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72
On January 30th, 1923, submitted a report to the Public Health Committee which stated what
special housing work the staff could carry out without seriously interfering with their normal
duties. It was pointed out that each Inspector ordinarily spends a large amount of time on
housing work; he inspects registered houses let in lodgings once a year as far as possible;
re-inspections are frequently made; he attends to complaints and also undertakes routine
inspections of both registered and unregistered houses under the Housing and Public Health Acts.
The report expressed the opinion that in addition to continuing his ordinary housing duties and
his other work, each Inspector could inspect ten tenement houses per month and serve the
necessary notices with a view to bringing such houses up to the standard prescribed by the Council.
The report suggested that the houses for examination should be selected in a definite order,
the streets in the Borough being taken in alphabetical order and the houses in these streets in
numerical order.
This report having been adopted by the Public Health Committee, the work of inspecting these
ten houses per month was commenced by each Inspector in the month of February.

The number of underground rooms inspected by the ten District Sanitary I nspectors was 358, and
the number reported to the Public Health Committee for closure under the Council's Regulations
was 20. In eleven cases, the owners made the necessary alterations immediately. Closing Orders
were issued in nine cases, and, in all but one, alterations were effected by the owner to make the
rooms comply with the Council's Regulations. In this one case the Closing Order became effective.
These inspections under the heading of Resolutions " C," "D," and "E," do not include any
of those carried out by the Temporary Inspector referred to under Resolutions " A " and " B. "
RESOLUTION " F."—That Closing Orders under Section 17 (2) of the Housing, Town Planning,
etc., Act, 1909, be made where necessary.
The Council made Closing Orders in respect of three houses. In one case the house is now
unoccupied, and legal proceedings between the freeholder and the leaseholder are pending; in the
other two cases, the houses were purchased by the Improved Tenements Association, Ltd., and will
shortly be put into a good state of repair. There were other houses in respect of which Closing
Orders might reasonably have been served in normal times, but in view of the absence of alternative
accommodation, the Council endeavoured with a fair amount of success to secure habitable
conditions for the occupants by the use of Section 28 of the Housing Act of 1919.
RESOLUTION " G."—That the London County Council, and, if necessary, the Minister of
Health, be asked to receive a deputation, consisting of our Chairman
(Councillor Miss Keeling), our Vice-Chairman (Councillor Dr. Robinson),
and Councillor Brooke-Little, with the Medical Officer of Health,
on the subject of the delay in issuing the pro-posed by-laws of the
London County Council under Section 26 of the Housing, Town
Pfenning, etc., Act, 1919, for houses let in lodgings or occupied by
members oi more than one family.