The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-24 00:00:00

consent, the parties who had signed the counter-petition
withdrew their opposition, and he had since receivedajority
a
petition from that town, with the signatures of a majority
of the rate-payers attached, in favour
of
applying
the act,
and with the prayer of that petition it was his in-
tention to comply.
He would now proceed to state
the nature of the provision of the proposed bill. The
bill contained 170 clauses, antiraightbe descrieilbaetedda
ts
theo
General Board of Health ani its con-
sistingconstitution of three
nstatution ;
parts—first, that which
second,
as
to the manner in which the sot might be adopted and
applied • and, third, as to the powers and duties of the
local boards. It would embody several useful provisions
which
were contained in former acts ; end amongst these
the provisions in the act of last year with regard to the
constitution of the General Board of Health would remain
precisely the same. (Hear.) He proposed that the act
Should be applied either by adoption or by application.
First, any small number of persons, being ratepayers,
might present a requisition to the mayor of a place, being
a borough, or to the principal parish officer in case of a
parish, who should thereupon convene a meeting of the
ratepayers to take a vote whether the act should be adopted
or not in that locality; and if at that meeting the ques-
tion should be decided in the affirmative, then the resolu-
tions of the meeting should at once be sent to the General
Board of Health, who should have power, if they thought
fit, to apply the act to that district. If, on the contrary,
there was a division of opinion at the meeting, the le h cer
convening it should name a day for the purpose of taking
a pall of the inhabitants, to determine in that way whether
the act was to be adopted or not ; and in the event of their
decision being in favour of applying the act, the general
board should have power to apply it accordingly. This
regulation would, of course, apply to districts having
definite boundaries, and hereafter it might be applied also
to places not having definite boundaries, and to parts of
places. He proposed also that a petition for applying the
act might be presented to the General Board of Health
from the inhabitants of a district, signed by one-tenth of
the ratepayers, as at present; and upon the receipt of
that petition that the board should have power to
send down an inspector to make the necessary in-
quiries, and who should give fourteen days' notice by
public advertisement that the general board would make a
provisional order for the application of the act in that dis-
trict. The provisional order should then be sent down for
the consideration of the inhabitants, and if the majority
consented to it the Public Health Act should be applied,
but if they objected it should not be applied. So far as he
had gone he had shown that the present act was only to
be applied with the consent of the ratepayers. There were
oases"; however, in which it would be necessary to apply it
by appearedulsory power ; as, for instance, in those where
it by the returns of the registrar-general that the
deaths in any place exceeded 23 in every thousand of the
population. Where such a state of things as that existed
he proposed to apply the act compulsorily. He should
also take power to apply it to parts of places adjoining
districts in which the Public Health Act was already in
operation. One remarkable case was brought before him
no longer ago than last Saturday, when he received a
communication from a district where the Public Health
Act was in force, and where the deaths amounted to 21 in
a thousand of the population ; whilst in a place imme-
diately outside that district the deaths numbered the
enormous amount of 39 in a thousand ! He thought this
so remarkable a case Oat he sent down an inspector to
make inquiries on the spot, and by his report and the re-
gistrar-general's returns the statement had been fully
borne out and confirmed. He proposed, therefore, that
where the mortality in a place of that description was ex-
cessive, the Board of Health should have power to attach
the place to another district ; and in the particular case
he had referred to, he found that the district adjoining
was perfectly ready to the adoption of such a measure.
Having shown how the act might be put in force, either by
adoption or application, he came next to the powers and
duties to be exercised by the local boards. They would
have power to appoint officers, procure maps of the locali-
ties, have the sewage and cleansing under their control, and
possess the same powers of drainage as were now in exist-
ence. In the next place he proposed to take some very
large powers, and to this proposition be desired to call the
especial attention of the house, because if it were sanctioned
by the legislature, it would not only interfere with many
of the existing duties and privileges of the Houses of
Parliament, but would also to a great extent supersede tho
necessity for applying to parliament for local acts. He pro-
posed to confer powers which had been long desired, and in
favour of which committees of the House of Commons had
reported over and over again iii reference to the subject of
private bill legislation. If any hon. gentleman wished to
see what was the opinion of the commissioners on this im-
portant subject, let them read the report which was issued
in 1847, in which the proposition he was about to make
was fully considered and favourably reported upon. But
if those large folio volumes were too formidable to wade
through then he would suggest that the Edinburgh Review
of the present month contained an article in which the re-
commendations of the various commissions were admirably
summed up. From that article he would for the present
content himself with reading the following short extract:—
" These abuses of private bill committes have been the
subject of discussion almost annually during the present
century in both Houses of Parliament. There are upwards
of 70 long reportsin which the delay, expense, and general
inconvenience of oar private bill system have from time to
time been pointed out. Some salutary changes have cer-
tainly been made in the constitution of committees, the
mode of selection, and reduction of the number of members,
and the more important reform has been carried of pro-
viding by general law for several subjects hitherto dealt
with only by private acts ; but the system of private bill ,
legislation, and the greater portion of the inconvenience I
still remain." ,
He held in his hand a list of the number of improvement
bills which had been presented to the home and prose-
cuted from the year 1850 to 1855, and from this it ap-
peared that the number in 1850 was 47 ; in 1851, 53 ; in
1152,_ 70 ; in 1853, 85 - in 1854, 96 ; and in lassotices
of bills), 77, in the whole not less than 428. Head ap-
plied to the gentlemen who were best qualified to give hina
information on the subject, to know what might have been
the probable cost of prosecuting these bills, and he was
informed that if he put down 20001. for each bill, inde-
pen tent of the expense of opposition, he would be quite
within the mark. It consisted with reason, therefore,
that no less a sum than 356,000/. had been expended in the
prosecution of private improvement bills from the year
165 J to tho present moment. Now the proposition he had
to make was, that where the local boards desired to ac-
quire land, either within or without their localities, for
the purposes of any drainage or waterworks or other pur-
poses of that description, they should have the power of
acquiring that land without the necessity of corning before
a committee of the House of Commons. But to make him-
self distinctly understood upon this subject, which was one
of very great importance, he would read the clauses of the
bill which referred to it :
"Clause 76. The local board shall have power to .par-
chase any land necessary for carrying into execution the
above objects. And for the purposes of this section the,
Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, shall be incorpo-
roted with this act ; but the exercise of the above powers
shall be subject to this restriction, that no such reservoir
as aforesaid shall be made, nor shall any land be purchased
under the compulsory powers of the said Lands Clauses
Consolidation Act, for the purposes aforesaid, except with
the sanction of the justices assembled at some court of
quarter sessions, such selection to be obtained by the local
board who have projected any such work in manner herein-
after mentioned.
