sewer or cesspool. This trap, in the case of a brickdrain called a 'dip-stone' trap, is a brick pit with a stone across it from one side to another, and dipped into the water which remains in the pit. The object of this stone is to prevent foul air coming into the house. As a matter of fact the pit holds a large collection of foul matter and becomes a small cesspool, in fact, there is no difference between them. Í have not unfrequently found the drains of houses discharging into a cesspool in the front area, with a dip stone across it to prevent the foul air getting into the drain. You can see at once that this is most mischievous, for the dip-stone pit contains a collection of filth, and keeps the air in the drain foul.

Now, what are the proper materials for drains to be made of? I will not take the case of an iron drain now. A drain may be made of glazed stoneware pipes, which may be joined together in one of several ways. They may be laid ' dry,' i.e., without any jointing material between the ends, in which case they are, of course, not water-tight; or they may have clay in the joints, in which case you cannot fill them with water-that is to say, they will not hold water under pressure. (If you fill them with water, by plugging at the lower end, the water will come out at the joints.) Or they may be laid with the pipes the wrong way. When the joints are made with clay they will very soon become leaky; and when that happens, the water oozes through the joints, filth collects in the trap, and it gradually plugs up the whole drain from one end to another. This may go on for years without being found out, and so cause the ground under the house to gradually become a large cesspool. This is an extreme case. Or they may be jointed with cement, and there are some other ways. They may be perfectly well jointed with cement, so as to be water-tight. The drains, then, should answer to this test, i.e. you should be able to plug them at the lower end, and fill them with water. They should not be under the house, if possible. In London we cannot help it as a rule. If under the house, the straighter the course of

the drain the better. Do not let it wind about in order to get away from different rooms. The best thing is to have a straight course through and to see that it is water-tight. It should hold water like a tea cup. The drain must not be directly connected with the main sewer or merely separated by a siphon-trap; but there should be an air inlet into the drain between the siphon-trap and the house. This opening may be of different kinds. The best kind is that of a manhole for access to the drain and trap (so that the trap can be examined and cleared out at any time); the air inlet should be a grating either over the manhole or in the nearest wall opening into a pipe leading into the manhole.

People who are afraid of foul air coming out of these inlets put on a valve with mica flaps, so that the air can blow in but foul air cannot go out. But, if there are no D-traps under the water-closets and sinks, if the pipes are straight and sufficiently large ventilators are used, if the ventilating pipes go up above the roof and are not protected from the action of the wind, then I say you will never find foul air coming out at the air inlet though you will find that fresh air is drawn in. There can be no accumulation of foul air, and the air that may be occasionally forced out is the last fresh air that has entered. Should you, however, find foul air coming out you will know that there is something wrong

with the drain, that the drain or siphon is plugged, so that this air inlet becomes most valuable in pointing out to us when anything is going wrong.

HINTS TO SANITARY INSPECTORS.

(Continued from page 556.)

CHAPTER III.
NUISANCE REPRESSION.

§ 12. Definition of Nuisance.

THE repression of nuisances is naturally the function specially appertaining to the holder of the office of Inspector of Nuisances.

In addition to keeping himself informed respecting all nuisances existing in his district which require abatement, Article 4 of the Order of the Local Government Board requires that—

4. On receiving notice of the existence of any nuisance within the district, or of the breach of any byelaws or regulations made by the sanitary authority for the suppression of nuisances, he shall, as early as practicable, visit the spot, and inquire into such alleged nuisance or breach of byelaws or regulations. Nuisance is a word of very comprehensive meaning. The definition of it by Mr. Justice Blackstone is now perhaps somewhat hackneyed, but it will bear repetition. He says:-Nuisance, nocumentum, or annoyance, signifies anything which worketh hurt, inconvenience, or damage. And nuisances are of two kinds; public or common nuisances, which affect the public and are an annoyance to all the King's subjects; and private nuisances, which may be defined as anything done to the hurt or annoyance of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments of another.' The Public Health Laws, of course, deal only with the public or common nuisances.

For ordinary purposes Sect. 91 of the Public Health Act, 1875 (N.R., 1855, Sect. 8; San., 1866, Sect. 19), defines the following as nuisances, but it must be borne in mind that this does not include every nuisance at common law :—

1. Any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health.

2. Any pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain, or ashpit, so foul, or in such a state, as to le a nuisance or injurious to health.

