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well as the cleansing and ventilation of the common passages and staircases, and
for the cleansing and limowhiting at stated times of such premises.
Further, such regulations may extend to ventilation of rooms, paving and
drainage of premises, and to notices to bo given, and precautions to be taken, in
case of any dangerously infectious or contagious disease. Not the least of tho
advantages conferred by tho adoption of regulations is the simplification of
proceedings for tho enforcement of those health requirements.
Thero are, however, in Bethnal Green many two-roomed houses occupied by one
family, and in which tho landlord is not rosident. To these the regulations would
not apply, but Bethnal Green affords plenty of instances of tho need for bringing
under regulations houses of this class for tho purpose of strict enforcement in them
of cleanliness and wholesomeness.
For houses needing more radical improvement than can bo effected under tho
Nuisance Removal Act, there remain the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Act of
1868, and tho Metropolis Management aud Building Act (Amendment) Act, 1882.
The Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Act, 1868, section 6, provides:—
" Every report made under this Act by tho officer of health shall bo made in
writing, and delivered to the clerk of the local authority, and tho local authority
shall refer such report to a surveyor or engineer, who shall thoreupon consider tho
report so furnished to him, and report to tho local authority what is the cause of
the evil so reported on, and tho remedy thereof, and, if such evil is occasioned by
defects in any premises, whether the same can be remedied by structural alterations
and improvements or otherwise, or whether such premises, or any and what part
thereof, ought to be demolished."
The Vestry are required to make the necessary order aftor hearing objections.
In 1883 tho medical officer of health reported to the Bethnal Green Vestry
some 215 houses under this Act. The Vestry, however, have failed to
recogniso the duty imposed upon them by this Statute, and instead, havo
endeavoured to improve the houses in question by resorting to tho
powers conferred by the Nuisance Removal Act, with the result that no
further reports have been made by tho medical officer of health under
the Artizans and Labourers Dwelling Act of 1868 up to the date of this
inquiry.
The Metropolis Management and Building Act (Amendment) Act, 1882, section
17, provides:—
''Where a building or structure is ruinous, or so far dilapidated as thereby to
have become and to be unfit for use or occupation, or is from neglect or otherwise
in a structural condition prejudicial to tho property in or tho inhabitants of the
neighbourhood, the Board (Metropolitan Board of Works) may make complaint
thereof to a justice of the peace, who shall thereupon issue a summons requiring
the owner and occupier of such building or structure, hereinafter referred to as a
'neglected structure,' to appear at a time and place to be stated in the summons,
to answer such complaint, and if at the time and place appointed in such summons
tho said complaint is proved to the satisfaction of the justice before whom the same
is heard, such justice may, if he sees good cause, order the owner, or, on his default,
the occupier, to take down or repair or rebuild tho neglected structure or any part
thereof, or to fence in the ground upon which the same stands or any part thereof,
or otherwise to put the same or any part thereof into a state of repair and good
condition, to tho satisfaction of tho Board, within a reasonable time to be fixed by