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68 HOUSING.
A more extended experience of the work leads to the view that the present limits act
prejudicially both towards the occupiers of the tenements and towards the efficient supervision
of this class of property.
Landlords desirous of keeping their houses beyond the scope of the by.laws
raise the rents sufficiently to exceed the limit, with or without a rebate. In either case
a general rise in the rents is almost certain to follow, with a consequent tendency to
congestion, if not actual overcrowding. Some lodgers sublet part of their tenements to meet
the rise in rent. Houses in the same street, offering practically identical accommodation*
may or may not be registered owing to the landlord leaving the rents at their normal level or
artificially raising them. The selection which is inevitable creates friction and suspicions of
unfair dealing. Moreover, the artificial raising of the rents is usually the action of nonresident
landlords. In such houses there is an insufficiency of supervision, and the need of
official intervention is so much the greater.
The limits prescribed by the by.laws are fixed, and can only be altered by a somewhat
cumbersome process. It is therefore difficult to meet the emergency created by a natural
rise in rents from any cause, especially if of a temporary character. Such rise is almost
invariably associated with an increased congestion, demanding closer supervision on the part
of the local authority.
Continued work has proved that the by.laws are very beneficial, and it appears to be
desirable that their scope should be made as wide as possible.
Water Supply.—It has long been thought that a single water tap (usually) in the
basement of the house is not a sufficient and adequate supply for the needs of a tenement
house occupied possibly by four or five families. A case on this point was tested in
December last at Woolwich. The summons was under Sec. 48 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, and the Magistrate decided that a single tap in the yard was not a
sufficient supply (as required by that Section) for a house containing 5 families living on
3 floors. The decision is not binding on any other Police.court, and it will be interesting to
note what line will be taken by other Magistrates.
Verminous Rooms.—Attention has been called in previous reports to the need of special
powers to deal with rooms and articles infested with vermin. The London Countv Council
(General Powers) Act, 1904, enables this matter to be dealt with, Sec. 20 giving power to
require a verminous house or room to be treated in such a way as to destroy the vermin, and
Sec. 19 power to cleanse and purify articles in a filthy, dangerous, or unwholesome condition.
The procedure as to the latter Section appears, however, to be somewhat defective.
Clarendon Street Area.—This Area has been under special supervision since 1901. At
the time of the Special Inquiry held in that year the population of the Area was found to be
7,281 ; at the last annual cleansing 6,265 persons were enumerated. In the appended
statement (Table 38) comparisons are made between the rates for last vear for the Area and
the Rest of the Borough. Rates for the selected causes of death during the past year are
given in Table 37.
The returns for the Area are not so satisfactory as those for 1902 and 1903. It is
singular that the change from decreased to increased rates should coincide with the difficulty
in securing the usual amount of " cleansing."