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15
Provisions ot
Public Health
(London) Act.
Refer first to Section 48 (2), which enacts that no newly erected
house shall be occupied until the Sanitary Authority has issued a
certificate respecting the water supply.
Section 37 forbids the erection of, or re-building of any house
without sufficient ashpits, one or more proper and sufficient w.c's., with
water supply, apparatus, fittings, trapped soil pan, &c.
Section 38 enacts similar provisions as regards factories, work
shops, and workplaces, whether built before or after the passing of this
Act.
Section 39 empowers the County Council to make bye-laws with
respect to the provision of water closets, ashpits, and other things;
and Sub-section 3 makes it the statutory duty of the sanitary authority
to enforce the bye-laws so made.
There are other sections equally emphatic, but these are sufficient
for the purpose of pressing home the point that sanitary authorities
have statutory duties to perform in connection with buildings, and it
would be interesting to know how they are to execute these duties
except by the visitation and report of their sanitary inspectors, who are
appointed for this amongst other similar purposes.
If this is the position—and its correctness cannot be denied—I
suggest that the interference of the Board is no more legal than it is
practical, and most certainly it is contrary to the letter and spirit of
Clause I. of the Board's own Order, which requires every inspector,
as a condition of appointment, to carry out all the duties imposed by
any statute or statutes. The sections referred to above prove, I submit,
that the duties are specifically imposed by statute, and in these
circumstances the action of the Board appears somewhat inexplicable.
Indoor and
clerical work of
Inspectors.
The remaining point in dispute is on the question of book-keeping,
or the clerical side of the inspector's work, and in this, as in other cases
referred to, the action of the Board is equally regrettable. To comply
with the statutory duties a number of books, &c., have to be kept, such as
Nuisance Registers, Forms, and the like. To execute this part of the duty
a number of qualified inspectors could, if so desired, be kept in the
office filling up these books and forms for at least one-half of their time.