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must be made to the Magistrate to enforce the order if he is satisfied that the nuisance is such as to render the house unfit for human habitation. There are many houses in the City which are in my opinion insanitary owing to the insufficiency or even entire absence of open space in the rear which the Magistrate might reasonably hesitate to condemn in this manner if expert evidence were led for the defence and hence one reason for the urgent necessity for legislation upon this point, such as has obtained in England for many years past.
In the face of all these difficulties however no less than 180 houses have been dealt with in this manner during the present year, as I have felt that the annual recurrence of cases of Bubonic Plague in certain narrow lanes would afford the Magistrate ample justification for their condemnation should the owners decide to appeal to him against my opinion.
The question of overcrowding in domestic dwellings, the detection of cases of, and deaths from contagious diseases, the sanitary maintenance of all premises in which food is handled and clothing washed, are matters which, I claim, receive the fullest attention of the Sanitary staff and although I do not consider that prosecutions are necessarily an index of good work