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79
Sanitation at Railway Stations.
On January 8th it was found that alterations were in progress at
Finchley Road (Metropolitan) Railway Station, which involved the
removal of the Ladies' Waiting Room from the Entrance Office to a
room on the Down Platform, in which two sanitary conveniences were
in course of construction.
No notice had been given to the Council, either by the Railway
Company or their Contractor, before commencing the works, and in
other respects the provisions of the Bye-laws made under the Metropolis
Local Management Act, 1855, and the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, had not been complied with.
The attention of the Company's Resident Engineer and Contractor
was directed to the matter, but they contended that Section 16 of the
Railway Consolidated Clauses Act, 1845, which authorises a Railway
Company from time to time to make and alter such conveniences as they
think fit, exempted them from the operation of any General Act or
Bye-laws in force in the Borough.
The works having in the meantime been completed, the Public
Health Committee recommended the Council to take proceedings against
the Contractor.
Summonses were consequently taken out, and the case was heard at
the Marylebone Police Court on 29th May, 1903, by Mr. Curtis Bennett,
who on 15th June gave the following considered decision:—
"In this case there are seven summonses, three under Bye-laws
1, 2, and 14, made by the London County Council under the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891; one under the Metropolis Management
Acts, 1855 (Section 76), and 1862 (Section 88); one under Bye-law 4 of
the Act of 1855 (Section 202); one under Bye-law 8 of the Act of 1855
(Section 232); and one under Bye-law 9 of the same Act. They all raise
really the same legal question, whether or no the Public Health Act of
1891, and the Metropolis Local Management Acts apply to a railway
station, so that the requirements of those Acts can be enforced against
the Railway Company, should either the conveniences provided at the
railway station not be in accordance with the requirements of those
Acts, or should any alteration be made in any of the conveniences so