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Medical Officer's Report.
17
buildings, is dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants either
of the said buildings or of the neighbouring buildings, and that the demolition,
or the reconstruction and rearrangement, of the said buildings or of some of
them is necessary to remedy the said evils, and the area comprising those
buildings and the yards, outhouses, and appurtenances thereof, and the site
thereof, is too small to be dealt with as an unhealthy area under part I. of
this Act;
"The local authority shall pass a resolution to the above effect, and
direct a scheme to be prepared for the improvement of the said area."
The following is a short abstract of that report:—
In nearly all of the houses of this area the drainage is defective; the
drains are not ventilated, and in many of them there is no water supply, and
other defects. For a large number of the houses and tenements there is not
a sufficient w.c. accommodation. In some the w.c.'s are placed in an
insanitary position.
All the houses of Half-Moon Court, Providence Place, and Dove Court
have no ventilation under the ground floors, and no damp courses; the
basements of the houses of the area which have them are in a very dirty and
insanitary state—some of them have not been cleansed for several years.
Some of the houses in Half-Moon Court, Union Terrace, and Union
Buildings have no through ventilation.
Many of the rooms in the area are very badly lighted on account of the
close proximity of other buildings; some of them being almost in darkness,
having only borrowed light.
Many of the houses have only small areas at the back, and some have no
back area at all.
Many of the houses are dangerous on account of fissures in the walls, or
the bulging of them in part, or the walls being out of the perpendicular from
sinking of the foundations and other causes; or on account of the broken
and dilapidated condition of the stairs, passage floors, walls, roofs, or
chimneys.
Many of the tenements are dangerous to health on account of dampness
of the walls.
In most, the dustbins are defective; some have no proper dustbins at all.
In many, refuse and dust is allowed to accumulate.
The paving of the back yards is generally defective, and the yard walls
very filthy.