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overhauled and renewed, where necessary, including the guttering
and stack-pipes; all outside walls (front and back) have been lined
with compo (with washed sand and cement, two coats); window-sills
have been renewed in cement; the inside plastering to all the walls
and ceilings has been renewed; all floors, staircases, sashes, frames,
etc., were restored; and the paving of the courtyards and yards was
renewed in places. Further provision was made for ventilating the
rooms; water was laid on; sinks were provided to the houses requiring
these provisions; and a metal receptacle for household refuse
replaced the old and somewhat dilapidated wooden one.
The Underground Dwellings at Nos. 14, 16, and 18, Nevill Road
have (under our requirements) been improved during past years; but
during the year 1911 it was found necessary to impose further conditions
upon their continued occupancy as dwellings. The basements
of Nos. 16 and 18 contain two separate tenements; but as the result
of our inspections we have found that from time to time a room in
these tenements has been occupied by someone who is not a member
of the family, and that this circumstance has added materially to the
unsatisfactory conditions under which they were occupied. The
owners have now undertaken that each tenement shall be let to one
family only; that the front rooms of these tenements are no longer to
be used for sleeping purposes; and that the basement under the shop
at No. 14 is no longer to be let as a tenement dwelling. The owner
has furthermore undertaken to use every vigilance and to assist us
in every way so as to ensure that these arrangements are carried out.
Owing to the unsatisfactory standard of cubic space adopted Dy
magistrates as constituting "overcrowding," it is not easy to find
instances of this form of nuisance which can be legally dealt with.
Of course in fixing limits of cubic space many considerations arise in
addition to those of public health and public morality, but I believe
that it would now be practicable and advantageous to extend the pre
sent unsatisfactory limits adopted for sleeping rooms, namely, from
300 cubic feet for those over 10 years of age and 150 for those under
10 years of age to 400 and 250 respectively.