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pavement to be laid down in the court and in the back yards, an improved
drainage, and a thorough lime-washing of the houses, would at once carry
out the orders in their entirety, and not merely white-wash a room, as is
now too frequently the case, thereby occasioning not only great delay, to
the injury of the health of the tenants, but involving the necessity of
repeated inspections on the part of the sanitary officers, and hindering
them from proceeding with other cases. If the landlord pleads that the
works are in progress, legal action is usually postponed, and thus from
continued delay, it sometimes becomes necessary to re-commence the whole
proceedings.
The duty and interest of landlords appear to be at variance, as regards
their doing to their houses what is absolutely necessary for the wellbeing
of their tenants. It is unquestionably the duty of landlords to
keep the houses which they let out in separate tenements to the poor in
a healthy condition; but this is not always done, and even if compulsory
orders are signed at the Board and summonses issued, the work is imperfectly
performed, thereby involving the necessity of fresh proceedings;
whereas, by keeping their tenements in a clean and healthy condition,
they would find that their duty and interest would not be antagonistic to
each other. Besides, by so doing, they could readily obtain a better class
of tenants, and receive higher rents, whereby they would not only benefit
themselves, but the whole district would be improved, and the poor-rate
become diminished.
The time of the inspectors would be greatly economized if, as is the
case in some districts, proceedings were to be taken to obtain the removal of
nuisances under the Metropolis Local Management Act, instead of under the
Nuisances Removal Act. It might, under certain circumstances, be desirable
to take proceedings under the Metropolis Local Management Act, as we
were advised to do by Mr. Cooke, one of the Police Magistrates at Worship
Street. By so doing, nuisances which are dangerous to the health of a
crowded locality, can be more promptly removed; for, if the order made
by the Board upon the owner to remove a nuisance upon his property be
not complied with in a given time, then the Board is empowered to
perform the work without the necessity of applying to a police magistrate,
as it is necessary to do under the Nuisances Removal Act. The objections,
however, to the Board performing the work are great. In some cases the
proceedings would be deemed very arbitrary, and in others the Board
would not be able to recover from the owners of the property the expenses
incurred by effecting the necessary improvements. In the several
instances in which the work has been done by the Board, their expenses
have not been recovered. However, as it has been deemed by the Board
to be more expedient to proceed under the Nuisances Removal Act, it
would not be advisable to diminish the number of Inspectors; and when
we consider the great prevalence of fever and diarrhœa, and the fact that
the Cholera has been for some time committing great ravages in Paris and