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225
UNDERGROUND ROOMS.
Section 103 of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855*
enacts that, "Any room of a house, the surface of the floor of which
room is more than three feet below the surface of the roadway of
the adjoining street when such room is or
has been occupied separately as a dwelling, at or before the time
of the passing of the Act (14th August, 1855), may continue to be
so let or occupied if it possesses" certain "requisites," which it is
unnecessary to specify here. The penalty to which anyone letting
or occupying an underground room contrary to the Act is liable, is
a sum not exceeding 20s. per diem. Every room in which any
person passes the night is deemed to be occupied as a dwelling
within the meaning of the Act. It is the duty of the District
Surveyor to "report, periodically and otherwise," as the London
County Council may order, to the said Council, all cases in which
rooms are occupied contrary to the Act in his district; and also to
the "Vestries and District Boards in respect of cases in his district
within their respective parishes and districts. Any person, moreover,
may enforce the enactment and take proceedings for penalties
thereunder. The reports of underground rooms were forwarded
to your Vestry by the District Surveyors with more or less
regularity, every half-year, down to the time when the Metropolitan
Board ceased to exist, but no action was taken upon them either
by the Board, or by your Vestry, or by any person. I alluded to
this fact in a Special Report (13th March, 1885), referred to at
page 131. The Law and Parliamentary Committee, in their Report
dealing with the subject, which was adopted by your Vestry in
January, 1886, recommended, "that in future the Reports of the
District Surveyors be referred, when received, to the Works,
Sanitary, and General Purposes Committee, with a view to inquiry
* This section is, with considerable amendments, embodied in the Public
Health (London) Act, which will come into operation in 1892. The duties at
present devolving on District Surveyors will be transferred to the officers of the
Sanitary Authority.
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