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123
tunity should be taken of the occasion offered by the
consolidation of the law to obtain any necessary amendments.
They therefore asked Professor Kerr, the District
Surveyor for St. James's, to favour them with a statement
of any amendments in the Building Acts which his long
experience might suggest, in order that the same might be
considered in conjunction with the draft Bill. Professor
Kerr was good enough to submit an able and carefully
prepared statement containing some valuable suggestions.
A copy of this statement was sent to the President of the
Local Government Board, with a communication based
upon a report of the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the
Vestry, of which the following is an abstract:—
That the President of the Local Government Board be informed, in
reply to his letter on the subject, that the draft Bill for consolidating'
the enactments relating to the construction and use of
buildings in London appears to accurately reproduce the existing
law, that the consolidation of the existing law will prove advantageous,
that the vestry trust that advantage will be taken of the
opportunity to introduce any necessary amendments in the law,
and that with this object in view they have taken counsel with
the District Surveyor on the subject, and submit for the consideration
of the President that the law relating to the construction
and use of buildings in London should be amended in the following
respects:—
1. That the officers responsible for administering the law
relating to the construction and use of buildigs in London
should be the Surveyors appointed by the local authorities,
instead of District Surveyors appointed by the London
County Council.
2. That the Yestry agree with the views expressed by the
District Surveyor (a copy of whose remarks will be forwarded
to the President) in the following suggestions:—
(a) That all structural ironwork should be brought under
official control, both as regards design and strength,
and also as regards workmanship.