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72
in future without notice. The Magistrate remarked that there appeared
to be a great deal of conflict as to the water test. He believed that some
of the most experienced civil engineers thought that it was a proper test.
On the other hand, there were a great many who thought that it
was too severe a test to apply to an old drain. Old drains very often
answered their purpose without in any way being defective or causing
a nuisance, but they would not stand the severe water test now applied
to new drains. He should have thought the Borough Council as a public
authority, would undertake that they would not apply that test without
giving notice to the owner. The Borough Solicitor stated that the
Borough Council were now prepared to do that with regard to Hayles'
Trustees.
The Magistrate said he was sure that the gentlemen constituting the
Trustees, if they were satisfied that a nuisance existed or was likely to
exist, would be the first persons to see that the health of the numerous
families in the dwellings was not in danger.
The further hearing of the summons was adjourned sine die, upon the
undertaking of the defendants to properly repair and make good the drain.
Queen's Buildings.
The occupation of the basement rooms of these dwellings, which are
generally so dark as to require always the use of artificial light, has been
for years past the subject of constant complaint. Various reports have
been made by me, and action taken by the Council, yet still they are very
undesirable places for families to inhabit.
The following report, made at the latter end of the year, shows how
matters stood then:—
"I am submitting a detailed report of the number of persons living in,
and the conditions of occupation of the basement dwellings of Queen's
Buildings. It will be in the remembrance of the Committee that some
two years ago a communication was sent to the owners of these buildings
pointing out how undesirable it was for these dark and consequently
dirty basement rooms to be occupied by children. A reply to this communication
was received from the managers of the buildings to the effect
that in future families having children would not be allowed to occupy
them. It will be seen by the report that at the present time in the basement
dwellings of the ordinary blocks A to L nine of the basement
tenements are now occupied by children. In regard to the cellar
dwellings of Scovell Road, with the exception of Nos. 285 and 273, all
the rest of the cellar dwellings are used chiefly as washhouses.