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under Part I of the Act, as the Vestry felt that there were difficulties
in the way of taking action under Part II of the Act. The London
County Council replied that they were of opinion that the area being
so confined, it should be dealt with by the Vestry. However, the
dissolution of the Vestry being so near at hand, the further consideration
of the matter dropped. I brought the matter before the
Housing Committee before the autumn recess, and it was allowed to
stand over until the end of that period, as the owner promised to
bring forward a scheme dealing with a larger area. This he did, but
up to the end of the year he had not been able to formulate a
scheme which met with the approval of the Council and its Improvements
Committee. Orders were, therefore, issued under the Housing
Act, Part II, Section 32 (b), with express object of securing the
closure of the houses, but proceedings to effect this were not completed
at the end of the year.*
Turner's Court is approached on each side by narrow covered
passages. The buildings in the Court are in height quite out of
proportion to the space in their front and rear. Some of them are
four storeys high, while the back yards are only 4 feet 3 inches wide,
and the space in front of those in the longer arm of the court (the
court has two right angled turns in it) has an average width of
3 feet 8 inches. Nos. 1 to 4, which are in this narrow part, have a
wall 14 feet high in front, and above the wall the distance to the
opposite buildings is only about 15 feet. At the back, the obstruction
to light and air varies, being most marked in the case of No. 4,
where the building in the rear renders the whole house dark. The
other seven houses are slightly better as regards some of the rooms,
but the houses are older and structurally worse than the others.
Besides the obstruction to light and air, which were the points on
which reliance was placed in making the orders, the houses generally
were in bad condition as regards drainage, cleanliness, and repair.
There was also overcroAvding to an extent of 20 or 30 persons.
Calculated on an average population of 155 persons, the death-rate
averages 61.8 for the period of 12 years, 1890 to the end of 1901.
If calculated on the existing population (168) it would equal 57,
but if allowance be made for seven empty rooms it would be reduced
to 47 per 1,000—a rate still much in excess of that for London, and
which, moreover, means considerable overcrowding. Diseases of
the respiratory organs were the most fatal, being at the rate of 20
per 1,000 compared with 3.5 for Westminster. The tubercular
death-rate averaged 9.7, that for Westminster being 2.5 per 1,000.
* Closing orders were eventually obtained.