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1925, with respect to houses intended or used for occupation by the
working classes and let in lodgings or occupied by members of more
than one family.
Several Borough Councils, including that of Hampstead, had
urged the adoption of the definition which was put forward at a
Conference between the London County Council and the Metropolitan
Boroughs in July, 1925, and which in effect defined lodging-houses as
being such as the Borough Council resolved shoidd be registered as
lodging-houses. The County Council, however, were unable to adopt
this decision, and the Minister of Health confirmed the County
Council's By-laws without such a clause being inserted.
When confirming the By-laws, however, the Minister of Health
approved them except in so far as they apply to any lodging-house in which
the tenant resides, and not more than one family is lodged. The Minister
stated that he thought this exception would go some way to meet the
objections to the by-laws which had been raised: but that this exception
was not necessarily final, and did not preclude the London County
Council from requesting him at some future date to agree to the Bylaws
being more widely applied if experience showed this to be necessary
or justifiable. The definition of "lodging house" in the By-laws
excludes from their operation a house in which not more than two persons
in addition to the tenant and his family also reside, but the exception of
the Minister has widened this exclusion to cover a house in which not
more than one family in addition to the tenant and his family is lodged,
and makes the By-laws more limited in their application than most of
the By-laws on the subject hitherto in operation in many Boroughs.
The Public Health Committee of the County Council were of the
opinion that this exemption may remove from the scope of the By-laws
houses to which it is desirable that they should apply.
The Public Health Committee of the Borough Council considered
the question of putting the new By-laws into operation; and on 20th
April resolved to recommend the Council to appoint an inspector to
carry out the inspectorial work involved, and for this purpose to engage
an officer to fill the vacancy which existed in the Staff of Inspectors
occasioned by the retirement of Mr. Geary earlier in the year. With
this recommendation the Council agreed, and Mr. J. F. Armstrong has
been appointed to perform the duties imposed upon the Council by the
new By-laws.