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108
It is important to note that owing to the change in the law made in
1935 it is now illegal for an underground room to be used either for
sleeping or living purposes unless it complies with the regulations
approved by the Local Government Board, and the illegality cannot
be overcome as previously by closing the room for sleeping purposes
and arranging its use in the future for "living" purposes only.
(ii) Action taken by the Borough Council and its Predecessors.
We have had a search made of the Council's records and find that
the number of rooms dealt with by the Vestry under the earlier enactments
was relatively small; no action being possible where underground
rooms were occupied in conjunction with other rooms upstairs. However,
in the year 1890, 21 cellar dwellings were closed by the Vestry
of the Parish of St. John, whilst in 1910, 115 underground rooms were
found to be illegally occupied; of these, 53 were altered to comply with
the Public Health Act, two were in process of alteration at the end
of the year and 60 were vacated. Between the years 1909 and 1936, no
less than 1,234 underground rooms were dealt with by their being closed,
their illegal occupation discontinued, or their being made to conform
to the regulations.
In 1936, the Medical Officer of Health reported on the question of
underground room occupation, estimating the number of underground
rooms in the Borough at 4,000, some of which already complied with
the regulations, while others did not. With the concurrence of the
Public Health Committee, in September, 1936, an Inspector was added
to the staff whose duty it was to investigate and report on the conditions
of the underground rooms in the Borough. The result of the survey
of underground rooms from 1st January, 1936, to 30th June, 1937, is
set out in paragraph (iv) below, but it must be remembered that his
work was considerably interrupted, in so far as he was engaged for a
period of approximately six months on the supervision of the work
of the temporary staff on the recent overcrowding survey. We have
approved the compilation of a card register, setting. out, in various
categories, the underground rooms illegally occupied, e.g., those that
can be made to comply with the requirements, those that cannot be made
to comply with the requirements and those that do not comply with the
law in some minor respect and in which case it is not proposed to deal
further at the moment.
(iii) Policy of the Committee.
The obligations with regard to the repair, demolition and closing
of insanitary premises imposed by the Housing Act, 1936, are mandatory
in form upon the local authority, and, by Section 175 of the Housing
Act, 1936, a specific power is given to the London County Council, on