Volume 2

First-[second] report of the Royal Sanitary Commission.

  • Great Britain. Royal Sanitary Commission
Date:
1869-1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First-[second] report of the Royal Sanitary Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    141/418 (page 133)
    the special prevention of disease, and they have it in every part of Ii-eland. 10.982. {Mr. Lambert.) What are the principal provisions of the Act of 1866 with regard to sewage ? —The only change that we made with regard to sewer authorities was to amend the Sewage Utiliza- tion Act of 1865, so as to give a more complete definition of the sewer authorities in Ireland. 10.983. Have they powers to construct sewers within their district ?—They have exactly the same powers as sewer authorities had in England in 1866. 10.984. May they borrow money for that purpose? —Yes ; whatever power you had in England up to 1866 we have in Ireland. The legislation since 1866 has not been satisfactory, because we have not got the benefit of the legislation since 1866. 10.985. Has no Act been passed for Ireland since 1866 ?—Only one Act specially for Ireland since 1866 ; that was an Act to amend the Sanitary Act of 1866 as far as the same relates to Ireland, and it was to correct a slight omission in the Act. In the description of the Nuisances Removal Acts, the Nui- sance Removal Amendment Act, 1863, was left out. 10,983. (Chairman.) The one Sanitary Act since 1866 referring to Ireland is the Act of 1869 ?—Yes, it is a short Act. With regard to the other Acts which have been passed for England since that time to amend the Sanitary Act, the first is called the Sewage Utilization Act of 1867. It is rather am- biguous whether it extends to Ireland or not, because it appears to extend to Ireland, but the amended defi- nition of the sewer authority that was put in the Act, of 1866 is not adopted. The Act provides that the expression 'sewer authority' shall in this Act have the same meaning as in the Sewage Utilization Act, 1865, whereas that had been amended in clause 56 of the Sanitary Act of 1866, which provides that, The Sewage Utilization Act, 1865, shall be amended by substituting iu Ireland the sewer authority as defined by the first schedule of this Act for the sewer autho- rity as defined by said Act. It is obvious that that provision had not been considered with reference to Ireland by the framers of the Act of 1867, because if the Act was intended to extend t o Ireland they did not adopt the perfect definition of the Sanitary Act of 1866, but went back to the old definition of the Act of 1865, which had been amended in 1866. The other two Acts expressly excluded Ireland. In the 31st and 32nd of Victoria, chapter 115, v/hich amended the Sanitary Act of 1866, the 2nd section says, This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. And the same clause occurs in the Act of 1869, An Act for facilitating the borrowing money in certain cases for the purpose of the Sanitary Act, 1866, and the Acts amending the same: that is chapter 100 of the 32nd and 33rd of Victoria, and the 2nd section of that Act says, this Act shall not extend to Ireland or Scotland. 10.987. (i¥r. Lambert.) So that in fact there has been only one Act since 1866 which has affected Ireland ?—Yes. The course of legislation is that we are not getting the benefit of the amendments that have been adopted in the sanitary legislation of England, and probably we shall in a few years be in the same position that we were in 1865, that is to say, we shall get ] 0 years behind ; and though those amendments are in small matters, I think the Commission ought to bear this in mind that they are generally very vital, because they are defects in legislation which have been found to fetter the working of the Act and that have been deemed necessary to be amended by Parliament; and it is very unfortunate for us in Ireland when those discoveries are made that we do not get the benefit of them. 10.988. The sewer authority has power to construct sewers, but what is the power which is possessed by the nuisance authority?—The nuisance authority in Ireland, in all cases of towns, wherever there is a town under any organized government, is the town authority, and in every other place it is the board of guardians. 10.989. Is there any central authority in Ireland w. N. which is competent to erect a new local board ?—Yes, Hancock, Esq. the Lord Lieutenant in Privy Councd can erect a new town board. ^l MarcliI870, 10.990. But cau they bring any new district under the jurisdiction of a new local board to be set up ?— No, they cannot create a nuisance or sewer authority as such. If a district happens to tall within the conditions of having a population and other qualifi- cations for coming under town government, then if u town government were formed the district would go from tlie guardians to the town authorities. 10.991. (Lord E. Montagu.) Are you alluding to a grant of a municipal charter ?—Not that only, but also to districts coming within the limits of the town : under the Towns Improvement Act, 1854, or under a private Act of Parliament, the moment the town government comes into operation, the guardians cease to be the nuisance and sewerage authority. 10.992. {Mr. Lambert.) What are the powers of the nuisance authority ?—Their powers are exactly the same as in England ; every power in the Act of 1866 is precisely the same. 10.993. With regard to the local town authorities, is there any inspection over them ?—No, and there is not only no inspection, but we are behind English legislation on the subject; we have no Local Govern- ment Act Office like that in England. 10.994. Have you no central authority to whom t hey can apply for advice ?—No, none whatever. It is in the contemplation, I believe, of the present Government to l)ring in a Bill to extend that principle to Ireland ; that is to say, to give Irish towns the same benefit as English towns. There is a Bill under the con- sideration of the Government to put Irish towns in the same position as English towns, that is to say, under a Local Government Act Office in Dublin. 10.995. With regard to the expenditure of money by town authorities, is there any audit of their accounts ?—There is, but not a satisfactory audit. That is also proposed to be amended. ] 0,996. What is the nature of the audit, do you know ?—The audit, in the case of a town under a Town Council, is by auditors appointed by the rate- payers under the Municipal Corporations Act. They were also liable to be audited by the board of audit in London, but that has been given up, and anew system of audit in its place is not yet constructed. 10.997. That is Avitli regard to Dublin, I presume ? —Yes, and other corporate towns also. 10.998. In all those cases thei'e is some provision for audit ?—Yes, but a very imperfect audit, and one of the propositions is to reform that, and to adopt a system similar to the poor law audit. 10.999. WitI) respect to the boards of guardians, are they tmder any inspection ?—They are under perfect organization and arrangements for sanitary purjjoses. 11.000. Are they under the Poor Law Commis- sioners with respect to sanitary purposes, as well as with respect to poor laAv pur[)oses ?—Yes, completely under them. 11.001. Do the poor law inspectors iu Ireland act as sanitary inspectors ?—Not generally ; if any special case arose they Avould act. The board of guardians use the relieving officers as sanitary officers. 11.002. But do the poor law inspectors exercise any sapervision over the sanitary arrangements of the guardians ?—They do exercise supervision over all the guardians' duties, a.nd this is part of their duties under statute. 11.003. Ai-e the medical officers of the guardians the sanitary officers also ?—For special duties in the prevention of disea,se they are employed, but not for ordinary sanitary inspection. The relieving officers are employed liy the guardians as nuisance inspectorr 11.004. And those nuisance inspectors are appointed by the boards of guardians ?—Yes, they are appointed by tlie boards of guardians. 11.005. Have the Poor Law Commissioners any control over them with respect to the salaries of the