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The Act also throws upon the Local Authority the
onus of the purchase of the premises, should the owner,
upon the order of the Vestry, refuse to proceed in the execution
of the work required, or in the demolition of the unhealthy
houses.
The amount of compensation payable to the owner under
the provisions of this Act is estimated upon an extravagant
Scale, and the proceedings arc cumbrous and expensive.
This Act, in consequence, has seldom been put into operation.
Even the Commissioners themselves, in their Report, admit
that the enforcement of this Act places a premium upon
neglect on the part of the owner, and they on that account
recommend the repeal of the Section having this effect.
Lastly, we arrive at the consideration of the Sanitary Act
of 1866, and the Sanitary Act Amendment Act of 1874.
This Act empowers the Local Authority to define the occupational
capacity of inhabited rooms held as separate tenements
in houses occupied by members of more than one
family, and in other particulars to provide for the sanitary
requirements of the inmates. The 35th section of the
Sanitary Act was adopted by the parish of Lambeth as early
as 1871, and the powers which the adoption of that section
confers have been in force throughout the parish of Lambeth
since that date.
The powers bearing upon the relief of overcrowded districts
have been briefly summarised. A consideration of
their nature demonstrates the fact that the Sanitary and
the Metropolis Local Management Acts are alone the
instruments which can be used by the Vestry in the relief of
overcrowding. The Metropolis Local Management Act is,
in this sense, limited in its operation to the occupants of
cellar dwellings. Its effect upon a condition of overcrowding
is almost infinitesimal.
The Sanitary Act practically, then, is alone the legislative