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many sources of nuisance are at the present time untouched; it seemed,
therefore, to be desirable that the County Council and the several Local
Authorities should have more extensive powers for enabling them to
deal with the evils arising from smoke, and a draft scheme for the
amendment of the existing law has accordingly been prepared by this
Committee for consideration; the scheme, briefly, is:—
(a) That dense smoke discharged from any building, vessel, stationary
or locomotive engine, place or premises (other than a private dwellinghouse)
within the area of the City and County of London and the surrounding
urban districts to a distance of twelve miles of Charing Cross or upon
the waters of the Port of London and its tributaries within sucli area
shall be a nuisance for which a fine not exceeding £10 may be imposed,
with cumulative penalties for subsequent offences at the discretion of
the Magistrate;
(b) That the Council shall have power to make By-laws, subject to
the approval of the Home Office or the Local Government Board :—
(i) To bring under the terms of the provision set out in conclusion
(a) other instances of avoidable smoke nuisance.
(ii) To prescribe and revise from time to time a standard of
smoke nuisance, to further define emissions of smoke to be liable to
penalties.
(iii) To prohibit the adoption in new or reconstructed factories,
premises, or buildings, of any furnace or grate, or other fuel-consuming
apparatus of a type which shall have been proved to the
satisfaction of the Council to produce an unnecessary amount of
smoke.
(iv) To prescribe any additional measures or requirements
necessary for the suppression and prevention of smoke nuisance.
(v) To provide a penalty for the breach of any such By-law,
not exceeding the penalty specified in conclusion (a).
(c) That exemption from liability to penalties implied or expressed
in favour of Crown property or premises of Electric Power Corporations
be repealed.
(d) That it shall be the duty of the several Sanitary Authorities
to enforce the provisions of the law and any By-laws made by the
Council.
(e) That the Council shall have joint authority with the several
administering bodies to enforce the law and any By-laws within the
area as above defined, with power to recover from the Sanitary Authority,
when it has been in default, the expenses of proceedings not recovered
by Order of a Court and not incurred in unsuccessful proceedings.