MUNICIPAL
AND
SANITARY ENGINEERS’
HANDBOOK.
CHAPTER I.
THE TOWN SURVEYOR.
The office of town surveyor was first legalised by the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vic. c. 34, s. 7),[1] although for some considerable period prior to this date similar appointments had been made in several of the more important English towns, notably in the case of Liverpool. In the following year the legal office of surveyor was confirmed by the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vic. c. 63, s. 37), and it is now law under the Public Health Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55): that comprehensive statute, under which all Sanitary Acts are now included, and which Act will be frequently alluded to in the course of this book.
The clause which specially refers to the appointment of the surveyor is as follows:—
“Every urban authority shall from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be medical officer of health, surveyor, inspector of nuisances, clerk, and treasurer: Provided that if any such authority is empowered by any other Act in force within their district to appoint any such officer, this enactment shall be deemed to be satisfied by the employment under this Act of the officer so appointed, with such additional remuneration as they think fit, and no second appointment shall be made under this Act. Every urban authority shall also appoint or employ such assistants, collectors, and other officers and servants as may be necessary and proper for the efficient execution of this Act, and may make regulations with respect to the duties and conduct of the officers and servants so appointed or employed . . .” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 189), and these officers (except the medical officer of health and the inspector of nuisances, when any portion of their salary is paid out of moneys voted by Parliament to the powers of the Local Government Board), may be removed by the urban authority at their pleasure, which was not the case when the appointment was first made in 1847.
Here it is necessary to state that for sanitary purposes England and Wales are divided into two divisions—viz. urban sanitary districts and rural sanitary districts, the former of these divisions being further subdivided into boroughs, where the urban sanitary authority is the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses acting by the council, and districts, which are under the authority of improvement commissioners or local boards; the rural sanitary districts are the areas of unions not included in urban districts, and they are under the authority of the guardians of the union.
It is my intention to deal more particularly with the duties of a surveyor acting under an urban authority, but the following section of the Public Health Act 1875 relates apparently to the appointment of a surveyor to a rural authority, although no mention is made in this or any other clause of the Act directly of such an officer by name, except that amongst the definitions of the Public Health Act the following appears:—
“‘Surveyor’ includes any person appointed by a rural authority to perform any of the duties of surveyor under this Act” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 4).