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Torrens' Act for providing better dwellings for artisans and labourers,
which was passed in the recent session of Parliament, throws upon me
a new duty, namely, to set the Yestry in motion, "for the taking down
or improving dwellings occupied by working men and their families
which are unfit for human habitation." The premises which I propose
reporting upon under this statute are those, the unsanitary conditions
of which we have been unable to deal with, permanently and effectually,
by the aid of the statutes hitherto in force. The statutes under which
we have more especially acted up to the present time, have been the
"Nuisances Removal" and "Sanitary" Acts, but these are inapplicable
where the unwholesome condition of houses is dependent upon faults
of original construction and arrangement, extensive dilapidation,
defective land drainage, bad lighting, &c.—and yet these and the like
faults are among the most important of those which call for remedy in
the interest of the health of the labouring classes. One great value of
the present statute lies in this:—that it in no way limits the ground on
which I am at liberty to form or express a valid opinion as to the
unwholesomeness of habitations, and it therefore enables us now to
grapple with conditions over which we have hitherto had no control, or
only an imperfect control.
EDWARD BALLARD, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.
Yestry Offices,
October 5th, 1868.