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18
Improperly
constructing In January, 1893, a summons which had
Drains. been issued by the Board under Section 42
of the Public Health (London) Act against a builder
for improperly constructing a drain at Carfax Square,
Clapham, was dismissed by the Magistrate on the ground
that the owner of the premises should have been proceeded
against. The Board appealed, and the High Court gave
judgment to the effect that the Magistrate's decision was
wrong. The case was accordingly re-heard, and the
builder fined 10s. and 23s. costs.
Fever Hospital and As stated in the last Annual Beport the
Infirmary for
imbeciles at Tooting. Metropolitan Asylums Board failed to
obtain the sanction of the Local Government Board to
the purchase of the Tooting Lodge Estate, Tooting
Common, for the purpose of erecting a fever hospital
there. The Managers subsequently decided to purchase
a site for the hospital at Tooting Grove. A public
inquiry into the proposal was held by the Local Government
Board at the Tooting Vestry Hall on the 8th August.
This Board did not oppose the scheme, but pointed out
that a public footpath ran across the south-eastern end ot
the site, and asked for an assurance that the proposed
hospital would not be used for small-pox patients ; several
residents and owners of property in the locality attended
before the Inspectors and objected to the site on the
ground that it was low and damp, and that the erection
of the proposed hospital would depreciate the value of
their properties. The Bector of Tooting also attended
and pointed out that there was only a small unused space
for interments at the parish churchyard, and that if the
patients who died in the hospital were buried in the
parish it would be necessary to provide a cemetery. In
answer to these representations the Clerk to the Asylums
Board stated that if the Managers desired to divert or
stop up the footpath in question the proper legal steps
therefor would be taken; that the Managers had not