The Brighton improvement act (1884)

T H E B R I G H T O N I M P R O V E M E N T ACT (1884). T H E B R I G H T O N I M P R O V E M E N T ACT

0ss4). STUDENTS of the sanitary laws may with profit peruse the various local Acts which have been passed from time to time to regulate certain large towns. In not a few instances clauses will be found in these Acts which contain sanitary provisions far in advance of anything in the general Acts. Should experience show that such clauses have been put in practice with benefit; this is a fair argument for legislators to judiciously amend the general statutes on similar lines. The Brighton Improvement Act, I884, 47 and 48 Vict., chap. cclxii., is a case in point, and we here give the sections bearing upon sanitation, carefully extracted by Dr. Newsholme, most of which considerably amplify corresponding sections in the Public Health Act, 1875, or its amendments. Attention may be directed specially to the power given under Section i i 8 to purchase insanitary property ; this power has lately been exercised on a Brighton area condemned under Cross's Act, and the price given by the Corporation is moderate compared with that which the metropolis and other towns have had to pay. INFECTIOUS DISEASES. Section 54.--In this part of this Act "infectious disease" means and includes small-pox, cholera, typhus, typhoid, scarlet relapsing, continued and puerperal fever~ scarlatina and diphtheria. Section 55.--Whenever it shall be certified to the Corporation by the Medical Officer of Health or other legally qualified medical practitioner that the spread of infectious disease is, in the opinion of such Medical Officer of Health or medical practitioner, attributable to the milk supplied by any cowkeeper, purveyor of milk, or occupier of a dairy milk store or milk shop, the Corporation may require such cowkeeper, purveyor of milk, or occupier, to furnish to them within a time to be fixed by them, a full and complete list of the names and addresses ofall his customers within the borough, and such cowkeeper, purveyor of milk or occupier shall furnish such lists accordingly, and the Corporation shall pay to him for every such list after the rate of sixpence for every twenty-five names contained therein, but no such payment shall exceed two shillings, and every person who shall wilfully or knowingly offend against this enactment shall for each such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding .~z'5, and to a further penalty not exceeding 5s. for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction. Section 56.--The Corporation shall from time to time provide temporary shelter or house accommodation for the members of any family in which any infectious disease has appeared, and who have been compelled to leave their dwellings for the purpose of enabling such dwellings to be disinfected, and may further provide or contract with

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any person or persons to provide nurses for attendance upon persons suffering from any infectious disease within the borough, and shall be enabled to charge a reasonable sum for the service of any nurse provided by them. Section 57.--Where the Corporation are of opinion, on the certificate of their Medical Officer of Health or of any other legally-qualified medical practitioner, that the cleansing and disinfecting of any dwelling-house and of any articles therein likely to communicate any infectious disease or to retain infection would tend to prevent or to check infectious disease, and that such cleansing and disinfection would more effectually be carried out by the Corporation than by the owner or occupier of such dwelling-house, the Corporation without requiring such owner or occupier to carry out such cleansing and disinfection as aforesaid may if they think fit but at their own cost themselves cleanse and disinfect such dwetlinghouse and any such articles, and may for that purpose remove any such articles, and shall make compensation to such owner or occupier for all property or articles destroyed or injured by the exercise of the provisions of this section. Section 6 o . ~ I f any person shall die from aJay infectious disease in any hospital or place of temporary accommodation provided by the Corporation, and the Medical Officer of Health certifies that in his opinion it is desirable in order to prevent the risk of communicating any infectious disease or spreading infection that the dead body shall not be removed from any such hospital or place except for the purpose of being forthwith buried, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to remove such dead body from such hospital or place except for the lastmentioned purpose, and when the dead body is taken out of such hospital or place for that purpose it shall be forthwith carried or taken directly to some cemetery or place of burial and shall be forthwith there buried, and any person wilfully offending against this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. Section 6x.wWhere the dead body of any person who has died of any infectious disease remains unburied, elsewhere than in a mortuary, for more than forty-eight hours after death without the sanction of the medical officer of health or of a legallyqualified medical practitioner, or is retained in a room in which persons live or sleep, or where the dead body of any person is retained in any house or building so as to endanger the health of the inmates of such house or building or of any adjoining or neighbouring house or building, and there shall be a certificate thereof signed by a legally-qualified medical practitioner, any Justice may order the body to be removed at the cost of the Corporation to any mortuary provided by the Corporation, and direct the same to be buried within a time to be limited in the order, or may, in the case of the body of a person who has died of any infectious disease or in any case in which

