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The rooms were dilapidated, damp, leaking, dirty and verminous,
dark, ill-ventilated, or of insufficient height.
The accommodation for food storage was absent or insufficient.
There was often no separate accommodation for the storage of
coal or coke.
The staircases were dark, dangerous, dilapidated or broken.
Some of the roofs were leaking. Some of the basements were
dirty, dark, low, or dangerous. There was insufficient accommodation
for drying clothes.
Some of these defects were found in some of the houses, and
some in others—they were not necessarily all present in any one
house. The external brickwork generally was in a good state of
repair and showed evidence of recent pointing. In a few cases
there were open joints, bulgings, cracks and settlements. Internally
the structure was what, for want of a better term, might be
called "worn out" and showed evidence of much patching. The
owner and his agent interviewed the Public Health Committee
and a scheme was proposed by which the houses were to be repaired
and made habitable. This scheme was, however, eventually
dropped and the owner voluntarily closed Nos. 16 to 34, Bastwick
Street.
Registered Houses let in Lodgings.—During 1911, no
fresh houses were placed on the register and none were removed,
so that the number on the books, 1,209, was the same as in 1910.
For purposes of cleansing, 996 intimation notices and 172 statutory
notices were served. For overcrowding there were 49 notices.
The number of visits paid was 8,824.
There were no prosecutions.
At the end of the year new bye-laws are in process of being
drafted. In the present bye-laws there are no sex clauses dealing
with indecent occupation. The need for these clauses will be
apparent from the following Finsbury cases chosen at random
out of the many available for this purpose:—
1.—A back underground kitchen—one room—was occupied for
living and sleeping by a father and his daughter, aged 19
years.