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98
clear the area or improve very radically the conditions
existing. Details of this work will be found in my Reports
(1901-1906).
III. There has been carried out a large amount of house sanitation
and an enormous reduction in overcrowding. The latter work
was mainly undertaken from 1901—1905, and was made possible,
as indeed was the whole of the housing work of the Council, by the
zeal and determination of the Public Health Committee. Nothing
short of that could have brought about the great changes which
have undoubtedly taken place since the Borough Council was
established. The former work (namely, the maintenance of
a higher standard of house property) began in 1901 and has
continued ever since. The chief directions it has taken have been
(a) in the registration and inspection of houses let in lodgings;
(b)house to house inspection; (c) the improvement of certain streets,
courts and alleys; (d) the routine attention paid to overcrowding;
and (e) the minor work possible in the maintenance of sanitation
in stable dwellings, "underground" rooms, and model
dwellings.
(a) Houses let in Lodgings, etc.—When the
Borough was formed there were a number of houses let in lodgings,
registered under Bye-laws of Section 94 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891. Bye-laws first came into force in this district
in 1897, and from that year to 1900 the total number of houses
registered in all the constituent parts of the new Borough was 327.
During 1901 new Bye-laws had to be framed. After considerable
discussion and amendment these Bye-laws were ratified by the
Local Government Board in November, 1901, and then became
law. Subsequently, in 1904, it was found necessary to insert a
new Bye-law (see Report, 1904, pp. 142-151).
The two chief objects of the bye-laws are (a) the maintenance of
sanitation and cleanliness, and (b) the restriction of overcrowding.
The former is obtained by several Bye-laws (9-17), and the latter
by Bye-laws 3 and 4,