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71
The houses in Wood Street *.each consisted of a basement and two
floors above; the lighting and ventilation of one room were bad; the
w.c. accommodation for both houses was situated in a yard a considerable
distance away from the premises and approached by descending a
dark staircase into a dark cellar in which, until recently, was the only
source of water supply; from the cellar a long winding tunnel led to a
yard at the back of some other houses. The result of such construction
being that the cellars and passages became a receptacle for filth and
refuse. The houses were occupied.
The Public Health Committee inspected the nine premises, meeting
the owners or their representatives, and subsequently made closing
orders which have been complied with.
The properties in Tufton and Wood Streets were part of those
scheduled under the St. John (Westminster) Improvement Act, 3 906.
The period within which compulsory power of acquirement could be
exercised would have expired in September, 1911, but on December 7th,
1910, the Council received information from the Local Government
Board that the Company found it impossible to exercise the powers
conferred by the Act and had therefore passed a resolution for voluntary
winding up.
Systematic Inspection.—The Act requires this to be done and the
Board has laid down the Order that a record shall be prepared and
kept of the result of such inspection. House to house inspection has
always been carried out in the City and special inspections of certain
localities and streets have from time to time been ordered by the
Public Health Committee.
The Board recommend that records be kept in one of three ways,
in a book, on separate sheets or on cards. The advantage of the card
system is that the space occupied by the records is not great, but it
necessitates reference to notice books, files of letters, plans, &c., which
have to be kept separately.
It was therefore resolved that it would be best to have the records
on sheets rather than cards, so that all the information relating to a
house (not only the facts found on present inspection, but plans
correspondence, sanitary notices, &c.) should be kept together so that
in future anyone may at once obtain the sanitary history of the house
without having to hunt through minute books, notice books, plan
registers, &c.
The method suggested is that a large envelope be prepared for each
house, into which will be placed all documents relating thereto. The
various envelopes will be grouped in streets, so that reference will be easy.
* Wood Street was described in 1720 as "very narrow, with old boarded hovels
ready to fall."