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been met by amendments incorporated in the Act. Thereis,
however, one very regrettable exception: the duty of
cleansing the footway is transferred from individual occupiers
of premises abutting on the footway to the community,
and a penalty is attached to the non-performance of the
duty "so far as is reasonably practicable." The Vestry
fear that it will prove impracticable to carry this part of
the Act into effect with the desired efficiency, and that
undeserved discredit will attach to local self government
by the partial breakdown of the organisation under exceptional
conditions. The most important amendments suggested
by the Committee and incorporated in the Act, are
(1) power to make bye-laws regulating the use of public
lavatories and similar conveniences, and to make a charge
for such use; (2) power to make use of the hospitals belonging
to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, whether in
London or not, for the compulsory removal of infectious
patients without proper lodging or accommodation; (3)
notifying the occurrence of infectious disease in a
house to the masters of schools instead of to the school
managers, and (4) the retention of the sanitary inspector
as a purely local officer.
In addition to the points specifically raised on the Bill,
one or two other matters, which have, at various times
been brought by the Vestry under the notice of the Local
Government Board, have now been dealt with. Perhaps
the most important of these is the power given by the
Act to control the removal of offensive matter through the
streets.
The Vestry have prepared a code of bye-laws for such
of the purposes as they are authorised by the Act to make