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Tents, vans, sheds, or similar structures used for human
habitation, which are in such a state as to be a nuisance or
injurious to health, or which are overcrowded so as to be injurious
to the health of the inmates, are now considered to be nuisances,
if within the Metropolis, under the Nuisances Eemoval Acts.
This alteration in the law was made by the Housing of the
"Working Classes Act, which was passed in August, 1885.
Under section 9, subsection 3, the Sanitary authority or the
Sanitary Committee can authorise one of its officers to demand
admission to these places between sis in the morning and nine
at night, and any person obstructing him is liable to a penalty
of forty shillings. He is entitled to demand admission whenever
he has reasonable ground for supposing that there is a
contravention of the provisions of the Act in any of these
structures, or as regards cleanliness, overcrowding, &c., or that
there is in any of these vans, tents, &c., any person suffering
from a dangerous infectious disorder. If the occupier of any
van, &c., should neglect to comply with notices served on him to
abate the nuisances, he can be summoned for neglect in the same
manner as any one else who neglects or refuses to comply with
an ordinary notice under the Nuisances Removal or Sanitary
Acts. The Act does not apply to the state of the ground or to
noises arising out of the manner in which the business of the
owners of the vans, &c., is carried on, and therefore will not
assist in preventing annoyances arising therefrom. I visited
several localities in the district on which vans, &c., were placed,
and directed Mr. Sortwell to serve the necessary notices on the
owners for the abatement of nuisances arising from offensive
accumulations, &c., or to communicate with them by letter, and
in most instances with good results. Except in a few instances
the vans, &c., were not occupied, so that the occupiers could not
be reached by the law, except when they caused nuisances such
as could be dealt with under the Nuisances Removal Acts. In
all such cases, when they occurred, the occupiers were served
with the necessary notices and left the district. There is no