568657-1929-Supplementary-Draft-Bills---Liquors-Amendment — Page 13

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be drawn at angles of thirty degrees with the horizontal, and any part of the building (except any chimney or party wall, or any ornamental tower, turret, or other architec- tural feature or decoration, or any parapet not exceeding three feet in height) falling outside such lines shall be deemed illegal: Provided always that in the case of any existing building which already exceeds in height one and a half times the width of the street upon which it abuts, the structure of the roof, or any part thereof, shall not be altered or added to in such a manner that any portion of such structure shall fall out- side lines drawn at angles of thirty degrees with the horizontal from points determined by measuring a full vertical height equal to one and a half time the width of such street on the lines of the main walls in the manner described in this subsection,

(2) In the event of the street on which a building abuts not being level throughout the extent of such building, the height shall be measured from the central point of the external face of the wall abutting on such street.

(3) In any case which does not fall within the foregoing provisions the height of the building shall be determined in such manner as the Building Authority may direct.

Objects and Reasons.

1. The control of eating-houses has been transferred from the Superintendent of Imports and Exports to the Sanitary Board. Section 4 of Ordinance No. 19 of 1928 gave the Sanitary Board power to make regula- tions with regard to eating-houses, but it failed to give the Sanitary Board power to prescribe licence fees. The omission is supplied by section 2 of this Ordi-

nance.

2. It has long been recognised that sections 188 and 189 of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, are not entirely satisfactory. One defect is that while section 188 limits the height of buildings accord- ing to the width of the streets upon which they front, section 189, which prescribes the method of measuring the height of buildings, deals only with the case of buildings which actually abut upon streets and makes no provision for the case of buildings which front, but do not abut, upon a street. Sections 3 and 4 of this Ordinauce assimilate sections 188 and 189 of the prin- cipal Ordinance on this point, and provide for the use of the word abut in both those sections. The special case of buildings which front, but do not abut, upon a street has still to be provided for. The two sections in the principal Ordinance as amended by this Ordinance will deal with this special case by giving discretion to the Building Authority, but this discre- tion is carefully limited in the interests of the building owner by the provision that in the case of a building which does not abut upon a street, but is built on land abutting upon a street, the Building Authority shall have no power to require such building to be of a less height than if it abutted upon the street.

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3. Two of the provisions to be inserted at the end of section 188 of the principal Ordinance deal with the special cases of buildings on corner sites and buildings on sites abutting upon more than one street.