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29
Committee's Inspector visited 298 houses, and as a result found
61 per cent. of the houses visited defective, whilst the corresponding
per centage obtained as a result of my inspection was
32 per cent. This discrepency is at first sight startling, especially
in view of the close correspondence of our results in the case of
Whitechapel, I could not fail to note the very large number of
instances in which improvement had been effected in Mile End
houses during the last two years." The discrepancy to which
Dr. Hamer aludes is not at all to my mind startling, and if Dr.
Hamer had followed up the complaints of the Jewish Board as
we have done he would have found that a large proportion of the
" Sanitary defects " were in many instances not nuisances within
the meaning of the Public Health Act, 1891.
Speaking of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, Dr.
Hamer says, that I have made considerable use of the procedure
of this Act, to the great advantage of the district.
On inspection of the Bakehouses, he states they were clean
and well kept, and the Sanitary laws were enforced.
Regarding his inspections of the Workshops, Dr. Hamer states,
the great improvement which has been carried out in these places
cannot fail to have most important and far reaching influences.
Most of the Workshops are as the majority of you are aware, are
situated in the West-Ward, which is the district where nine-tenths
of the inspections were made by the Jewish Board. Dr. Hamer
says about this part of our district—" The great alteration which
has been effected in the condition of the West-Ward of Mile
End, affords striking testimony to the care with which the
method of dealing with these places has been thought out and
to the energy and ability with which it has been carried into
execution by the Inspectors."
In that part of the Report dealing with the Houses let in
Lodgings, Dr. Hamer states, that a large per centage of the houses
in Mile End are of this class, that is let to members of more than
one family, and that if all these are placed under the Bye-laws
relating to the same, it would undoubtedly necessitate the increase
of the Sanitary Staff. I may here state that we have a large
number of these houses under the Bye-laws, and more will be
registered as occasion arises for it, but the necessity of doing so
to any very large extent does not to my mind seem warranted
at the present time.
The whole tenor of Dr. Hamer's Report conclusively shows
that the Report of the Jewish Board, which led to this enquiry,
was grossly misleading and highly coloured ; the fact of an independent
report of this kind having been made by such a skilled
officer as Dr. Hamer enhances its value, and the favourable conclusions
which he arrives at as a result of such inspection, must
be a source of considerable satisfaction to the Vestry.