s
xii. The Dublin Reconstniction Act, 1916.
—projects for which a precedent might be found in the '' town-
planning " scheme submitted by Sir Christopher Wren after
tJie Great Fire of London. Such considerations as these gave
rise to a demand for special legislation, and it was to meet
that demand that the earlier sections of the new Act were drawn.
The first section provides a special simplified procedure for
the putting in force, by the Dublin Corporation, of the com¬
pulsory provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts, in taking land
for street improvements. It also introduces a novel method of
street widening, called " substitution," which is to be carried
out by shifting back entire property interests from their old
frontage to a position more remote from the existing street.
The aim of section 2 of the Act was to secure that the
architectural and artistic merits of the new streets should not
be prejudiced by any haphazard erection of unsightly or inap¬
propriate structures. The City Architect is given power to
require reasonable alterations to be made in the plans as respects
the design, line of frontage, and materials of a proposed building.
This is a special power directed towards preserving "the amenity
of the street," and it is additional to any powers already existing
under Corporation byelaws. Disputes as to the reasonableness of
a requirement of the City Architect are to be settled by arbitration,
with the Lord Lieutenant as a final umpire. It was recognised
that increased cost might be incurred in rebuilding or restoring
damaged property in such manner as would comply witli the
requirements as to " amenity," and sections 3 and 4 were framed
for the financial assistance of the owners and occupiers in such
cases. The difference between the certified total cost of rebuild¬
ing and the amount of Government compensation may be
advanced by the Corporation on the security of the ownership
of the site. In some cases this security cannot be made avail¬
able for an advance owing either to defective title, to the
insufficiency of the borrower's interest or its value, or to the
absence of the concurrence of necessary parties. Accordingly,
the Land Judge is given power to make orders charging the
ownership of the site and any legal interest therein with the
repayment of the money advanced. A comparison of the third
and fourth sections of the Act discloses a dual control with
regard to the investigation of legal titles, which has been
obviated by arranging, with the approval of the Treasury, that
the Land Judge may conduct such investigations on behalf of
the Local Government Board. In order to supply the Corpora¬
tion with funds for making building advances, they may borrow
from the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, and the
Commissioners are empowered to lend the money at the current
minimum rate for loans out of the Local Loans Fund for periods
of repayment not exceeding eighty years. The fifth section will
enable the Corporation to acquire premises rendered derelict by
a failure to make any progress with restoration or rebuilding
after two years from the passing of the Act (â– 22nd December,
1916). The main purposes of the Act are comprised withi
