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be sent, and they were sent forthwith, to the Local Government
Board for their sanction. On the very same day a communication
had been received from the Board intimating their
willingness to approve, with a few, mostly verbal, amendments,
the bye-laws which the Sanitary Committee had tentatively
forwarded for their consideration five months previously—these
bye-laws, differing in some material respects from the amended
form of bye-laws adopted by your Vestry at the date in question.
After a further long interval the Board returned the
second draft 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.* As to the
desirability of such a bye-law, there can, I think, be no
question.
It is a common practice with people having large families,
to conceal the number of their children until after entering
into possession of their lodging—usually a single room; and
then, should it be desired to get rid of them, all the tedious
processes, by notices, police-court proceedings, &c., have to be
gone through, these occupying many (at least six) weeks,
during which time the unfortunate landlord may not receive
any rent on peril of failure to obtain an ejectment order. In
* 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," is so prolonged that it is practically
impossible to supervise, as the Inspectors rarely know when the work is likely to
be in progress,