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much good would result if houses of this class were registered
and were made to comply with certain requirements. If
regulations were made under this clause the owners of houses
would be at once liable to penalty if these regulations were
disobeyed. Under present arrangements it becomes necessary
for a notice to be served, for the owner to be summoned, and
for an order to carry out the work to be made by the Magistrate,
the owner only becoming liable to penalty when the
Magistrate's order is disobeyed.
The time must come however, when property of the worst
sort will have to be dealt with under other Acts. Since my
last Report, I have reported to the Vestry the houses in Mary
Place, Stanhope Street, in Poplar Place and a number of
houses in Compton Place, under the Artizans Dwellings Act,
of 1876. "With regard to Mary Place, the Vestry have postponed
making an order under the Act, with a view to giving
the owners the opportunity of endeavouring to put these
houses into habitable condition. Concerning the houses in
Poplar and Compton Place, they will again be before the
Vestry on the Eeport of the Chief Surveyor.
Before leaving the subject of unhealthy dwellings, it is my
duty to refer to the insufficiency of the regulations made by
the Metropolitan Board of Works to ensure the proper
construction of new houses.
A number of houses have been erected in the Kentish Town
sub-district to which the attention of the Metropolitan Board
of Works was directed by the Vestry on the recommendation
of the Sanitary Committee. The materials of which these
houses consist were condemned by many members of the
Committee who had a practical knowledge of building;
the regulation of the Metropolitan Board which admits the
use of 'grit' opens the door to the use also of much worthless
material. The regulation which requires a damp-course
to be inserted into the walls, does not prevent this
from consisting of nothing but a few bits of zinc
placed between the bricks at intervals, and from being
placed at a higher level than the floor which it is intended to
prevent from receiving moisture from the earth. The result
of the erection of such houses is only too clear, the inmates
will suffer from ill-health, the houses will shortly become
dilapidated, and a few years will probably require the Vestry
to be at the trouble and expense of dealing with these houses
under the Artizans' Dwellings Acts.