Page:Dwellings of working-people in London.djvu/18

 Cholera came again in 1853, and in 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works was established by the Metropolis Management Act. This Board undertook the excellent work which is known as the main drainage of London. This work should be most carefully and completely perfected. The chief Building Act now in force in London was also passed in 1855.

I must also mention the Act passed in 1851—the Labouring Classes' Lodging Houses Act, which, in conjunction with the Labouring Classes' Dwelling Houses Act of 1866, enables local authorities to build habitations for working people, and to borrow money from the Public Works Loan Commissioners at four per cent, on the security either of the property or of the local rates.

I now come to the Act which is of most importance in reference to this discussion—I mean the Act passed by my hon. friend the member for Finsbury (Mr. Torrens) in 1868, and called the Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act. The Bill, as passed by the House of Commons, contained provisions for four purposes—compulsory repair, demolition, compensation, and rebuilding. In the House of Lords the last two provisions were struck out, and consequently the Act provides only for compulsory repair, and for the demolition of dwellings unfit for human habitation. Yet this Act has been of great value. Indeed I did not fully realise its value until the other day when I went through the parish of St. Giles, where Dr. Ross, the Medical Officer of the Vestry, has put the Act into force with considerable vigour and courage. About 100 houses have been improved or demolished in his district.

The Act has been also employed with effect in Marylebone, Clerkenwell, Islington, Holborn, St. Luke's, Whitechapel, Mile End Old Town, and other parishes.

It may be worth while to point out how the Act may be considerably improved. Not only should the powers of rebuilding which the House of Lords unfortunately expunged be restored in some form by new legislation, but the experience of Dr. Ross in enforcing the Act induces him to offer these practical suggestions:—First, the Medical Officer, in addition to the report required by the Act, should be directed to detail the grounds upon which his opinion is based; and secondly, the report of the Medical Officer of Health, condemning certain houses as unfit for human habitation, should be forwarded to the Local Government Board, in order that a Medical Inspector may examine the premises and report thereon, previous to the reference to the