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135
shape recommended by them were on that day adopted by your
Vestry, and ordered to be sent, and they were sent forthwith, to
the Local Government Board for their sanction. On the 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, I may add, differing in some material
respects from the bye-laws adopted by your Vestry, and forwarded
to the Board. After a further long interval of time the Board
returned the 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.*
Regarding the desirability of such a power being given,
there can be no question. The matter is still unsettled.
Nothing has been done towards the registration of
houses since the Public Health (London) Act, 1891 came into
operation; the Sanitary Committee considering it desirable
that new registrations should be made subject to bye-laws
conforming to the provisions of that Act, as recommended by the
Local Government Board in 1892.
* 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-laws, 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.