HC Deb 30 April 1896 vol 40 cc207-8
MR. T. R. BUCHANAN (Aberdeenshire, E.)

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the Report called for by the Secretary for Scotland in his statement on 30th May 1895, and any other Papers with reference to the insanitary condition of crofters' houses in Aberdeenshire and the north-east of Scotland, and the difficulties of enforcing the sanitary regulations; and, whether, in the Public Health Bill of the Secretary for Scotland, or in some other way, he will take steps to remedy this admitted evil.

* THE LORD ADVOCATE (Sir CHARLES PEARSON,) Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities

The inference drawn by the hon. Member as to difficulties in enforcing sanitary regulations in Aberdeenshire is incorrect. The dwellings which were reported on last year were condemned, not so much for insanitary conditions, as that the structures themselves had become dilapidated owing to age and decay. In such circumstances there are no legal means for compelling an owner to rebuild; and there seems no sufficient reason for legislating on that subject in a Public Health Act. As the reports referred to deal only with two or three special instances, and are now somewhat out of date, the Secretary for Scotland does not propose to lay them before Parliament, but he will be glad to show them to the hon. Member.

MR. BUCHANAN

Are we to understand that the Government are content to allow these people to live in dwellings which have been condemned as unfit for human habitation?

* THE LORD ADVOCATE

It is not a case of people living in them. If the case is reported on, that state of matters will cease.