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The last circular that was issued by the Board of Agriculture, urges
local authorities to consider whether their staff is sufficient, so that the
duties under the new Act may be properly carried out. It further
informs local authorities that the Board will acquaint them with the
details of any instances of adulteration which may be reported by the
Customs, so that proceedings may be promptly taken, if necessary, by
the local authority of the district to which the adulterated goods are
ultimately consigned, and in which it may be presumed that they will
be offered for sale. The circular concludes by stating that the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have sanctioned the appointment
of additional inspectors, who will be happy, if so desired, to
confer with local authorities, as to the manner in which the law may
be most efficiently enforced.
For several years past, a dearth of water has been experienced in the
East of London; more especially has the lack of this absolute necessity
been apparent in the top floors of our Block Dwellings. It is gratifying
to report, that last summer, a sufficient supply was given to us throughout,
From the monthly returns of the Government Analysts, I am able
to state, that the water was at all times good in quality.
As I am drafting these lines, I have been made aware of the fact that
the report of the Royal Commission on the question of the London
Water Supply has been issued. . The Commissioners express the
opinion that the water supply of the Metropolis should be under the
control of a single authority, but do not consider that the London
County Council is a suitable body, and, therefore, recommend that a
Central Water Board should be constituted, with powers to acquire the
undertakings of the companies.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
JOSEPH LOANE.
Addendum.—After this Report was in the printer's hands I received particulars of
a decision by the Lord Chief Justice and Justices Bigham and Darling in
the case of Logsdon v. Booth. Up to now it had been held that Salvation
Army Shelters were not Common Lodging Houses liable to be Registered
under the Acts. This has now been reversed. In the course of an elaborate
judgment in the Divisional Court on the 21st December last, the Lord Chief
Justice said : "We know of no better description of a common lodging
house than that given by the then Law Officers, Sir Alexander Cockburn
and Sir W. Page Wood, to the effect that a common lodging-house was that
class of lodging-house in which persons of the poorer class are received for
short periods, and although strangers to one another, are allowed to inhabit
one common room." If this be the proper description of a common lodginghouse,
as we think it is, we cannot see in what material respect it differs
from the Respondent's shelter. We arrive therefore, without hesitation, to
the conclusion that such shelter is a common lodging house within the Act
of 1853. It follows, that we think that Booth v. Ferrett was wrongly
decided and that the Magistrate's decision now given was wrong in point
of law.