View report page

152
In the case of the Council (Powell) v. Belham, heard at
"Worship Street Police Court (July 3rd, 1902), objection was
taken by defendant's Solicitor to the proceedings being taken
under the Bye-laws for Houses let in Lodgings, contending
that the case was governed by Weatheritt v. Cantlay, and that as
the houses were let in flats (floors), and the landlord exercised no
control, and the lodgers were entitled to vote as householders,
the houses should not have been placed on the register as houses
let in lodgings. The learned Magistrate (Mr. Haden Corser)
decided that the case quoted referred to a block of model
dwellings and not to ordinary tenement houses such as these in
question, the case therefore proceeded, and the defendant was
convicted and fined.
2. House to House Inspection is a second means for
attaining the same ultimate object. By this arrangement houses,
whether registered or not, are periodically inspected and a
complete sanitary survey thus carried out. Each inspector
undertakes this work in his own sanitary district. When sanitary
defects are present notices are at once served for their repair.
The facts obtained are entered in the House Record Book. In
this register are particulars as to owner, mode of occupation,
cubic space, conditions of sanitation, drainage, &c. This record
is constantly of great service in the work of the Department, and
of considerable permanent value. During 1902 the systematic
house inspections thus made numbered 1,501. There are in
the Borough about 9,000 houses.
3. Overcrowding.—In the third place, regular work is being
done in the reduction, as far as known and as far as practicable, of
any nuisances arising by reason of overcrowding. The prevalence
of overcrowding in Finsbury in 1901 was considered in some
detail in the Housing Report issued by the Medical Officer during
the year (see pp. 57-67), and it will therefore be unnecessary to
enter into the facts there set forth. Since the publication of that
Report the Census Report for 1901 has been issued (in 1902),
and contains figures and facts respecting London Boroughs which