Vaults, &c.,

under streets to be repaired by owners or occupiers.

Provisions as to the

Occupation

of underground rooms as

dwellings (b).

or district board, or of the metropolitan board of works, without their consents respectively first obtained; and if any vault, arch, or cellar be made contrary to this provision, it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board, or for the metropolitan board of works, to fill up or alter the same, and the expenses incurred thereby shall be paid by the owner of such vault, arch, or cellar.

CII. All vaults, arches, and cellars made either before or after the commencement of this Act under any street in any parish or district mentioned in either of the schedules (A.) and (B.) to this Act, and all openings into the same in any such street, shall be repaired and kept in proper order by the owners or occupiers of the houses or buildings to which the same respectively belong; and in case any such vault, arch, or cellar be at any time out of repair, it shall be lawful for the vestry or district board of such parish or district to cause the same to be repaired and put into good order, and to recover the expenses thereof from such owner in the manner hereinafter provided (a).

CIII. Any room of a house the surface of the floor of which room is more than three feet below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street, and any cellar, where such room or cellar is or has been occupied separately as a dwelling at or before the time of the passing of this Act, may continue to be so let or occupied if it possess the following requisites; that is to say,

If there be an area not less than three feet wide in every part from six inches below the floor of such room or cellar to the surface or level of the ground

(a) As to recovery of expenses, see sects. 225, 226. (b) The 23rd sect. of the Metropolitan Building Act, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 122, post, Appendix, lays down rules for the construction of habitable rooms hereafter constructed; and the 3rd rule makes reference to the present provision. See penalties imposed by that section.

adjoining to the front, back, or external side thereof, and extending the full length of such side;

If such area, to the extent of at least five feet long

and two feet six inches wide, be in front of the window of such room or cellar, and be open or covered only with open iron gratings;

If there be in every such room or cellar an open fireplace, with proper flue therefrom;

If there be a window opening of at least nine superficial feet in area, which window opening must be fitted with a frame filled in with glazed sashes, of which at the least four and a half superficial feet must be made to open for ventilation :

And no such room nor any cellar not so let or occupied as aforesaid at or before the time of the passing of this Act shall be so let or occupied unless it possess the following requisites; that is to say,

Unless the same be in every part thereof at least seven feet in height, measured from the floor to the ceiling thereof;

Unless the same be at least one foot of its height above the surface of the footway of the street adjoining or nearest to the same;

Unless there be outside of and adjoining the same room or cellar, and extending along the entire frontage thereof and upwards, from six inches below the level of the floor thereof up to the surface of the said footway, an open area at least three feet wide in every part;

Unless the same be effectually drained and secured against the rise of effluvia from any sewer or drain; Unless there be appurtenant to such room or cellar the use of a watercloset or privy, and an ashpit, furnished with proper doors and coverings kept and provided according to the provisions of this Act; Unless the same have a fireplace with a proper chimney or flue;

Unless the same have an external glazed window of

at least nine superficial feet in area clear of the frame and made to open in such manner as is approved by the surveyor (c) of the metropolitan board of works : Provided always, that in any area adjoining a room or cellar there may be placed steps necessary for access to such room or cellar, and over or across any such area there may be steps necessary for access to any building above the room or cellar to which such area adjoins, if the steps in such respective cases be so placed as not to be over or across any such external window:

And whosoever lets, occupies, or continues to let, or knowingly suffers to be occupied, any room or cellar contrary to this Act, shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding 20s. for every day during which the same continues to be so let or occupied; and every room or cellar in which any person passes the night shall be deemed to be occupied as a dwelling within the meaning of this Act; and every district surveyor acting under the Act of the session holden in the seventh and eighth years of Her Majesty, chapter eighty-four, or under any Act repealing or amending the same, shall, without any fee or reward, report (d) periodically, and

(c) It is not clear what officer is here meant. The duty seems to appertain to the functions of the "district surveyor," named in the subsequent part of the section; but the appellation of surveyor of the metropolitan board has never been applied to those officers who are appointed under and for the purposes of the Building Act exclusively. This class of duties is ordinarily performed by the "architect" of the board; but though, by the 112th sect. of the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, the word" surveyor" includes any officer called "engineer," it does not include the architect. It might be prudent to add to the title of any officer charged with this duty that of "surveyor of the metropolitan board."

