§ MR. GEORGE ALLSOPP (Worcester)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the Government will introduce a measure during this Session enabling the making, by County and City Councils, of bye-laws controlling the construction and use of pleasure boats and vessels navigating rivers within their jurisdiction, and which would give the Council of the City of Worcester effective control 127 over the construction and use of pleasure boats and vessels navigating the River Severn within or from the City of Worcester, the Local Government Board being of opinion that existing legislation does not authorise the making of such bye-laws?
§ MR. RITCHIESection 172 of the Public Health Act, 1875, authorises any Urban Authority to licence the proprietors of pleasure boats and vessels, and the boatmen or other persons in charge, and to make bye-laws for regulating the numbering and naming of the boats and vessels, and the number of persons to be carried and the mooring-places, and for fixing rates of hire and the qualification of the boatmen or other persons in charge, and for securing their good and orderly conduct while in charge. When dealing with a Bill for the amendment of the Public Health Act, 1875, it may properly be a matter for consideration whether the powers conferred on Urban Sanitary Authorities by the section referred to should not be enlarged.