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"owner or occupier to provide within a time to be limited in such notice, a sufficient
"number of water-closets or privies for the separate use of each sex ; and if any
"such owner or occupier shall neglect or refuse to comply with such notice, he shall
"forfeit a sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds, and a further sum of Forty Shillings
"for every day during which such neglect or refusal shall continue.'' (11 and 12
Vie., cap. 163, sec. 101.)
The Public Health Act of 1875 (which did not extend to the Metropolis)
has the following enactment (section 38):—
"When it appears to any Local Authority by the report of their surveyor that
"any house is used or intended to be used as a factory or building in which persons
"of both sexes are employed or intended to be employed at one time in any
"manufacture, trade, or business, the Local Authority may, if they think fit, by
"written notice, require the owner or occupier of such house within the time
"therein specified to construct a sufficient number of water-closets, earth-closets,
"or privies and ashpits for the separate use of each sex.
"Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with any such notice shall be
"liable for each default to a penalty not exceeding Forty Shillings for every day
"during which the default is continued."
This permissive clause became obligatory in the Public Health Acts
Amendment Act, 1890.
Section 22.—(I.) "Every building used as a workshop or manufactory, or where
"persons are employed or intended to be employed in any trade or business,
"whether erected before or after the adoption of this part of this Act in any district,
"shall be provided with sufficient and suitable accommodation in the way of
"sanitary conveniences, having regard to the number of persons employed in or in
"attendance at such building, and also where persons of both sexes are employed,
"or intended to be employed, or in attendance, with proper separate accommodation
"for persons of each sex."
(2) "Where it appears to an Urban Authority on the report of their surveyor
"that the provisions of this section are not complied with in the case of any
"building, the Urban Authority may, if they think fit, by written notice, require the
"owner or occupier of any such building to make such alteration and additions
"therein as may be required to give such sufficient, suitable, and proper accommo-
dation as aforesaid."
(3.) "Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with any such notice shall
"be liable for each default to a penalty not exceeding Twenty Pounds, and to a
"daily penalty not exceeding Forty Shillings.''
(4) "Where this section is in force, section thirty-eight of the Public Health
"Act, 1875, shall be repealed."
Adverting to London Acts we find that the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, section 37 (1) (3) enacts that:—
"It shall not be lawful newly to erect any house or to rebuild any house pulled
"down to or below the ground floor without a sufficient ashpit furnished with proper
"doors and coverings, and one or more proper and sufficient water-closets, according
"as circumstances may require, furnished with suitable water supply and water
"supply apparatus, and with suitable trapped soil-pan and other suitable works and
"arrangements, so far as may be necessary to ensure the efficient operation thereof."