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158
The communications in regard to the non-removal of
house refuse and smells from the public sewers were
acknowledged and handed to your Council's Surveyor, in
whose department these matters are dealt with.
The other complaints were promptly investigated, and,
in those cases in which the Council had power to interfere,
the necessary steps were immediately taken to remove th^
cause of complaint.
It will be observed that nine complaints were received
with respect to alleged nuisances on unfenood building land.
It appears to be a fairly common practice amongst jobbing
gardeners and also the occupiers of the houses in proximity
to plots of land which are not built upon, to deposit upon
such land their garden refuse. Workmen employed in the
building trade and other persons also deposit rubbish on
these vacant building plots. It is difficult to deal with these
deposits under the provisions of the Public Health Act, 1875,
as the accumulations are not, as a rule, noxious or offensive
but they undoubtedly make the plots of land very unsightly.
The Council were strongly urged to take action with
respect to three such plots of land during the year, and they
accordingly communicated with the Local Government Board
with a view to an Order being made under Section 31 of the
Public Health Acts, Amendment Act, 1907, requiring the
owners of the land to properly fence the same.
A local enquiry respecting the Council's application was
held on March 19th, by R, C. Maxwell, Esq., LLD.,
Barrister-at-Law, one of the Board's inspectors, and he made
it perfectly clear that it was the practice of his Board to
strictly construe Siection 31 of the Act of 1907. To establish
a case under this Section it was necessary to prove—inter alia
—that the result of the land being unfenced was the cause of
inconvenience or annoyance to the public, and not merely to
residents in the immediate neighbourhood of the land.