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98
These figures show the amount of sulphur tri-oxide, in milligrammes,
formed on a piece of fabric 100 square centimetres in area, per day,
due to the active sulphurous impurities in the atmosphere. The
average for the year seems greatest at Farm Street.
HOUSING.
Steady progress has been made during the year and the steps taken to
advance the City Council's housing programme are outlined in the
following pages.
Overcrowding.
The provisions of the Housing Act, 1936, in regard to the prevention
and abatement of overcrowding came fully into force in the City on the
1st of January, 1937. From that date fresh overcrowding, apart from
certain exceptions, constitutes an offence.
The pamphlet prepared by the Council for the guidance of persons
concerned has been widely distributed and copies are still available upon
application to the Public Health Department. Many applications were
received during the year for particulars of the numbers of persons permitted
to occupy dwelling houses and schedules giving the required
information were supplied. A number of these applications arose as a
result of communications informing the persons responsible of their failure
to insert the requisite information in rent books.
In 98 instances new cases of overcrowding were discovered, the
majority occurring in families where children had attained the ages of one
or ten years during the year.
An endeavour has been made during the year to keep in touch with
families recorded as overcrowded during the survey carried out in 1935,
but it has proved a somewhat difficult task as numbers of these families
have moved away to destinations unknown, many outside the City.
In cases where the new address has been ascertained to be within the
City, it has been invariably found that the fresh accommodation has been
sufficiently large to accommodate the family without overcrowding.
The object of the overcrowding provisions of the Housing Act is clearly
to help families that are overcrowded, often through no fault of their own ;
in consequence discretion and sympathy are specially called for in the
administration of this aspect of Public Health legislation.