3. Any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health.

4. Any accumulation or deposit which is a nuisance or injurious to health.

5. Any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the inmates, whether or not members of the same family.

6. Any factory, workshop or workplace (not already under the operation of any general act for the regulation of factories or bakehousest),

The abbreviations inserted in italics after a section of the Public Health Act signify the corresponding section and Act governing the subject in the Metropolis, to which the Act of 1875 does not apply. N.R., 1855, and N.R., 1860, stand for the Nuisance Removal Act of 1855 and 1860, respectively; San., 1866, for the Sanitary Act, 1866: San. Laws Amend., 1874, for the Sanitary Law Amendment Act, 1874.

These words are repealed by the Factory Act, 1878, Sect. 101 of which provides that Sect. 91 of the Public Health Act, 1875, with

not kept in a cleanly state or not ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless as far as practicable any gases, vapours, dust, or other impurities generated in the course of the work carried on therein, that are a nuisance or injurious to health, or so overcrowded while work is carried on as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of those employed therein.

7. Any fireplace or furnace which does not as far as practicable consume the smoke arising from the combustible used therein, and which is used for working engines by steam, or in any mill, factory, dyehouse, brewery, bakehouse, or gaswork, or in any manufacturing or trade process whatsoever;

and

Any chimney (not being the chimney of a private dwelling-house)" sending forth black smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance.*

It will be noticed that the particular annoyance complained of must be a nuisance or injurious to health, so that it is not necessary for injury to health to be proved to secure a conviction-though of course actual or threatened impaired health is the best index of the character of the nuisance. This is not a matter, however, in which the inspector will need to concern himself in any detail, as the question of injury to health will come more properly within the province of the Medical Officer of Health.†

13. Powers of Local Authority as to Nuisances. Such of the offensive conditions referred to in section 91 as need more exact definition will be treated at length in subsequent chapters. Meanwhile, it may be profitable to refer briefly to the way in which nuisances generally can be legally dealt with. And in this connection it is worthy of notice that Section 3 of the Public Health Act enacts that—

The provisions of this Act relating to nuisances shall be deemed to be in addition to and not to abridge or affect any right, remedy, or proceeding under any other provisions of this Act or under any other Act, or at law or equity. The subjects of privy accommodation, street cleansing, removal of refuse, keeping of animals,

respect to a factory, workshop, or workplace, not kept in a cleanly state, or not ventilated or overcrowded, shall not apply to a factory or workshop which is subject to the provisions of that Act relating to cleanliness, ventilation, and overcrowding, but shall apply to every other factory, workshop, or workplace. It is thereby declared that the Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply to buildings in which persons are employed, whatever their number may be, in like manner as it applies to buildings where more than twenty are employed.

The provisoes to these definitions contained in Sect. 91 will be separately considered in the chapters devoted to 'Offensive Trades and Smoke Nuisances.'

† On the question of nuisances as they affect injury to health, the observations of Mr. Simon made before the Royal Commission on Noxious Vapours in 1878 deserve particular attention. Mr. Simon observed, the expression "injurious to health" in many of these discussions has been used in a sense to impose upon the who person is charged with the duty of protecting health an obligation to prove that typhoid fever, or small-pox, or dysentery, or ringworm, or something of that kind, some definite disease that we name in our catalogue of diseases, is produced by these vapours. I do not think we are bound, when it is a question of sanitary injury, to show injury of that kind. To be free from bodily discomfort is a condition of health. If a man gets up with a headache, pro tanto he is not in good health; if a man gets up unable to eat his breakfast, pro tanto he is not in good health. When a man is living in an atmosphere which keeps him constantly below par, as many of these trade nuisances which I have in my mind particularly do, all that is an injury to health, though not a production of what at present could be called a definite disease. I think that those who are fighting for public health may claim of the Legislature that any pollution of the air such as may make a common nuisance, either in stink or in dust, or which causes coughing, shall be called a nuisance injurious to health, and come under the Sanitary Act.'

offensive ditches, water pollution, occupation of cellar dwellings, common lodging-houses, offensive trades and the like are specially dealt with in separate parts of the Public Health Act, and there are other nuisances, such as from noise (see 35 & 36 Vict. c. 61, sect. 2), village greens (20 & 21 Vict. c. 31), unfenced shafts of abandoned mines (Coal Mines Regulation and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, 1872), pollution of rivers (Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876), alkali works (Alkali Works Regulation Act, 1881), absence of water fittings in the metropolis (Metropolis Water Act, 1871), &c., that are regulated by special Acts of Parliament, the provisions of which must be read together with the general law affecting nuisances and their abatement.

