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of the families who were overcrowded, every effort was made by
this Department for this to be done; and the owners and tenants
have been warned that steps must be taken to prevent overcroding
in the future.
Should no notice be taken of this warning, the question
arises as to whether such houses should be registered as
houses-let-in-lodgings. At the present time there are 297 such
houses in the Borough on the Register. No additions have been
made to the number of houses listed for registration during the
past five years. Of late years they have received much attention
on the part of the Council's Sanitary Inspectors to maintain them
in a satisfactory condition.
Owing to the housing shortage there are numbers of
houses in the Borough let out in floors and rooms at various
rents, but when the new By-laws which have been framed by
the London County Council, under the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, and Section 6 of the Housing Act, 1925, become
operative, many of the working class properties which are occupied
by more than one family, commencing with the worst houses,
should be added to the Houses-let-in-lodgings Register. (These
By-laws have now been approved by the Ministry of Health.)
The new By-laws are to a large extent a codification of those
in operation in the Borough, with such modifications as are
necessary to bring them up to date. They are based largely on
the model By-laws issued by the Ministry of Health, and represent
sent a standard to be worked up to rather than one immediately
attainable.
From every point of view they can be regarded as an improvement,
and any suggestion of harshness is met by the postponement
ponement of the operation of certain of them.
The inspections of registered houses-let-in-lodgings in the
Borough during 1925 numbered 228.
Fitness of Houses.
Efforts have been directed during the last four years to try
to ameliorate the deterioration of houses which occurred during
the years of the War, and it can be said now that with more
labour and material available the general standard of fitness has
much improved. Especially is this the case in the direction of
ensuring that houses have watertight roofs, removing the causes
of ground dampness and improving the decorative condition of
the houses.
Unfortunately, in some parts of Camberwell there are a
considerable number of streets containing houses which are old
arid worn out, having come to the end of their useful life.
These old houses have deteriorated rapidly since the War
owing to abnormal wear and tear, and are now in such a state,