§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
THE EARL OF ROSEBERY,in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that the Act of 1875 had been greatly improved by the Amendment Act of 1879. It having been felt, however, that even the latter measure was in- 1490 complete, a Committee was appointed, presided over by the late Home Secretary (Sir R. Assheton Cross), to consider whether further legislation on this subject was necessary, which had arrived at conclusions which were embodied in this Bill. There were four points in the Bill to which he desired to call attention. The first was the modification of the provision compelling the reconstruction of houses in insanitary districts. The Bill repealed the enactment on this subject of the Act of 1879 as far as regarded the country. As far as London was concerned, it gave the urban authority a discretionary power as regarded the rebuilding of houses for one-half of the inhabitants displaced. The second point was that the Bill simplified the steps necessary for acquiring insanitary houses. In the third place, the Bill explained the ambiguous language of the Act of 1879, under which arbitrators had felt themselves compelled to award somewhat extravagant compensation. In the fourth place, it was intended to amend Mr. Torrens's Artizans' Dwellings Act so as to enable the local authorities to take houses in insanitary districts which, although not insanitary in themselves, were the cause of insanitation in others, by blocking up courts and preventing ventilation. He believed that this Bill would be a material improvement upon the Act of 1879.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Earl of Rosebery.)
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next.