Towns > Edinburgh > 1867-1870 - New Edinburgh, Leith, and county (business) directory > 1869-1870

XXll CLAUSES IN EDINBURGH POLICE ACT AND PROVISIONAL ORDER.
sucli areas or passages, or wlio shall use such
areas or passages, and every person offending
herein shall for each offence be liable to a penalty
of five shillings ; and in cases where the common
stair enters from the street above, the occupiers of
every house, flat, or story shall be bound, every law-
ful day, to sweep, and twice a-week, to wash the
passage or stair from the street or fiat immediately
above them downwards to the house, flat, or story
possessed by them, and also to cleanse any area
connected therewith ; and if any flat or story of
the tenement be unoc'mpierl, the occupiers of the
flats or houses occupied shall be bound to sweep
and wash the stair and passages upwards to the
street, and cleanse the area, if there be one, on to
the next house that shall be occupied, all in like
manner, and under a penalty of five shillings for
each offence : provided always that it shall be law-
ful, under a like penalty, to compel owners or par-
ties having charge of property to cleanse out cel-
lars and apartments which may be unoccupied.
Lighting Common Stairs.
Section 27 of the Provisional Order makes it in-
cumbent on the owner or owners of common stairs,
passages, private courts, or of lands or premises
having a right of access by any common stair, pas-
sage, or private court, to provide and erect all ne-
cessary lamps for lighting the same in a suitable
manner, under a penalty not exceedmg forty shil-
lings for evei-y day's delay in doing so beyond the
period allowed by the magistrates when they order
the same to be accomplished ; and, according to
section 28, if the lamp or lamps, after having been
erected, are not ke^jt regularly cleaned and lighted,
during the hours fixed by the magistrates and
council, by the occuijiers of any building or part
of a building to which access is obtained by a com-
mon stair, passage, or court, a penalty not exceed-
ing ten shillings for each offence is incurred by
every occuj^ier failiDg to do so.
Common Stairs to be Painted and
Ventilated.
Owners of common stairs and passages are re-
qtiired, by section 125 of the Provisional Order, to
have the same whitewashed or painted, and pro-
vided with proper means of ventilation, to the
satisfaction of the burgh engineer or inspector of
cleansing.
Penalty for Chimneys taking Fire.
Section 170 enacts that if any chimney acciden
tallj^ catch or be on tire, the occupier of the pre
mises in which such chimney is situated shall be
liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings : pro
vided always that such fine shall not be incurred if
the occupier prove to the satisfaction of the judge
before whom the case is heard that the fire was in
nowise owing to omission, neglect, or carelessness
of himself or servant. Should the chimney, how-
ever, be wilf ulljr set on fire, the person doing so,
or causing it to be done, may, according to section
171, be fined to the extent of five pounds, and may
also be prosecuted before a criminal court.
Eemoval of Furniture during certain
Hours may be Stopped.
Section 168 of the Edinburgh Pohce Act em
powers any police officer to stop and detain, until
due inquiry can be made, any cart or carriage, and
any person in charge thereof or connected there-
with, found emploj^ed removing furniture between
the hours of eight in the evening and six in the
morning, excejit at the usual flitting terms.
Groods or Money Found to be Reported
to Police.
All goods, money, or other articles found within
the burgh, and for which at the time the same are
found no owner may be known, must, in accord-
ance with section 113 of the Provisional Order, be
reported at the Police Ofiice bj^ the j)erson finding
the same ; and if such j^erson shall take possession
of the goods, money, or other articles found by him,
and shall fail to report the same as aforesaid within
forty-eight hours, he shall be deemed guilty of an
offence, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding-
five pounds ; and if the finder shall appropriate the
articles found to his own use, he shall be deemed
guilty of a higher offence, and be liable to a penalty
not exceedmg ten pounds, besides restoring the
same to the owner thereof.
Promotion of Public Health.
Sections 48, 49, and 50 of "The Public Health
(Scotland) Act, 1867," enact that—
1. If any person suffering from any infectious
disorder shall enter, or any person in charge of an
individual so suffering shall place such person in a
steamboat, sailing vessel, railway carriage, stage
coach, hackney carriage, or other public convej^-
ance, without previously notifying to the owner
or person in charge tliereof that such individual
is so suffering, the person so contravening this
provision shall, on conviction before a judge,
be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.
2. Any person suffering from any infectious dis-
order who wilfully exposes himself in any street,
public place, or public conveyance, and any person
who, without j)revious disinfection, knowingly
gives, lends, sells, transmits, or exposes any bed-
ding, clothing, rags, or other things which have
been exposed to infection from disease, shall, on
conviction, be liable to a x^enalty not exceeding five
pounds.
3. If any person knov^dngly lets any house, room,
or part of a house, in which any individual siiffer-
ing from any infectious disorder has been, without
having such house or room, and all articles therein
liable to retain infection, disinfected to the satis-
faction of a qualified medical practitioner, as testi-
fied by a certificate given by him and lodged with
the sanitary inspector, such person shall be liable to
a penalty not exceeding twent^^ pounds. For the
purposes of this section, the keeper of an inn or
hotel shall be deemed to let part of a house to any
person admitted as a guest into such inn or hotel.
Regarding Appearance in Police Court.
Any accused person summoned to answer to any
complaint charging an offence inferring merely the
payment of a fine and the finding of caution, maj-
appear by agent, or other party duly authorised by
the said iJerson to act for him. — [Edinh. Police Act.)
Penalty for Witnesses not Appearing.
If any person who has been duly cited to appear
as a witness before the judge of police fail to do so,
the judge is empowered, by section 179 of the Pro-
visional Oi-der, to grant warrant to have such per-
son apprehended, and to commit him to jirison
i;ntil he finds security to apjjear to give evidence,
and may also, in oiien court, and in a summary
manner, sentence such person to a penalty not ex-
ceeding five pounds ; or if any person summoned
as a witness sliall refuse to be sworn or examined
touching or concerning the subject-matter of com-
plaint, the judge of police ma.y grant warrant to
commit such person to prison for anj' period not
exceeding sixty days.