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in administering their provisions it was evident that they
required amendment in several respects. It has happened,
for instance, that landlords have taken advantage of the
clause exempting houses where the rent payable by each
lodger was not less than seven shillings and sixpence a week
in unfurnished rooms and ten shillings a week in furnished
rooms, to raise the rents and thus remove the house from
the operation of the bye-laws.
Another defect was that under the old bye-laws the person
responsible for the cleansing and structural condition of the
premises was the landlord, who was defined as the person
" by whom or on whose behalf such house or part of a house
is let in lodgings or for occupation by members of more
than one family, or who for the time being receives, or is
entitled to receive, the profits arising from such letting."
In many cases the "landlord" would be a weekly tenant
sub-letting the house, too poor to undertake structural
repairs or to pay the fines imposed for violating the bye-laws.
In these cases it would be preferable to proceed against the
owner under the ordinary provisions of the Public Health
Act than to take action under the bye-laws. The standard
of cubic space was low, viz., 300 cubic feet per adult in a
bedroom and 400 cubic feet in a room used for both living
and sleeping.
In March, 1903, the Council submitted to the Local
Government Board a new set of bye-laws, in which the term
"landlord" was so defined as to mean the owner of the
premises, and the term "master" (afterwards altered, at the
suggestion of the Board, to " keeper ") was introduced and
defined to mean the person letting the house in lodgings and
receiving the profits of such letting. In the new bye-laws
the owner became responsible for the cleansing and structural
condition, and the keeper for prevention of overcrowding
and the proper ordering of the premises. In many cases,
of course, the landlord and keeper would be the same person.
The standard of air space was raised to 400 cubic feet
per adult in a sleeping room and 500 cubic feet in a room