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41
Boats leaky 1
Cabins leaky 1
Woodwork of cabins defective 2
Absence of water storage vessel 1
Stoves defective 2
Boats without certificates 5
Painting of cabins required 1
Bulkheads required 3
Boats overcrowded 1
Nine formal notices were served. The three inhabited boats which were found to be conveying
offensive cargo have, since the service of notices requiring the provision of double bulkheads,
been used for other cargoes.
On no occasion was admission to a boat refused, and no legal proceedings were necessary
in respect of any of the infringements discovered.
One case of scarlet fever was reported.
No deaths were recorded as occurring among canal boat dwellers.
Thirty-one (31) children of school age were found to be living on the canal boats inspected.
The total number of boats on the Register at the end of the year was 249.
It is practically certain that a number of boats, registered many years ago, have changed ownership,
been registered with another authority or been broken up. It is under the circumstances
impossible to trace a number of registered boats or to know the exact number of "live" certificates
of registration.
One of the requisites for an inhabited canal boat is that if ordinarily used for the conveyance
of any foul or offensive cargo, it shall contain between the space occupied by such cargo and the
interior of any cabin used as a dwelling, two bulkheads of substantial construction, separated by a
space not less in any part than four inches, open throughout to the external air. Such space must
be furnished with a pump for the removal of any liquid and the bulkhead next to the cargo is to be
watertight.
Until recent years it had not been considered in this Borough that house refuse came within the
scope of the term "foul or offensive" cargo. Steps are now being taken, however, to ensure that
double bulkheads shall be fitted to all inhabited canal boats conveying house refuse, and the owners
of such boats are taking all necessary action to comply with this interpretation of the Regulations.
The annual cleansing at Paddington Basin was carried out during the week-end 26th-28th April.
About 790 tons of mud were removed from the bed of the Basin, in addition to 526 tons which were
dredged previously, a total of 1,316 tons, being some 11 tons less than that removed in 1934.
HOUSING.
Overcrowding Survey.—As required by the Act of 1935, the survey of the Borough to ascertain
the extent of overcrowding in it and the places where it exists, was commenced on the 30th October.
The survey applied only to "premises used as a separate dwelling by members of the working classes
or of a type suitable for such use" and involved some 12,100 premises. The work was not completed
by the end of the year.
Conversions.—Section 102 of the Housing Act, 1925, and Section 84 of the Law of Property Act,
1925, empower a County Court to vary the terms of a lease or other instrument so as to enable a house
to be converted into tenements, notwithstanding any restrictive covenant there may be to the
contrary. Three applications under these Sections were made during the year, the premises to
which they related being No. 76, Queensborough Terrace, No. 8, Hyde Park Place, and No. 2, Palace
Court.
Plans continue to be submitted to the Council under the drainage bye-laws, relative to the
conversion of premises into tenements. It is probable that a number of other conversions were
carried out in which no interference with existing drainage was involved. Such conversions
would not come within the purview of the department.
Compulsory Repairs.—The number of notices served from the 1st January to the 31st December,
1935, under Section 17 of the Housing Act, 1930, was four. In the case of No. 18, Clarendon Street
the notice was complied with, but the repairs in respect of Nos. 26, 39 and 45, Clarendon Street
had not been executed at the end of the year. Three hundred and forty-nine communications were
sent to owners drawing attention to defects liable to be dealt with under this Section. These communications
in most instances resulted in the defects being remedied.