THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

by the Sanitary Inspectors, and reports to his authority. The
authority, having considered the report, can order the owner of an
insanitary house to carry out such repairs as will make it fit to
live in, or, if it is past repair, a demolition order will be made.
If these orders are not obeyed the local authority can take the
matter to court, and in the last resort may itself repair or demolish
the houses at the owner's expense. The zeal of an authority can
be judged by the staff it provides for tjiis work, and by the
regularity of its inspections; yet inspection and the maintenance
of sanitation standards are no more than the beginning of the
problem. The authority may find whole areas so bad that the
only way of dealing with them is to dear every building off the
site. These are the slums which stand as a reproach to Britain.
They exist because of a lack of foresight and public spirit in the
past. Some houses have been slums ever since they were built,
because they lack proper ventilation, water supply, or sanitation;
others, made of inferior materials, become slums through neglect.
Those who live in them fight a continual losing battle against
dirt, and often against rats and other vermin, so that it seems
hardly worth while to maintain self respect or cleanly habits.
Few districts are entirely free from them, and in some of the
larger towns there are many acres of uninterrupted slums. Local
authorities now possess sufficient powers to prevent the erection
of buildings which would be the slums of the future; but in areas
where recently many houses have been put up by speculative
builders, these powers have not always been used as folly as the*
public interest required.

When the local authority agrees with its Medical Officer of
Health that an area is of this character, it will make a clearance
order. Sometimes the owners are left to clear the site themselves,
but the authority has power to purchase the land. Clearance
orders require the sanction of the Minister of Health, and when,
as frequently happens, the owners of the property protest, an
enquiry will be held, at which the statements of those who live
in the area will be an important part of the evidence. Sometir