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Council has ever been presided over by a more convinced sanitary
reformer, with abundance of zeal, but ever under the control of a
cool, sound, practical judgment. I feel that some testimony to the
value of his services is due from me, since my position of Medical
Officer of Health has given me an unequalled opportunity of knowing
what they really were. The quiet unobtrusive, yet strenuous work
that he has done, often in circumstances of great difficulty, and
always with an entire absence of clap-trap or rhetoric, is manifesting,
and will manifest itself in practical improvements throughout the
district, not the less real because there is nothing sensational
about it. But to resume : unfortunately, the Vestry seem to have
concentrated their attention on those clauses of the tenement
house regulations which deal with overcrowding and indecent occupation,
to the exclusion of the others. I have all along held that
without increased housing accommodation it is impossible to enforce
these particular clauses. I have formed this opinion, not merely on
the ground of the known inability of the poorer inhabitants to pay
rent for the additional rooms they require as their families increase,
but in the belief that, even if no rent were demanded, the whole of
the existing houses in Bethnal Green could not accommodate the
present population of the parish on the basis of the cubic space
prescribed by the by-laws. The by-laws, however, contain many
other useful clauses, and if the County Council will only refrain
from interference I think we shall gradually get a few houses placed
upon the register. I feel sure that if this be done it will be possible
to shew such results from the beneficial operation of these by-laws
as will lead to many other houses being treated in a similar manner.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE ACT, 1891.
I received applications for certificates under this Act for 424
separate tenements during the year; 228 certificates were granted;
the remaining 196 were refused, as in my opinion due provision had
not been made for the sanitary requirements of the tenants.