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18
APPENDIX. No. III.
special cases.
No. 1, Hertford-place.—Legal proceedings frustrated by
uncertainty of ownership of premises complained of.—A child
died of diphtheria, complicated with scarlatina, in this house,
in the last week of March. Not only for the purpose of disinfection,
for which purpose it ought to have been cleansed
even though already clean, but because the house, yard, and
area really required limewashing, a notice was served and
instructions given by the Sanitary Committee on the third
Tuesday in April that a summons should be taken out if it
were disobeyed. The walls of the kitchen, also, were covered
with tattered, mouldy paper, the floor quite dilapidated and in
holes, revealing a wet earth close underneath. As the notice
was disregarded, a summons was taken out and came on for
hearing on the 2nd June. Then a person appeared representing
the owner, and on his promise to do what was required,
the magistrate, as is usual, adjourned the case for a month.
But on the 30th June, after expiration of the month, nothing
had been done; therefore the magistrate made an order, requiring
the necessary works to be done forthwith. As this
order was equally disregarded, the Sanitary Committee ordered
a summons to be taken out for penalties under the 14th section
of the Nuisances Removal Act. This came on for hearing on
Tuesday, the 15th August; but, as the nominal defendant, Mr.
W. Cullen, of 39, Jermyn-street, was out of town, it was adjourned
again until Wednesday, the 30th, when it was heard
by Mr. Mansfield and dismissed—the reason being that the
property changed hands at Midsummer, and that the defendant
had ceased to be agent when the order was made.
Meanwhile the house had been partially cleansed at the
beginning of August, and so the case was let drop. But it