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During the nine months of occupation, 13 births (6 boys and 7 girls)
were registered, equivalent to a birth-rate for the year of 66 per 1,000,
and one death occurred, that of an Army pensioner, aged 73 years, from
old age. One case of scarlet fever and one case of diphtheria were
notified in the Buildings during the year.

Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, and Housing of the
Working Classes Act, 1890.
During the year 1910 proceedings were taken under the above Acts
for the closing of 10 houses in Ives-street and 4 houses in Little Blenheimstueet.
On the 10th March, 1910, the following report was presented to the
Public Health Committee :—
Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909.
Rowing of the Working Classes Act, 1890.
Ives-street, Chelsea.
Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.
I made an inspection of these 10 houses on the 8th and 9th March, 1910.
Each house contains two rooms—one upstairs and one on the ground floor, in
four of the houses the staircases leading directly from the lower to the upper
room (No. 2, 4, 6, 8). The rooms are very small and low—the dimensions being
approximately as follows :—
Ground floor room—11 ft. in. by 9 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft. 6 in. high = 841 c. ft.
First floor room — 11 ft. 6 in. by 9 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft. high = 785 c. ft.
A door opens from the ground floor room into a small back yark in which is
situate the W.C., and in some cases a small wash-house. All these 10 houses
are dilapidated and thoroughly worn out, the woodwork and plastering being in a
rotten and decayed condition, and broken away in many places. The floors of
the ground floor rooms are below the level of the adjoining street, and the joists
rest directly on the ground. The walls are very decayed and in some cases
bulging, and there is evidence of damp in the walls of the rooms above the
match-boarding. The upstairs rooms have only one window, and no through
light or ventilation, but in some of the houses there is a small window at the top
of the staircase. Many of the roofs are defective and difficult to keep in repair,
with the result that wet continually finds an entrance into the upper room.
Most of the houses are infested with vermin, and owing to the general decay it
would bo impossible to keep the houses free from vermin. The houses are now
occupied, but for the most part the tenants have only been in occupation a short
time, having moved in from other streets in the neighbourhood where demolitions
are in progress. With the exception of Nos. 10, 14, 16 and 20, the houses are in
a very dirty and neglected condition, as well as being in an extreme state of
dilapidation.
I am of opinion that Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, Ives-street,
are dwelling-houses in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit
for human habitation, and I recommend that the necessary orders be made
under section 17 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, and the
Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, prohibiting the use of the dwellinghouses
for habitation until, in the judgment of the local authority, the dwellinghouses
are rendered fit for that purpose.
LOUIS C. PARKES, M.D., D.P.H.,
Medical Officer of Health.
10th Maroh, 1910.