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accommodation (houses or flats) is available, or unless temporary
quarters can be provided for the displaced persons.
Addendum.
Acting upon the suggestion and advice of the Ministry of Health,
as set out in the Ministry's Manual dealing with unfit houses and the
condemnation of insanitary areas, the method that has been adopted by
the Borough Council for several years past has been to take action
under Section 28 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc. Act, 1919. by
which houses that are unfit are to be put into proper order by the
owners concerned, rather than under the Housing of the Working
Classes Act, 1890, and the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909,
by which insanitary areas are to be cleared and Closing Orders made
(with consequent displacement of tenants).
With regard to Ethelm Street, as already stated, an official representation
under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (fart I),
as an insanitary area, could not be made by the Medical Officer of
Health of the Borough of Lambeth, nor, in his opinion, with equity, by
any other Medical Officer of Health, as such street cannot be condemned
on account of its narrowness, closeness, and bad arrangement, and the
consequent want of light, air, and ventilation.
With regard to Victoria Place, however, such an official representation
might be made by the Medical Officer of Health, if such a procedure
is thought to be advisable, as the houses in that Place are
narrow, close, and badly arranged, with consequent want of proper
light, air, and ventilation, although the houses individually have recently
been put into a proper state of repair, or, at the present time, are being
put into a proper state of repair, under the Schedules served on behalf
of the Borough Council under Section 28 of the Housing, Town
Planning, etc., Act, 1919.
In the event of the Committee deciding to recommend the Council
that, in the circumstances set out in the Medical Officer of Health's
Report, there appears to be no justification for the Representation
officially, by the Medical Officer of Health, of Ethlem Street, under the
Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (Part I.), it may be deemed
advisable to draw the attention of the London County Council to one
or two more urgent areas that might, with advantage, be dealt with, as