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219
REGULATIONS FOR HOUSES LET IN
LODGINGS.
The Sanitary Act, 1866 (sec. 35)*, enables the "Nuisance
Authority" (i.e., your Vestry), with the consent of a Secretary of
State, to make Regulations "for houses, or parts of houses,
let in lodgings, or occupied by members of more than one
family."The Authority are enabled by their regulations to fix
the number of persons who may occupy a house. They may
register the house, and inspect it to see that it is kept in a
cleanly and wholesome condition. They may enforce the provision
of privy accommodation, water supply, &c., and provide for
the cleansing and ventilation of the common passages and staircases,
and for the cleansing and lime-whiting of the premises at
stated times. In all but a very few districts in the Metropolis this
useful enactment was ignored for years. In 1874, further powers
were conferred under the Sanitary Law Amendment Act, enabling
regulations, framed under the first-named Act, to extend to the
ventilation of rooms ; the paving and drainage of premises ; the
separation of the sexes; and to notices to be given, and precautions
to be taken in case of any dangerously infectious disease
occurring in a registered house. The same Act conferred power
on the Local Government Board to declare the enactment to be
in force in any district. The sections, nevertheless, remained
practically a dead letter in most of the Metropolitan districts, the
Board failing to exercise their power. I brought the subject to
the notice of your Vestry in 1878, when the Sanitary Department
had been reorganised and the staff enlarged; and in April,
1879, I was requested to make an enquiry as to the working of
the Acts in places where they had been put into operation.
Meanwhile, I had brought the subject before the Society of
Medical Officers of Health, and the Society after due deliberation,
resolved (1) That the Acts are practicable; (2) That they should
be put in operation in London and other large towns; (3) That a
*This Act and the Amending Act (1874) will be incorporated in the Public Health
(London) Act, which will come into operation in 1892.