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83
In order to prevent or minimise difficulties of the owner as much as possible
we endeavour to keep in view the considerable powers which the Council has of
holding the tenant responsible for defects caused by his neglect or default.
During the year the Inspectors have reported a number of cases where dirty
conditions of tenements were clearly the fault of the tenants. In these cases
the necessary action has been taken to secure the abatement of the nuisance by
the tenants.
In two cases where the conditions arose to a large extent from the physical
inability of the tenants to properly look after themselves, we were able to secure
their removal to the Poor Law Institution.
Rag Flock Act, 1911.
Two samples of rag flock were obtained and examined under the above Act;
both samples were found to comply with the Regulations made under the Act.
HOUSING.
In 1919 the housing survey established the need for sufficient dwellings to
rehouse about 200 persons who were about to be displaced by the clearance of the
Wild Street area by the Incorporated Society for Improving the Condition of the
Labouring Classes. This clearance is in course of progress: the Society intend to
provide housing accommodation on a site purchased from the Council.
The vacant site in Short's Gardens was acquired by the Council for housing
purposes in 1914; the work was deferred till after the War, when, owing to the
altered conditions, the Ministry of Health considered the site not suitable for
housing purposes. The site has now been sold to the Incorporated Society for
Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, who will erect dwellings for
the working classes thereon.
Owing to the extreme difficulty of finding alternative accommodation it has not
been found possible to deal with more than a few cases of overcrowding during
the year.
One of the most unsatisfactory features with regard to housing in the district
is the presence of so many houses let in lodgings. These houses were not built for
the purpose to which they are now put: the using of the staircases, water supply,
washhouses, yards, waterclosets, ashbins, etc., in common leads to misuse and
neglect; the tenants suffer much inconvenience in carrying out their ordinary
housework In most of the houses there is no suitable provision for the storage
of food and cooking. The structure of these houses is in many cases satisfactory,
the conversion into self-contained tenements would much improve the
accommodation.
During the year 665 houses occupied by the working classes were inspected,
this number consisted of 591 registered lodging houses and 74 non-registered houses
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