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53
Customs and Inland Revenue Acts, 1890 and 1891.
The Customs and Inland Revenue Acts, 1890 and 1891, provide that the assessment to inhabited
house duty of any house originally built or adapted by additions or alterations and used for the sole
purpose of providing separate dwellings for persons, where the annual value of each dwelling does not
amount to £20, and occupied only by persons paying such rents, shall be discharged by the Commissioners
of Inland Revenue, provided that a certificate of the medical officer of health of the district in
which the house is situate shall be produced to them to the effect that the house is so constructed as to
afford suitable accommodation for each of the families or persons inhabiting it, and that due provision
is made for their sanitary requirements.
The reports of the medical officers of health of the following districts show that certificates
were given by them for the purpose of such exemption.
Fulham.—Certificates were granted in respect of 95 houses, and refused in respect of 25.
St. Pancras.—Certificates were granted in cases where houses were found to be constructed in
conformity with the Metropolitan Building Acts, the Metropolis Local Management Acts, the Public
Health (London) Act, and when they complied with the following requirements—
1. That each of the persons inhabiting the house is provided with at least 400 cubic feet
of air space.
2. That each of the living or sleeping rooms is at least eight feet in height and at least
96 square feet in area.
3. That there is at least one draw tap and sink, with a sufficient supply of water thereto,
for every twelve occupants or less on each floor.
4. That the drainage of the premises is in accordance with the regulations recognised by
the sanitary authority.
5. That accommodation for clothes-washing is provided sufficient for the number of
persons inhabiting the house.
In future the requirements of the London Building Act, 1894, will also be made part of the
requirements for the purpose of this certificate.
Hackney.—Applications for a certificate under this Act were made in respect of 90 tenements,
and the certificate was granted in respect of 80.
City.—Application for certificate was made in one instance and refused.
Shoreditch.—Application for certificate was made in respect of 135 tenements, and granted in
respect of 111.
Poplar.—An application for certificate was made in respect of 16 tenements and refused.
St. George-the-Martyr.—Applications were made and certificates granted in respect of 86
tenements.
Battersea.— "Some hundreds of tenements have been inspected and certified since the Act came
into force in January, 1891, and many flats are now being built and converted in the parish in order to
obtain exemption or abatement of the house duty."
Wandsworth {Putney).—One application was made in respect of a block of houses, and the
certificate granted.
Workmen's Trains.
The Public Health Committee had in 1893 directed its attention to the subject of workmen's
train service in the metropolis, and the Council in April of that year approved certain recommendations
which it was hoped the railway companies might be induced to adopt. Among these recommendations
were "those which dealt with the question of a zone system, and the securing of an extension in the
time of arrival at the termini of the morning workmen's trains; but among the minor recommendations
may be mentioned one on which much stress was laid, viz., that for the removal of the restrictions
which at present exist on most of the lines against the use of return workmen's tickets except by
special trains and after certain hours." At the request of the Council, the Board of Trade on the 28th
June, 1893, convened a conference of representatives of railway companies, particularly in relation to
zone limits and tariffs, at which the thirteen metropolitan railway companies were represented.
The Committee state that "whilst a readiness was then expressed to make one or two concessions,
no agreement was come to on the two main points alluded to above, it being left for the companies to
consider them further, with a view, if practicable, to a further conference being held."
On the 4th May, 1894, the committee reported to the Council on a letter, dated January 18th,
1894, addressed by Sir Henry Oakley to the Board of Trade, which the committee thought " must be
taken as a definite declaration of the extent to which the companies are prepared voluntarily to go,
and that further argument is not likely to advance matters."
The companies were of opinion that the present system of grouping, where possible, answers all
practical purposes better than any universal zone system, but they were prepared to adopt arrangements,
providing (a) that workmen's daily tickets shall be issued with the option to the company of issuing
weekly tickets if preferred (b) that all workmen shall be allowed to return by any train conveying
third class passengers after 12 noon, with the reservation of the right to the company to provide
special trains for the accommodation of the workmen, and to except such train or trains as may be
found necessary for the general convenience of the traffic, (c) that the fares and conditions for the
issue of workmen's tickets shall be more particularly advertised at the stations by means of placards
and posters. These concessions the Committee regarded as "very small." The Committee after
reviewing the action taken by the railway companies and by Parliament in connection with the subject
of provision of workmen's trains stated—
"We feel satisfied that a further parliamentary inquiry is necessary either through a Select
Committee or a Royal Commission, in order to ascertain (1) the amendment necessary to the Cheap