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but, in case of a person suffering from epidemic disease, is dangerous to health
the germs of such disease being frequently contained in, and given off from,
the excrement of the sick.
15.—That no house shall be permitted to be occupied unless the person
letting such house shall have a certificate, signed by the Surveyor and Medical
Officer of Health to the Local Board, that all the rooms therein are fit for
healthy occupation, which certificate shall be shown to every incoming tenant.
16.—That, in consequence of numerous unhealthy houses which are continually
being built in the suburbs of London, and also in other large cities
and towns, and the suburbs thereof, the area of the new Building Act shall
be extended to all large towns and populous cities in England; and that the
carrying out of all the sanitary arrangements of habitable buildings shall be
intrusted to the Local Boards, who, by their several officers, would be able
to superintend the erection of all houses.
17.—That the Building Act shall contain a section to give power to the
Local Board to purchase, at a moderate compensation, such property as has
been condemned by the Medical Officer of Health and Surveyor of the Local
Board, under the provisions of the Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act.
18.—That in all cases of dispute between the Local Board and the builder,
as regards plans of drainage and other sanitary provisions, power of appeal
to a competent authority shall be given; but in all cases it should be made
imperative upon the builder to provide a separate drain for each house in
direct communication with the main sewer.
19.—That whenever it has been ascertained by any public officer that the
provisions of the Building Act, as regards an infringement of the open space
in the rear of any house has taken place, no length of time that such
infringement has existed shall legalize it.
If the entire supervision of the sanitary arrangements of all new houses,
and the additions to old ones, were entrusted to the Medical Officers of Health
and to the Surveyors to Local Boards, some of the evils which are now
occasionally taking place in the construction of dwelling-houses would be
prevented, such as the filling up with improper materials the excavations
which are made by the removal of gravel, and the use of an inferior kind of
mortar for the building of houses.
The importance of having healthy houses for the increasing population of
this vast Metropolis cannot bo too strongly urged upon the Government; for
it has been incontrovertibly shown that the death-rate is increased in consequence
of unhealthy dwellings.
ANNUAL REPORT.
The number of births registered in this District, during the year 1872, has
been 2705, viz., 1461 males, and 1244 females, and the number of deaths 2390,
viz., 1375 males, and 1015 females. The births in 1871 were 2571, and the
deaths 2465. The number of births therefore is greater than that in 1871 by
134, and the number of deaths is less by 75. The deaths in the workhouse