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102
Comprehensive by-laws with regard to tenement
houses were made in 1925, although many important
clauses do not operate until six months after the Rent
Restrictions Acts have ceased to be in force. During
1931, the L.C.C. made amending by-laws, whereby
certain of these clauses come into operation upon any
tenement houses becoming decontrolled. Only a small
number of the houses coming under these by-laws have
so far been formally registered.
RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST
RESTRICTIONS ACTS, 1920 & 1923.
During the year no applications for certificated
as to the state of repair of a house were received.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE ACTS.
Provision was contained in the Customs and Inland
Revenue Act, 1890, amended in 1891 and 1903, for the
exemption from inhabited house duty of dwellings
below 7s. 6d. in weekly rent, certified by the Medical
Officer of Health to be so constructed as to provide suitable
accommodation for the families occupying them.
Owing to the lapse of time and altered levels of rentals,
little use is now made of this provision and no application
for a certificate was received during the year.
WATER SUPPLY TO NEW HOUSES.
During the year 33 new houses were certified as
having a proper and sufficient water supply.
SMOKE NUISANCE.
During the year, 22 formal observations of smoke
shafts were made and 1 statutory notice was served.
NOISE.
I regret to report no progress in dealing with preventable
noise, now generally recognised as conducive to
ill health. Complaints are frequently made by residents
of loud and persistent noises at all hours of the day
and sometimes at night, with consequent loss of sleep
and injury to nerves. In the absence of definite