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house. Fortunately, however, this was not necessary, as the
owner agreed to close the underground rooms, which he did.
In some underground rooms in Palmerston Road the landlord
undertook to open up a partition wall by which two small
rooms, unfit for habitation separately, were transformed into
one fairly healthy living room, the back small room having
been above ground.
89. Inspectors' Work.—See Table IX. 2895 houses were
inspected, house to house, compared with 2082 in the previous
year. Besides these, 3105 houses were inspected for infectious
diseases, complaints, &c., making a total of 6000 inspections
(not necessarily 6000 houses). 337 drains were tested by
smoke, and 96 by the water test. 731 chocked and defective
drains were dealt with, and 54 combined drains examined and
referred to the Works Department for repairs.
90. 2498 written intimation notices were served; 957 of
these were followed by statutory notices, and 137 of these again,
not being attended to, were reported to the Clerk for proceedings.
But in only 31 instances were the offenders summoned
to the Police Court. Convictions were obtained in each of the
31 cases. Seven fines were imposed, 40/- for an accumulation
of house refuse, 40/- for a yard not properly paved, 15/- for reconstructing
aw.c. contrary to L.C.C. bye-laws, 10/-for removal
of offal during prohibited hours, and smaller sums in other cases.
7/- costs were obtained in one case, 4/- in three cases, 3/- and
2/- in the remainder. A closing order was made on three
houses in Bed Lion Lane. On the subject of legal proceedings
I would refer to what I said in my last report, paragraph 78.
It is satisfactory that some penalties have been obtained, but
they are hardly large enough to be deterrent. In 1897, 191
cases were reported to the Clerk, and 42 summonses taken out.