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66
HOUSING.
rates for the years covered by the Special Report, and with those for the two subsequent
years. The figures indicate that some improvement has been effected in the sanitary condition
of the Area, but all rates are still much too high, some being double the rates for the
Rest of the Borough, e.g., mortality at all ages, 26.08 per 1,000 in the Area, 12.46 in the Rest of
the Borough ; mortality at 10 years and upwards, 21.01 in the Area, 10.34 in the Rest of the
Borough.
To some extent the deaths in institutions* indicate the poverty of the district. It
is regrettable that the percentage of total deaths in this category has increased so much, from
a mean of 30 per cent. in 1896-1900 to 43.1 in 1903. At the same time there has been an
increase in the Rest of the Borough.
Indications are not wanting of an early need to reconsider the rent limits for houses let
in lodgings, both in this Area and elsewhere. One house in the Area which produced 26s. 6d.
a week in 1901,was found this year (1904) to be producing 37s. 6d.† On the other hand, there
is no evidence that the rents of the houses (as single houses) or the rateable values have
increased to a like extent. Sec. 94 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1901, which deals
with the registration, etc., of houses of this class, does not provide for any rent limit, and
Counsel's opinion has been given to the effect that such limits are illegal. They are, however,
convenient.
The verminous condition of some of the tenements has proved difficult to deal with.
There is a provision in the London County Council (General Powers) Bill, 1904, which should
be useful, but it is feared that the habits of some of the tenants are such that it would
scarcely suffice to clear out the vermin once a month.
In the Special Report of 1901, attention was called to the inadequate means provided in
these houses for washing. In many houses the single copper is dilapidated, and the scullery
or wash-house too small to suffice for several families. There is no remedy for this provided
by the existing By-laws, but it is thought that the matter is not outside the provisions
of Sec. 94.
The local By-laws do not deal with the separation of the sexes, and in that respect
differ from (probably) the majority of such By-laws. The Act gives power to secure proper
separation of the sexes, and occasionally very gross instances of promiscuous habitation of
tenements come to the knowledge of the Department. They are dealt with as far as possible
by appeals to the landlords and the occupants of the tenements.
The houses in "Clarendon Street Area" were erected for smaller numbers of inhabitants
than now occupy them—the families numbering 4, 5, and even 6 in some cases. The dustbins
provided, while in accordance with the By-laws, are inadequate to hold the household
refuse produced by so many families, when the refuse is collected, as at present, once a week
only. The refuse from this class of property requires to be collected more frequently, and
there should be strict supervision of the scavengers to see that each house is regularly visited
and all refuse removed.
The most unsatisfactory houses in the Area are the furnished houses, where the rents are
from 5s. and upwards for a single room, and 11s. and upwards for two rooms. The tenants
of such rooms are found to be more migratory than are those of unfurnished tenements. The
furniture is usually of the poorest character and rarely kept clean.
* These include deaths in the Asylum Board's Hospitals, but such deaths were fewer last year than they have
been for many years.
† It is probably not too much to say that rents for tenements in all parts of the Borough have increased from
1s. 6d. to 2s. a week during the last three or four years.