568729-1929-Supplementary-Draft-Bill---Public-Health-and-Buildings-Amendment — Page 3

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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. With a view to the reorganization of the medical and sanitary services of the Colony, it is considered desirable to associate the Director of Medical and Sani- tary Services more closely with the working of the Sanitary Department, and in order that he may have the opportunity of acquiring first-hand knowledge of the working of that department it has been decided to place him on the Sanitary Board instead of the Medical Officer of Health. When the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services has replaced the Medical Officer of Health as a member of the Sanitary Board the Govern- ment will await such recommendations from him in the public health administration as his experience of the working of the Sanitary Department may prompt him to make. Section 2 of this Ordinance accordingly amends section 8 of the principal Ordinance so as to make the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services a member of the Sanitary Board in place of the Medical Officer of Health.

2. 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 3 of this Úrdi-

nance.

3. 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 4 and 5 of this Ordinance 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,

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