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74
CLEARANCE AREAS.
The Albert Mews, Lillie Yard and Burlington Road (1934) Clearance Orders were
confirmed by the Minister of Health in February, 1935, but the properties in the areas were
not. demolished during the year as the tenants were only re-housed in the early part of 1936.
DEMOLITIONS UNDER PART 2, HOUSING ACT, 1930.
One house was demolished in November in consequence of an Order made by the
Council on the 22nd May, 1935, and two others were demolished voluntarily in pursuance
of an undertaking given by the owners in lieu of the Council making Demolition Orders.
COMMON LODGING HOUSE.
At the beginning of 1935 there were two Common Lodging Houses in the Borough,
one capable of accommodating 36 men and the other 8 women. In March, 1935, the owner
of the Women's Lodging House applied for permission to take men instead of women, and
the application was granted after certain structural alterations had been carried out. At
the beginning of October she applied for permission to have her licence revoked and to take
women again, but while the matter was under consideration she informed the Council that
she had decided to discontinue using the premises as a Common Lodging House.
Both Houses were kept under constant supervision during the year, 85 visits being
made to them by the Inspectors concerned.
DISINFESTATION.
The Borough Council have entered into an Agreement with the Kensington Borough
Council for the use of the latter authority's Hydrogen Cyanide Disinfestation Plant in connection
with the removal of tenants from slum clearance areas to new dwellings. The
furniture of the tenants is taken to the Kensington Depot for treatment and delivered direct
to the new flats later in the day; meanwhile the bedding is taken to the Fulham Disinfection
Station for treatment by steam before delivery to the new flat. No use was made of this
arrangement during 1935.
For the treatment of infested premises, the usual procedure is to have the room stripped
of all woodwork and then fumigated by means of sulphur candles. In some cases where
fumigation was inconvenient the rooms were sprayed with a formalin solution.
Towards the end of the year experiments with various proprietary insecticides were
commenced and the use of formalin has now been superseded by these.
During the year 324 rooms were fumigated and 31 sprayed on account of vermin.
THE VITAL STATISTICS OF WORKING CLASS FLATS.
Unfit houses produce ill-health, particularly of a respiratory character. This cannot
always be shown in figures, but it is of interest to examine the vital statistics of the fairly
stable populations living in modern blocks of working class flats. The influence of good
nutrition on these statistics has been strikingly shown by Dr. McGonigle, of Stockton-on-Tees,