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67
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
Legal proceedings instituted during the year under review, are
summarised in the table on page 83, and a brief description of each
case is given on pages 69 to 82.
The total of 252 summonses applied for may be classified in
categories as follows:—
Public Health Nuisances 224
Non-compliance with Magistrates' Orders 21
Refusal of entry to Sanitary Inspectors 2
Contravention of drainage byelaws 2
Nuisances from noise and fumes 2
Contravention of ashpit byelaws 1
252
The results of these proceedings were:—
Judgments obtained 152
Adjourned "sine die" 8
*Withdrawn 92
252
(* In 76 of the cases withdrawn the Council were granted costs.)
With regard to the 8 summonses adjourned "sine die", in 5
instances the necessary work was subsequently completed, Council's
costs being paid in 4 of these; in one case the defendant died; and
one case was adjourned to enable proof of ownership to be established,
the summons being re-issued and an abatement order with costs
obtained. The remaining case related to the intermittent cutting
off of a domestic water supply, and this summons was not restored
as evidence was produced that the practice had then ceased.
The number of summonses applied for during 1949 was more
than double that for the previous twelve months. It is interesting
to note, therefore, that in 240 of the 252 cases taken, the purpose
of the summons was fulfilled and not one case was dismissed.
This considerable increase in legal proceedings emphasises the
difficulties still confronting the department in securing compliance
with sanitary notices. There has been no undue pressure applied
to owners of property in the borough, but now that the shortages
of building materials and labour are less pronounced, it is considered