(d) See now sect. 62 of 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, post, as to reports of district surveyors on underground rooms or cellars occupied as dwellings, not built or constructed in conformity with the rules contained in this section, and as to proof of such occupation.

otherwise, as the said metropolitan board may order, to such board all cases in which rooms or cellars are occupied contrary to this enactment in the district of such surveyor, and also to the respective vestries and district boards all such cases occurring within such parts of his district as may be within their respective parishes and districts; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to disable other persons from enforcing this enactment, and taking proceedings for penalties thereunder.

district sur

ground

cellars.

CIV. For the purpose of enforcing the enactment Power to lastly herein before contained, it shall be lawful for any veyors to such district surveyor, or for any other person, having enter underreasonable grounds for believing that any room or cellar rooms and is occupied contrary to such enactment, to demand admission to inspect the same at any time between nine o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the evening; and if admission be not granted, any justice having If admission jurisdiction in the place where such room or cellar is situate may, on oath before him of belief that such room issue an or cellar is occupied contrary to the said enactment, by order under his hand authorize such district surveyor or other person to enter into and inspect such room or cellar between the hours aforesaid.

refused, jus tice may

order.

new streets.

CV. In case the owners of the houses forming the Provisions for paving greater part of any new street (e) laid out or made, or hereafter to be laid out or made, which is not paved (ƒ) to the satisfaction of the vestry or district board of the

(e) Where a police magistrate dismissed a summons obtained by a vestry for recovering a share of the estimated expenses of paving a new street under this section, on the ground that the street having been dedicated to the public before the passing of the Act, was not a "new street" within the meaning of the Act, the court (dissentiente Erle, J.) held that there had been a hearing and adjudication, and that the court had no jurisdiction to interfere; R. v. Dayman, 26 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 128.

(ƒ) See definition of "pave," 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, s. 112.

E

Vestry or board may declare their

parish or district in which such street is situate, be desirous of having the same paved, as hereinafter mentioned, or if such vestry or board deem it necessary or expedient that the same should be so paved, then and in either of such cases such vestry or board shall well and sufficiently pave the same, either throughout the whole breadth of the carriageway and footpaths thereof, or any part of such breadth, and from time to time keep such pavement in good and sufficient repair; and the owners of the houses (a) forming such street shall, on demand, pay to such vestry or board the amount of the estimated expenses of providing and laying such pavement (such amount to be determined by the surveyor for the time being of the vestry or board) (b); and in case such estimated expenses exceed the actual expenses of such paving, then the difference between such estimated expenses and such actual expenses shall be repaid by the said vestry or board to the owners of houses by whom the said sum of money has been paid; and in case the said estimated expenses be less than the actual expenses of such paving, then the owners of the said houses shall, on demand, pay to the said vestry or board such further sum of money as, together with the sum already paid, amounts to such actual expenses.

CVI. The vestry or district board of any parish or district may, if they think fit, by notice in writing put

(a) As to what houses are situate in a street, see Baddeley v. Gingell, 1 Ex. 319. By the 77th section of the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, post, owners of land are made liable to contribute to the expenses of paving, and see the provisions in that section for apportioning expenses and accepting payment by instalments.

(b) No action lies at the suit of the vestry against an owner for the amount of these expenses, and they can only be recovered by a proceeding before justices, under the 225th section; Vestry of St. Pancras v. Battenbury, 26 L. J. (N. S.) C. P. 243. See as to recovery of expenses of a similar nature under a local Act, incorporating the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, The Mayor of Blackburn v. Parkinson, 28 L. J. (N.S.) M. C. 7.