even 15s. per week is too great a limit to place on
these houses so far as regards unfurnished rooms; the limit
for furnished lodgings can very well remain where it is, for it is
not in that class of house that we shall get difficulty. In my
report for 1896 I drew attention to the fact that those houses
could not be registered without the consent of the Vestry, and
if thought necessary the numbers of the houses and names of