§ CAPTAIN VERNEY (Bucks, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to the Report presented this month to the Buckingham Rural Sanitary Authority by their Medical Officer of Health, Dr. George H. De Ath, in which he states that a cottage at Charndon, 1506 which about 18 months ago was condemned as unfit for human habitation, is still occupied by the same family, namely, man and wife and four children, one over 20 years of age; that this cottage has only one sleeping room, which is in the roof, and has no closet and no drains; that the defective water supply and drainage of Water Stratford has been frequently brought before the authority, and nothing has been done, although in heavy rains the water runs in at the back doors and out of the front doors of some of the cottages; that a new public house called the "Crown" has been built at Twyford, and occupied under "The Public Health Act, 1878," notwithstanding that the nearest supply of water is a quarter of a mile away; that the Inspector of Nuisances has reported of Padbury, the scene lately of diarrhœa epidemic, that the general drainage is bad and the water supply unsatisfactory, and that no steps are being taken to deal with these grievous defects; and whether the Local Government Board propose to take any, and, if so, what steps to compel the authority to deal with these cases?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. LONG, Wilts, Devizes)The Local Government Board have within the last few days received a copy of the Annual Report for 1889 made to the Rural Sanitary Authority of the Buckingham Union by their Medical Officer of Health, and it contains statements to the effect of those mentioned in the question. As regards some of these matters the Board have no control over the Sanitary Authority; but with respect to sewerage and water supply, I may refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the question which he put to me yesterday, and I may repeat that if a complaint were made to the Board under Section 299 of the Public Health Act that the Sanitary Authority had made default in these matters, it would receive prompt attention.