Cases of this description are very troublesome to the town surveyor, as if legal proceedings are to be taken against the offender, it is necessary for the surveyor to make surveys and drawings of the works as they are in progress in order to prove his case, and these might extend over a considerable period of time.[154] In order to make these surveys it would be necessary for him to enter the premises whilst the works were in progress, but there does not seem to be any powers conferred on him by any Act of Parliament for such a purpose, so that really he has no power to prevent the occurrences I have mentioned. It must also not be forgotten that what may sometimes appear to be an entirely new building, may only be an addition to one that existed before the passing of the Act, and although the new work may be ten times as large as the old, still much conflicting evidence may be brought to bear before it can be proved to be a “new building” within the meaning of the Act. Turning again to section 159 of the Public Health Act 1875, these words will be found as defining also what is a new building: “or the conversion into a dwelling house of any building not originally constructed for human habitation.” It would have been better in the interests of sanitation if the Act had prohibited the conversion of any building at all into a dwelling house without the approval of the urban authority, for as the law stands at present, it is open for an owner of property to convert stables or warehouses, &c., into dwelling houses, by simply asserting and bringing witnesses or other evidence to prove that they were “originally constructed for human habitation” irrespective of whether they are adapted for the purpose or not, thus defeating the intention of the Public Health Act to secure a better description of dwellings than those that were erected before the passing of the Act. When a dispute does arise with anyone as to whether a building comes within the definition of “new” or not, it is well if possible to agree upon certain points of fact and upon plans, &c., before the case comes into court, and then to endeavour to get the magistrates to “view.” This course if pursued often saves lengthy litigation, and a great waste of time and money. With reference to the deposit of plans of new streets or buildings, the following clause of the Public Health Act 1875 provides that this shall be done: