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an opportunity of making what, for convenience, may be
called an appeal to the sanitary committee, against the requirements
of the sanitary inspector and the committee,
respectively. Appeal, which is of rare occurrence, usually
takes the form of an application for extension of time for
carrying out required works. Supervision of reconstruction
and trapping of drains, and underground sanitary work
generally, is now exercised by the surveyor, and information
on the subject must be sought in that officer's report. Many
drains were, as usual, reconstructed by the owners or occupiers
of houses, without the issue of sanitary notices, on the deposit
of plans for approval. Particulars on this head also will be
found in the surveyor's report.
Legal Proceedings.—In 61 cases proceedings were
taken before the magistrates : in 26 instances for offences
under the bye-laws for registered houses ; fines to the aggregate,
amount of £25 15s. being imposed (£21 10s. upon keepers,
and £4 5s. upon lodgers). Fines were inflicted in other cases
as follows : for failure to comply with magistrates' orders, in two
cases, the fines amounting to £3 6s.; in one case of unsound
food, £2; in one case of black smoke, £5; in two cases of
neglect to comply with the County Council's bye-laws with
reference to w.c. accommodation, £6; and in one case for
omitting to give notice in connection with the fixing of a w.c.,
one shilling. The fines in all amounted to £42 2s.
Neglect of the notices of the sanitary authority is
somewhat common, the result being that the time of the
inspectors is wasted in fruitless re-inspections. In every such
case—as when the work has not been put in hand at a date
when it should have been completed—the fine prescribed by
section 4 (4) of the Act of 1891 should be imposed, or at least
applied for: disobedience to notices leads to waste of the
officers' time, and is also disrespectful to the sanitary authority.