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64
"On the third reading in the House of Lords the London
County Council amended the Bill by omitting the clause corresponding
with Clause 23 of the original Bill, and it was not found
practicable to prevent this being done. The object of this step
was obviously to weaken the precedent created by the decision of
the Lords' Committee. The Bill as finally passed into law contains
no compulsory sanitary regulation (in the sense of a regulation in
the administration of which the Sanitary Authority has no initiative),
and it is no doubt thought that this fact will enable the London
County Council on a future occasion to re-open the whole subject
of their control over the Borough Councils; whereas had the Bill
passed with the clause in question, it would have been useless to
ask Parliament thereafter to go back to the old practice.
"The fact however remains that Parliament has decided the
point, and the precedent is not likely to be forgotten in future
But whilst the distinction between the so-called compulsory clause
and the other clauses would seem to be somewhat fanciful, it
is certainly to be regretted that the regulation of premises used for
the sale of food should have been abandoned at the last moment
for such a purpose. This power of regulation was one which was
admittedly urgently called for, and the clause, even if imperfectly
administered (which it certainly would not have been), would have
been better than 110 powers at all."
It should be noted that the County Council did not take action to
obtain additional powers for the boroughs on their own initiative, but
only after repeated requests had been made for several years, while the
additional powers asked for were only a small portion of those the
boroughs thought they should possess in order to allow them to
deal with places where food is sold in a way likely to be satisfactory to
the public.
Voluntary Certification.—The Public Health Committee had under
consideration the question of voluntary certification of restaurants, &c.,
but in view of the above Bill deferred the matter. When the County
Council behaved, at the last moment, in the manner described by
the Solicitors, the Committee once more took up the subject, and
recommended the Council to undertake such certification, and at the
end of the year the matter was not quite settled. I submitted the
following report:—
"To the Public Health Committee.
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
"Hotel and Restaurant Kitchens.
"It will be in the recollection of the members of the Public Health
Committee that, earlier in the present year, an application was made