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5
Apart from the question of water-closet pans the two main classes of defects readily admitting
of remedy by the sanitary authority which exist in the Reidhaven-road district, are overcrowding and
conditions of dirt and dilapidation.
As regards overcrowding the standard which I have applied is that of 300 cubic feet per adult
person in the case of a room used exclusively as a sleeping apartment, and 400 cubic feet in the case
of a room not used exclusively for that purpose, half these amounts being required in the case of
children of an age not exceeding 10 years. The Plumstead by-laws, it is true, make no special
mention of children, and presumably therefore the full amount of cubic space could, as is
desirable, be required for them. The requirement has not as yet been tested in actual practice, and
I have therefore thought it better to keep to the standard usually adopted in London, and thus be
able to institute comparison with other districts, rather than to adopt a somewhat better standard,
concerning which experience has yet to be acquired in Plumstead.
It must be borne in mind that had the Plumstead standard been adopted an even greater
amount of overcrowding would have had to be recorded than that actually noted in accordance with
the ordinarily accepted rule.
In all, 43 overcrowded rooms were discovered, and it was ascertained that the condition was
twice as frequently met with in houses occupied by more than one family, as it was in houses the use
of which was limited to one family alone. The former class of houses again presented a distinctly
larger proportion of instances of exceptionally dirty and dilapidated conditions than the latter.

It is clear that on the whole the houses which could be registered and dealt with as houses let
in lodgings are more dirty, dilapidated and overcrowded than the others.
The by-laws made by the Plumstead Vestry under section 94 of the Public Health (London)
Act were confirmed in 1894. In 1895 four houses were on the register. Again in the annual report
for 1896 the number is given as four, and in July, 1897, three houses were under regulation.
Dr. Davies writes concerning this matter—"I proposed to add a large number of houses on
different occasions, but the proposal nearly always had the effect of turning the tenants out and
reducing the house to occupation by one family." The total number of houses in the Reidhavenroad
district which have been actually placed upon the Plumstead register at one time or another is
11, and of these one remains upon the register.
I visited the ten houses which had been removed from the register on the understanding that
their use would be restricted to members of one family in future, and found that seven of them were
as a matter of fact actually occupied by members of more than one family. As instances of the
failure to adhere to this understanding, I may refer to two houses in Hartville-road. One of
the two families occupying the first of these left the house, it is true, but the rooms only remained
empty about three weeks, and were then let to a fresh tenant, the house being thus again occupied by
more than one family. Both the families originally occupying the second house left, but were
immediately succeeded by two new families. These two houses, with the adjoining houses in the same
ownership, [formed so far as I could judge, the most insanitary and neglected group of houses in the
district. Both contained overcrowded rooms, and were in an exceedingly dirty and dilapidated
condition. It is clear that they should have continued to be, and should now be, subject to the vestry's
by-laws. I am, as the result of the inquiries I have made, quite satisfied that these by-laws should be
enforced in Plumstead.