View report page

69
which the owners of the property were responsible, but "sewers" which
the Council were under obligation to repair at the cost of the ratepayers.
An idea is prevalent that a combined drain is necessarily a sewer,
but this is not so. If it can be shown that the combination has been
made in accordance with an order of the local authority, the combined
drain is legally a "drain" and not a "sewer." Usually the only way
of proving that the combination was authorised is by producing the
drainage plans that show that the combination was approved by the local
authority. In Hampstead the Council is fortunate in possessing an
exceptionally full set of drainage records, and consequently the cost of
repairing drains, which from lack of a proper record have become
"sewers," is small compared with the sums expended in other districts.
In 1910, however, four claims were made which for various reasons could
not be resisted, and the drains were reconstructed at the cost of the
Council, the total sum expended during the year being £150 9s. 6d.
Houses Let in Lodgings.
The number of houses registered as bouses let in lodgings at the
1910 was 364, no houses being added to the register in 1910. The
registered houses are situated chiefly in the following streets:—
Bolton Road. Linstead Street
Dunboyne Street. Lowfield Road.
Fairfax Mews. Netlierwood Street.
Fleet Road. Palmerston Road.
Kelson Street.
The number of tenement houses in Hampstead that might with
advantage be dealt with under the by-laws relating to houses let in
lodgings is considerably in excess of the number actually registered;
but hitherto the staff of inspectors has been inadequate to deal with a
greater number. When the new inspector has begun his duties it will be
possible to carry out a more effective administration of the by-laws, and
to add to the number of houses on the register.
Customs and Inland Revenue Acts.
These Acts provide that the owners of premises that are let in
dwellings of a certain class may claim exemption or abatement from
inhabited house duty on producing a certificate from the Medical Officer
of Health that the dwellings afford proper sanitary accommodation for