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59
Public Health Department,
Municipal Buildings,
Battersea, S.W.,
20th July, 1909.
To the Health Committee.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—
I have to draw the attention of the Committee to the recent proceedings at
the South-Western Police Court against Mr. Barnes, who was summoned for
failure to comply with the Council's notices served under the provisions of
Section 78 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, for an
additional supply of water to be provided on one of the other storeys of a
tenement house situate at 146, Meyrick Road. The magistrate, after hearing
evidence that the provision of an additional water supply was in the interest of
the health of the persons living in the house, and was a reasonable requirement,
made an order to that effect so far as that house was concerned, but expressed
his opinion very definitely that the section referred to did not give power to the
Sanitary Authority to require that a supply should be provided for more than
one storey, or, in other words, more than one water supply to the house, irrespective
of the number of tenements therein.
It will be in the recollection of the Committee that when the Act came into
force, I pointed out that the wording of the section was ambiguous, and that
difficulty would probably be experienced in enforcing its provisions.
The opinion expressed by the Magistrate in the above-mentioned case will
render it advisable for the Committee to reconsider their position as regards
their powers under this section. There are several other cases pending, and
should an adverse decision be given in connection with any of these cases,
whether they are prepared to advise the Council to carry the matter to a Higher
Court.
There can, of course, be no question as to the advantage from the sanitary
standpoint of the provision of a water supply on each of the floors of tenements
occupied by separate families, and I gave evidence to that effect in the case just
decided. As, however, the Magistrate has held that the section under which
the proceedings were taken does not confer on the Sanitary Authority the power
to enforce a supply to more than one floor, it is useless to issue notices unless
the Council are prepared to carry the case to a higher tribunal to decide the
point.
The opinion just given would seem to indicate that Section 78 of the L.C.C.
(General Powers) Act, 1907, does not confer any powers on Sanitary Authorities
in excess of those given them under Section 48 of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891. Under the latter Act, there was some doubt as to whether Section
48 (1) did not empower Sanitary Authorities to require a separate supply to
each tenement. A decision given in 1905 by one of the Metropolitan Magistrates
settled, so far as these Courts are concerned, the matter, the learned
Magistrate holding that the words "proper and sufficient" in the section referred
to the source of supply and not to the provision of taps within a house.
The object of the promoters of the L.C.C. (General Powers) Bill, 1907, which
came into force as an Act of Parliament at the beginning of 1907, was apparently
to remove the difficulty set up by conflicting decisions of Magistrates as
to the interpretation to be placed on the wording of Section 48 of the Public
Health (London) Act in regard to such premises.
The wording of Section 78 of the General Powers Act is as follows:—
"For the purposes of Section 48 (provisions as to house without proper
water supply) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, a tenement hot