SECTION III.

DECOMPOSING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND FILTHY HOUSES.

The Public Health Act, 1848; the Common Lodginghouses Act, 1851; the Nuisances' Removal Act of 1855; and the Sanitary Act of 1866, contain provisions which the medical officer of health will find very useful.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1848.

(11 & 12 Vict. c. 63.)

As to Manure and Refuse.

Section 53. Where notice has been given by the nuisance authority, or their officer or officers, for the periodical removal of manure and other refuse matter from mews, stables, or other premises (whether such notice shall be by public announcement in the locality or otherwise), and subsequent to such notice the person or persons to whom the manure or other refuse matter belongs shall not so remove the same, or shall permit a further accumulation, and shall not continue such periodical removal at such intervals as the nuisance authority or their officer or officers shall direct, he or they shall be liable without further notice to a penalty of twenty pounds per day for every day during which such manure or other refuse matter shall be permitted to accumulate, such penalty to be recovered in a summary

manner :

Provided always that this section shall not apply to any place where the board of guardians or overseers of the poor are the nuisance authority.

As to Pigstyes and Filth.

Section 59. And be it enacted that whosoever keeps any swine or pigstye in any dwelling-house, or so as to be a nuisance to any person, or suffer any waste or stagnant water to remain in any cellar or place within any dwelling

house for twenty-four hours after written notice to him from the local board of health to remove the same, and whosoever allows the contents of any water-closet, privy, or cesspool to overflow or break therefrom, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings, and to a further penalty of five shillings for every day during which the offence is continued.

And the said local board shall abate or cause to be abated every such nuisance, and the expenses incurred by them in so doing shall be repaid to them by the occupier of the said premises upon which the same exists, and be recoverable from him in the summary manner hereinafter provided.

And if at any time it appears to the inspector of nuisances that any accumulations of manure, dung, soil, or filth, or other offensive or noxious matter whatsoever ought to be removed, he shall give notice to the person to whom the same belongs, or to the occupier of the premises wherein it exists, to remove the same.

And if at the expiration of twenty-four hours after such notice the same be not complied with, the manure, dung, soil, or filth, or matter referred to shall be vested in and be sold or disposed of by the said local board, and the proceeds thereof shall be carried to the district fund account hereinafter mentioned.

THE COMMON LODGING-HOUSES ACT, 1851.

(14 & 15 Vict. c. 28.)

To Enter Lodging-houses.

Section 12. The keeper of a common lodging-house, and every other person having or acting in the care or management thereof, shall at all times, when required by any officer of the local authority, give him free access to such house or any part thereof.

THE TOWNS' IMPROVEMENT CLAUSES ACT, 1847.

(10 & 11 Vict. c. 34.)

Definition of Public Lodging-house.

Section 116.-Every house shall be deemed a public lodg

ing-house within the meaning of this Act in which persons are harboured or lodged for hire for a single night, or for less than a week at one time, or any part of which is let for any term less than a week.

THE NUISANCES' REMOVAL ACT FOR ENGLAND, 1855. (18 & 19 Vict. c. 121.)

To Enter Private Premises and Examine them.

Section 11. The local authority shall have power of entry for the following purposes of this Act, and under the following conditions:

(1) To ground proceedings.

For this purpose, when they or any of their officers have reasonable grounds for believing that a nuisance exists on any private premises, demand may be made by them or their officer on any person having custody of the premises of admission to inspect the same at any hour between nine in the morning and six in the evening, and if admission be not granted, any justice having jurisdiction in the place may, on oath made before him of belief in the existence of the nuisance, and after reasonable notice of the intended application to such justice being given in writing to the party on whose premises the nuisance is believed to exist, by order under his hand require the person having the custody of the premises to admit the local authority or their officer; and if no person having custody of the premises can be discovered, any such justice may and shall, on oath made before him of belief in the existence of such nuisance, and of the fact that no person having custody of the premises can be discovered, by order under his hand authorise the local authority or their officers to enter the premises between the hours aforesaid.

(2) To examine premises where nuisances exist, to ascer

tain the course of drains, and to execute or inspect works ordered by justices to be done under this Act. Drains.

For these purposes, whenever under the provisions of this

L

Act a nuisance has been ascertained to exist, or where an order of abatement or prohibition under this Act has been made, or when it becomes necessary to ascertain the course of a drain, the local authority may enter on the premises, by themselves or their officers, between the hours aforesaid, until the nuisance shall have been abated, or the course of the drain shall have been ascertained, or the works ordered to be done shall have been completed, as the case may be.

THE SANITARY ACT, 1866.

(29 & 30 Vict. c. 90.)

Power to Abate Nuisance.

Section 20.-It shall be the duty of the nuisance authority to make, from time to time, either by itself or its officers, inspection of the district, with a view to ascertain what nuisances exist calling for abatement under the powers of the Nuisances' Removal Acts, and to enforce the provisions of the said Acts, in order to cause the abatement thereof, also to enforce the provisions of any Act that may be in force within its district requiring fireplaces and furnaces to consume their own smoke;

And any justice, upon complaint upon oath, may make an order to admit the nuisance authority or their officers, for these purposes, as well as to ground proceedings under the IIth section of the Nuisances' Removal Act, 1855.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1848.
(11 & 12 Vict. c. 63.)

As to Filthy Houses.

Section 60. And be it enacted that, if upon the certificate of the officer of health, if any, or of any two medical practitioners, it appears to the local board of health that any house, or part thereof, is in such a filthy or unwholesome condition that the health of any person is affected or endangered thereby, or that the whitewashing, cleansing, or purifying of house or part thereof would tend to prevent or check

any

infectious or contagious disease, the said local board shall give notice in writing to the owner or occupier of such house or part thereof to whitewash, cleanse, or purify the same, as the case may require;

And if the person to whom notice is so given fail to comply therewith within such time as shall be specified in the said notice, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings for every day during which he continues to make default;

And the said local board may, if they shall think fit, cause such house, building, or part thereof, to be whitewashed, cleansed, or purified, and the expenses incurred by them in so doing shall be repaid by the owner or occupier in default, and be recoverable from either of them in the summary manner hereinafter provided.

SECTION IV.

SEWAGE EMANATIONS.

Sewage acts injuriously, whether in the gaseous or liquid state, and whether it contaminates the air or the drinking

water.

Sewage smell is generally perceptible, and reveals the fact of the escape of sewage gas, as well as the position of it, and will often be found in a kitchen sink, or a waste water-pipe in some part of the house; but not unfrequently it is due to a defective state of the water-closet, either by the fixing being unsound, by the trap being insufficiently filled with water, or by the water in the trap being charged with it.

It is, however, quite possible that an inodorous poisonous gas, as carbonic oxide, may pervade inhabited places, in a proportion far beyond that of foul gas, and thus escape