ness, narrowness, and bad arrangement or the bad condition of the streets and houses or groups of houses within such area, or to the want of light, air, ventilation, or proper conveniences, or to any other sanitary defects, or to one or more of such causes, and the evils and sanitary defects of which houses, &c., cannot be effectually remedied otherwise than by an improvement scheme for the re-arrangement and reconstruction of the streets and houses within the area.1 DEDUCTION FOR EXISTING NUISANCES. And lastly, in assessing the compensation, evidence shall be receivable by the arbitrator to prove that at the date of the confirming Act authorising such a scheme, or at some previous date not earlier than the date of the official representation in which the scheme originated, such house or premises was by reason of its unhealthy state, or by reason of overcrowding or otherwise, in such a condition as to have been a nuisance within the meaning of the Acts relating to nuisances; and if the arbitrator is satisfied that from either of such causes as aforesaid, such house or premises was, at such dates as aforesaid or either of them, a nuisance as aforesaid, he shall then determine what would have been the value of such house or premises supposing the nuisance to have been abated, and what would have been the expense of abating the nuisance; and the amount of compensation payable in respect of such house or premises shall be an amount equal to the estimated value of the house or premises after the nuisance was abated, and after deducting the estimated expense of abating the nuisance. SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE. The meaning of all of which is in brief as follows. The arbitrator in fixing the compensation must take into 1 Act of 1875, section 3. account the market value,' but in arriving at what is the market value he must deduct sums for the following items : 1. The bad state of repair in which the premises are. 3. The property being itself a nuisance, or offending against the Nuisance Acts,' and the fact of another owner being liable to abate the nuisances before he receives a penny. When all these deductions are made, the amount of the compensation will often be very small indeed, unless some allowance be made for compulsory purchase,' and, as we have seen, no allowance whatever is to be made on this score where the property taken is in the unhealthy and neglected state which it is the particular object of the Acts to wage war upon. And lastly, the arbitrator is not to grant any compensation for improvements made after notice has been given that the Act is going to be put in force; so that owners cannot erect buildings, as has been done before now, simply with the object of getting excessive compensation for them. VALUE OF COMPENSATION CLAUSES. It will thus be seen that wherever a really bad case is taken in hand there is no occasion to be alarmed. If the law be strictly carried into effect, there will frequently be a very small amount payable; and there will doubtless be instances in which there may be actually a sum payable by the owner for his neglect of duty, in excess of that due to him for the property of which he is deprived. THE ARBITRATOR. One word must be said as to the arbitrator. He is appointed by the Home Office on the application of the local authority. 1 See p. 15. His decisions are final where the award is less than 1,000l. Above that there is an appeal to a jury against his decision.' The form of proceedings in an arbitration under the Artisans Dwellings Acts will be found under Article 28 of the Schedule to the Act of 1875,2 and in the amended schedule annexed to Act of 1882.3 Act of 1882, schedule. 238 & 39 Vict. c. 36. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 54. PART III. CHAPTER VIII. RAILWAY CLEARANCES. 1 IT has been mentioned that considerable clearances of land in the metropolis are sometimes effected by private companies, and that in some cases a legal obligation is imposed upon the Companies thus acting to provide for the persons displaced by them. Unfortunately the intentions of the Law in this matter are considerably in advance of its real power for good. Parliament, it is true, has done something towards recognising the duty of Companies displacing persons under compulsory powers to provide accommodation in lieu of that destroyed, and taken steps to enforce performance of the duty. For some years there has been a permanent standing order 2 which provides that together with any private bill containing powers for the compulsory displacement of any number of persons there shall be deposited a statement as to whether any and what provision is made in the bill for remedying any inconvenience likely to arise from such bill. On inquiry at the private bill office such document can be seen, and from it See p. 10. 2 House of Lords Standing Orders, 111; House of Commons Standing Orders, 184. can be ascertained what number of houses it is intended to take, and how many persons are likely to be displaced. Further than this, all railway Bills at the present time contain a clause purporting to provide for the proper housing of persons disturbed by the operations of the railway. The clause referred to is not always in the same form; the most recent and probably the most satisfactory form runs as follows: The Company shall eight weeks at least before they take in any parish fifteen houses or more occupied either wholly or partly by persons belonging to the labouring classes as tenants or lodgers, make known their intention to take the same by placards, handbills, or other general notice placed in public near upon or within a reasonable distance from such houses, and the Company shall not take any such houses until they have obtained the certificate of a justice that it has been proved to his satisfaction that they have so made known their intention.' And in section 26 of the same Act ‘Before taking in any parish fifteen houses or more occupied either wholly or partly by persons belonging to the labouring classes as tenants or lodgers, who may for the time being be the occupier or occupiers of any house or part of any house which the Company and such other persons shall (unless the Company and such other persons otherwise agree) procure sufficient accommodation elsewhere for such person or persons, provided always that if any question shall arise as to the sufficiency of such accommodation the same shall be determined by a justice. And the Company may for the purpose of proving such accommodation appropriate any lands for the time being belonging to them, or which they have power to acquire, and may purchase by agreement such further lands as may be necessary for such purpose, and may on such lands erect labouring class dwellings, and may let or otherwise dispose of such lands and dwellings, and may apply for the purposes of this section or any of them any |
