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235
[1909
unfurnished lodging houses there were 130 W.C.'s for 1,273 persons, or 1 W.C.
for every 9½ persons, and that in each of 51 houses there were 2 W.C.'s, and in
each of 28 houses 1 W.C., while in only 3 instances was deficient accommodation
discovered, and even here this was doubtful when the ages of the
children living in the house were taken into consideration. He further pointed
out that uncleanliness was not so prevalent among the tenants now as formerly,
and in proof of this stated that all the five inspectors who were taken from their
districts for the purpose of specially inspecting the houses in the road, on
account of the statements of certain Guardians, expressed their astonishment at
finding them so cleanly, and that some of them stated that the rooms of some of
the tenants were as clean as any room need be. The Medical Officer of Health
also said that this was really the case, for a few of the people in the road were
there only through misfortune, while others had not become so degraded as
to have lost the desire of having clean rooms. He could vouch for this
himself, for on nearly every occasion on which he had visited tjie road, he had
found women scrubbing out their rooms. Nevertheless, vermin were still to
be found, and at that period of the year, after having lain dormant during the
winter, they usually began to make their appearance. It was no surprise,
therefore, to detect them, in some cases in insignificant, but in no case serious,
numbers, in 37 rooms. This was a marvellous improvement on the state of
affairs in 1890, when there was hardly a room which was not badly infested.
He pointed out that all these conditions had only been brought about by
hard and persistent work, and were due to the pains-taking efforts of the
Inspectors.
But, while Campbell Road was so mucn better than it was in 1896, it was
very far from perfection, particularly in those furnished houses to which he had
alluded. In them were found, with a few exception, the conditions at their
worst, for they were occupied by the lowest class of tenants, and the furniture
was as bad as it could be. But the difficulty was how to deal with them!
There was insufficient power under the by-laws, and if under the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, anything was destroyed, it must be replaced or compensation
made to the owners for its destruction, a course of procedure which, though
it might please the landlords, would be a decided loss to the Borough.
Of the 100 houses in the road, 6 are common lodging houses, 45 are
furnished lodging houses, 34 are houses let in unfurnished lodgings, 13 are
private houses, 1 is a beer house with an on-license, and 1 a beer house with an
off-license, and one house is unoccupied.