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135
This recommendation was withdrawn at the meeting of the Council.
The Committee on the 20th September again considered their proposal,
submitted to the Council on the 5th September and withdrawn, that an
additional Inspector of Houses Let in Lodgings should be appointed.
A report on the matter under date 11th September had been submitted
by me to the Committee.
The report dealt fully with the enforcement of the bye-laws and the
past and present work of the Inspector.
The following are extracts from the report:—
"The cleansing of verminous rooms was rightly added to the duties
of the Inspector on 5th October, 1905, and when notices for cleansing
are served and the premises are found to be verminous a special intimation
to that effect is enclosed, followed by a statutory notice under the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, if necessary."
"There are over 22,000 houses in the Borough, out of which 960 are
on the Register as Houses let in Lodgings or occupied by members of
more than one family, and these premises are scattered all over the
Borough. It is, therefore, impossible for one man to undertake the
inspection of any further houses. Every year more houses in the Borough
become occupied by two or more families."
" There are seven Sanitary Inspectors, whose duty it is to inspect
premises for structural defects, workshops and workplaces, places where
food is prepared, canal boats, market places, slaughterhouses, cowsheds
and milkshops, dairies, &c., places where ice cream is stored and manufactured,
visiting houses where cases of infectious diseases occur, to deal
with smoke nuisances, and to procure samples under the various Food
and Drugs Acts. The results of the inspections are entered by the
Inspectors in their note books, whence a Clerk enters them into the
Journals for the respective districts."
"In a district with a population of 170,000, and containing over
22,000 houses, the Sanitary Inspectors cannot carry out the duties under
the bye-laws for Houses let in Lodgings or occupied by members of more
than one family, in addition to those set out above. Counting seven
Inspectors to 22,000 houses, each will have an average of over 3,000
houses to inspect, and it has been stated again and again that no Inspector
should have more than 2,500 contiguous houses to deal with."