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subject, may be seen in the annual report for 1892-93 (pages 152163
inclusive). The report of the Committee was by no
means of a wholly unfavourable character, and a few extracts
therefrom may not be out of place here. Dealing with the
bye-law which provides for an annual cleansing of the
registered lodging houses, and the majority of the houses are
registered,* the Sanitary Committee observed that "a prime
obstacle to carrying out work of this kind satisfactorily arises
from the difficulty of emptying the rooms of their inhabitants
whilst the work is in progress; and it would be well," they said,
"if temporary shelters for a few families could be provided, so
as to give the workmen vacant possession of the rooms successively.
But," they significantly added, "there are no empty
houses in the district." The Committee went on to say, that,
"on all sides," they observed, "the fruits of their labours during
the last few years, in well-ventilated drains, disconnected wastepipes,
flushing tanks for water-closets, &c. Not all of the
houses," they added, "have been provided with these modern
sanitary arrangements, but the work of improvement will be
continued to completion." A good deal of additional work of a
like kind, I may observe, has since been carried out, but in
one respect, perhaps the most important of all, the work came
to an end when the Committee discontinued the issue of notices
for the reconstruction and trapping of drains, a matter already
referred to. The Committee further stated that it had "been
suggested that steps should be taken by the Vestry to get the
several streets condemned as insanitary (or unhealthy) areas,"
but that they "saw no occasion for any such drastic and costly
procedure," under Part I. of the Housing of the Working Classes
Act, 1890. "There may be," they added, "a few houses which
it would be desirable to close temporarily," under Part II. of the
last named Act, or under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891,
"as being, at present, 'unfit for human habitation'; but there are
* See list at page 137, the streets being, as before stated, St. Katharine'sroad,
William-street, Bangor-street, Crescent-street, and part of St. Clement'sroad.