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—on pain of a fine not exceeding £5—dealers in rags, old clothes and similar articles from selling or
delivering, whether gratuitously or not, any article of food or drink to any person, or any article
whatsoever to a person under the age of 15 years.
Fireguards.—The administration and enforcement of the Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Act, 1952,
and of regulations to be made thereunder, were referred to the Public Health Committee, and it was
arranged that the sanitary inspectors should undertake the Council's functions of inspection and testing
of these appliances. The Act, which received the Royal Assent on the 1st August, 1952, provides
that if any person in the course of a business sells, or lets under a hire purchase agreement or on hire,
any appliance required by regulations under the Act to be fitted with a guard, and either the appliance
is not fitted with a guard or the guard does not comply with the standards prescribed for it by the
regulations, he shall be guilty of an offence unless (i) he does so as the agent of a person who is not
acting in the course of a business or as the servant of such an agent, or (ii) he reasonably believes that
the appliance will not be used in Great Britain, or (iii) in the case of a letting on hire, the letting is
incidental to the letting of premises, or (iv) in the case of a letting under a hire-purchase agreement,
he had at no time possession of the appliance and only became the owner thereof at the time of entering
into the agreement, or (v) in the case of any letting, the letting was lawful at the time the hirer or
the hirer's predecessors in title obtained possession of the appliance. A person guilty of an offence
under the Act is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50.
The regulations to which reference is made had not been issued by the end of the year.
Street Photographers.—A local bye-law, made by the Council under section 146 of the London
Government Act, 1924, came into operation on the 1st August, 1952, prohibiting the importuning
by a street photographer of any person in certain prescribed streets or public places for the purpose
of taking or selling any photograph. An offender against the bye-law is liable on summary conviction
to a fine not exceeding £5. As the administration and enforcement of most other " good rule and
government " bye-laws have been referred to the Public Health Committee, a similar course was
followed in regard to the new bye-law, more particularly as the officers of the Department, including
the streets nuisance inspector, are continually about the streets.
By the end of the year legal proceedings had been instituted by the Council in eleven cases, all on
the reports of police officers. The first prosecution has developed into something of a test case. At
the hearing on 25th November, 1952, the magistrate fined the defendant ten shillings and awarded
a guinea costs to the Council. He appealed to the London Quarter Sessions and the Appeals Committee
reversed the decision and awarded the appellant fifteen guineas, having come to the conclusion that
upon the true construction of the bye-law "the word 'importune' must involve something more than
just offering an invitation—that it means exercising some kind of pressure, whether that pressure
takes the form of words, or expansive gestures, or obstruction in the sense of getting in another
person's way, or following a person after that person has passed by." The Council subsequently decided
to appeal to the High Court. Of the other cases, in five a fine of forty shillings was inflicted ; in one,
thirty shillings; and in three, twenty shillings, the remaining defendant being found guilty but
discharged absolutely.
SECTION D.—HOUSING.
Permanent Estates.—A further twelve flats at the Townshend Estate were completed during 1952,
and work on block 6 (28 flats), which had been held up on account of shortage of steel, was resumed
at the end of the year. The development of the third and final section (112 flats) is expected to
commence in the near future.
At the Abbey Road—Boundary Road site, 30 of the 54 flats were completed.

The programme for 1953 envisages the development of sites at Abercorn Place (34 flats); Queen's
Terrace, section II (4 flats); 33-35, Townshend Road (15 flats); 147-149, Gloucester Place (8 flats).
Further freehold and leasehold interests in the Church Street Extension site were acquired with a view
to the ultimate erection of 60 flats with shops.