§ Where a representation is made to the Local Government Board as respects any county district that the local authority have failed to exercise their powers under Part I. or Part II. of the principal Act, the Board may direct the county council to instruct the medical officer of health of the county to inspect such district and to make a report to the Board as to the exercise of the powers aforesaid by the local authority.
§ Captain ORMSBY-GOREI beg to move, after the word "made" ["where a representation is made"], to insert the words
by any person being a local government elector.The object of the Amendment is to make it clear that any local government elector can make a representation to the Local Government Board in regard to the condemnation of a house which ought to have been condemned and has not been condemned by the local medical officer of health. The Clause as it came from Committee was only inserted, I think, on the last day as a new Clause. This is one of the most important additions we have made to the Bill. Hitherto one of the great difficulties in administering Parts I. and II. of the principal Act has been the difficulty of getting the local medical officer of health to exercise his powers fully and properly. I need not go into the reasons for that, except to say it is due very largely 902 to the fact that the local medical officer of health of the smaller authorities is a private practitioner in the district. It is regrettable that this has been so in the past. One would wish that some day it might be altered. As the proposal is in the Bill anybody can make a representation to the Local Government Board in respect to any house which in their opinion ought to be condemned as no longer fit for human habitation. The Amendment tends to improve the machinery. What I want to make perfectly clear by this Amendment is that any Local Government Board elector or any ratepayer can set this machinery in motion, and write to the Local Government Board. If the matter is left to a representation without saying from whom the representation should come, practically nobody in the Kingdom will know their powers under this Clause of the Bill.
§ Lieut.-Colonel Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Dr. ADDISONThe hon. and gallant Gentleman desires to improve the Clause. I do not think this Amendment would do so. It would have quite a contrary effect. The Clause says
Where a representation is made to the Local Government Board…It may be by anyone, by a Local Government Board elector, by the Member of Parliament, by the medical officer of health, or anyone else. If the words of my hon. and gallant Friend were accepted nobody would be entitled to make a representation unless he were a local government elector. That is not, I think, what the Amendment is intended to mean at all. I hope with this explanation the Amendment will not be pressed.
§ Captain ORMSBY-GOREWould the right hon. Gentleman prefer to alter the Amendment and say "a representation made by any person"? I only want to make the matter quite clear.
§ Dr. ADDISONThe representation must be made by some individual or by some organisation—it might be a society, or a church.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Captain ORMSBY-GOREI beg to move, at the end, to add the words
and if on receipt of such report the Board are of opinion that the local authority have been negligent in exercising their powers under Part I. or Part II. of the principal Act, the 903 Board may authorise the county council to act in place of the local authority, and any expenses so arising to the county council shall be recoverable from the local authority concerned.This second Amendment is to make clear what course of action shall follow the representation. I want to strengthen the Clause, if I can, so as to make clear what really follows an inspection by the Local Government Board or by the county medical officer.
§ Sir PETER GRIGGSI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Dr. ADDISONI do not think that an Amendment is necessary here. The matter is already covered by the words of Clause 5, which gives us the power to act in default of the local authority under Parts I. and II. of the principal Act, for the reasons set out. The provisions of Clause 5 cover everything, except appeals against Closing Orders, which are specifically dealt with in Section 10 of the Act of 1909. Every possible contingency which the hon. and gallant Gentleman's words are intended to include are included in one or other of the Sub-sections I have just mentioned. I assure him that is so, and I hope, therefore, he will not press his Amendment.
§ Captain ORMSBY-GOREUnder that assurance, I ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.