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that it would have been much better for all interested,
—owner, tenants, and Sanitary authority,—if action could
have been taken sooner, under the Artizans' Dwellings
Improvement Act, and a Surveyor's Report obtained,
shewing what was requisite to make and keep
the dwellings fit for habitation. Much money was
expended under the Nuisance Removal Act, and the tenants
inconvenienced, and a few months after cleansing and
repairs were effected, the dwelling were again in a
• condition endangering health. Action was not taken
under Torrens' Act because the proceedings are
cumbersome and necessitate much delay, and it was
understood they would probably lead to much litigation.
This deterred the Local Authority from bringing the
Act into operation. An Act is much needed in dealing
with small areas, empowering the Local Authority
(Yestry) to order houses reported and considered by them
unfit for habitation to be closed, and allowing an appeal,
but not to the ordinary Courts of Law ; for the expenses
attendant on the appeal to a Law Court amount in the
cases of small property, to as much, or nearly as much, as
the value of the property itself, and the decision given in
the Courts are not sufficiently based on the requirements
of health.
HOUSE DRAINS AND SEWERS.—The Sanitary officers' time
has been to a great extent, occupied in securing the
removal or alteration of dangerous drains. Yearly
experience shows that house-drains, speaking generally,
have been and many are still, in a dangerous condition ;
even now old cesspools are every month discovered, which
have been covered over, hidden to save the expense and
trouble of their removal. Many house-drains have been
found to be simply old leaking brick trenches, which
allowed both sewage liquid and gas to escape; many
other drains consisted of pipes without proper fall, or laid
very unevenly or thoughtlessly placed at such angles