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hinges so as to admit of the same opening to the fullest extent
and furnished with a counter weight so as to ensure that the
same shall open automatically when unfastened, and also with
a fixed or hinged step-ladder leading to the roof; or
(c) Other proper means of access to the roof;
and with a sufficient parapet or guard-rail where reasonably practicable
and necessary to prevent persons slipping off the roof. Any
dormer window or trap-door provided under this sub-section shall
only be fastened in such a manner as to ensure access to the roof
being always readily available from the inside of the building."
From these sections two facts become obvious, firstly, that as
the Building Acts are administered in London by the London
County Council that body is responsible for enforcing the provision
of means for escape from fire; secondly, that neither County
Council nor Borough Council has any power to compel the provision
of means of escape from fire in the Derby Road property, because
owing to the conditions of occupancy and the height of the dwellings
they are expressly exempt from the operations of the Act.
Overcrowding.—Immediately the question of the sanitary condition
of these premises was raised I had an inspection made. The
premises 1 to 32, Derby Boad, consists of a row of three-storied
houses. Almost every house is occupied by more than one family,
the practice being for the whole house to be let to one tenant, who
sublets portions of the house to lodgers. The facts referring to
occupancy are set out in the annexed table. In considering the
question of overcrowding in relation to premises of the Derby Road
character, it is customary to apply the standard of cubic space for
each occupant adopted in our By-laws for houses let in lodgings or
occupied by members of more than one family. The following are
the special By-laws referred to:—
"3. A lodger in a lodging-house and subject to the provisions
of these By-laws, the landlord and tenant of the
lodging-house shall not knowingly cause or suffer a greater