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64
For the purpose of determining the number of persons
in a family, a child under 1 year of age is not counted
and a child between the ages of 1 year and 10 years counts
as ^ a person. Only rooms normally used in the locality
for sleeping or living purposes are counted as rooms, so
that sculleries, bathrooms, &c., are not taken into account
in determining the permitted number of persons.
The survey fell into two stages, the first being a preliminary
enumeration to ascertain the number of persons
in each family, the number of children under 10 years of
age and the number of rooms occupied. The second stage
of the survey consisted of the measurement of the floor
area of all the rooms in the house in which a doubtful case
or doubtful cases of overcrowding had been disclosed by
the preliminary enumeration.
The survey has disclosed that of the 35,236 families in
respect of which particulars were obtained, 1.723 (about
4.9 per cent.) are living in overcrowded conditions.
General Housing Conditions.—The houses in the
Borough are mainly occupied by the artisan class. They
are mostly houses of three and four stories let in flats and
rooms.
The water closet accommodation, whilst conforming
with the standard laid down for tenement houses, cannot
be considered satisfactory, as in many instances two or
more families use the same water closet. These premises
were originally occupied by one family.
Supply of Houses—Overcrowding.—Overcrowding still
exists in the Borough owing to the housing shortage.
Hundreds of applications for houses remain on the
waiting list of the Council despite the fact that the list
has been closed for a very long time.
Applications received in the Public Health Department
are investigated, particulars obtained and a report sent to
the Town Clerk for submission to the appropriate Committee.