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he shall consider immediate burial necessary, direct such body to be so buried without requiring the same to be removed to a mortuary ; and unless the friends or relatives of the deceased undertake to bury and do bury the body within the time limited by such order it shall be the duty of the relieving officer to bury such body at the expense of the poor rate, but any expense so incurred may be recovered by the relieving officer in a summary manner from any person legally liable to pay the expense of such burial. Any person obstructing the execution of an order made by a Justice under this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. Section 6 2 . - - A n y person who hires or uses a public conveyance other than a hearse for the conveyance of the corpse of a person who has died from any infectious disease without previously notifying to the owner or driver of such public conveyance that the person whose corpse is, or is intended to be so conveyed, has died from infectious disease, and any owner or driver of a public conveyance other than a hearse which has been used for conveying the corpse of a person who has died from infectious disease who shall not immediately afterwards provide for the disinfection of such conveyance, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. When any public conveyan6e has been used for the conveyance of a person suffering from an infectious disease, or the conveyance of the corpse of a person who has died from any such disease, and the owner of such public conveyance has not made provision for the immediate disinfection thereof, the same may be taken possession of and immediately disinfected by any officer of the Corporation, and the expense thereby incurred may be recovered in a summary manner from the owner (if such conveyance was so used with the knowledge of the owner), or (if not) from the person hiring or using such conveyance. Section 63.--Any keeper of a common lodging house in the Borough who fails to give the notice required by Section 84 of the Public Health Act, 3875 , shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ~ 5 , and in the case of a continuing offence to a penalty not exceeding 4os. for every day on which the offence is continued after conviction. C O N V E Y A N C E OF OFFENSIVE M A T T E R S T H R O U G H THE STREETS, ETC.

Section 65.mThe Corporation may from time to time make and enforce bye-laws for all or any of the following purposes (that is to s a y ) : - For preventing infectious rubbish being thrown into ash-pits or ash-tubs. For prescribing the times for the removal or carriage through the streets of any fcecal, offensive, or noxious matter or liquid, and the construction and manner of using any vessel or vehicle used therefor, and to compel the cleansing of any place

A C T (I884).

whereon such matter or liquid ~hall have been dropped or spilt in such removal or carriage. CERTIFICATES IN THE CASE OF N E W

HousES. Section 9 9 . m N o building not already occupied as a dwelling-house shall be so occupied until the drainage thereof has been made and completed and a proper water supply laid on thereto, nor until a certificate has been granted to the owner that such house is in every respect in accordance with the requirements for the time being in force within the borough. (Then follow provisions in case of surveyor failing to give certificate after all things have been done and written application made.) PROVISION

AGAINST

POLLUTION SITES,

OF

BUILDING

Section lO7.--No cesspit is to be made or continued on any premises if there is a sewer belonging to the Corporation within 3oo feet of any part of such premises fit to receive the drainage thereof, except when in the opinion of the Corporation the making or continuance of such cesspool shall be unavoidable, and when any cesspool shall be allowed to be made it shall be constructed in such situation and in such manner as the Corporation shall direct. (There is a penalty provided for neglect of .~5, or less, and 4os. a day for a continuing offence.) Sections lO8, lO9, and I IO give ample powers with regard to sinks, drains, waste pipes, and proper flushing appliances to water closets. A penalty is provided on failure, and it is noticeable that with respect to closets no notice ~cems to be .........: ' ~ an inefficient flushing apparatus or a badly ventilated closet being in itself a contravention of the Act. Section i i 6 . - - I t shall not be lawful to raise, fill, or embank any ground within the Borough with any offensive or unwholesome matter, and every person who does, or causes to be done, any act in contravention of this section shall, for every such offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding .~5, and a further sum not exceeding 4os. for every day after conviction, upon which such offensive or unwholesome matter continues unremoved. P O W E R TO PURCHASE INSANITARY PROPERTY.

Section I i 8 . - - T h e Corporation, if they think fit, may purchase, or otherwise acquire by agreement, any dwelling-houses, including the site and appurtenances thereof, which, or a part of which, is in their opinion unfit for human habitation. UNWHOLESOME FOOD. Section 3 2 o . - - I f t h e occupier, or one or two or more joint occupiers, of any building registered or licensed to be used as a slaughter-house shall, after the passing of this Act, be convicted of selling or exposing for sale or for having in his possession or on his premises the carcass of any animal or any piece of meat or any flesh diseased or unsound or

