PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1848. 4. Drainage. 5. Privies. 6. Ventilation. 7. Light, &c. Nor unless the same be well and effectually drained by means of a drain, the uppermost part of which is one foot at least below the level of the floor of such vault, cellar, or room; Nor unless there be appurtenant to such vault, cellar, or room, 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 (g); Nor unless the same have a fireplace with a proper chimney or flue; Nor unless the same have an external window (h) of at least nine superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame, and made to open in such manner as shall be approved by the surveyor, except in the case of an inner or back vault, cellar, or room let or occupied along with a front vault, cellar, or room, as part of the same letting or occupation, in which case the external window may be of any dimensions, not being less than four superficial feet in area clear of the sash frame: (g) See ss. 49, 51, 54, ante, pp. 80-82, 87, 88, 91-93. (h) By s. 151, p. 202, it is provided, that the opening of a window under this clause shall not render a house, containing seven windows only, at the time of the passing of this Act, liable to the duties payable upon a house with eight windows. The Liverpool Act of 1846 (s. 121) prescribes that the window shall be a casement window, opening on hinges or pivots, unless the sashes are double, and made to open both at top and bottom. It seems better that these details should be left to the discretion of the surveyor, as settled by the present Act. c. 63. contrary to And whosoever lets, occupies, or continues to let, 11 & 12 VICT. or knowingly suffers to be occupied, for hire or rent, penalties for any vault, cellar, or underground room, contrary to letting, &c. this Act, shall be liable, for every such offence, to a the Act. penalty not exceeding twenty shillings for every day during which the same continues to be so let or occupied, after notice in writing from the local board of health in this behalf: respect to access to Provided always, that in any area (i) adjoining a Proviso with vault, cellar, or underground room, there may steps for be steps necessary for access to such vault, cellars, &c., cellar, or room, if the same be so placed as not to be over, across, or opposite to the said external window, and so as to allow between every part of such steps and the external wall of such vault, cellar, or room a clear space of six inches at the least; And that over or across any such area (i) there or to build ings above may be steps necessary for access to any building cellars. deemed oc Provided also, that every vault, cellar, or under- What to be ground room in which any person passes the night cupation as shall be deemed to be occupied as a dwelling within the meaning of this Act: a dwelling. with respect Provided also, that the provisions of this Act with Provisions respect to the letting and occupation of vaults, cellars, to cellars, and underground rooms shall not, so far as the same as dwellings (i) See ante, p. 107. &c. occupied before the PUBLIC relate to vaults, cellars, and underground rooms HEALTH ACT to come into operation until after 1848. which shall have been let or occupied as dwellings statute, not before the passing of this Act, come into force or operation until the expiration of one year from the passing of this Act, nor within any district until the expiration of six months from the time when this Act shall have been applied thereto : certain time. Churchwardens, &c. and from to give notice of And() all churchwardens and overseers of the poor immediately, shall from time to time after the passing of this Act time to time, cause public notice of the provisions of this Act, with respect to the letting and occupation of vaults, cellars, and underground rooms, to be given in such manner as may appear to them to be best calculated to make the same generally known. enactments. Manage ment of Streets. Highways vested in local board, LXVIII. And be it enacted, that all present and future streets, being or which at any time become highways within any district, and the pavements, stones, and other materials thereof, and all buildings, implements, and other things provided for the purposes thereof by any surveyor of highways, or by any person serving the office of surveyor of highways, shall vest in and be under the management and control of the said local board of health (k): (i) By this clause churchwardens and overseers are required to give notice from time to time after the passing of this Act, although the parishes for which they act may not be inIcluded within any "district" "constituted for the purposes of the Act. (k) This and the two following sections are framed with a view to the 12th recommendation of the commissioners for inquiring into the state of large towns, viz., " that the whole c. 63. and to be And the said local board shall from time to time 11 & 12 VICT. cause all such streets to be (7) levelled, paved, flagged, channelled, altered and repaired (m), as and when repaired, occasion may require ; of the paving, and the construction of the surface of all streets, courts, and alleys, be placed under the management of the same authority as the drainage, and that the limits of the jurisdiction, wherever practicable," be co-extensive (2nd Report, p. 36). See the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, s. 119. (1) Sewerage works are included in the two following sections; but provisions upon that head would be unnecessary in the present section, inasmuch as by s. 45 (p. 77), the local board are required to make such sewers as may be necessary for draining their district for the purposes of the Act. See the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, s. 120. (m) The effect of this and the two following sections may be thus summed up :-By the present section the duty of repairing and keeping in order all highways is cast solely on the local board of health constituted under the Act. Section 70 enables the local board to take under their management any street, court, or alley, &c. which shall have been put in order to their satisfaction, unless the owners of property object thereto; and section 69 gives power to require the owners and occupiers of property to put in proper order any street, &c. in bad condition which may not have already become vested in the board. In the latter case, upon the default of the owners or occupiers, the local board may put the street in order, and recover the expenses incurred by them, either from the owner in one sum, or from time to time by instalments, or they may recover from the occupier by means of a rate spread over any period not exceeding thirty years. (See ante, pp. 82, 83, note f). The expenses are so charged in accordance with the 12th recommendation of the commissioners for inquiring into the state of large towns, (2nd Report, p. 36.) By section 117, pp. 166, 167, the office of surveyor of highways within districts under the Act is transferred to the local boards, but existing surveyors of highways may recover highway rates in arrear. By s. 118, p. 168, liabilities to repair ratione tenure are saved. &c. by PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1848. Laws of highwgys may be altered, &c. And they may from time to time cause the soil of any such street to be raised, lowered, or altered as they may think fit, and place and keep in repair fences and posts for the safety of foot passengers; Penalties for And whosoever wilfully displaces, takes up, or in displacing &c. pavements, jures the pavement, stones, materials, fences, or posts of any such street, without the consent of the said local board, shall be liable, for every such offence, to a penalty (n) not exceeding five pounds, and a further sum not exceeding five shillings for every square foot of the pavement, stones, or other materials so displaced, taken up, or injured. Local board may require owners and LXIX. And be it enacted, that in case any present or future street, or any part thereof (not being a highput in order way), be not sewered (0), levelled, paved, flagged, and occupiers to private streets, channelled to the satisfaction of the local board of health, such board may, by notice in writing to the respective owners or occupiers of the premises fronting, adjoining, or abutting upon such parts thereof as may require to be sewered, levelled, paved, flagged, or channelled, require them to sewer, level, pave, (n) As to the recovery and application of penalties, see post, ss. 129, 133; pp. 181, 185. The section in the text embodies ss. 47, 51, 52, 56 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847. (0) By section 45, p. 77, the duty of providing sewers is cast upon the local board, and this section enables the board, if they think proper, to require the owners or occupiers of property in any street which has not become a highway to construct the necessary sewers in the first instance at their own expense. See City of London Sewers Act, 1848, s. 122. |