Although the sanitary inspector has only to deal with legal proceedings for the repression of nuisances up to a certain point, it is essential for him to have a proper understanding of the principles upon which such proceedings are based, and of the acts or defaults for which they may legally be instituted. Section 92 of the Public Health Act provides that it shall be the duty of every local authority to cause to be made from time to time inspection of their district, with a view to ascertain what nuisances exist calling for abatement, and to enforce the provisions of the Act in order to abate the same; also to enforce the provisions of any Act in force within their district requiring fire-places or furnaces to consume their own smoke. It is for the purpose of making such inspections that inspectors of nuisances are appointed. If the local authority makes default in enforcing this section the Local Government Board can compel them to enforce it, or appoint a person to enforce it at the expense of the local authority (Sect. 299; San., 1866, Sect. 49 ; San. Laws Amend., 1874, Sect. 20).

$ 14. Information as to Nuisances.

Information of a nuisance may be given to the local authority by any person aggrieved thereby, or by any two inhabitant householders, or by any officer of the authority, or by the relieving officer, or by any constable or officer of the police force of such district. (Sect. 93; N. R., 1855, Sect. 10.)

The person aggrieved or any single inhabitant or owner of premises may make complaint to a justice of the existence of a nuisance without the intervention of the local authority, and thereupon the same proceedings are to be taken as in the case of a complaint made to a justice by the local authority.*

The court may, if it thinks fit, adjourn the hearing of the summons for an examination of the premises where the nuisance is alleged to exist, and may authorise the entry into such premises of any constable or other person, with the same powers and under the same restrictions as if he were an officer of the local authority.† Such person may be authorised to do all necessary acts and to recover his expenses from the person on whom the order is made. (Sect. 105; N. R., 1860, Sect. 13; San. Laws Amend., 1874, Sect. 53).

On receipt of any information respecting the existence of a nuisance the local authority, if satisfied of the existence of a nuisance, must serve a notice [in Form A of Schedule IV. of the Act] on the person by whose act, default, or sufferance the nuisance arises or continues, or, if such person can

*

not be found, on the owner or occupier of the premises on which the nuisance arises, requiring him to abate it within a time to be specified in the notice. Where the nuisance arises from the want or defective construction of any structural convenience, or where there is no occupier of the premises, notice is to be served on the owner.

Where the person causing the nuisance cannot be found, and it is clear that the nuisance does not arise or continue by the act, default, or sufferance of the owner or occupier of the premises, the local authority may themselves abate the same without further order. (Sect. 94; San., 1866, Sect. 21.)

In the event of the local authority making default in doing their duty as regards the abatement of nuisances, the Local Government Board may authorise any officer of police acting within the district of the defaulting authority to institute any proceeding which the defaulting authority might institute, the expenses of such officer being claimable from the local authority. But the police officer may not for this purpose enter a house used as a dwelling without the occupier's consent or without the warrant of a justice. (Sect. 106; San., 1866, Sect. 16; San. Laws Amend., 1874, Sect. 19.) Thus his powers in this respect are less extensive than those of the local authority in whose place he acts.†

15. Service of Notices.

Authorised forms for the notices required to be given under Sects. 94, 95, 96, and 100 of the Public Health Act are printed in Schedule IV., Forms A, B, C, and D. Sect. 266 enacts that notices, orders, or other such documents under the Act may be in writing or print, or partly in writing or partly in print; and, if they require authentication by the local authority, the signature of the clerk or the surveyor or inspector of nuisances is sufficient authentication. Notices as to nuisances are usually signed by the sanitary inspector, as concerning his department of work more intimately than the department of any other officer.

Notices, orders, and similar documents may be served by delivering them to or at the residence of the person to whom they are addressed, or, when addressed to the owner or occupier of premises, by delivering them or a true copy of them to some person on the premises. If there is no person on the premises who can be so served, the notices must be fixed on some conspicuous part of the premises. A notice may also be served by post by a prepaid letter, and if so served shall be deemed to have been served at the time when the letter containing it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. For proving such service, it will be sufficient to prove that the notice, &c., was properly addressed and put into the post. Any notice required to be given to the owner or occupier of any premises may be addressed by the description of the owner' or occupier' of the premises-naming them-in respect of which the notice is given, without further name or description. (Sect. 267; Metropolis

* The name of the occupier or owner need not be inserted. (See Sect. 15 of the Hints.') As to the service of notices, see Sect. 15; and as to nuisances caused by more than one person, Sect. 16.

