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65
As stated in the last report the amendment of the by-laws as to houses let in lodgings had been
rendered necessary by certain decisions in the courts. The annual reports show that in Kensington
new by-laws came into operation in August, 1905. New by-laws relating to Fulham were confirmed in
March, 1906. In Hampstead by-laws amending those of the year 1895 were confiimed in June, 1905,
and the borough council was advised that the decision which had declared the by-laws of 1895 to be
invalid, also invalidated the registration of all the houses already on the register, consequently it
became necessary to proceed with the work of re-registration- Amending by-laws for Shoreditch
were confirmed in August, 1905. New by-laws for Southwark were confirmed in January, 1906, for
Battersea in December, 1905, and for Wandsworth in October, 1905.
The medical officer of health of Woolwich states that certain ratepayers having petitioned the
Local Government Board not to confirm the by-laws, the Board held a local enquiry and subsequently
proposed certain alterations, and with most of these the borough council had no difficulty in agreeing.
The Local Government Board proposed, however, to exempt from the application of the by-laws,
houses where the sub-letting was to one family only, and to a limited number of persons, and to
this the council were unable to agree. The matter remained in this position at the date of the
medical officer's report.
It is probable that the small number of houses registered in some districts is due to the fact that
pending confirmation of amended by-laws, the administration of Section 94 of the Public Health Act
relating to houses let in lodgings was in abeyance. This, however, does not appear to be always the
explanation where but few houses are registered. Thus concerning Lambeth, where there were 372
houses on the register and none was added during the year, the medical officer of health writes: " the
custom in Lambeth borough is to depend upon dealing with contraventions of the sections of the
Public Health (London) Act (i.e., nuisances) as they may arise, rather than with contravention of
such by-laws"; and concerning Greenwich, where but three houses have been registered, the medical
officer of health writes: "as indicated in the last annual report, no special work has been carried out
under these by-laws during the year, on account of the inadequacy of the present staff."
Houses infested with Vermin.
Section 20 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, provides that when on the
certificate of the medical officer of health, it appears to the sanitary authority that any house or part
thereof in any distiict is infested with vermin, the sanitary authority shall give notice in writing to that
owner or occupier, requiring him, within a specified period, to cleanse such house or part thereof, and if
so required to remove the wall paper and to take such other steps as they may require for the purpose
of destroying and removing vermin. The same section provides a penalty upon conviction, not exceeding
10s. per day, during default in compliance with the notice, and in the event of non-compliance, the
sanitary authority may, after the period specified in the notice, themselves do any work required by
the notice and summaiily recover the reasonable costs and expenses as a civil debt from the person
making default. In the event of proceedings under the section, the court is empowered by section
20 (3) to enquire whether the requirements of the sanitary authority contained in the notice were
reasonable, and whether the costs, etc., incurred by the sanitary authority in doing the work, or any
part thereof, ought to be borne wholly or in part by the person to whom the notice was given, and the
court may make such order as to the costs and expenses as appears to the court to be just and reasonable.
The provisions of section 59 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, as to provision of means
for disinfecting bedding, etc., are made applicable by section 21 of this Act to the provisions of sections
19 and 20 above referred to.

The nature of the notices served in this connection in Paddington may be understood from the
following which is extracted from the annual report of the medical officer of health. " The notices
require all wall papers to be stripped off, defective plaster to be cut away, vermin to be destroyed,
where accessible by blow-pipe and by sulphur fumigation (2 lbs. to each 1,000 c.f.), after which plaster
to be made good, walls repapered, paint-work washed, etc."
In the annual reports of the Medical Officers of Health of Islington and Southwark, the need
for providing temporary accommodation for persons whose rooms are thus being cleansed is dwelt
upon, and further reference to this subject will be found under the heading " Shelters," page 79.
Common Lodging Houses.
The administration of the Common Lodging Houses Acts devolved upon the Council in 1894.
New by-laws governing common lodging houses came into force on the 1st October, 1903.
In the following table will be seen the number of houses registered, the authorised number of lodgers,
and the number of convictions, with the penalties inflicted, and other particulars during each year
since 1894:—
11476 I