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50
immediately, they would at any rate place the Brady
Street Scheme amongst the first on which restrictions as
to capital expenditure should be removed or modified.
This communication was formally acknowledged, but no
further reply was received.
About this time some of the houses in the NorthEast
corner of the area showed such signs of advanced
decay that officials of the London County Council were
compelled (in consequence of bulged and overhanging
walls, collapsed roofs and other structural defects) to
deal with certain premises as dangerous structures.
Dilapidation notices were served by the officers of the
London County Council calling upon the owners to take
action, including timbering and shoreing-up walls, to prevent
accidents, and the remarkable spectacle was now
witnessed of extensive repairs being carried out on houses
in a condemned area, in obedience to notices from the
authority responsible for the demolition of these identical
houses and the clearance of the site. These works were
carried out during a period of most inclement weather,
and families could be seen living in rooms from which
one of the walls had been removed, with most ineffective
temporary means of protection against wet and cold. In
other cases roofs had collapsed, W.C.'s and outbuildings
had fallen down, yet the houses were still occupied.
Photographs of some of these places were taken and
exhibited in the Members' room at the Town Hall for
the information of the Council, before whom a full
report on the whole position was laid by the Public
Health Committee. I here reproduce the final paragraphs
of this report:-