The third section of the act defines the limits to which the act shall extend, which are as follows : —" To all such places lying on the north side or left bank of the river Thames as are within the exterior bound aries of the parishes of Fulham, Hammer smith, Kensington, Paddington, Hamp stead, Hornsey, Tottenham, St. Pancras, Islington, Stoke Newington, Hackney, Stratford-le-Bow, Bromley, Poplar, and Shadwell ; and to such part of the parish of Chelsea as lies north of the said parish of Kensington ; and to all such parts and places lying on the south side or right bank of the said river, as are within the exterior boundaries of the pa rishes of Woolwich, Charlton, Green wich, Deptford, Lea, Lewisham, Cam berwell, Lambeth, Streatham, Tooting, and Wandsworth; and to all places lying within two hundred yards from the ex terior boundary of the district hereby defined, except the eastern part of the said boundary which is bounded by the river Lea." By § 4 power is given to the queen in council to extend the above limits to any limits within twelve miles of Charing Cross, notice of such extension being published in the London Gazette' one month previously.
The surveyor and overseers of the place in which buildings in a ruinous state may be situated, are required to apply to the official referees to authorize a survey to be made thereof A copy of the sur veyor's certificate is to be forwarded to the overseers (or to the lord mayor and aldermen, if within the City of London), and they are required to cause such ruin ous building to be securely shored or a sufficient hoard to be put up for the safety of all passengers ; and they are also to give notice to the owner to repair or pull down the whole or part of the build ing within fourteen days. An appeal lies to the official referees, and if the owner re fuses to repair or pull down premises cer tified to be in a ruinous state, this may be done by the overseers, or in the City by order of the lord mayor and aldermen ; and the materials may be disposed of to pay the costs of every description which may have been incurred; and if any surplus remains, it is to be paid to the owner. But if the proceeds from this sale of ma terials are not sufficient to cover the ex i penses, the deficiency is to be made up by the owner of the property, and may be levied under warrant of distress ; and ip there are no goods or chattels to levy, the occupier of the premises may be required to pay, and he can deduct the amount from his rent. The same course which the act directs as to buildings in a ruinous state may also be followed in reference to chimneys, roofs, and projections, so far as relates to repairing or making them secure. If the projection be from the front walls of any building and be in danger of falling, the occupier, or if not the oc cupier the owner, may be required to take down or secure the same within thirty-six hours • and a penalty of five pounds is incurred for every day during which the projection complained of is allowed to re main unrepaired or in a dangerous state.
The subject of party walls, party fences, and intermixed buildings is regulated by §§ 20 to 39, and the following provisions are made as to their reparation, pulling down, or raising. If the consent' of the adjoining owner is not obtained, notice must be given him three months before the work is commenced, and the adjoining owner may obtain an order on application to the official referees for such a modifi cation of the work as will render it suit able to his premises. If the consent of the adjoining owner cannot be obtained, the matter is to be referred to the sur veyor, and the official referees may reject or confirm his certificate, and award the proportion of expenses, &c. The decision of the official referees is to be final and conclusive.
The 51st clause provides for a proper drainage. Before the walls of any build ing shall have been built to the height of ten feet, drains must have been properly built and made good leading into the common sewer, or if there be no sewer within one hundred feet, then to the nearest practicable outlet. If there be a common sewer within fifty feet of a new building, a cesspool mutt not be made without a good and sufficient drain leading to it. A cesspool under a house or other building must be made air-tight Privies built in the yard or area of any building must have a door and be otherwise pro perly inclosed, screened, and fenced from public view.
The act also fixes the width of new streets and alleys. Every street must be of the width Of forty feet at the least; and if the buildings be more than forty feet high from the level of the street, the street must be at least equal in width to the height of the houses or buildings. Every alley and every mews must be at least twenty feet in width, and if the buildings are higher, the width must be increased in proportion, so as to be at least equal to the height.
