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233
[1909
INSPECTION OF HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
The inspection of these houses was effected during the year under the
very greatest disadvantage, because, since the appeal in "Arlidge v. Islington
Borough Council," when the by-law relating to cleansing was declared to be
unreasonable, inasmuch as it required a landlord of a lodging house to cause the
work of cleansing to be done, although he might not be able to do this without
committing a trespass, everything that was effected had to be accomplished with
out the assistance of by-laws. Nevertheless, the total number of calls and
inspections made numbered 10,555, while the total sanitary improvements
completed were 2,735, and the premises improved 1,333. These, however, did
not represent 1,333 separate houses, for improvements were effected at the same
houses several times during the year owing to fresh nuisances being discovered
in them.
In the early part of the year, a correspondence took place between the
Guardians and the Public Health Committee with reference to alleged overcrowding
in Campbell Road, where nearly all the houses come within the purview
of the by-laws. Owing to statements made at a meeting of the Board of
Guardians, the question attracted considerable notice in the Press, and the
Medical Officer of Health, at the request of his Public Health Committee,
reported fully on the matter. They, in turn, ordered his report to be submitted
to the Council.
Campbell Road is a turning out of Seven Sisters Road, a little before the
railway bridge which spans this thoroughfare before Finsbury Park Station is
reached. It lies between Fonthill Road and Palmerston Road, and terminates
in Lennox Road, which lies to the north of and parallel to, Seven Sisters Road.
From outward appearances, one might reasonably judge it to be of a respectable
character, for the houses are well built and of good external appearance, and
in no wise dilapidated and slumlike. They were erected, so far as information
can be gleaned, for the large numbers of workmen and labourers who were
employed in building the Great Northern Railway in this neighbourhood. Later
on, some of these houses became common lodging houses, and in turn were
followed by houses let in furnished lodgings. These to-day continue to be so
let, and are for the most part of a low type, and very poorly furnished.
Thus it is seen that the common lodging houses became an injury to a
neighbourhood by attracting undesirable people around them. This fact is