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Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
II.—OVERCROWDING.
(1) Extent.—The total number of cases of overcrowding
dealt with in 1920 was 42. This is somewhat above the average
of former years. The standard used for determining these cases
of overcrowding was 400 cubic feet for adults and 200 cubic feet
for children under 10 years of age.
(2) Causes.-—The greater number of cases was due to domestic
overcrowding, the number of rooms available for sleeping
purposes being too few for the size of the family. A certain
number of cases was due to sub-letting.
At the census of 1911 the percentage of population in private
families living more than two in a room was 6.3, compared with
17.8 in the Metropolis as a whole, the only Borough in London
having a lower percentage being Lewisham, where it was 3.9.
(3) Measures taken or contemplated to deal with overcrowding.—The
Council has prepared schemes for the erection of 1,143
houses, and this will to a large extent relieve the congestion
which exists in some parts of the Borough, and the London
County Council contemplate the erection of 1,186 houses on the
Dover House Estate, Roehampton.
(4) Principal cases of overcrowding during the year and
action taken.—Notices under the Public Health Act were served
in each case, and in nearly all the cases the overcrowding was
abated by the re-arrangement of the sleeping accommodation.
III.—FITNESS OF HOUSES.
(1) (a) General standard of housing in the district.—In 1881
the total number of inhabited houses in the Borough was 15,300,
whilst in 1920 the estimated number was 56,539, an increase of
41,239. As 70 per cent. of the houses have been erected during
the last 30 years the standard of housing is comparatively high.
There are, however, approximately 2,000 houses in the Borough
which fall below a reasonable standard, and these are chieflv old
houses where the rooms are small. There are in addition about
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