View report page

60
Health of the District.
The health of the District continues to be excellent.
Both infectious diseases and pulmonary maladies are lower
than during any corresponding period during the past five
years.
Interpretation of By-laws.
With regard to the writer's observations (Sanitary
Chronicles for May, 1903) as to the impossibility of enforcing
strictly certain by-laws of the London County Council
in old buildings, the more particularly in the central parts
of the Metropolis, the judgment of the Court of Appeal
in Pomeroy and another v. Malvern Urban District Council
(Times Law Report July 6th) deserve quotation. The
appellants had been convicted at the instance of the
Malvern Authority of a breach of a building by-law
under circumstances in which it was unreasonable to
enforce the by-law.
The Lord Chief Justice pointed out that it might in
certain cases be very hard to apply a by-law such as the
one in question in all its strictness.
Mr. Justice Channell, in concurring, said that by-laws
ought not to be criticised too adversely, but ought to be
left to persons to administer properly. It was impossible
to make them to suit every case. That being so, one
was accustomed to assume that if a case occurred where
the by-law became wholly unreasonable, either the Local
Authority would be reasonable in taking proceedings, or.
if not, the magistrates would exercise the discretion, which
was given tlieni by the Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1879.
School Closure on Account of Measles.
The Annual Report of Dr. Kerr, the Medical Officer of
the School Board for London, has just been issued, and
contains, among other things, a valuable investigation as to
Measles in reference to School closure, which will form a
guide to the practical dealing with the question in this and
other districts. Measles is a fatal disease of infant life, and
a great proportion of children suffer during the early