" Clause 77. Every local board, before applying for such
sanction as aforesaid, shall do as follows—that is to say,
publish once at the least in each of three consecutive weeks
in one of the newspapers circulating in the district a notice,
specifying the place where such reservoir is proposed to be
made or land purchased, the place where plans and sections
of the works proposed may be seen at all reasonable hours,
and the quantity of land that they require for any of the
aforesaid purposes, and stating the day and the place at and
on which the application for such sanction as aforesaid is
to be made. Serve a notice in manner hereinafter men-
tioned on the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed
lessees, and occupiers of the land intended to be taken for
the purposes of such sewage reservoir, such service to be
made four weeks previously to the week in which the ses-
sions are holden at which such application is intended to
be made : and it shall be lawful for any persen.upon whom
notice is so served as aforesaid, and also for any person who
or whose property may be injuriously affected by the con-
struction of such sewage reservoir, to appear at the sessions,
and by himself or his counsel, or attorney in cases where
attorneys are allowed to be heard, to oppose any applica-
tion that may be made by any local board for the sanction
of the justices, and to support such opposition by such
evidence as he thinks fit.
"Clause 80. The justices assembled at such court of
sessions as aforesaid may, after proof of the publication and
service of such notices as aforesaid, and after hearing the
application of the local board, and anything alleged in op-
position thereto, either give or withhold their sanction • or
may, with the consent of such local board, grant their
sanction upon such terms and conditions as they think fit ;
and any decision so made by the justices shall be binding
on the said local board."

The effect of these clauses would be, that where at pre-
sent parties were obliged to give their notices and then
come before this house, whiob all parties must admit was
not the most satisfactory tribunal, in future they would
have to go before the court of quarter sessions—a court
having jurisdiction and sitting within the locality in which
the land required was situated, and composedof gentlemen
Who would know .he circumstances and requirements of
the locality, and would be well able to judge and deter-
mine whether those circumstances and requirements were
such as that power ought to be given to the local boards
for the acquisition of the property. He had already stated
that it was his desire to put a stop, if possible, to the
Power which was now exercised by persons of building
houses back to back, by which means there was no venti-
lation or outlet for the air except in front, where also the
°_l6ces requisite to be attached to every dwelling-house
were erected apractice which in his opinion was so objec-
subject h
tiouable as ' P
net on any account to bo tolerated. Upon this
1.. ° had received many communications from vari-
ous min,* 4„
Coventry, .".WaSS amongst them Sunderland, Leicester, and
There was also
and eh
e proposition was approved by them all.
(by general -eentiViause with respect to slaughter-houses
posed that no new ones a very
moth:"
great nuisance), and he pro-
and that every
existing be used without a licence,
such within three should be registered as
of the passing of the act.
The local boards would
raise money on mortgage . have
aso power
. to levy rates and
some of these might indict penVaake bye-laws, and as
tt,. he proposed that
they should be first subjected to royal of the
re that the
Secretary of State. It was further leaisapdpeosfi
the act. At
local boards should report on the execution
therefor
present the ratepayers had no knowledge of the manner in
which their money was expended; he proposed
that every local board should make an annual report :i
what they had done in the execution of the act, and fur-
nish a copy of that report to every ratepayer in the dis-
h l 1
erd of Healtl i s ou c h ave power to
triet and to the General Board of Health. He proposed,
moreover, that the Bo
inspect the towns where the act %vas in operation, for the
purpose of seeing that the money was laid out in conformity
n, done that, he thought
with the plans they had sanctioned. That was all the
Power ho proposed to Lake, and havi❑,,,
v. hat had been done in
the General Board of .11-;alth ought in its turn to make
an annual report to Parliarneet of ,
the execution fthe and 'I o act, Leo
I.lsl e local boardspublish reports an-
t,
nually of their proceedings and r cliis bill, and to send a copy
to each of the ratepayers. When it would be necessary for
the local boards to burrow money, they should first obtain
the sanction of the General Board of Health ; and the
money which they should borrow must lso appropriated in
accordance with the scheme snbreittad previously by the
-atepayers themselves. The act of last session was only to
operate for a period of one year, and until the end of the
next ensuing session of Parliament. He proposed that the
present measure should operate for a period of two years,
and until the end of the next ensuing session of Parliament,
lie believed by that time that the house and the country
would have an opportunity of seeing how far this bill had
carried out the objects which he had in view. His own
impresaion was that it would prove most useful for coun-
try districts and he was certain that if the person who
was placed at the head of the department which he now