Report of the committee to the members of the Association, on Lord Lincoln's Sewerage, Drainage, &c., of Towns' Bill.

  • Health of Towns Association (London, England)
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the committee to the members of the Association, on Lord Lincoln's Sewerage, Drainage, &c., of Towns' Bill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    reference to any general plan or system, while their employer would be put to the expense of retail charges, the extent of which he would be wholly unable to foresee. They are equally vicious in principle, for they assume that the expense of all sanatory improvements must be ultimately borne by the owner. Accordingly, Clause 156 expressly empowers the Commissioners to require the repayment of “ all such cost, charges, expenses, and moneys from the owner.” Clause 157 empowers the Commissioners to require the repayment “of all or any part of such cost, charges, and expenses, from the occupier, to the full amount of the rent due from him at the time of the demand ; ” and clause 159 empowers the occupier to deduct from his rent the amount so paid by him under certain specified con¬ ditions. Thus, the cost of paving, draining, and providing a house with a privy and cesspool* is, suppose, 51. The occupier is required by the provisions of the Bill to pay this 51. on demand, if he happen to owe that amount of rent; and should he be a yearly tenant, he may deduct from his rent all but the one-twentieth part of the charge. In this case the owner, instead of 51. rent, will receive only 5s.; that is, the bulk of his rent will be confiscated, for a benefit enjoyed not by him, but by the occupier. The practical result of these provisions must necessarily be the infliction of injustice and oppression, often amounting to the total confiscation of the rent. The experience of the like provisions under the Building Act shows that such cases will actually occur to a very serious extent. It is true that it is provided by a subsequent clause, that “in case any drain or other work shall have been constructed, made, or repaired by the said Commissioners, the costs of which are to be repaid to the said Commissioners by the owners thereof, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, and they are hereby required, in all such cases where the owner shall be only tenant for life [why in such cases only ?] of such premises, or where the amount of the sum to be repaid to the Commissioners] shall be more than half the amount of the net annual value of such premises, and in any other cases of which the said Inspector shall approve, to allow time for the repayment of such ^costs, charges, and expenses, and to receive the same by such instalments as the said Commissioners, under the circumstances of the * The kind of benefit to be expected from providing a house with a privy and cesspool is fully shown, p. 63 et seq.