† See Sect. 19 of the Hints.'

The term owner is defined by Sect. 250 of the Metropolis Local Management Act and Sect. 4 of the Public Health Act to mean the person for the time being receiving the rack rent of the lands or premises in connection with which the word is used, whether on his own account, or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would so receive the same if such lands or premises were let at a rack rent.'

Local Management Act, 1855, Sect. 221; N. R., 1855, Sect. 35.) It is, however, desirable in all cases that when the name of the owner or occupier is known, it should be inserted in the notice.

16. Nuisances caused by two or more Persons. Under Sections 33, 34, and 39 of the old Nuisance Removal Act of 1855-still in force in the metropolis-much difficulty was experienced in enforcing any remedy in the case of nuisances caused by the acts or defaults of two or more persons, unless it could be clearly proved that the separate contribution of the person proceeded against would alone cause a substantial nuisance. Such proof was often from the nature of the case almost impossible; and Section 255 of the Public Health Act accordingly provides that the local authority or other complainant may institute proceedings against any one of such persons, or include all or any two or more of such persons in one proceeding, and any one or more of such persons may be ordered to abate the nuisance. Whenever in any proceeding relating to nuisances it is necessary to refer to the owner or occupier of any premises, it is sufficient to designate him as the 'owner' or 'occupier' of such premises without name or further description.

§ 17. Nuisances outside District.

Under the old Nuisance Removal Act, moreover, local authorities could not protect the inhabitants of their districts against nuisances existing therein, but originating in another district; and as it often happened that these nuisances were of a very serious character, Section 108 of the Public Health Act now provides that when a nuisance within the district of a local authority appears to be wholly or partially caused by some act or default committed or taking place without their district, the authority may institute proceedings in the same way as if the act or default took place wholly within their district; and this section extends to the metropolis so far as to authorise proceedings to be taken under it by any nuisance authority in the metropolis in respect of any nuisance within their district caused by something outside, and vice versâ.

$ 18. Legal Proceedings.

If the person on whom a notice to abate a nuisance is served makes default in compliance, or if the nuisance, although abated, is in the opinion of the local authority likely to recur on the same premises, complaint is to be made by the local authority to a justice, who issues a summons (Schedule IV., Form B, of the Act) requiring the attendance of the person on whom the notice was served before a court of summary jurisdiction (Sect. 95; N.R., 1855, Sect. 12). The giving of notice to abate a nuisance appears to be a condition precedent to a local authority taking proceedings before a justice against persons causing a nuisance, though a private individual may, under Sect. 105 of the Act,+ take proceedings against such persons without giving any preliminary notice.

If the local authority are of opinion that summary

Defined by Sect. 4 of the Public Health Act to mean 'any justice or justices of the peace, stipendiary, or other magistrate or officer, by whatever name called, to whom jurisdiction is given by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts or any Acts therein referred to.' † See Sect. 14 of the Hints."

twenty-four hours was given to the occupier after the service of the notice.

Any person who refuses to obey an order under this section is liable to a penalty not exceeding 57 (Sect. 103; N.R., 1855, Sect. 36.)

The order having been granted and admission obtained, it behoves the officer making the inspection to proceed with it regularly and systematically, the actual existence of the nuisance at the time of inspection and at the time of complaint being exactly ascertained, and the probability of its recurrence being inquired into. The facts ascertained should be promptly reduced to writing, and the local authority should by formal resolution place upon record the decision arrived at after perusal of the report, in order to ground further proceedings.

It is important to bear in mind that the authority has no power to enter upon premises to execute sanitary works until after disobedience to an order of a justice. The well-known case of Tinkler v. Wandsworth Board of Works (27 L. J. Ch. 342) settled this point very clearly.

