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dwelling-house which appears to him to be in a state so
dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human
habitation, or of any building not itself unfit for human
habitation, but by reason of proximity to or contact with
other buildings renders the latter unhealthy. If the local
authority fail to perform their duties in relation to the
closing or demolition of any such dwelling-house, the
County Council may themselves take the necessary proceedings
and recover the expenses incurred by them from
the local authority. Some important modifications are
made in the law with respect to the compensation to be
paid for the sites and materials of condemned dwellings,
and legal proceedings are in some respects expedited. The
Vestry regard the codification of the law relating to the
Houses of the Working Classes with considerable satisfaction,
and look forward to a like codification of general
sanitary legislation at an early date.
As both the County Council and the local authorities
have certain functions under the Act, some of them being
concurrent, the Council invited the various local
authorities to appoint two members each to confer with a
Committee of the Council on certain provisions of the Act
and to consider the methods of procedure to be followed.
The first meeting of this conference was held on the 5th
December, and an adjourned meeting on the 23rd January.
No operative resolution was arrived at, but the interchange
of views cannot fail to be of advantage to those taking part
in the proceedings.
LONDON WATER SUPPLY.
Perhaps the most important question that has engaged
the attention of the Vestry during the year is that of the