View report page

40
report to the unsatisfactory conditions, both social and
hygienic, prevailing in that area. It was shown that
the mortality and sickness rates were much in excess not
merely of those of the borough, but even of other slum
areas, and that the housing conditions, as regards
overcrowding and dirt, were thoroughly bad. About
that time some 50 houses in Heckfield Place were
acquired by Dr. Ernest Schuster and placed under
the management of Mrs. Rawlings, a trained member
of the Women's Association mentioned above. The
result has been satisfactory, as there has been a decided
change for the better in the habits of the tenants, and
there is a striking difference between the condition
of Dr. Schuster's houses and the other houses in the
area. The management is on business terms and
business methods, and as the housing problem in
Fulham is not a question of building new houses, but
of improving the existing ones, the Council might well
consider the possibility of acquiring an insanitary
area, such as the Field Road area, improving the houses
and managing them on the lines indicated.

Combined Drainage.— Two systems of combined
drainage, of 8 houses in Grove Terrace, and of 2 houses
in North End Road, for the maintenance of which
the Council were liable, as there was no evidence
that the houses had been drained by a combined
operation under an order or with the approval of
the Council or their predecessors, were reconstructed
at a cost respectively of £627 and £81.
Certificates under the Revenue Acts.
Applications were received for certificates under the
Revenue Acts for exemption from or reduction of
inhabited house duty in respect of 284 tenements, of
which 24 were granted, and 260 were given after
certain specified work had been completed.