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morally impossible to bring home to offenders an infringement of the Act, without
such an expenditure of time in inquiry by our inspectors, as I have not felt
warranted in sanctioning under the circumstances; and, lastly, a number of
representations made to me by artificial flower makers, has convinced me that the
exigencies of their trade, from the great irregularity of the orders they receive, are
such that, for the present, it would be inexpedient to press this Act stringently
against them. Excellent, then, as the provisions of the Act are in their intention,
and highly necessary as I find it to be that the hours of labour of young children
and young women in this parish should be regulated authoritively, I have felt it
beyond my power to enforce them here as yet, and have consequently limited myself to
requiring the provisions of the Sanitary Act to be observed, which enables us to
deal with such questions as unwholesome crowding, cleanliness, and ventilation. In
these respects, a good many amendments have been made. Two summonses were
taken out, under this Act, during the year, one resulting in an improvement as to
crowding and ventilation, the other in the abandonment of some unwholesome dark
underground rooms as workrooms for children employed in artificial flower making.
A handbill has also been distributed to the several workshops known, calling
attention to the provisions both of the Workshops' and of the Sanitary Act.
2. The Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings' Act.—This Act throws upon the
Officer of Health the duty of reporting to the local authority any premises which
are in a condition or state dangerous to health, so as to be unfit for human habitation,
so long as the premises are occupied by working men and their families. I had, therefore,
to consider what the cases are in which it would be more desirable to apply this
Act than those Acts which we have hitherto used, namely, the Nuisances Removal
and the Sanitary Acts. It was evidently the intention of the Legislature, by the
passing of Torrens' Act, to afford to local authorities a remedy for local defects, more
radical in its character than they yet possessed, inasmuch as they are empowered
to require demolition, partial or entire, where it appears to them that nothing short
of this will render premises wholesome. Taking this view, I determined that the
following cases would constitute a series in which it would be right for me to sot the
Vestry in motion, with the object of obtaining radical amendments.
First.—Where unwholesomeness exists, dependent on dampness arising from the
foundation, and where consequently structural alterations, drainage, &c. had to be
made, to obviate it; or where it appears to me that the dampness was such as could
not be obviated at all.
Second.—Where unwholesomeness exists, dependent upon insufficient lighting,
a state of things for which the Nuisances Removal Acts afford no remedy, but
which is a fruitful source of dirtiness and depraved health.
Third.—Where unwholesomeness exists, dependent upon bad provision for the
ventilation of a house, and where, as far as I can see, the ventilation cannot be
rendered satisfactory without serious structural alterations.