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Inquiries by the Local Government Board are to be conducted under the
provisions of sections of the Public Health Act, 1875, cited in the First Schedule
to the Act (section 129).
Forms contained in the Third Schedule may be used, or others to the like effect
(section 130).
Powers of the Act Cumulative.—The powers, &c., of the Act are cumulative,
i.e., in addition to, and not in derogation of, any powers, &c., conferred by any
other Act, &c. (section 138).
Temporarv provisions with respect to existing Officers are contained in
section 139.
Interpretation of Terms.—Section 141 schedules a long list of "expressions"
used in the Act with their meaning. It defines "day" as "the period between 6
a.m. and 9 p.m." "Ash-pit" means (in addition to dust-bin) "ash-tub or other
receptacle for the deposit of ashes or refuse matter," an important modification of
existing law. The expression "master" (of a house) is frequently substituted for
"occupier."
Repeat.—Section 142 relates to the repeal of enactments specified in the Fourth
Schedule, being the whole or parts of 35 statutes. It also enacts that the County
Council and the Sanitary Authority shall submit the first bye-laws they are required
to make under the Act to the Local Government Board, for sanction, not later than
the end of June; that failing the making of such bye-laws any enactment in the
Fourth Schedule which would be repealed, as from the coming into operation of
any bye-law made for the like object, shall be repealed at the end of 1892. The
section further provides for the continuance in office of existing officers.
Commencement of Act.—Section 143 provides that the Act shall come into
operation on the first day of January 1892.
Short Title.—The short title of the Act is the " Public Health (London) Act,
1891" (section 144).
Schedules—The Schedules are four in number. The First recites the
enactments applied, beginning with section 33 of the Metropolis Water Act, 1871,
which enacts that the absence of proper water fittings in premises shall be a
nuisance. It then recites sections 108 and 115 of the Public Health Act, 1875,
relating to nuisances without the district: the first of these sections gives power to
the Sanitary Authority to proceed where the cause of nuisance arises without the
district, the second gives power to proceed where the nuisance arises from an offensive
trade carried on without the district. Other sections of the same Act are cited
relating to regulations and orders of the Local Government Board with respect to
cholera, &c. Also sections (182-186) relating to bye-laws—authentication and alteration
; power to impose penalties for breach of bye-laws; confirmation &c. : sections
293-296 relating to inquiries by the Local Government Board ; and, lastly, sections
211 and 212 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, relating to appeals to the
County Council. The Second Schedule relates to Woolwich only. The Third
Schedule comprises forms—of notice requiring abatement of nuisance, of summons, of
nuisance order, of nuisance order to be executed by the Sanitary Authority, and of
warrant of justice for entry to premises. The Fourth Schedule cites the enactments
repealed by the Act,
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