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148
they were sent forthwith, to the Local Government Board for
their sanction. On the self-same day a communication was
received from the Board intimating their willingness to approve,
with a few, mostly verbal, amendments, the bye-laws
which I had drafted and the sanitary committee had adopted,
and forwarded for the consideration of the Board five months
previously : these bye-laws, differing in some material respects
from those adopted by your Vestry. After a further long
interval the Board returned these proposed bye-laws, with
suggested amendments. To some of the Board's suggestions,
your Vestry demurred ; and a further communication was
made to the Board, urging, inter alia, the desirability of a
proposed bye-law requiring the landlord of a registered house
to give notice to the sanitary authority when intending to
carry out the annual cleansing, so as to enable the sanitary
inspector to supervise the execution of the work. The Board
had expressed doubt as to the competency of the sanitary
authority to make such a bye-law.* The desirability of such
a provision does not admit of question.
It is a common practice of people with large families to
conceal the number of their children until after taking possession
of their lodging—usually a single room; and then,
should it be desired to get rid of them, a tedious process, by
notices, police-court proceedings, &c. (as described in the
annual report for 1889, page 119), has to be gone through,
consuming many (at least six) weeks, during which time the
unfortunate landlord may not receive rent on peril of failure
to obtain an ejectment order. In regard to registered houses,
* The Board's suggestion was that a definite period should be fixed for the
execution of the works of cleansing, &c., meaning one month, so that the sanitary
authority, knowing about when the work would be in progress, should have a
chance of being able to exercise supervision. The period limited by the proposed
bye-law, " March 1st to August 1st inclusive," being the same as in the existing
bye-law, (No. 7) is so prolonged that it is practically impossible to supervise, as
the inspectors rarely know when the work is likely to be in progress.