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Exemption Clause.—An interesting question was raised last year by the County Council on
the subject of exemption of houses from registration. Their Public Health Committee had reported
that many of the by-laws framed by sanitary authorities " contained clauses exempting from their
operation all houses above a certain rental," whilst " in other instances, where no such limits of
rental are specified, there are clauses to the effect that a house shall not be subject to the by-laws
until the sanitary authority resolves to require its registration, or until it is reported by a committee
as suitable for registration." The Committee stated that they had found, in several cases, " that
the limits of rental are so low as to exclude from the operation of the by-laws houses which it would
be very desirable to deal with, and that the discretionary power given by the form of the by-laws,
in other instances, has led to neglect to carry out the requirements of the section :" they therefore
thought it desirable to take Counsel's opinion as to the legality of exemption clauses in the by-laws,
and the following question was put to Mr. C. A. Cripps, K.C., viz.:—
" Whether there is power under section 94 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, to
exempt any houses from the operation of by-laws for the registration of houses let in lodgings or
occupied by members of more than one family, or whether every local authority is bound to
make by-laws for the registration of every such house in its district ? "