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145
[1897
HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
There were 393 houses on the register as against 412 in 1896,
consequently the registered houses have decreased by 19.
•
No. of houses on register in 1896 412
Taken off register. 35
Actual number 377
Placed on register during 1897 16
393
This is a matter for regret as, undoubtedly, registration protects
the occupiers against the supineness of the owners in remedying
sanitary defects, and also secures the latter against the carelessness,
and, sometimes, the misconduct of the occupiers. Inspector Jordan has
drawn attention to the fact that in many houses there are no persons
appointed for their care, and that, consequently, each occupier is
practically a law unto himself. This state of affairs certainly requires
amendment, and it is sincerely to be hoped that at no distant date
power may be obtained, under by-laws, to compel persons, who let their
properties in tenements, to at least appoint one of their tenants as caretaker.
There does not seem to be much difficulty about this, nor would
the cost be much, as no doubt many a respectable lodger would be quite
content to undertake the charge on the condition that there was some
small reduction in his rent. This loss to the owner would soon be much
more than compensated for by the lessened damage to his property.
The work of registration is now being actively carried on in most
districts in London, and, therefore, it behoves this Parish, which has
always been a pioneer in useful work, to keep its place. At present
there are not 600 houses of all classes unlet, and hardly a single house
of the class which is usually let in tenements to the working classes.
These facts are pregnant with meaning, for they signify overcrowding,
and overcrowding leads to dirt and disease, poverty and squalor. Great
difficulty is experienced even now in abating overcrowding, because
when a notice is served on a family, consisting of, perhaps, 6 or 7
persons, it means that they are to provide themselves with a room or
rooms elsewhere, in which the number of cubic feet of air space will be
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