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163
CONFERENCE AT THE COUNTY HALL ON THE
HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES ACT.
The County Council have sole jurisdiction in respect of
Schemes dealing with unhealthy areas under Part I. of the
Act. But under Part II., the Sanitary Authorities have powers
and duties which necessarily bring them into relations with
the Central Authority. This being so, it seemed good to the
Council to invite the Vestries and the District Boards to
appoint representatives to meet the Housing of the Working
Classes Committee in Conference, "with the hope that some
mutual understanding may be arrived at between the Council
and the District Authorities, both as to the bearings of some of
the provisions of the Act, and as to the methods of procedure to
be followed under it." The Conference, at which each of the
several Sanitary Authorities was represented by two delegates,
the Vestry Clerk, and the Medical Officer of Health, held two
meetings at the offices of the Council, on December 5th, 1890,
and January 23rd, 1891. The subject matter of Part II. of the
Act was discussed under the headings, (1) houses unfit for
human habitation, (2) obstructive buildings, and (3) improvement
schemes. At the request of the Conference a meeting
of Medical Officers of Heath was convened to consider
and " report upon the principles that should guide Medical
Officers of Health in reporting houses unfit for human habitation."
The report was duly submitted to the Conference
and formed the principal subject for consideration at the
second meeting. The discussion, however, was irrelevant, and
in the event it was moved "that the meeting do proceed to
the next business." This having been carried by a small
majority, the Conference may be said to have ended without
result, the delegates having failed to arrive at a "common
understanding as to the conditions or defects which would
render a house, either permanently or temporarily, 'so
dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human
habitation' within the meaning of the Act." But a resolution