Other sections of the Public Health Act give powers of entry as follows :

Section 41 (San., 1866, Sect. 4) authorises the local authority, on the written application of any person stating that any drain, water-closet, earth-closet, or cesspool, on or belonging to any premises is a nuisance or injurious to health, to empower their surveyor or inspector, after twenty-four hours' written notice to the occupier, or, in case of emergency, without notice, to enter such premises, with or without assistants, and cause the earth to be opened for the examination of the drain, &c. No hours for such inspection are laid down, and no power is given by the section to the local authority for the enforcement of their order, if admission be refused; but the powers of Section 102 are sufficient for the purpose, and there is, moreover, the power of entry under Section 305, to be presently referred

to.

Section 58 authorises a local authority supplying water by measure to have access to and be at liberty at all reasonable times to remove, test, inspect, and replace any meter or other instrument for measuring water. No provision seems to be made here for refusal to permit admission, and Section 305 does not apparently apply.

Section 85 requires the keeper of a common lodging-house to give free access at all times to any officers of the local authority to any part of the house, under a penalty of 51.* Where the Local Government Board have empowered a local authority to make bye-laws as to houses let in lodgings (Sect. 90; San., 1866, Sect. 19; San. Laws Amend., 1874, Sect. 47), it is usual for such bye-laws to contain a clause similar to the above, giving free access at all times to the sanitary officials.

Section 98 (already referred to) gives power of entrance to the local authority for the purpose of performing the necessary works, where a person causing a nuisance neglects to carry out an order of a justice.

Section 119 authorises a justice, on complaint being made on oath, to grant a warrant to any officer of a local authority to enter any building in which such officer has reason for believing that there

In the metropolis the duty of supervising the common lodging houses is placed exceptionally under the charge of the metropolitan police, so that London sanitary inspectors have no duties with regard to their supervision,

is kept or concealed any diseased or unwholesome animal, carcase, meat, or other food intended for sale for the food of man. The penalty for obstruction in this case is 20%.

Section 137 gives powers of entry to local authorities and their officers on any premises or vessel for the purpose of executing or superintending the execution of any regulations issued by the Local Government Board in time of any exceptional epidemic.

Section 305 enacts that whenever it becomes necessary for a local authority or any of their officers to enter, examine, or lay open any lands or premises for the purpose of making plans, surveying, measuring, taking levels, making, keeping in repair, or examining works, ascertaining the course of sewers or drains, or ascertaining or fixing boundaries; and the owner or occupier refuses to permit such inspection, the local authority may, after written notice, apply for an order authorising such inspection; and, on such order being granted, the local authority or their officers may enter on such lands between 9 A.M. and 6 P.M.. Except in case of emergency no entry is to be made or works commenced unless at least twenty-four hours' notice has been given.

Any person who wilfully obstructs any member of the local authority or any person duly employed in the execution of any of these or other provisions of the Public Health Act, is liable to a penalty of 51. When the occupier of any premises prevents the owner from obeying the law, a justice may, by order, require such occupier to permit the execution of the necessary works, and if he fails to comply with such order, he is liable to a penalty of 57. for every day of non-compliance. An occupier refusing without sufficient cause to state the name of the owner of the premises he occupies is liable to a similar penalty (Sect. 306; N.R., 1855, Sects. 36 and 37).

It may be here added that under the Public Health (Water) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. cap. 25), a rural sanitary authority who have served a notice on an owner to provide a proper water supply, and whose notice has been disregarded, may enter upon the premises and execute all necessary works (Sect. 3, Sub-sec. 3), Sects. 102 and 103 of the Public Health Act applying until the works are completed, in the same manner as if an order had been made for the abatement of a nuisance. Section 7 of the same Act further provides that if a rural authority, or their officers, or any persons duly authorised by them, have reasonable ground for believing that any occupied dwelling-house within their district is without a proper and sufficient supply of wholesome water, they shall be admitted into the premises for which such supply is required, or from which the water supply may be derived, so as to ascertain whether or not such house has such a supply within a reasonable distance. Sections 102 and 103 of the principal Act apply in this case also.

The powers of entry into factories and workshops of inspectors of factories, who may take with them an officer of the sanitary authority, have been already sufficiently referred to in Sect. 6 of these Hints.' (To be continued.)

The Bournemouth Improvement Commissioners and Urban Sanitary Authority have increased the salary of Mr. George Robert Andrews, the Surveyor, from 250%. to 300l. per annum.

The powers of police officers under Sects. 105 and 106 to enter premises in certain cases has already been dealt with in Sect. 14.