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9
erected, but these are for sale, and are not within the reach
of the poorer section of the community. Overcrowding is very
prevalent, hut even when the premises are not actually overcrowded,
the conditions are very unsatisfactory, not only from
a hygienic, but from a moral point of view. We are constantly
receiving applications for assistance in obtaining houses on the
London County Council Housing Estates, and it is evident what
a lot of unhappiness and irritation result from two or more
families living in the same house. Houses are being farmedout
into separate rooms and two-roomed tenements, the rents
demanded in many cases being unreasonable. The most difficult
question of all is that of the married couple with children. I
have listened to almost unbelievable tales of the harshness of
some of the persons who sub-let their houses, when they discover
that an increase in their lodgers' family is expected.
Dr. Jordan, the Tuberculosis Officer, frequently brings
to my notice the bad conditions under which tuberculous persons
are living, emphasising the difficulty in treating such cases, and
the futility of sending patients to Sanatoria to be patched up,
only to be returned later to their old environment, with the
inevitable subsequent falling-off in health. There also remains
the risk of infecting others by the unavoidable close contact
into which they are forced in the limited space of their homes.
Tvbirculosis.—Dr. Jordan's report 011 the work of the
Tuberculosis Dispensary is valuable and interesting. The increasing
usefulness of the Dispensary is evident, and I am glad
to be able to record the fact that continued use is being made
of it by the local medical practitioners and others for consultative
purposes. During the year a careful investigation was
made with a view to determining the number of tuberculous
persons residing in the Borough. It is estimated that 1,302
cases existed at the end of 1924, and it will be seen that the
new Bellingh;:m Estate has its fair proportion of tuberculous
inhabitants. The estimated number of cases is one for every
142 inhabitants, and on the Bellingham Estate one in every 140.