Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 736

12

of the Board, as we consider that such a Board is capable of doing much good work on behalf of the Colony. The Bill accordingly imposes upon the Sanitary Commis- sioner the duty of dealing with all nuisances and sanitary defects of whatever nature, but leaves to the Board the power of granting licences, permits. exemptions, etc.. of controlling the policy of the Department and of advising the Government as to the sanitary needs of the Colony. We consider moreover that there should still be a Medical Officer of Health and an Assistant Medical Officer of Health who, with the Surveyor and the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon would continue to be the chief executive officers of the Board. It has moreover been deemed necessary to trans- fer the Port Health Officers to the Sanitary Department as their duties are essentially sanitary and their separation only tends to render inefficient the work of sanitary administration.

With regard to the Building clauses contained in Part III of the Bill, careful consideration has been given to the Report submitted by the local Architects, and many of their suggestions, have been adopted such for instance as the non-applica- tion of the Ordinance to buildings already planned (within certain limits of time) and contracted for, the right of an authorized architect to appear before the Execu- tive Council before his name is removed from the list, the question of the rights of adjacent owners, and other matters of smaller moment to which our attention has been directed by the said report.

With regard to the setting back of buildings in narrow private streets, it has not been thought necessary to go beyond the law of 1889, which required an open space of seven and a half feet at least as measured from the middle of the lane or street, to be left in front of any such new building.

The provisions of the European Reservation Ordinance of 1888 are incorporated (with some amendment of the boundaries) in Part III and it will be found that several of the clauses in this Part relating to construction only apply to build- ings outside such reservation, as they have been especially drawn to meet the conditions which obtain in Chinese tenement houses and others of that class.

With regard to the resumption of insanitary property, many blocks of build- ings throughout the City of Victoria will undoubtedly have to be gradually bought up by the Government and the areas laid out in a more sanitary manner, more open space around each building being an especial desideratum in many of the most congested areas, and we have accordingly incorporated in this Bill the clauses of the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance which appear to follow closely the provisions of the Imperial Housing of the Working Classes Act and to provide all the neces- sary powers for the resumption of insanitary or obstructive buildings. In such cases compensation for resumption is always given, but the Bill does not propose to offer compensation to the owners for the erection of sanitary dwellings on land at present unoccupied, nor for the re-erection, on land already occupied, of dwellings of an improved type to those now in existence. The right of an owner of property to re-erect dwellings of an insanitary type, because his present dwellings are insanitary, should not be admitted.

In regard to the question of cubicles it should be specially noted that the Bill does not prohibit cubicles, but regulates them by requiring that every cubicle shall be provided with a window into the external air. As every cubicle is a dwelling compartment for one or more persons, and often for an entire family, it is only in accordance with the ordinary laws of sanitation to require that it shall be separately lit and ventilated by a window into the external air. The law has required since 1894 that every "habitable room shall be so provided * and it is not in accordance with the spirit of that law that a dwelling-room with one or two windows, should be sub- divided into a number of rooms, each occupied by a family, of which only the room

""

* Ordinance 15 of 1894, s. 8.---(a) Every person erccting a new building shall provide every babitable room therein with one window, at least, opening directly into the external air, and he shall cause the total area of such window or windows, clear of the window frames to be at least one-tenth of the floor area of every such room.