D I S T R I B U T I O N A N D C O N D I T I O N OF P O O R F O R E I G N P O P U L A T I O N . unwholesome or unfit for the food of man, a court of summary jurisdiction may, if it think fit, by order cause such building to be removed from the list of registered slaughter-houses, or revoke the licence to use such building as a slaughter-house, as the case may be, during the period such occupier or joint occupier continues in the occupation or joint occupation of such building; and the Corporation may thereafter refuse, if they think fit, to grant a licence for the use as a slaughter-house of any building belonging to or occupied by, or which they may reasonably believe is intended to be occupied by the person so convicted. Section 12 r . - - T h e provisions contained in Sections [ix6 to i f 9 (both inclusive) of the Public Health Act, i875, shall extend and apply to all articles intended for the food of man, sold, or exposed for sate, or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale or of preparation for sale within the borough. Section i ~ 2 . o F o r the purpose of enabling the medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances to effectually inspect and examine, under the provisions of Section i x6 of the Public Health Act, I875, any article sold or exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale or of preparation forsale within the borough and intended for the food of man, such medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances may, subject to the provisions of Section 3o8 of the Public Health Act, i875, open any box or other receptacle in which any such a~ticle may be contained, and any person who shall obstruct any such officer or insDector in me execuuon ot this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. HOUSES U N F I T FOR HUMAN H A B I T A T I O N . Brighton possesses a very complete set of byelaws, one of which confers useful power with regard to new houses unfit for habitation built since Brighton has been constituted a borough. It provides that after a notice has been served upon the owner certifying that the building is unfit for human habitation, and where the owner has not shown sufficient cause to the contrary the council may themselves make an order prohibiting its use, and the hou,~e is to be closed until it is made fit. If the Improvement Act is diligently carried out and the bye-laws enforced, Brighton has k very complete syslem of local sanitary government, and will long hold its own as one of the first watering places. THE LESSON OF ANCOATS.~Dr. J. C. Thresh, Medical Officer of Health for the combined district of Chelmsford, delivered a lecture on the 6th of October in the new Islington Hall, Ancoats, Manchester, entitled " T h e Lesson of Ancoats." There was a large attendance. Dr. Thresh's study of the Ancoats mortality has already appeared in Public Health, Vol. II., No. 5.

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THE DISTRIBUTION AND CONDITION OF THE POOR FOREIGN POPULATION OF T H E C O U N T R Y , A N D T H E I N F L U . E N C E OF F O R E I G N I M M I G R A T I O N . THE following interesting information is contained in the recently published " R e p o r t from the Select Committee on Emigration and Immigration (Foreigners)" : If we take the towns of London, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, and Manchester, we find that in them the percentage of the foreign to the total population of England and Wales was i ' 4 o in i88i ; or, taking the whole country, the proportion to the entire population was 0"45, and in these five towns I "69 .

It is therefore apparent that the alien population in this country is chiefly confined to the towns, where their effect will, of course, be dispro portionate to their total number in the country. The increase of the foreign population has been relatively greater than that of our own, Between i86r and i88x the population of England and Wales increased 20 per cent. ; the total foreign population increased 4o per cent. ; the total foreign European population increased 38 per cent. ; and the population of Austrians, Hungarians, Russians, and Poles increased x35 per cent. The significance of these figures is mainly in the enormous increase of the Austro-Hungarian and Russo-Polish population, for it is from these countries that the poorest of our immigrants are drawn, and it is to them that we mainly ~ t t r i h ! ~ t o t h e ' ,~,,;! . . . . t ~ : ~ ,._ arisen in the East-end of London, and which have led to the present inquiry and that proceeding before the Committee on the Sweating System. Further pursuing Mr. Gonner's figures as to the distribution of the foreign population, we find that just as it is unequal as between the country generally and the five towns above named, so it is unequal in the towns themselves. In the Whitechapel district in i861, the foreign population formed 7"7 per cent. of the whole, the Polish population was I per cent. of the whole. I n i871 the proportion of foreigners to the whole population was lO"6; of the Polish, 3. In i88~ the proportion of the foreign population to the whole was 13 per cent., and of the Polish, 6 per cent. If we take the actual figures, we find that between i86i and i88i the total population fell from 78,97 ° to 71,363, a decrease of ~o per c e n t , while the foreign population rose from 6,222 to 9,660. The whole of this increase of 8,434 must be reckoned as Polish, for the increase of Poles during the same period was 3,613, or 425 per cent. Nor is the pressure undoubtedly caused in particular localities by the inequality of distribution entirely local in its character. It is shown to a greater extent in particular trades. Mr. Gonner selects as an instance of this inequality in trade distribution of foreign immigrants,