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105
The motion referred to above has evidently been drafted on
the assumption that the 82 per cent. of defects found were conditions
dangerous or injurious to the health of the inmates of the
houses inspected. From the following table of the conditions actually
found it will be seen that they represent all degrees of nuisance and
all degrees of discomfort. Amongst the former I should include
defective drains or choked drains, defective soil pipes or w.c., pans,
dampness and high degrees of over-crowding. The following represent
a lesser degree of nuisance, of course, regard being paid to the
extent of the nuisance, viz., defective roofs, gutters and rainwater
pipes, deficient water supply to the w.c., insufficient ventilation
to w.c. in a dwelling, no through ventilation under ground floor.
The following may be nuisances or only discomforts depending on
their degree, viz., untrapped sink wastes, defective sink wastes,
defective yard paving or undrained yard, defective washhouse
paving, no dustbin, dirty houses or parts, water cisterns without
covers, w.c. pans dirty, defective dustbins, and so on. It must also
be borne in mind that the last conditions may be so extensive as
to be really dangerous or injurious to health, but this is exceptional.
It will be seen from the above that a large part of the defects found
was the result of wear and tear, which might occur in course of
time in any dwelling, the conditions actually injuring or threatening
to injure health forming quite a small proportion of the whole.
It is further assumed in the reference that, inasmuch as 82 per
cent. of defects were found in the house-to-house inspections of
last year, a similar proportion of defects would be found to exist
in all the small class of property (assessed under £15 a year) of the
Borough. This assumption by no means follows for the following
reasons:—
The house-to-house inspections in the Borough are not undertaken
in a haphazard way. The dwellings selected for such inspection
are those which I have reason to believe have either not been
inspected and put in repair for some years, or from evidence from