View report page

132
"Sanitation of Houses (Metropolis).—A Bill under this
title, prepared and brought in by Mr. Dixon Hartland, provides
for a scheme of sanitary construction and inspection of houses
which may fairly be called Utopian. It might also be described
as a Bill to supersede existing Sanitary Authorities—and Medical
Officers of Health also. It enacts the creation of a ' Sanitary
Board ' of twelve members ' who shall be selected from the
Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, the Royal Institute of British
Architects, and the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers,'
and the division of the Metropolis into seventy districts,
each to be under the control of a sanitary surveyor, to whom the
local surveyors and the sanitary inspectors are to be subordinate.
The duty of the Sanitary Board is ' to define the duties of the
sanitary surveyors and inspectors, and to form a court of appeal
between the said sanitary surveyors and the public,' and to
examine and appoint sanitary surveyors, etc. They are also to
' approve and license all sanitary apparatus and fittings to be
used in carrying out the provisions of the Act.' The directions
for every class of work are minute, and of the most paternal
description. No room for doubt in any difficulty need arise if
only owners and occupiers, local surveyors and inspectors, will be
content to walk in the leading-strings provided for their guidance.
The Bill is not likely to become law. It may be mentioned that
the Works, Sanitary, and General Purposes Committee, having
considered this measure, expressed an opinion that ' the changes
in the sanitary arrangements ' proposed ' are not an improvement
on the present system ;' that the ' important duties'
proposed to be devolved upon the ' Sanitary Board ' should be
' under the supervision and control of the recognised public bodies,
and that the transfer of such duties to a small Special Board is
not advisable.' "
OFFENSIVE BUSINESSES.
Nuisance from Brick Burning.—During the summer 01
1886, as in previous years, complaints were made by several