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20
Legal Proceedings.
During the year, legal proceedings were taken by the Council in
228 cases, for the enforcement of various Acts, by-laws, regulations,
etc., administered by the Health Department. A summary is set out
below, and further details will be found in the sections dealing with
the respective matters.
Public Health (London) Act, 1936 215
Food and Drugs Act, 1938 ... 10
National Assistance Act, 1948 (Removal of
Aged and Infirm Persons) 3
228
Fines totalling £26 0s. 0d. were imposed in connection with
these proceedings, and £123 18s. costs were awarded to the Council.
Public Health (London) Act, 1936.
The provisions of this Act in regard to Nuisances continued to
afford the main means whereby the remedy of insanitary conditions
found in dwelling houses could be secured.
During the year, 3,063 Intimation, and 1,694 Statutory
(Nuisance) Notices were served. The high proportion of
Statutory to Intimation Notices shows the continuing difficulty,
referred to in previous reports, of securing the remedy of these
conditions. Furthermore, legal proceedings to enforce compliance
with Statutory Notices had to be taken in no less than 201 cases.
Of these, 79 resulted in Nuisance Orders being made by the Court.
The remaining 122 summonses were either adjourned or withdrawn,
as the work required to comply with the Notices was
either in hand, or had been completed, before the hearing.
In 32 cases action to enforce compliance with Nuisance Orders
had to be taken. In 31 of these, the Council carried out the work in
default of the persons on whom the Orders were made. In those
cases, the Council were entitled to recover the cost of the works from
those persons, and accounts were accordingly rendered to them. Most
of these accounts had been settled by the end of the year, but in 12
instances proceedings for the recovery of the cost had to be taken.
Judgments for the amounts claimed were obtained in 11 cases.
In the remaining case the amount claimed was paid before the
summons was heard, and it was therefore not proceeded with.
In one case, the Council elected to take proceedings for the noncompliance,
and the case stood adjourned at the end of the year.
One application was made to the Court for a warrant to enter
a house for the purpose of making an inspection, the Sanitary Inspector
having previously been refused admission. The warrant was granted
and duly executed.
Dustbins.
Under Section 105 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936,
if any house is found to be without a proper dustbin, the Council may
serve notice on the owner or occupier requiring provision to be made.