The 53rd clause is of great import ance in reference to the sanitary con dition of the poor. It provides that from and after July 1, 1846, it shall not be lawful to let separately to hire as a dwelling any room or cellar not con structed according to the rules specified in schedule K, nor to occupy or suffer it to be occupied as such, nor to let, hire, occupy, or suffer to be occupied any such room or cellar, built under ground for any purpose, except for a warehouse or storeroom. The official referees and the
registrar of metropolitan buildings soon after the passing of the act issued forms to the overseers of the poor within their district, in order to assist the parochial authorities in making a return, which must be ready by January 1, 1845, of all rooms which under the act are deemed unfit for dwellings, but which are now occupied as such. The building regula tions contained in schedule K are as fol lows :—" With regard to back yards or open spaces attached to dwelling-houses, every house hereafter built or rebuilt must have an enclosed back yard or open space of at the least one square [a square is defined by the act to be 100 square feet], exclusive of any building thereon, unless all the rooms of such house can be lighted and ventilated from the street, or from an area of the extent of at the least three-quiftri of a square above the level of the second story, into which the owner of the house to be rebuilt is entitled to open windows for every room adjoining thereto. And if any house already built be hereafter rebuilt, then, unless all the rooms of such house can be lighted and ventilated from the street, or from an area of the extent of at the least three quarters of a square, into which the owner of the house to be rebuilt is entitled to open windows for every room adjoining thereto, there must be above the level of the floor of the third story an open space of at the least three-quarters of a square. And to every building of the first class must be built some roadway, either to it or to the enclosure about it, of such width as will admit to one of its fronts of the access of a scavenger's cart. With regard to the lowermost rooms of houses, being rooms of which the surface of the floor is more than three feet below the sur face of the footway, and to cellars of buildings hereafter to be built or rebuilt, if any such room or cellar be used as a separate dwelling, then the floor thereof must not be below the surface or level of the ground immediately adjoining thereto, unless it have an area, fireplace, and win dow, and unless it be properly drained. And to every such lowermost room or cellar there must be an area not less than three feet wide in every part, from six inches below the floor of such room or cellar to the surface or level of the ground adjoining to the front, back, or external side thereof, and extending the fall length of such side ; such area, to the extent of at least five feet long and two feet six inches wide, must be in front of the window, and must be open, or covered only with open iron gratings. And for every such room or cellar there must be an open fireplace, with proper flue therefrom, with a window-opening of at the least nine superficial feet in area, which window-opening must be fitted with glazed sashes, of which at the least four and a half superficial feet must be made to open for ventilation. With regard to rooms in the roof of any building hereafter built or rebuilt, there must not be more than one floor of such rooms, and such rooms must not be of a less height than seven feet, except the sloping part, if any, of such roof, which sloping part must not begin at less than three feet six inches above the floor, nor extend more than three feet six inches on the ceiling of such room. With regard to rooms in other parts of the building, every room used as a separate dwelling must be of at the least the height of seven feet from the floor to the ceiling.
§§ 54 and 55 provide for the restraint and eventual removal from populous neighbourhoods of trades which are dan gerous, noxious, or offensive. Businesses dangerous as to fire must not be nearer than fifty feet to other buildings ; and new businesses of this character must be forty feet from public ways. Persons are not in future to establish or newly carry on any such businesses within fifty feet of other buildings or forty feet from public ways; and all such businesses now carried on within the distances limited by the act must be given up twenty years after the passing of the act. A penalty of 501. is incurred for erecting buildings in the neighbourhood of any such busi nesses, and 50/. per day for carrying on businesses of a dangerous kind contrary to the act. The persons offending may be imprisoned for six months if the penalty be not paid. The businesses of a blood-boiler, bone-boiler, fellmonger, slaughterer of cattle, sheep, or horses, soap-boiler, tallow-melter, tripe-boiler, and any other business offensive or noxious, are to be subject to similar regu lations as those deemed dangerous as to fire, and are to be discontinued at the end of thirty years after the passing of the act. Trades deemed nuisances may be removed by purchase at the public cost on memorial by two-thirds of the inhabitants, and on the issue of an order in council. Public gas-works, distille ries, and other works under the survey of the Excise are exempted from the opera tion of the provisions contained in §§ 54 and 55.
The whole number of clauses in the act is 118 ; and there are schedules of great length. They involve matters of technical detail, which it would be useless to give : our object is only to exhibit the general character of this important legislative measure.