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65
habitation, and permits a Magistrate to close a house
upon proof of uninhabitable condition. The Committee
decided to take action with respect to four houses in
Little Collingwood Street, a narrow slum 9 feet 10 inches
wide and fairly represented in the photograph overleaf.
The houses are small two-roomed huts, dirty, damp,
dilapidated and unprovided with back light or through
ventilation, the lower floors are below street level and
unventilated beneath the boards. I was of opinion that
the houses were incapable of repair and certified
accordingly.
Summonses were applied for on November 8th and
were made returnable on November 21st, the earliest date
possible. No sooner were the summonses served upon
the owners than they determined to defeat us. They
called in a builder of good repute and gave him a free
hand. He immediately set his men to work, tore up the
floors and relaid them, put windows in the back of each
room so as to provide back light and through ventilation,
removed all decayed plaster and woodwork and thoroughly
renovated the premises.
On the morning of the day fixed for the hearing 1
visited Little Collingwood Street and found a small army
of builders hard at work; it was one of the coldest days
in the year and, notwithstanding this, the workmen were
then engaged upon No. 8. They had knocked a hole
in the back front of the house for the purpose of inserting
a window in the lower room and the street door was
wide open for the men to pass in and out. The house
was still occupied and the scantily clad mother and her
two little ones were cowering over a bit of fire for such