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very few places, resolved that it was not expedient, at that
time (July, 1879) to proceed any further in the matter. In a
Presidential Address to the Society of Medical Officers of
Health, delivered in October, 1883, I drew attention to the
Acts, and to the desirability of their being put in force. This
address was printed and widely circulated by the Society. In
November your Vestry resolved, unanimously, to take steps
for carrying out the provisions of the Acts, and at once set to
work to frame regulations. In the following month, December,
1883, the Local Government Board, exercising the power
conferred by section 47 of the Sanitary Law Amendment Act,
1874, declared the enactment contained in section 35 of the
Sanitary Act, 1866, to be in force in every district of the
Metropolis, the Authority of which had not previously made
application to the Board for powers to enable them to make
regulations. Early in 1884 your Vestry made regulations
which, after modifications suggested by the Board, were
confirmed by the President in January, 1885, and are now in
force. Under these regulations about 1800 houses have been
placed upon the register, and the process of registration is still
in progress.
The announcement of your Vestry's intention to register
houses, proved distasteful to many "landlords," some of whom,
complying with your Yestry's invitation, "stated in writing
reasons why the house should not be registered;" but almost
without exception, the "reason" stated amounted to no more
than an "objection" to registration altogether; an objection
based usually on a mistaken supposition that by registration the
"registered house" would become a "common lodging-house,"
subject to police supervision, and be stigmatized in a manner
likely to diminish its letting value. It is hardly necessary to
say that these are purely imaginary evils. The register is a
quasi-private document: no intimation of registration is given
excepting to the parties immediately interested; to wit the
"owner," the "keeper" (i.e., the occupier; but in the case of