§ Mr. ANDERSONasked the President of the Local Government Board, "Whether there is any rule under which any householder, or anyone purposing to buy or hire a house, can apply to the local sanitary authority, and for a reasonable fee obtain an inspection and certificate as to the sufficiency of the drainage and other sanitary arrangements; and, if there be no such rule, if he would consider the expediency of establishing such an arrangement with all sanitary authorities?
MR. GEORGE RUSSELL (for Sir CHARLES W. DILKE)There is no rule under which a person can obtain from the sanitary authority of the district, on payment of a fee, a certificate as to the sufficiency of the drainage and other sanitary arrangements of a house; and 1336 the Board think that, as a general rule, it would not be desirable that sanitary authorities should undertake the responsibility of granting such certificates. The sanitary authorities and their officers should be on the watch to discover sanitary defects; and there would be some reason to fear that if such certificates as suggested were granted by the authority they might subsequently be hampered in their action by the fact of the certificates having been given. A certificate might be given without the knowledge of facts which might subsequently come to light, and in the case of old houses it is not always easy to ascertain accurately the facts. These certificates might also be used, although there might be a different condition of things after the examination was made. If, however, a local authority were to propose that the Medical Officer of Health and Inspector of Nuisances should jointly give such a certificate as proposed, on payment of a reasonable fee, the Board would not object to such an arrangement, by way of experiment, provided the duties of the officers were not thereby interfered with.