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386
During the year 1920 many of the least satisfactory dwellings
within the Borough were inspected and the facts duly entered in the
special Register which has to be kept under the Housing and Town
Planning Act of 1909.
The inspections included a large number of houses in the South
Hornsey Ward, Rochester Place, Masons Court and Place, White Hart
Court, Kynaston Avenue, St. Andrews Pavement, Cressington Road,
Carysfort Road, Lordship Grove, Wordsworth Road and Defoe
Road. These inspections dealt with nearly 650 separate houses.
Some of these are old and unsatisfactory in sanitary respects. It
cannot be said that their closure and demolition is urgent. They are
kept under frequent inspection and in most of them we have imposed restricting
conditions as to occupancy. Certainly these premises in all the
circumstances may be continued in occupation for another year or two.
All local sanitary authorities realise that the provision of more
and better homes is a public health need that must claim their first
and most earnest consideration at the present time.
As the poorer-class dwellings in the Borough had markedly
deteriorated during the war, it was found necessary to call for a
considerable amount of remedial work, which, at the high cost of
labour and material, imposed a heavy tax upon the owners. Certain
dwellings in reference to which the question of closure had been
raised just before the war have been given a fresh (although it is to
be hoped a short) lease of life in consequence of the war. The
dearth of homes would make it a great hardship to dispossess present
occupants, and the most than can be done in the meantime is to keep
such premises under regular and frequent inspection, with the object
of securing that they are maintained as well as can reasonably be
demanded, and to provide the benefits of a more frequent scavenging.
If this were done the next few years may possibly be tided over
without the occupants of these dwellings suffering in their health,
especially if they would assist in keeping their homes as sanitary
as possible. Unfortunately, this assistance cannot be counted upon.
It is probably true that even when the structure of the home is most