View report page

133
1913, and had been reconstructed in that and the following year.
In three of the tenements the bedrooms had no fireplaces and were
each ventilated by a small perforated grid, 9 inches by 6 inches,
placed in a corner near the ceiling. One of these bedrooms is
described below. It had no fireplace and no cupboard. Its length
and breadth were 9 ft. 6 ins., and 7 ft. 6 ins. Its height was
8 ft. 9 ins. It contained a double bed, a baby's cot, one chair,
and one small round table 2 ft. 6 ins. in diameter. The only
loose space "in which they could turn round" was 4 ft. 3 ins. by
3 ft. The clothes of the mother and baby were placed at night on the
table. The father hanged some of his clothes on the gas bracket,
and put the rest on the bed. The washing basin was kept at
night on the floor and was placed on the bed when the occupants
desired to wash. The baby's clean clothes were hung from nails
in the wall. The room was "ventilated" by a small grid, placed
high up in a corner and communicated with the open air. The
mother, who occupied the tenement, stated she had recently been
confined, and complained that she had been unable to have a fire
in her bedroom which was exceedingly stuffy and offensive a,t
night time—so much so that she had to keep the bedroom door
continuously open.
It is astonishing that such houses may be constructed in Central
London in these days, and still more surprising to find that they
may be made the subjects of applications for exemption from
inhabited house duty. For such applications have to be accompanied
by certificates signed by the medical officer of health that
the houses to which they refer are so constructed as to afford
suitable accommodation for each of the families or persons dwelling
therein, and that due provision is made for their sanitary
requirements. The conditions attaching to the issue of these
certificates have been set out at length in a former annual report.
Vepminous Houses —When school children are found to be
verminous in school by the London County Council medical
officers in the course of their official inspections, the names and
addresses of such children are sent to the Public Health Department.