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1899]
204
HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
There are 493 houses now on the Register, of which 45 were
added during the year, a number all too small considering the
manner in which Islington is gradually but surely being crowded.
Nevertheless, the work of inspecting them systematically has proved
too much for one inspector, chiefly because the Parish is so large
and the houses are so widely apart. Many more houses will no
doubt be added to the Register this year, as the services of an
additional inspector, who has recently been appointed, will be
available for the duty. The Public Health Committee has been for
some time satisfied that this additional inspector was required, but
only waited for an opportune moment to make the recommendation
to the Vestry, who a short time since agreed to the Report of the
Committee on the subject. The appointment has been duly
approved by the Local Government Board.
I fully indorse the remarks of Inspector Jordan on the
difficulties that the poor with large families endure in obtaining
lodgings, indeed I have remarked on them in the earlier part of this
report, and I am not at all surprised at the leniency of the
magistrates towards overcrowding—a leniency, I may say, with which
the Public Health Department sympathises. Frequently cases
come before the Public Health Committee where persons have
been guilty of overcrowding, but they, too, dreading the scandal
that would be created by putting these people on the streets,
without a home to go to, because they cannot readily get rooms, have
felt, as all engaged in this work must feel, that every consideration and
latitude, short of allowing actual and immediate danger to the public
health, should be extended to them, while at the same time the
inspector should satisfy himself that a real endeavour was made by
the heads of the families to secure suitable accommodation.