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11
As regards the WALLS and foundations of houses it is proposed
that all walls sliall be constructed of bricks, well burnt, hard and sound; or
of stone or other hard and incombustible substances. That the footings of
every wall shall rest on the "solid ground" or on concrete, or on other solid
substructure as a foundation. The words "solid ground" appear to be
objectionable and ought to be omitted from the Clause, inasmuch as all the
walls of a house should rest on concrete or on other solid substructure, and
not on the unprotected ground however solid it might be.
In the Amended Building Bill it is provided by the 44th Section that a
penalty not exceeding twenty shillings may be inflicted on any person who
suffers any room to be inhabited which has not been built in conformity with
the 7th Schedule of the Bill, which Schedule lays down rules for the construction
of rooms intended for habitation. But it surely would be better to
prohibit tha building of any room, and especially rooms in the basement,
unless they are so constructed as to be in conformity with the provisions
laid down in the Building Act, and in the Metropolis Local Management
Act, as to the occupation of such rooms as dwellings.
It is true that by such an enactment some trifling additional expense
would be incurred in building a house; but the house, if let out in tenements,
would be of more value to the owner, and therefore there can be no good
reason why such a Clause should not be inserted in the Bill.
While the Building Bill provides that certain restrictions be placed on
carrying on noxious businesses—matters which ought to be transferred to the
Nuisances' Removal Act—it is entirely silent upon some important subjects
connected with the healthy condition of dwelling houses; for instance, not a
word is said upon the proper drainage of houses, nor upon the necessity of
every dwelling house being provided with a proper water-closet and dust-bin
within the curtilage of such house. But the sanitary defects of the new
Building Bill might be remedied if a Clause to the following effect were
inserted therein, viz., "That before the building of any new dwelling house
be commenced, or any old dwelling house rebuilt, all the plans relating to the
drainage and to the sanitary arrangements of such houses should be submitted
for approval to the Local Board, and the Surveyor to the Board
should be required to examine the nature of the ground on which such
houses are about to be laid, the course and efficiency of the drains, the
domestic offices, and all other sanitary arrangements, and to report in writing
his opinion to the Board of the fitness or otherwise of such houses for
habitation; and if the Local Board be satisfied that such houses are fit for
habitation, then the Local Board shall direct the Surveyor to give a certificate
to the owner to that effect; and if any newly built house be occupied
before such certificate be obtained, then the person letting such house shall
be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty shillings for each day such
house or any part thereof shall be occupied.