PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1848.

house whatever appear to be with

it to the local board of health that any house, appear whether built before or after the time when this Act is applied to the district in which it is situate, is without a sufficient watercloset or privy and an ashpit, furnished with proper doors and coverings, that the same the said local board shall give notice in writing to be furnished; the owner or occupier of such house, requiring him

out a proper watercloset;

Local board

to require

and in case of default

they may do

the works

and charge

owner or

occupier with the expense.

User of waterclosets

forthwith, or within such reasonable time as shall be specified therein, to provide a sufficient watercloset or privy and an ashpit so furnished as aforesaid, or either of them, as the case may require;

And if such notice be not complied with, the said local board may, if they shall think fit, cause to be constructed a sufficient watercloset or privy and an ashpit, or either of them, or do such other works as the case may require; and the expenses incurred by them in so doing shall be recoverable by them from the owner in a summary manner, or, by order of the said local board, shall be declared to be private improvement expenses, and be recoverable as such in manner hereinafter provided (m):

Provided always, that where a watercloset or privy by inmates has been and is used in common by the inmates of more houses. two or more houses, or if, in the opinion of the said

of two or

local board, a watercloset or privy may be so used, they need not require the same to be provided for each house.

So much of the clause as relates to privies is founded upon the 23rd recommendation of the commissioners for inquiring into the state of large towns (Second Report, p. 60).

(m) The mode in which these expenses may be recovered is the same as that prescribed in s. 49, with respect to the con

c. 63. Waterclosets or to be provi

ded in fac

in tories for the

separate use

upon notice local

from.

board.

LII. And be it enacted, That if at any time 11 & 12 VICT. it appear to the local board of health, upon the report of the surveyor, that any house is used intended to be used as a factory or building which persons of both sexes, and above twenty in of each sex, number, are employed or intended to be employed at one time in any manufacture, trade, or business, the said local board may, if they shall think fit, by notice in writing to the owner or occupier of such house, require them or either of them, within a time to be specified in such notice, to construct a sufficient number of waterclosets or privies for the separate use of each sex;

And whosoever neglects or refuses to comply Penalty. with any such notice shall be liable for each default to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and a further penalty not exceeding forty shillings for every day during which the default is continued (n).

building and

with respect

LIII. And be it enacted, That, fourteen days at Notice of the least before beginning to dig or lay out the rebuilding, foundations of or for any new house, or to rebuild to levels of any house pulled down to the extent aforesaid (0)

struction of house drains. See the note to that section, ante, p. 82, note (ƒ).

The second branch of this section, and the proviso were framed upon ss. 42, 43 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, and they are adopted in the terms of the text in the Metropolitan Sewers Act, (11 & 12 Vict. c. 112, s. 48). Power to require owners to provide proper privies and ashpits is given by the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, s. 99.

(n) Adopted in the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, 8. 101. The provision is entirely new.

(0) That is to say, "to or below the floor commonly called

houses, situation of privies, &c.

HEALTH ACT

PUBLIC the person intending so to build or rebuild shall 1848. give to the local board of health written notice thereof, together with the level or intended level of the cellars or lowest floor, and the situation and construction of the privies and cesspools to be built, constructed, or used in connexion with such house;

Building until parti

culars have

been ap

hibited.

And it shall not be lawful to begin to build or rebuild such house, or to build or construct any any

proved pro- such privy or cesspool, until the particulars so required to be stated have been approved by the said local board:

Pecuniary peualties for

building without notice or approval:

Building

And in default of such notice, or if any such house, privy, or cesspool be built, rebuilt, or constructed as aforesaid without such approval, or in any respect contrary to the provisions of this Act (p), the offender shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds; and the said local board may, if they pniled down, shall think fit, cause such house, privy, or cesspool to be altered, pulled down, or otherwise dealt with as the case may require, and the expenses incurred by them in so doing shall be repaid by the offender, and be recoverable from him in the summary manner herein-after provided:

may be

&c.

the ground floor; see ss. 49, 51, at the commencement; pp. 80, 87. It was originally proposed that the notice required by this clause should apply to house drains and waterclosets, but the words to that effect were struck out by the House of Commons. The construction of house drains in connexion with newly built houses is regulated by s. 49, pp. 80, 81.

(p) See the provisions with respect to street levels, s. 72, post, pp. 115, 116.

c. 63. Approval or

to be spe

Provided always, that if the said local board fail 11 & 12 VICT. to signify their approval or disapproval of the said particulars for the space of fourteen days after disapproval receiving such notice it shall be lawful to proceed cified within according to such notice if the same be otherwise in accordance with the provisions of this Act (q).

14 days.

to provide

&c. do not

nuisance.

LIV. And be it enacted, that the local board of Local board health shall see and provide that all drains whatso- that drains, ever, and the waterclosets, privies, cesspools, and become a ashpits within their district, are constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health;

And the surveyor may—

Surveyor

may be

enter premi

to inspect

drains, &c.

By written authority of the said local board (who authorized to are hereby empowered to grant such authority, ses in order upon the written application of any person and lay open showing that the drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool, or ashpit, in respect of which application is made is a nuisance or injurious to health, but not otherwise),

And after twenty-four hours' notice in writing

(or in case of emergency without notice), to the

(q) The City of London Sewers Act, 1848 (ss. 63, 64), requires certain notices and approval previously to building or re-building, and by the Metropolitan Sewers Act (11 & 12 Vict. c. 112. s. 47) the district surveyors under the building Act (7 & 8 Vict. c. 84), are required to make returns to the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers of all notices of building or re-building given under the last mentioned Act. The provisions of the section in the text were framed upon ss. 38-41 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847.

PUBLIC

HEALTH ACT 1848.

If drains, &c.

be found in

damage to be made

good;

occupier of the premises to which such drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool, or ashpit is attached or belongs,

Enter such premises, with or without assistants, and cause the ground to be opened, and examine and lay open such drain, water-closet, privy, cesspool, or ashpit;

And if the drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool, or proper order, ashpit, in respect of which such examination is made, be found to be in proper order and condition, he shall cause the ground to be closed, and any damage done to be made good as soon as can be, and the expenses of the works shall be defrayed by the said local board (r);

if not, local board to

require the

But if upon such examination such drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool, or ashpit appear to be in of the neces- bad order and condition, or to require alteration

execution

sary works,

&c.;

or amendment, he shall cause the ground to be closed (s), and the said local board shall cause notice in writing to be given to the owner or occupier of the premises upon or in respect of which the

(r) See post, s. 144, p. 196. This branch of the section was framed upon s. 45 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847. (8) The words "he shall cause the ground to be closed" originally crept into a copy of the bill printed for the House of Commons by mistake; but upon its being proposed in the House to strike them out, they were insisted upon by an honorable member by whom the bill had been very closely watched, and they were retained accordingly. The words certainly appear to be altogether out of place in this paragraph. In the corresponding clauses of the Metropolitan Sewers Act, (s. 49,) the words are omitted.