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dwelling's to remain in their injurious condition. Sanitary
notices had on several occasions in years past been served,
but failed to effect any adequate improvement. Knowing
this, and to judge of their condition and the best measures to
be adopted, the Sanitary Committee visited the dwellings,
and found them old, much decayed and badly constructed,
without proper appliances for health. The Committee
came to the conclusion that it would be more advantageous
for the owner to pull the houses down, for even if the
owner effected extensive improvements the Sanitary Committee
considered the dwellings would, owing to their
decayed condition and structural defects, not be (it dwellings
for human beings to live in. The leaseholder concurred
in this decision and asked for time to obtain a new lease,
and on acquiring it he undertook to pull down the dwellings.
Time was granted him but he failed to obtain an extension
of his lease and the property passed into other possession.
The Medical Officer finding after much delay that the
owner made 110 proposal satisfactory to the Sanitary
Authorities reported, as authorised by the Artizans'
Dwellings Improvement Act (Torrens), the dwellings to be
unfit for habitation. This Act was advisedly chosen, the
area being considered too small for the Metropolitan Board
to deal with under the Artizans' Dwellings Improvement
Act of 1875. The Surveyor appointed by the Vestry concurred
in the Medical Officer's opinion, and reported that
t he dwellings could not be made lit by structural alterations,
that they must be pulled down. The owner did not dispute
that the dwellings were unfit for habitation, but he
contended that they could be made fit by structural
alterations.
I have referred to these preliminary proceedings in
order that the position of the Sanitary Authorities may be
rightly understood. They did not contend that the dwellings
could not be greatly improved by the structural