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14
It is to be observed that the above By-laws apply only to tenement houses,
but most of the corresponding provisions quoted in the parallel column apply
to all dwelling-houses.
The only material clauses of the above By-laws that are otherwise unprovided
for in existing statutes or By-laws are those relating to air-space,
ventilation, and cleansing. The clause referring to ventilation is not very
definite; but of the other two, that relating to air-space fixes the minimum
cubic space per head at 300 or 400 cubic feet, according to the usage of the
room, and that relating to periodical cleansing fixes the maximum interval at
one year.
It will be desirable to further consider these and some other points in connection
with the By-laws separately.
Cubic-space and overcrowding.—It would be conducive to the better regulation
of registered tenement houses if a single minimum standard of cubic
space could be adopted instead of the varying amounts of 300 and 400 cubic
feet. For instance, if 400 were adopted for all purposes and two children under
10 years reckoned as one adult, it would be possible to place on record in the
Register the maximum number that a room and a house would be permitted
to accommodate. This number would then be constant instead of continually
varying, according to whether rooms are used for living or sleeping purposes,
the variation often rendering the original records in the Register valueless, so
far as numbers are concerned, almost as soon as entered.
This single minimum standard would have a further advantage, since a
house may be overcrowded as to its sanitary conveniences, etc., as well as in
regard to its cubic-space, and it would be possible to fix the amount of sanitary
convenience required to accommodate the maximum number of persons
dwelling in the house.
But it would be desirable to go even further than as suggested above, in
defining by statute the minimum amount of cubic space per head permissible
in dwelling houses. This has already been done with regard to factories and
workshops in section 1 (1) of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1895, as set
out in the earlier part of this Report, parallel with the By-laws as to cubicspace.
The advantage of this course would be that it would apply to all
dwelling-houses, and if the minimum standard were fixed as low as at present,
it would prevent that degree of overcrowding of human beings which should
be abated wherever met with, and it is greatly to be regretted that the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, does not define what is "overcrowding" in
dwelling-houses.
There are always difficulties in dealing with overcrowding of which the
following are some of the more common:—
1.—One difficulty is that it is frequently only possible to prove
overcrowding when the occupants are actually in bed, or retiring
or rising.