View report page

^3
Inspection ok Dwelling-Houses.
At the present time inspection of dwelling-houses is carried out under the
following circumstances :—
1.—Whenever a case of notifiable infectious disease (except Consumption) is
reported, the house where the case occurred is subjected to a sanitary
inspection and the drains tested. During the year 1,090 such inspections
were made, followed by 1,271 re-inspections.
2.—Whenever a complaint is received as to the condition of any house a sanitary
inspection of the house is carried out. The drains of many houses are
tested by this procedure. During the year 1896 inspections were made in
consequence of complaints, and 4,613 consequent re-inspections.
3.—All registered tenement houses, and certain other dwellings which require
frequent inspection (known as " inscribed dwellings") are visited
periodically (six monthly, where possible), and inspected.
There were at the end of 1915, 2,364 houses on the tenement house
register (i.e., the register of "house let in lodgings, or occupied by
members of more than one family "). These are sub-let houses which are
of such a nature as to make frequent inspection desirable. They are
nearly all let unfurnished. The number of " inscribed dwellings " at the
end of the year was 207.
562 routine inspections and 288 consequent re-inspections of these
houses were made during 1915 in addition to those made under the
Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909 (see below). Weekly inspections
were also made of the yards of mews and stables. 3839 inspections
of these and 39 consequent re-inspections were made in the year.
4.—During 1915 the routine inspection of houses prescribed by Sec. 17 (1)
of t ie Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, has been continued,
though to a reduced extent by reason of the disturbance in the work
caused by present conditions. This sub-section provides that "it shall be the
duty of every local authority to cause to be made from time to time
inspection of their district with a view to ascertaining whether any
dwelling-house therein is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health
as to be unfit for human habitation." It also enacts that in this connection
regulations made by the Local Government Board must be complied
with.
In accordance with the regulations a list of streets was prepared by the
late Medical Officer of Health, the houses in which, in his opinion,
ought to be inspected at once. This consisted of those streets, the
majority of the houses in which were already subject to periodical
inspection as registered tenement houses or " inscribed dwellings." The
number of houses included in these streets was 3824.
The inspections under the regulations were begun on 1st January, 1913,
and in every instance a case paper has been filled ut) and filed. A number
of streets which uro not included in the above-mot' ">n( d lit have also b en
inspected. During 1913 and 1914, 3127 houses were inspected for the first