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64
NEGLECT TO COMPLY WITH WATER-CLOSET BYE-LAWS.
In accordance with the Bye-laws with respect to water-closets, &c., made under
Section 54 of the City of London (Various Powers) Act, 1900, every person who shall
intend to construct a water-closet, or to connect or disconnect any water-closet from
any soil pipe or drain, shall, at least seven days before the work is to be commenced,
deliver or send to the Corporation at the Guildhall, a plan showing the situation of
such water-closet, drawn to scale, together with a section showing the proposed means
of ventilation.
Under Section 17 every person who shall offend against these Bye-laws renders
himself liable to a penalty of 5l. for every such offence, and in the case of a continuing
offence, to a further penalty of 40s. for each day after written notice of this offence
from the Corporation.
Any infringement of such Bye-law is a serious matter and may lead to
considerable trouble and expense to the owner of the property, inasmuch as it may
necessitate the condemnation of a system installed in contravention of the Corporation
requirements.
Instances of neglect in this respect have in the past been of frequent occurrence,
but during the year under review only one case has arisen.
DRAINAGE PLANS.
In the course of the year, 277 plans were submitted with regard to proposed
reconstruction of water-closets or drains in the City.
Of these, 244 were approved, 17 revised and approved, and 16 not approved.
STREET GULLIES.
The gradual substitution of properly trapped gullies for those formerly existing,
has greatly reduced the number of complaints received of offensive smells arising from
those appliances, especially in warm weather. In some cases this nuisance was
doubtless due to want of flushing, but in the majority faulty construction was the
cause of the trouble.
The City Engineer has given special attention to this matter for several years past,
and his action in replacing the old pattern gullies with those of a more up-to-date
design will, I hope, eventually lead to a complete abatement of the evil.
OVERCROWDING.
Overcrowding is a nuisance to be dealt with summarily under Section 2,
Sub-section 1(e), of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and during the year
8 cases were reported by your officers. On the service of the statutory notice of
abatement the overcrowding was discontinued in each instance.
SANITARY DEFECTS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
In every case of notification of infectious disease, the premises involved were
inspected with regard to the drainage system, water supply, ventilation, &c.; and of
the 179 cases so investigated in 1914, it was found necessary to reconstruct the sanitary
system in 4 instances, and to make amendments to soil and waste pipes, water-closets,
&c., in 69 others.