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the obligatory duty of inspecting nuisances, and
promptly abating them—in default whereof, it
empowers the police, under direction of one of Her
Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State to take the
necessary proceedings, and to charge the cost thereof
to the local authority.
The powers of the local authority are also considerably
enlarged in respect of the cleansing and
disinfecting of houses; the providing means for the
disinfection of clothing, bedding, &c.; the providing
carriages for the conveyance of persons suffering
from contagious or infectious diseases; the providing
places for the reception of those who have died
of any infectious disease, and for the removal of
such bodies from rooms in which persons are living
or sleeping, and for the burial of such bodies at
the charge of the poor-rate, whenever such burial
has not been undertaken in reasonable time by the
friends or relatives of the deceased; and finally
the providing places for the reception of dead
bodies awaiting a coroner's inquest—which powers
are permissive and not compulsory.
But the chief and most important part of the
Sanitary Act of 1866, is that which empowers the
local authority, under sanction of the Secretary of
State, to make regulations for the better management
of the lodging-houses of the district, as in